Charles Ellicott Commentary 1 Corinthians 11:22

"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." — 1 Corinthians 11:22 (ASV)

What? have ye not houses . . .?—It is better understood as, Surely it is not that you have no houses to eat and drink in? This cannot be the explanation for their conduct, because they have houses where they can enjoy their proper meals. Hunger and thirst, which can be satisfied at home, therefore, cannot explain their conduct at the charity-feasts. The only other alternative explanation, then, is that they despise an assembly that is the Church of God; and they put to shame those poor members—who undoubtedly were the majority—who do not have houses in which to eat and drink and have gathered in this common assembly of Christians to share in the food that the wealthier members ought to contribute.

The shame that a poor man will feel when the rich come to these feasts bringing supplies for their own private use, and not for general distribution, will arise both from the striking contrast that will become all the more vivid as his poverty is brought into such direct contact with the wealth of the rich, and from the evident dislike of the rich to share a common meal with the poor.

Thus, through the misconduct of the wealthier Christians, these assemblies will have precisely the opposite result from what they were intended to accomplish. It will be an assembly in one place, but not to share one supper—even that which is dedicated to the Lord.

The Apostle asks indignantly whether such conduct can be included in the list (see 1 Corinthians 11:17) of those things for which he can praise them. Then, in the following verses, he shows how such conduct cannot be worthy of praise, since it is entirely at variance with the solemn and sacred circumstances in which the Lord’s Supper originated.