Knox Bible

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Follow my example, then, as I follow the example of Christ.

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I must needs praise you for your constant memory of me, for upholding your traditions just as I handed them on to you.

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And here is something you must know. The head to which a wife is united is her husband, just as the head to which every man is united is Christ; so, too, the head to which Christ is united is God.✻

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And whereas any man who keeps his head covered when he prays or utters prophecy brings shame upon his head,

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a woman brings shame upon her head if she uncovers it to pray or prophesy; she is no better than the woman who has her head shaved.✻

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If a woman would go without a veil, why does she not cut her hair short too? If she admits that a woman is disgraced when her hair is cut short or shaved, then let her go veiled.

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A man has no need to veil his head; he is God’s image, the pride of his creation, whereas the wife is the pride of her husband.

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(The woman takes her origin from the man, not the man from the woman;✻

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and indeed, it was not man that was created for woman’s sake, but woman for man’s.)

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And for that reason the woman ought to have authority over her head, for the angels’ sake.✻

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(Not that, in the Lord’s service, man has his place apart from woman, or woman hers apart from man;

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if woman takes her origin from man, man equally comes to birth through woman. And indeed all things have their origin in God.)

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Judge for yourselves; is it fitting that a woman should offer prayer to God unveiled?

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Does not nature itself teach you that, whereas it is a disgrace to a man to wear his hair long,

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when a woman grows her hair long, it is an added grace to her? That is because her hair has been given her to take the place of a veil.

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And if anyone is prepared to argue the matter, he must know that no such custom is found among us, or in any of God’s churches.✻

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And here is a warning I have for you. I can give you no praise for holding your assemblies in a way that does harm, not good.

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From the first, when you meet in church, there are divisions among you; so I hear, and in some measure believe it.

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Parties there must needs be among you, so that those who are true metal may be distinguished from the rest.

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And when you assemble together, there is no opportunity to eat a supper of the Lord;

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each comer hastens to eat the supper he has brought for himself, so that one man goes hungry, while another has drunk deep.

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Have you no homes to eat and drink in, that you should shew contempt to God’s church, and shame the poor? Praise you? There is no room for praise here.

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The tradition which I received from the Lord, and handed on to you, is that the Lord Jesus, on the night when he was being betrayed, took bread,

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and gave thanks, and broke it, and said, Take, eat; this is my body, given up for you. Do this for a commemoration of me.✻

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And so with the cup, when supper was ended, This cup, he said, is the new testament, in my blood. Do this, whenever you drink it, for a commemoration of me.

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So it is the Lord’s death that you are heralding, whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, until he comes.

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And therefore, if anyone eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord unworthily, he will be held to account for the Lord’s body and blood.

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A man must examine himself first, and then eat of that bread and drink of that cup;

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he is eating and drinking damnation to himself if he eats and drinks unworthily, not recognizing the Lord’s body for what it is.✻

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That is why many of your number want strength and health, and not a few have died.✻

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If we recognized our own fault, we should not incur these judgements;

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as it is, the Lord judges us and chastises us, so that we may not incur, as this world incurs, damnation.

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So, brethren, when you assemble to eat together, wait for one another;

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those who are hungry had best eat at home, for fear that your meeting should bring you condemnation. The other questions I will settle when I come.✻