11 But the woman is not separate from the man, and the man is not separate from the woman in the Lord.
There is no Jew or Greek, servant or free, male or female: because you are all one in Jesus Christ.
But to the married I give orders, though not I but the Lord, that the wife may not go away from her husband (Or if she goes away from him, let her keep unmarried, or be united to her husband again); and that the husband may not go away from his wife. But to the rest I say, and not the Lord; If a brother has a wife who is not a Christian, and it is her desire to go on living with him, let him not go away from her. And if a woman has a husband who is not a Christian, and it is his desire to go on living with her, let her not go away from her husband. For the husband who has not faith is made holy through his Christian wife, and the wife who is not a Christian is made holy through the brother: if not, your children would be unholy, but now are they holy.
For as the body is one, and has a number of parts, and all the parts make one body, so is Christ. For through the baptism of the one Spirit we were all formed into one body, Jews or Greeks, servants or free men, and were all made full of the same Spirit. For the body is not one part, but a number of parts. If the foot says, Because I am not the hand, I am not a part of the body; it is no less a part of the body. And if the ear says, Because I am not the eye, I am not a part of the body; it is a part of the body all the same. If all the body was an eye, where would be the hearing? if all was hearing, where would be the smelling? But now God has put every one of the parts in the body as it was pleasing to him. And if they were all one part, where would the body be? But now they are all different parts, but one body. And the eye may not say to the hand, I have no need of you: or again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. No, those parts which seem to be feeble are the more necessary;
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on 1 Corinthians 11
Commentary on 1 Corinthians 11 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 11
In this chapter the apostle blames, and endeavours to rectify, some great indecencies and manifest disorders in the church of Corinth; as,
1Cr 11:1-16
Paul, having answered the cases put to him, proceeds in this chapter to the redress of grievances. The first verse of the chapter is put, by those who divided the epistle into chapters, as a preface to the rest of the epistle, but seems to have been a more proper close to the last, in which he had enforced the cautions he had given against the abuse of liberty, by his own example: Be ye followers of me, as I also am of Christ (v. 1), fitly closes his argument; and the way of speaking in the next verse looks like a transition to another. But, whether it more properly belong to this or the last chapter, it is plain from it that Paul not only preached such doctrine as they ought to believe, but led such a life as they ought to imitate. "Be ye followers of me,' that is, "Be imitators of me; live as you see me live.' Note, Ministers are likely to preach most to the purpose when they can press their hearers to follow their example. Yet would not Paul be followed blindly neither. He encourages neither implicit faith nor obedience. He would be followed himself no further than he followed Christ. Christ's pattern is a copy without a blot; so is no man's else. Note, We should follow no leader further than he follows Christ. Apostles should be left by us when they deviate from the example of their Master. He passes next to reprehend and reform an indecency among them, of which the women were more especially guilty, concerning which observe,
1Cr 11:17-22
In this passage the apostle sharply rebukes them for much greater disorders than the former, in their partaking of the Lord's supper, which was commonly done in the first ages, as the ancients tell us, with a love-feast annexed, which gave occasion to the scandalous disorders which the apostle here reprehends, concerning which observe,
1Cr 11:23-34
To rectify these gross corruptions and irregularities, the apostle sets the sacred institution here to view. This should be the rule in the reformation of all abuses.