1 Corinthians 11:17-34

Contemporary English Version

Rules for the Lord's Supper

¹⁷ Your worship services do you more harm than good. I am certainly not going to praise you for this. ¹⁸ I am told you can't get along with each other when you worship, and I am sure that some of what I have heard is true. ¹⁹ You are bound to argue with each other, but it is easy to see which of you have God's approval.

²⁰ When you meet together, you don't really celebrate the Lord's Supper. ²¹ You even start eating before everyone gets to the meeting, and some of you go hungry, while others get drunk. ²² Don't you have homes where you can eat and drink? Do you hate God's church? Do you want to embarrass people who don't have anything? What can I say to you? I certainly cannot praise you.

The Lord's Supper

(Matthew 26.26-29; Mark 14.22-25; Luke 22.14-20)

²³ I have already told you what the Lord Jesus did on the night he was betrayed. And it came from the Lord himself.

He took some bread in his hands. ²⁴ Then after he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is given for you. Eat this and remember me.”

^25 (A) After the meal, Jesus took a cup of wine in his hands and said, “This is my blood, and with it God makes his new agreement with you. Drink this and remember me.”

²⁶ The Lord meant that when you eat this bread and drink from this cup, you tell about his death until he comes.

²⁷ But if you eat the bread and drink the wine in a way that isn't worthy of the Lord, you sin against his body and blood. ²⁸ This is why you must examine the way you eat and drink. ²⁹ If you fail to understand that you are the body of the Lord, you will condemn yourselves by the way you eat and drink. ³⁰ This is why many of you are sick and weak and why a lot of others have died. ³¹ If we carefully judge ourselves, we won't be punished. ³² But when the Lord judges and punishes us, he does it to keep us from being condemned with the rest of the world.

³³ My dear friends, you should wait until everyone gets there before you start eating. ³⁴ If you really are hungry, you can eat at home. Then you won't condemn yourselves when you meet together.

After I arrive, I will instruct you about the other matters.