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1 Corinthians 11:22

in 1 Corinthians 11

Don’t you have your own homes in which to eat and drink? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What can I say to you? Shall I praise you for this? No, I will not!

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

What, have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? or despise ye the church of God, and put them to shame that have not? What shall I say to you? shall I praise you? In this I praise you not.

KJV

What? have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? or despise ye the church of God, and shame them that have not? What shall I say to you? shall I praise you in this? I praise you not.

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This verse in 1 Corinthians 11

Commentary

11 notes on this verse

A commentator

Ambrosiaster

COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES · Written before 384.

The false apostles had sown divisions among them so that they were possessive of their offerings. Although they were all blessed with one and the same prayer, those who had not offered or who had nothing to offer were covered with shame and did not …

This site's exposition

it is not the Lord’s Supper

on 1 Corinthians 11:20-22

The meal, most likely the agape feast that held the bread and cup, had lost its shape. The wealthier went ahead with their own food, and while one remains hungry, another gets drunk.

This site's exposition

humiliate those who have nothing

Paul's four questions press the charge home. To despise the church of God is to shame His own household, and those who have nothing are its poorest members. His refusal to praise answers the praise of verse 2 and the rebuke of verse 17.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers1 voice

A commentator

John Chrysostom

Homily on 1 Corinthians 27 · Written before 407.

proposed

"What? have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? Or despise ye the Church of God, and put them to shame that have not?" Seest thou how he transferred the charge from the indignity offered to the poor to the Church, that his words might make a deeper impression of disgust? Here now you see is yet a fourth accusation, when not the poor only, but the Church likewise is insulted. For even as thou makest the Lord's Supper a private meal, so also the place again, using the Church as a house. For it was made a Church, not that we who come together might be divided, but that they who are divided might be joined: and this act of assembling shows. "And put them to shame that have not." He said not, "and kill with hunger them that have not," but so as much more to put them to the blush, "shame them;" to point out that it is not food which he cares for so much as the wrong done unto them. Behold again a fifth accusation, not only to overlook the poor but even to shame them. Now this he said, partly as treating with reverence the concerns of the poor, and intimating that they grieve not so for the belly as for the shame; and partly also drawing the hearer to compassion. Having therefore pointed out so great impieties, indignity to the Supper, indignity to the Church, the contempt practised towards the poor; he relaxes again the tones of his reproof, saying, all of a sudden, "Shall I praise you? In this I praise you not." Wherein one might especially marvel at him that when there was need to strike and chide more vehemently after the proof of so great offences, he doeth the contrary rather, gives way, and permits them to recover breath. What then may the cause be? […]

The Medieval Church2 voices

A commentator

Thomas Aquinas

Commentary on 1 Corinthians · Written before 1274.

proposed

Then when he says, Do you not have houses, he looks into the cause of this sin. First, he excludes a reason, by which they could be excused. For it is not lawful to apply to profane uses the house of God, which is set …

A commentator

Theophylact of Ohrid

Commentary on 1 Corinthians · Written before 1107.

proposed

If you do not intend to eat all together, then why do you not eat at home? For when you turn the Lord's Supper into a private one, eating by yourself, you show contempt both for the church and for the place. The poor are …

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)

Have ye not houses to eat and drink your common meals in? or do ye despise the church of God - Of which the poor are both the larger and the better part.

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

Note, Common meals may be managed after a common manner, but religious feasts should be attended religiously. Note, also, It is a heinous evil, and severely to be censured, for Christians to treat their fellow-christians with contempt and insolence, but especially at the Lord's table. This is doing what they can to pour contempt on divine ordinances.
3 more voices on this verse

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

What? have ye not houses to eat and drink in?....

