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1 Corinthians 11 · a question people ask

"it is not the Lord’s supper that you eat" (11:20). Why not?

In the text

The letter goes straight on with For: "For in your eating each one takes his own supper first. One is hungry, and another is drunken." (11:21). Then come its questions: "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 enough?" (11:22). These are the verses' own words. They don't say more of what was eaten or of how the meal went, and these notes add nothing to them, and don't say in their own words what the Lord's supper is.

The verses

“When therefore you assemble yourselves together, it is not the Lord’s supper that you eat. For in your eating each one takes his own supper first. One is hungry, and another is drunken. 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 enough? What shall I tell you? Shall I praise you? In this I don’t praise you.”
1 Corinthians 11:20-22 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of 1 Corinthians 11

1 Corinthians 11: Received from the Lord

The chapter that tells of the Lord Jesus, the bread and the cup (11:23-25) also says of their coming together, "each one takes his own supper first" (11:21), and then, "when you come together to eat, wait for one another" (11:33).

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Last reviewed October 8, 2026. Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions