Now in this that I declare unto you I praise you not, that ye come together not for the better, but for the worse.
Paul was an apostle and early church leader who wrote letters to congregations across the ancient world. This verse opens his sharp rebuke of the church in Corinth — a wealthy, socially stratified city in ancient Greece — about how they were practicing the Lord's Supper. The Lord's Supper is a shared meal Jesus instituted with his disciples the night before his crucifixion, instructing them to eat and drink together in remembrance of him. The Corinthian church had turned this sacred practice into something that exposed and entrenched their social divisions — wealthy members eating lavishly while poorer ones went without. Paul is blunt and unsparing: their gatherings were doing more spiritual damage than good.
God, forgive me for the times I have gone through the motions of worship while ignoring the people sitting next to me. Show me where my community causes more harm than good, and give me courage to be part of changing it. Amen.
Imagine someone telling your church, point-blank: "Your worship services are making things worse." That is essentially what Paul says here, and the bluntness of it should stop us cold. The Corinthians were gathering in Jesus's name, saying the right words, going through the motions — and Paul says it was doing more harm than good. Not because the liturgy was wrong. Because the relationships behind it were fractured, and the poor were being left out in the cold. This verse presses uncomfortable questions on any community that gathers in God's name. Is what happens among you making people more whole — or are people leaving more wounded, more invisible, more divided than when they arrived? Gathering in Jesus's name does not automatically sanctify what happens there. The uncomfortable truth is that religion can dress up existing social hierarchies and make them feel sacred. What would it take for your community — your small group, your church, your family dinner table — to be a space where everyone actually counts?
What does it tell us about the Lord's Supper that Paul considers it serious enough to condemn an entire church's gatherings over? What does that say about how much weight this practice carries?
Have you ever been in a church or Christian community where the gatherings felt like they were causing more harm than good? What did that look like, and how did it affect your faith?
Paul's specific critique here is about social inequality — the wealthy eating well while the poor went without. Where do you see similar dynamics playing out in churches or Christian communities today?
How do you think about the relationship between worship practices — songs, rituals, prayers — and the way a community actually treats its most vulnerable members? Can one be right without the other?
What is one thing you could do in your own faith community to help ensure that people on the margins feel genuinely included, not just theoretically welcomed?
And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight.
Acts 20:7
Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him.
Leviticus 19:17
Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.
Hebrews 10:25
Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.
Isaiah 58:1
For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same:
Romans 13:3
Now I praise you, brethren, that ye remember me in all things, and keep the ordinances, as I delivered them to you.
1 Corinthians 11:2
Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high.
Isaiah 58:4
When ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's supper.
1 Corinthians 11:20
But in giving this next instruction, I do not praise you, because when you meet together it is not for the better but for the worse.
AMP
But in the following instructions I do not commend you, because when you come together it is not for the better but for the worse.
ESV
But in giving this instruction, I do not praise you, because you come together not for the better but for the worse.
NASB
The Lord’s Supper In the following directives I have no praise for you, for your meetings do more harm than good.
NIV
Now in giving these instructions I do not praise you, since you come together not for the better but for the worse.
NKJV
But in the following instructions, I cannot praise you. For it sounds as if more harm than good is done when you meet together.
NLT
Regarding this next item, I'm not at all pleased. I am getting the picture that when you meet together it brings out your worst side instead of your best!
MSG