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

Have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? - They should have taken their ordinary meal at home, and have come together in the church to celebrate the Lord’s Supper.
What! - This whole verse is designed to convey the language of severe rebuke for their having so grossly perverted the design of the Lord’s Supper. Have ye not houses ... - Do you not know that the church of God is not designed to be a place of feasting and revelry; nor even a place where to partake of your ordinary meals? Can it be, that you will come to the places of public worship, and make them the scenes of feasting and riot? Even on the supposition that there had been no disorder; no revelry; no intemperance; yet on every account it was grossly irregular and disorderly to make the place of public worship a place for a festival entertainment. Or despise ye the church of God - The phrase “church of God” Grotius understands of the place. But the word church (ἐκκλησία ekklēsia) is believed not to be used in that sense in the New Testament; and it is not necessary to suppose it here. The sense is, that their conduct was such as if they had held in contempt the whole church of God, in all places, with all their views of the sacredness and purity of the Lord’s supper. And shame them that have not - Margin, “Are poor.” Something must here be understood in order to make out the sense. Probably it meant something like “possessions, property, conveniences, accomodations.” The connection would make it most natural to understand “houses to eat and drink in;” and the sense then would be, “Do you thus expose to public shame those who have no accommodations at home; who are destitute and poor? You thus reflect publicly upon their poverty and want, while you bring your own provisions and fare sumptuously, and while those who are thus unable to provide for themselves are thus seen to be poor and needy.” It is hard enough, the idea is, to be poor, and to be destitute of a home. […]

The words behind it

30 Greek words

Every Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

14 in all, six open

The number beside each verse is how many compiled reference works tie it to this one. The strongest six stand open.

James 2:6But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress you and drag you into court?9 worksActs 20:28Keep watch over yourselves and the entire flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which He purchased with His own blood.8 worksEcclesiastes 5:1Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. Draw near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools, who do not know that they do wrong.7 worksProverbs 17:5He who mocks the poor insults their Maker; whoever gloats over calamity will not go unpunished.6 worksJames 2:5–6Listen, my beloved brothers: Has not God chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom He promised those who love Him?5 works1 Corinthians 11:2Now I commend you for remembering me in everything and for maintaining the traditions, just as I passed them on to you.5 works
The other 8 cross-references, with their words ▾
1 Corinthians 10:32Do not become a stumbling block, whether to Jews or Greeks or the church of God—4 works1 Corinthians 11:17In the following instructions I have no praise to offer, because your gatherings do more harm than good.4 worksMatthew 18:10See that you do not look down on any of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of My Father in heaven.4 works1 Timothy 3:15in case I am delayed, so that you will know how each one must conduct himself in God’s household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.3 works1 Timothy 3:5For if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how can he care for the church of God?2 worksRomans 10:19I ask instead, did Israel not understand? First, Moses says: “I will make you jealous by those who are not a nation; I will make you angry by a nation without understanding.”2 works2 Corinthians 11:29Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not burn with grief?2 works1 Corinthians 15:9For I am the least of the apostles and am unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.1 works

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Acts 20:28

    Keep watch over yourselves and the entire flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which He purchased with His own blood.

    it leads to

    • 1 Peter 5:2–3

      Be shepherds of God’s flock that is among you, watching over them not out of compulsion, but because it is God’s will; not out of greed, but out of eagerness;

    • 1 Timothy 4:16

      Pay close attention to your life and to your teaching. Persevere in these things, for by so doing you will save both yourself and those who hear you.

    • 1 Peter 1:18–19

      For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life you inherited from your forefathers,

    • Isaiah 40:11

      He tends His flock like a shepherd; He gathers the lambs in His arms and carries them close to His heart. He gently leads the nursing ewes.

    • 1 Timothy 3:2

      An overseer, then, must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach,

  • Through

    1 Timothy 3:15

    in case I am delayed, so that you will know how each one must conduct himself in God’s household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.

    it leads to

    • 1 Peter 2:5

      you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

    • Ephesians 2:21–22

      In Him the whole building is fitted together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord.

  • Through

    Proverbs 17:5

    He who mocks the poor insults their Maker; whoever gloats over calamity will not go unpunished.

    it leads to

    • Proverbs 14:31

      Whoever oppresses the poor taunts their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors Him.

Where this verse is studied

About 1 Corinthians

The Last Supper, Leonardo da Vinci, 1495 to 1498. Public domain.
The Last Supper, Leonardo da Vinci, 1495 to 1498. Public domain.
1 Corinthians: the study guide →Read 1 Corinthians 11 →
This page draws on 12 works. Open the list of works

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the First Epistle to the Corinthians; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Ambrosiaster, COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES; Charles Hodge, An Exposition of the First Epistle to the Corinthians; John Chrysostom, Homilies on First Corinthians; John Chrysostom, Homily on 1 Corinthians 27; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on 1 Corinthians and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on 1 Corinthians.

Read on in 1 Corinthians 11 →