1 Corinthians 11:34 - Printer Friendly

ESV: if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home — so that when you come together it will not be for judgment. About the other things I will give directions when I come.

NIV: Anyone who is hungry should eat something at home, so that when you meet together it may not result in judgment. And when I come I will give further directions.

NASB: If anyone is hungry, have him eat at home, so that you do not come together for judgment. As to the remaining matters, I will give instructions when I come.

CSB: If anyone is hungry, he should eat at home, so that when you gather together you will not come under judgment. I will give instructions about the other matters whenever I come.

NLT: If you are really hungry, eat at home so you won’t bring judgment upon yourselves when you meet together. I’ll give you instructions about the other matters after I arrive.

KJV: And if any man hunger, let him eat at home; that ye come not together unto condemnation. And the rest will I set in order when I come.

NKJV: But if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, lest you come together for judgment. And the rest I will set in order when I come.

Paul wraps up this section about the Lord's Supper with practical direction on how to participate. This is meant to be a meal shared together as the body of Christ. He wrote in the previous verse that instead of everyone eating their food as they arrive, they should wait for everyone to be there and eat the meal together (1 Corinthians 11:33). This implies that food would be shared, meaning that the poor would be included and likely feel more welcomed. This would also correspond to the sacrament's sense of unity and equality among all believers.

Now Paul addresses the issue of overeating by encouraging the Corinthians not to come hungry to the Lord's Supper gathering. This observance of Christ's death for their sin was not meant to be like other meals. If their appetite is making it difficult to give proper respect to Christ's sacrifice and each other, they should eat at home before they come, Paul says.

If they do these things, they won't be coming together for the purpose of judgment. They will be coming together to honor the Lord and each other as the body of Christ.

The other issues Paul feels the need to address are probably also related to communion. Those, it seems, were not important enough to spend time on in the moment he was writing this letter. Instead, he will move on to other topics, starting in chapter 12.

First Corinthians 11:17–34 contains Paul's rebuke of the church in Corinth for their application of the Lord's Supper. They had turned it into a gathering at which the wealthy ate and drank too much, leaving the poorer Christians hungry and humiliated. Paul warns that communion should be a time of sober self-reflection about our sin and Christ's sacrifice, as well as a time to unite the body of Christ, the church, while taking in representations of the blood and body of Christ. Some in Corinth were sick and others had died as part of God's judgment for participating in communion in an unworthy manner.

Paul confronts two issues the church in Corinth was failing to practice correctly. First, some women were not wearing head coverings while praying or prophesying in their meetings. Paul insisted they must do so, and that men must not, based on mankind's relationship to God and the social implications of that covering. Second, Paul describes the reasons for observing the Lord's Supper and how it should be done. The Corinthian Christians had brought God's judgment on themselves for practicing communion in a way which dishonored Christ's sacrifice for sin and humiliated the poor among them.

After concluding his teaching on meat offered to idols, Paul turns to two issues the church in Corinth was getting wrong. The first was head coverings when praying or prophesying in their meetings. Differences between men and women in that regard are because of both spiritual and social reasons. Paul also corrects the disastrous way in which they were practicing the observance of the Lord's Supper. They were dishonoring Christ's sacrifice for sin as well as the poor in the body of Christ, the church. Despite having more to say on communion, Paul will move on to the topic of spiritual gifts in chapter 12.

First Corinthians is one of the more practical books of the New Testament. Paul writes to a church immersed in a city associated with trade, but also with corruption and immorality. These believers are struggling to properly apply spiritual gifts and to resist the ungodly practices of the surrounding culture. Paul's letter gives instructions for real-life concerns such as marriage and spirituality. He also deals with the importance of unity and gives one of the Bible's more well-known descriptions of love in chapter 13.