1 Corinthians 11:33 - Printer Friendly

ESV: So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another—

NIV: So then, my brothers and sisters, when you gather to eat, you should all eat together.

NASB: So then, my brothers and sisters, when you come together to eat, wait for one another.

CSB: Therefore, my brothers and sisters, when you come together to eat, welcome one another.

NLT: So, my dear brothers and sisters, when you gather for the Lord’s Supper, wait for each other.

KJV: Wherefore, my brethren, when ye come together to eat, tarry one for another.

NKJV: Therefore, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one another.

This passage about how to participate in the Lord's Supper should have been a serious wake-up call for the Christians in Corinth. Their practice of the communion meal had been disastrously different than Paul's picture of it. Instead of being a time of sober reflection about their own sinfulness and Christ's sacrifice, the Corinthians had turned it into a dinner party where some ate too much and got drunk. Instead of acknowledging their unity together as the body of Christ, the wealthy Christians were humiliating the poorer Christians by ignoring their hunger and overeating in front of them (1 Corinthians 11:17–22). As a result, God's judgment had come upon the believers in the form of sickness and even death (1 Corinthians 11:27–30).

Paul now urges them to do things differently the next time they observe the Lord's Supper. He tells them to wait for each other. The language behind the phrase "wait for each other" brings several connotations. This is especially clear in the context of Paul's earlier criticisms.

These words, combined with Paul's words in verse 21, suggest some Corinthians were not waiting for everyone to arrive before digging into their food. A contrast to this would be sitting down to the meal together and sharing the food each person brought to the table. This would solve the problem of some going hungry and feeling unwelcome. Many modern churches follow this principle by asking participants not to consume the bread or wine until everyone in attendance has been served.

Paul addresses the problem of eating and drinking too much in the following verse.

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.