Day By Day - 1 Corinthians 11

By John Horsburgh

Opening Thoughts:
This chapter starts off with some of my favourite words, albeit some very challenging ones. “Be followers of me – even as I am a follower of Christ”. This precedes some discussion about  gender and a discourse on communion, including a chastisement for the manner in which some were abusing what should be a great expression of love.

Three Main Ideas:

1. Follow Me
Why do I love this? It is a constant challenge to me to live in such a manner that I can say to a new believer, “if you want to live in a Christ-like manner, copy my example”. Can I genuinely say this? There are times when I fail miserably and in those times I want to be able to bury my failures, but the absolute truth is that Christ sees me as I am and the truth is never hidden from Him.

This short sentence is the greatest motivation of my life as it drives me to always strive to be better than I am. It is that desire to be Christlike that makes me want to overcome my weaknesses and be able to echo Paul, ...“follow me”. I may never make the grade but the challenge is always relevant to my walk with Jesus.

2. Headship, not hats
Paul lists a hierarchy that puts the Father at the top, then Christ, the man, the wife and the children. All too often this has been incorrectly interpreted as “man is better than the woman”, mainly by males. It is important to see the truth and not just what we may want to see.

This passage is speaking about headship and not inequality. Every one of us men needs to fully understand that we are not the top of the tree but that we have a role to submit to Christ and in that place of submission, give our all to protect our families.

Gender is not an eternal but an earthly difference and scripture tells us that in heaven there is neither male nor female. I have seen too many times when the Biblical use of the word “submitted” has been interpreted as “doormat”.  Any man who takes this approach is in desperate need to understand another passage which states that a wife should honour her husband and that a husband should, “LOVE HIS WIFE, EVEN AS CHRIST LOVED THE CHURCH...”

I have stressed this point simply because of the immense implications of what it means. I have seen too many men who fail to recognise that Christ laid down His life for the church and that our calling as husbands is to copy His example. Osama bin Laden, when found, was hiding behind his wives and using them as human shields, the very worst example of inequality.

Christ gave such an example that He took our punishment and He died for us. That example of headship says to husbands... you get to die first. That is a lot to think about…!

3. Communion
The manner in which the church in Corinth was sharing the “love feast” angered Paul. It had degenerated into a shared meal that wasn’t being shared at all and those in need were being excluded. Christ died for ALL.  

I love communion, and as much as it has been good to be able to share virtually with the regular Zoom meetings and Sundays on-line services, I long for the opportunity to be able to share again at the common table with brothers and sisters in the family of God. Ours may not be a feast in the sense of an enormous meal but it is something that we are all able to do together as one, honouring Christ as our head but also recognising each other as members of a united body. To honour Christ we need to learn to care for and to love one another, respecting the weak and waiting for those that might fall behind.

Final thoughts:
With some of the chapters in Corinthians there is a wide variety of topics covered but here the overall theme is that Christ is preeminent. This is a truth that should be reflected in our behaviour, our homes and in the manner of our fellowship one with another. It reminds me of the prime commandment... “thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul and with all thy strength” oh and yep, “you shall love each other too...”