1 Corinthians 11:17-34 - Improper Conduct At The Lord's Supper

17 But in giving you the following injunction I cannot commend you; for you are the worse, not the better, for assembling together. 18 First of all, in your church-meetings I am told that cliques prevail. And I partly believe it. 19 There must be parties among you, if genuine Christians are to be recognized. 20 But this makes it impossible for you to eat the 'Lord's' supper when you hold your gatherings. 21 As you eat, everyone takes his own supper; one goes hungry while another gets drunk. 22 What! have you no houses to eat and drink in? Do you think you can show disrespect to the church of God and put the poor to shame? What can I say to you? Commend you? Not for this.

23 I passed on to you what I received from the Lord himself, namely, that on the night he was betrayed the Lord Jesus took a loaf, 24 and after thanking God he broke it, saying, 'This means my body broken for you; do this in memory of me.'

25 In the same way he took the cup after supper, saying, 'This cup means the new covenant ratified by my blood; as often as you drink it, do it in memory of me.' 26 For as often as you eat this loaf and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

27 Hence anyone who eats the loaf or drinks the cup of the Lord carelessly, will have to answer for a sin against the body and the blood of the Lord. 28 Let a man test himself; then he can eat from the loaf and drink from the cup. 29 For he who eats and drinks without a proper sense of the Body, eats and drinks to his own condemnation. 30 That is why many of you are ill and infirm, and a number even dead. 31 If we only judged our own lives truly, we would not come under the Lord's judgment. 32 As it is, we are chastened when we are judged by him, so that we may not be condemned along with the world.

33 Well then, my brothers, when you gather for a meal, wait for one another; 34 and if anyone is hungry let him eat at home. You must not gather, only to incur condemnation. I will give you my instructions upon the other matters when I come.