1   Follow my example as I follow Christ's.

2   I commend you for always keeping me in mind, and maintaining the tradition I handed on to you. 3   But I wish you to understand that,

The Christian in a pagan society while every man has Christ for his Head, woman's head is man, ^note as Christ's Head is God. 4   A man who keeps his head covered when he prays or prophesies brings shame on his head; 5   a woman, on the contrary, brings shame on her head if she prays or prophesies bare-headed; it is as bad as if her head were shaved. 6   If a woman is not to wear a veil she might as well have her hair cut off; but if it is a disgrace for her to be cropped and shaved, then she should wear a veil. 7   A man has no need to cover his head, because man is the image of God, and the mirror of his glory, whereas woman reflects the glory of man. ^note 8   For man did not originally spring from woman, but woman was made out of man; 9   and man was not created for woman's sake, but woman for the sake of man; 10   and therefore it is woman's duty to have a sign of authority ^note on her head, out of regard for the angels. ^note 11   And yet, in Christ's fellowship woman is as essential to man as man to woman. 12   If woman was made out of man, it is through woman that man now comes to be; and God is the source of all.

13   Judge for yourselves: is it fitting for a woman to pray to God bare-headed? 14   Does not Nature herself teach you that while flowing locks disgrace a man, they are a woman's glory? 15   For her locks were given for covering.

16   However, if you insist on arguing, let me tell you, there is no such custom among us, or in any of the congregations of God's people.

17   In giving you these injunctions I must mention a practice which I cannot commend: your meetings tend to do more harm than good. 18   To begin with, I am told that when you meet as a congregation you fall into sharply divided groups; and I believe there is some truth 19   in it (for dissensions are necessary if only to show which of your members are sound). 20   The result is that when you meet as a congregation, it is impossible for you to eat the Lord's Supper, 21   because each of you is in such a hurry to eat his own, and while one goes hungry another has too much to drink. 22   Have you no homes of your own to eat and drink in? Or are you so contemptuous of the church of God that you shame its poorer members? What am I to say? Can I commend you? On this point, certainly not!

23   For the tradition which I handed on to you came to me from the Lord himself: that the Lord Jesus, on the night of his arrest, took

The Christian in a pagan society bread and, after giving thanks to God, broke it and said: 24   ‘This is my body, which is for you; do this as a memorial of me.’ 25   In the same way, he took the cup after supper, and said: ‘This cup is the new covenant sealed by my blood. Whenever you drink it, do this as a memorial of me.’ 26   For every time you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord, until he comes.

27   It follows that anyone who eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will be guilty of desecrating the body and blood of the Lord. 28   A man must test himself before eating his share of the bread and drinking from the cup. 29   For he who eats and drinks eats and drinks judgement on himself if he does not discern the Body. 30   That is why many of you are feeble and sick, and a number have died. 31   But if we examined ourselves, we should not thus fall under judgement. 32   When, however, we do fall under the Lord's judgement, he is disciplining us, to save us from being condemned with the rest of the world.

33   Therefore, my brothers, when you meet for a meal, wait for one another. 34   If you are hungry, eat at home, so that in meeting together you may not fall under judgement. The other matters I will arrange when I come.

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