11 However, neither [is] woman without man, nor man without woman, in [the] Lord.
There is no Jew nor Greek; there is no bondman nor freeman; there is no male and female; for ye are all one in Christ Jesus:
But to the married I enjoin, not *I*, but the Lord, Let not wife be separated from husband; (but if also she shall have been separated, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband;) and let not husband leave wife. But as to the rest, *I* say, not the Lord, If any brother have an unbelieving wife, and *she* consent to dwell with him, let him not leave her. And a woman who has an unbelieving husband, and he consents to dwell with her, let her not leave [her] husband. For the unbelieving husband is sanctified in the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified in the brother; since [otherwise] indeed your children are unclean, but now they are holy.
For even as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of the body, being many, are one body, so also [is] the Christ. For also in [the power of] one Spirit *we* have all been baptised into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether bondmen or free, and have all been given to drink of one Spirit. For also the body is not one member but many. If the foot say, Because I am not a hand I am not of the body, is it on account of this not indeed of the body? And if the ear say, Because I am not an eye I am not of the body, is it on account of this not indeed of the body? If the whole body [were] an eye, where the hearing? if all hearing, where the smelling? But now God has set the members, each one of them in the body, according as it has pleased [him]. But if all were one member, where the body? But now the members [are] many, and the body one. The eye cannot say to the hand, I have not need of thee; or again, the head to the feet, I have not need of you. But much rather, the members of the body which seem to be weaker are 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.