1Be imitators of me, even as I also am of Christ.
2Now I praise you, brothers, that you remember me in all things, and hold firm the traditions, even as I delivered them to you. 3But I would have you know that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God. 4Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonors his head. 5But every woman praying or prophesying with her head uncovered dishonors her head. For it is one and the same thing as if she were shaved. 6For if a woman is not covered, let her hair also be cut off. But if it is shameful for a woman to have her hair cut off or be shaved, let her be covered. 7For a man indeed ought not to have his head covered, because he is the image and glory of God, but the woman is the glory of the man. 8For man is not from woman, but woman from man; 9for man wasn’t created for the woman, but woman for the man. 10For this cause the woman ought to have authority over her own head, because of the angels.
11Nevertheless, neither is the woman independent of the man, nor the man independent of the woman, in the Lord. 12For as woman came from man, so a man also comes through a woman; but all things are from God. 13Judge for yourselves. Is it appropriate that a woman pray to God unveiled? 14Doesn’t even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a dishonor to him? 15But if a woman has long hair, it is a glory to her, for her hair is given to her for a covering. 16But if any man seems to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither do God’s assemblies.
17But in giving you this command I don’t praise you, because you come together not for the better but for the worse. 18For first of all, when you come together in the assembly, I hear that divisions exist among you, and I partly believe it. 19For there also must be factions among you, that those who are approved may be revealed among you. 20When therefore you assemble yourselves together, it is not the Lord’s supper that you eat. 21For in your eating each one takes his own supper first. One is hungry, and another is drunken. 22What, don’t you have houses to eat and to drink in? Or do you despise God’s assembly and put them to shame who don’t have enough? What shall I tell you? Shall I praise you? In this I don’t praise you.
23For I received from the Lord that which also I delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night in which he was betrayed took bread. 24When he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “Take, eat. This is my body, which is broken for you. Do this in memory of me.” 25In the same way he also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink, in memory of me.” 26For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
27Therefore 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. 28But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy way eats and drinks judgment to himself if he doesn’t discern the Lord’s body. 30For this cause many among you are weak and sickly, and not a few sleep. 31For if we discerned ourselves, we wouldn’t be judged. 32But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world. 33Therefore, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another. 34But if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, lest your coming together be for judgment. The rest I will set in order whenever I come.
The Apostle Paul identifies himself as the writer of 1 Corinthians twice within the epistle (1:1-2; 16:21). Pauline authorship of 1 Corinthians is almost unanimously accepted throughout Biblical scholarship. Clement of Rome (ca. A.D. 95), one of the earliest Church Fathers, confirmed Paul's authorship in his To the Corinthians (ch. 47). Pauline authorship was also confirmed by Polycarp, Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria and Tertullian. 1 Corinthians was one of the most quoted of Paul's epistles in the writings of the early Church Fathers.
Paul probably wrote 1 Corinthians while ministering at Ephesus during his third missionary journey. In 1 Corinthians 16:8 Paul says that he would remain in Ephesus until Pentecost. This, coupled with Acts 20:31, indicates that the time of writing was in the last year of his three-year stay in Ephesus. That would place the date of the epistle in the spring of A.D. 55/56. Most likely, Stephanas, Fortunatus and Achaicus carried the epistle from Ephesus to Corinth (see 1 Cor 16:18). The church would have been about four to five years old when they received the first Corinthian letter (see "Church at Corinth" for founding date).
Paul had left Corinth with Aquilla and Priscilla in the spring A.D. 53 to continue his second missionary journey. On his third journey, during his stay at Ephesus, he received word from the Corinthian believers. Paul's main purpose in this first letter to the Corinthians was to respond to the two pieces of correspondence he had received from the people of Chloe's house and from the church.
First, Paul had received a disturbing report from the household of Chloe (1:11). The report centered on divisions and on immorality in the church. These problems arose because the young Corinthian church had failed to protect itself from the decadent culture of the city. The immaturity of the Corinthians had given way to sectarian divisions. Believers rallied under the names of men in factions rather than uniting under the name of Christ (3:1-9). The pride that characterized Corinth had seeped into the church and divided it because men and their wisdom had been exalted over God's (3:18-23).
Chloe's household had also reported to Paul that the Corinthian believers were dragging each other into the pagan courts to settle their disputes (6:1). The arguments grew from their immature divisive spirits, while their desire to settle differences in pagan courts instead of the church illustrated their inflated estimation of human wisdom. Paul also confronted the sexual immorality that had grown in the church. Paul in a previous letter (not preserved by God for the church) had warned the believers to deal strongly with fornicators in their midst (5:9-11), but evidently the church had not corrected their negligence.
Second, Paul answered inquiries delivered from Corinth by Stephanas, Fortunatus and Achaicus (16:15-18). The believers had questions concerning several practical issues and on proper worship. Paul first dealt with obligations of marriage and singleness (7:1-40). He emphasized the importance of each one being content to live in the state that God had called them. Paul then developed a lengthy section (8:1-11:1) to answer concerns about Christian liberty in a depraved culture. Paul purposed not to strangle their liberty, but to protect them from falling back into idolatry. His guiding principle for liberty was God's glory. “Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (10:31).
Following this, Paul gave the Corinthians principles for orderly worship. Paul taught the believers concerning women's decorum in worship services whenever they would participate in public prophesying and praying (11:2-16) and then reminds his readers of the solemnity which ought to characterize the observance of the Lord's supper (11:17-34). Paul closes the section with an extended discourse on the place of spiritual gifts in the church. Though the church had been considerably gifted, their immaturity and pride caused many abuses of their gifts. Paul reminds them that their spiritual gifts came from God (12:11) and that they ought to serve to unify and edify His body (12:24-25; 14:1-4). Within this section, Paul wrote the great love chapter (ch. 13). The attitude behind the exercising of spiritual gifts was to be love, the fruit of the Spirit, which, in turn, was generated by the filling of the Spirit.
Before Paul closed his letter, he corrected a doctrinal matter within the church by writing the most detailed New Testament apologetic for the resurrection of Christ and Christians (15:1-58). To a church shot through with problems, this chapter became a fountain of encouragement bursting forth from the victory wrought by God through the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ (15:57).
The major purpose of 1 Corinthians was the correction of Christian conduct. Paul's eighteen months of intense labor and his deep compassion for the Corinthian church moved him to answer the reported problems quickly. He purposed to rebuke the immature pride that had caused the divisions, litigations and abuse of spiritual gifts. He sought also to instruct his readers in relationships, in Christian freedoms, in worship and in the doctrine of the resurrection.