Women must have a covering over their heads. He blames the abuses of their love feasts and upon that occasion treats of the Blessed Sacrament.

¹ Be imitators of me, as I also am of Christ.

² Now I praise you, brothers, because you are mindful of me in everything, in such a way as to hold to my precepts as I have handed them down to you.

³ So I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ. But the head of woman is man. Yet truly, the head of Christ is God.¹

1. 11:3This passage does not use ‘vir’ or ‘viri’ to refer to ‘husband,’ but more generally to ‘man.’ This is clear because the same word ‘vir’ is used consistently, even when there is no marriage relationship at issue, e.g. ‘the head of every man is Christ.’ Not every man is a husband, so vir and viri in this context mean man, not husband.(Conte)

⁴ Every man praying or prophesying with his head covered disgraces his head.

⁵ But every woman praying or prophesying with her head not covered disgraces her head. For it is the same as if her head were shaven.

⁶ So if a woman is not veiled, let her hair be cut off. Truly then, if it is a disgrace for a woman to have her hair cut off, or to have her head shaven, then she should cover her head.

⁷ Certainly, a man ought not to cover his head, for he is the image and glory of God. But woman is the glory of man.

⁸ For man is not of woman, but woman is of man.

⁹ And indeed, man was not created for woman, but woman was created for man.

¹⁰ Therefore, a woman ought to have a sign of authority on her head, because of the Angels.¹²

1. 11:10The veil or headcovering is a symbol if the order in creation, which includes Angels as well as men. For even among the Angels, there is order and levels of authority. The Angels are not all the same, they do not all have the same role, and some Angels have authority over other Angels. The holy Angels are offended when women pray without a headcovering, or when women take roles which God intends only for men. For the holy Angels keep to their proper places and are obedient to those Angels in authority over them. But the fallen angels rebelled by disobedience and by refusing to accept Christ as their head, as someone with authority over them; and so they destined themselves for Hell. Women who refuse to wear a veil, or who dress like a man, or who take a man’s role, are being disobedient to Christ and are disrespecting their head, repeating in miniature the same fault of disobedience and disrespect that caused some Angels to fall from grace. When the holy Angels see such disorder and disobedience by women towards their head, they remember the fall of the disobedient angels and they cringe.(Conte)
2. 11:10A power: that is, a veil or covering, as a sign that she is under the power of her husband: and this, the apostle adds, because of the angels, who are present in the assemblies of the faithful.(Challoner)

¹¹ Yet truly, man would not exist without woman, nor would woman exist without man, in the Lord.

¹² For just as woman came into existence from man, so also does man exist through woman. But all things are from God.

¹³ Judge for yourselves. Is it proper for a woman to pray to God unveiled?

¹⁴ Does not even nature herself teach you that, indeed, if a man grows his hair long, it is a disgrace for him?¹

1. 11:14Men are reflections of God, having the role of headship within humanity; women are reflections of Creation, that is, of nature, because God is the head of nature, just as man is the head of woman. Thus nature is referred to as ‘herself’.(Conte)

¹⁵ Yet truly, if a woman grows her hair long, it is a glory for her, because her hair has been given to her as a covering.

¹⁶ But if anyone has a mind to be contentious, we have no such custom, nor does the Church of God.¹

1. 11:16So, if you cannot see the wisdom of this teaching, then Paul says to at least accept it because it is a custom in the Church of God; there should be no other custom.(Conte)

¹⁷ Now I caution you, without praising, about this: that you assemble together, and not for better, but for worse.

¹⁸ First of all, indeed, I hear that when you assemble together in the church, there are schisms among you. And I believe this, in part.

¹⁹ For there must also be heresies, so that those who have been tested may be made manifest among you.¹

1. 11:19There must be also heresies: By reason of the pride and perversity of man’s heart; not by God’s will or appointment; who nevertheless draws good out of this evil, manifesting, by that occasion, who are the good and firm Christians, and making their faith more remarkable.(Challoner)

²⁰ And so, when you assemble together as one, it is no longer in order to eat the Lord’s supper.¹

1. 11:20The Lord’s supper: So the apostle here calls the charity feasts observed by the primitive Christians; and reprehends the abuses of the Corinthians, on these occasions; which were the more criminal, because these feasts were accompanied with the celebrating of the eucharistic sacrifice and sacrament.(Challoner)

²¹ For each one first takes his own supper to eat. And as a result, one person is hungry, while another is inebriated.

²² Do you not have houses, in which to eat and drink? Or do you have such contempt for the Church of God that you would confound those who do not have such contempt? What should I say to you? Should I praise you? I am not praising you in this.

²³ For I have received from the Lord what I have also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus, on the same night that he was handed over, took bread,

²⁴ and giving thanks, he broke it, and said: “Take and eat. This is my body, which shall be given up for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

²⁵ Similarly also, the cup, after he had eaten supper, saying: “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

²⁶ For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord, until he returns.

²⁷ And so, whoever eats this bread, or drinks from the cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be liable of the body and blood of the Lord.¹²

1. 11:27Or drink: Here erroneous translators corrupted the text, by putting and drink (contrary to the original) instead of or drink.(Challoner)
2. 11:27Guilty of the body, etc., not discerning the body, etc: This demonstrates the real presence of the body and blood of Christ, even to the unworthy communicant; who otherwise could not be guilty of the body and blood of Christ, or justly condemned for not discerning the Lord’s body.(Challoner)

²⁸ But let a man examine himself, and, in this way, let him eat from that bread, and drink from that cup.¹

1. 11:28Drink of the chalice: This is not said by way of command, but by way of allowance, viz., where and when it is agreeable to the practice and discipline of the church.(Challoner)

²⁹ For whoever eats and drinks unworthily, eats and drinks a sentence against himself, not discerning it to be the body of the Lord.

³⁰ As a result, many are weak and sick among you, and many have fallen asleep.

³¹ But if we ourselves were discerning, then certainly we would not be judged.

³² Yet when we are judged, we are being corrected by the Lord, so that we might not be condemned along with this world.

³³ And so, my brothers, when you assemble together to eat, be attentive to one another.

³⁴ If anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, so that you may not assemble together unto judgment. As for the rest, I will set it in order when I arrive.