Y’all should be imitators of me, even as I am of Christ.
Head Coverings in Worship
Now I praise y’all because y’all remember me in all things and hold firm the traditions, just as I delivered them to y’all. But I want y’all to know that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God. Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head. But every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head. For it is one and the same thing as if she were shaved. For if a woman is not covered, let her hair also be cut off. But if it is disgraceful for a woman to have her hair cut off or be shaved, let her be covered. For a man is not obligated to have his head covered, since he is the image and glory of God, but woman is the glory of man. For man is not from woman, but woman from man, for man wasn’t created through woman, but woman through the man. For this reason a woman is obligated to have an authority over her own head through the angels.
However, in the Lord, neither is woman independent of man, nor man independent of woman. For as woman came from man, so a man also comes through a woman. But all things are from God. Y’all judge for yourselves*. Is it appropriate that a woman pray to God unveiled? Doesn’t nature itself teach y’all that if a man has long hair, it is a dishonor to him? But if a woman has long hair, it is a glory to her, for her hair is given to her for a covering. But if anyone is inclined to be contentious, we have no other custom, neither do the churches of God.
Abuse of the Lord’s Supper
In giving you the following command I do not offer praise, because y’all come together not for the better but for the worse. For first of all, when y’all come together as a church, I hear that divisions exist among y’all, and I partly believe it. Indeed, it is necessary that there be factions among y’all, so that those who are approved may be evident among y’all. Therefore when y’all come together, it is not the Lord’s supper that y’all are eating. For during the meal, each one takes their own supper! So one person goes hungry, while another gets drunk. Don’t y’all have houses to eat and to drink in? Or do y’all despise the church of God and humiliate those who don’t have enough? What should I say to y’all? Should I praise y’all? I do not praise this.
For what I received from the Lord I also passed on to y’all: that the Lord Jesus, on the night in which he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body which is for y’all. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way he took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Y’all do this, as often as you drink, in memory of me.” For as often as y’all eat this bread and drink this cup, y’all proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks the Lord’s cup in a way unworthy of the Lord will be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. But each human should examine themselves, and in this way, let them eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For those who eat and drink judge themselves if they eat and drink without discerning the body. For this reason many among y’all are weak and sickly, and several have fallen asleep. For if we discerned ourselves, we wouldn’t be judged. But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord, so that we may not be condemned along with the world. Therefore, my siblings, when y’all come together to eat, y’all should wait for one another. Anyone who is hungry should eat at home, so that y’all’s coming together will not be for judgment. The rest I will set in order whenever I come.