ris3n's Apologetics Codex

Passage

1 Corinthians 11.23-26

Book: 1 Corinthians · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

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ASV

21. for in your eating each one taketh before other his own supper; and one is hungry, and another is drunken. 22. 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.

23. For I received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which he was betrayed took bread; 24. and when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, This is my body, which is for you: this do in remembrance of me. 25. In like manner also the cup, after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood: this do, as often as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. 26. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink the cup, ye proclaim the Lord's death till he come.

  1. Wherefore whosoever shall eat the bread or drink the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. 28. But let a man prove himself, and so let him eat of the bread, and drink of the cup. (1 Corinthians 11:21-28, ASV)
WEB

21. For in your eating each one takes his own supper first. One is hungry, and another is drunken. 22. What, don’t you have houses to eat and to drink in? Or do you despise God’s assembly, and put them to shame who don’t have? What shall I tell you? Shall I praise you? In this I don’t praise you.

23. For I received from the Lord that which also I delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night in which he was betrayed took bread. 24. When he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “Take, eat. This is my body, which is broken for you. Do this in memory of me.” 25. In the same way he also took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink, in memory of me.” 26. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

  1. Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks the Lord’s cup in a way unworthy of the Lord will be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. 28. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread, and drink of the cup. (1 Corinthians 11:21-28, WEB)
KJV

21. For in eating every one taketh before other his own supper: and one is hungry, and another is drunken. 22. 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. have not: or, are poor?

23. For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: 24. And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. in: or, for a remembrance 25. After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. 26. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come. ye do: or, shew ye

  1. Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. 28. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. (1 Corinthians 11:21-28, KJV)
YLT

21. for each his own supper doth take before in the eating, and one is hungry, and another is drunk; 22. why, have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? or the assembly of God do ye despise, and shame those not having? what may I say to you? shall I praise you in this? I do not praise!

23. For I, I received from the Lord that which also I did deliver to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which he was delivered up, took bread, 24. and having given thanks, he brake, and said, 'Take ye, eat ye, this is my body, that for you is being broken; this do ye, to the remembrance of me.' 25. In like manner also the cup after the supping, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood; this do ye, as often as ye may drink [it], to the remembrance of me;' 26. for as often as ye may eat this bread, and this cup may drink, the death of the Lord ye do shew forth, till he may come;

  1. so that whoever may eat this bread or may drink the cup of the Lord unworthily, guilty he shall be of the body and blood of the Lord: 28. and let a man be proving himself, and so of the bread let him eat, and of the cup let him drink; (1 Corinthians 11:21-28, YLT)

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Setting

  • Speaker: Paul the Apostle
  • Audience: the church at Corinth, a mixed Jew-and-Gentile congregation in a wealthy Roman colony, fractured over teachers, status, sexual ethics, and the limits of freedom
  • Location: composed in Ephesus, addressed to Corinth
  • Time period: c. AD 55-56

Theological reading

This is the earliest written account of the institution of the Lord's Supper, predating all four Gospels by roughly a decade to two decades. That alone gives it unusual evidential weight, and the transmission language sharpens it: I received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you. The verbs paralambano and paradidomi are the standard pair for the handing on of fixed tradition, the same pair Paul uses in 1 Cor 15:3 to introduce the resurrection creed.

So Paul is not composing here. He is reciting a formula the Corinthians already knew, which he had delivered to them at their founding around AD 50, and which he had himself received earlier still. The account therefore reaches back into the first two decades after the crucifixion and independently corroborates the Synoptic institution narratives, most closely Luke's. See Pre-Pauline Creeds and Minimal Facts Argument.

The theological content is dense. This is my body, which is for you and this cup is the new covenant in my blood place the meal in the covenant framework of Exodus 24 and the new covenant promise of Jeremiah 31, so that the Supper is a covenant-ratification meal rather than a memorial in the thin modern sense. The traditions divide sharply on how this is should be construed, and the Greek settles less than either side usually claims. Verse 26 adds the direction the whole rite points: ye proclaim the Lord's death till he come, which makes the meal a proclamation and an eschatological one.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

Quoted in

Arguments and defeaters:

Concepts:

Lexicon:

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

  • ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
  • WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
  • KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
  • YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.