Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ.
I commend you because you remember me in everything and hold firmly to the teachings as I delivered them to you.
I want you to understand this: the head of every man is Christ, the head of a woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.
Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonours his head. But every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonours her head — it is the same as if her head were shaved.
For a man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of man. Man did not come from woman, but woman from man. Nor was man created for woman, but woman for man.
For this reason, and because of the observing messengers, a woman ought to have a sign of authority on her head.
Nevertheless, in the Lord woman is not independent of man, nor man independent of woman. For just as woman came from man, so also man is born through woman — and all things come from God.
Judge for yourselves: is it appropriate for a woman to pray to God uncovered? Does not even nature itself teach you that if a man wears long hair it is dishonouring to him, but if a woman has long hair it is her glory? For her hair is given to her as a covering.
If anyone wants to be argumentative about this, we have no other practice — nor do the churches of God.
In giving this instruction, I do not praise you — because your gatherings are doing more harm than good.
When you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you — and to some extent I believe it. For there must be differences among you to reveal who is genuine.
When you come together, it is not really the Lord’s supper you are eating. Each one goes ahead with their own meal, and one goes hungry while another gets drunk.
Do you not have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and shame those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? In this I do not praise you.
For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus, on the night He was handed over, took bread.
And after giving thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My body, given for you. Do this in remembrance of Me.”
In the same way, after the meal, He took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. Do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”
For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are proclaiming the Lord’s death — until He came.
So then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner is answerable for the body and blood of the Lord.
Let each person examine themselves, and so eat the bread and drink the cup. For the one who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on themselves.
This is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number have died. But if we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged.
When we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.
So then, my brothers and sisters, when you come together to eat, wait for one another. If anyone is hungry, let them eat at home, so that when you gather it does not result in judgment.
The remaining matters I will address when I come.
Corinth is importing social status, shame, and hierarchy into the life of the church. Paul addresses two distortions: honour symbols that disrupt unity, and a Lord’s Supper that humiliates the poor. Both deny the New Covenant reality of one body in Christ.
Paul is regulating honour-shame signals within Corinthian society, not establishing universal dress law. The issue is public honour, authority, and community witness — not hair or fabric.
This phrase points to heavenly witnesses observing covenant order, not fear of supernatural policing. It echoes Old Testament courtroom imagery.
Paul writes that the Supper proclaims the Lord’s death “until He came” (11:26). This assumes an imminent coming within their horizon. The fulfilled lens recognises this as completed, not postponed indefinitely.
Unworthy participation is not private unconfessed sin. It is failing to recognise the church as Christ’s body — especially by shaming the poor. Judgment here is covenant discipline, not eternal punishment.
The Lord’s Supper is not a private ritual. It is a lived declaration that status is abolished, the poor are honoured, and Christ is present in His body. Any practice that reintroduces hierarchy denies the table’s meaning.
Where might I be participating in Christian practices without recognising the people they are meant to unite me with?
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