1 Corinthians 11:17

But in giving you this charge, I praise you not, that ye come together not for the better but for the worse. For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that divisions exist among you; and I partly believe it.

When ye come together ... is a reference to the formal assembly of the congregation for worship as a body, the corporate worship, as it is sometimes called.

Not for the better but for the worse ... Not merely were their assemblies so disordered and perverted as to deny all benefit to the worshipers, but they were actually productive of harm, so much so that those attending were actually worse off for having participated.

When ye come together in the church ... divisions ... Paul had already discussed the shameful schisms, or parties, that had become prevalent in Corinth; and it seems here that he is referring to the intrusion of this party spirit into the worship itself, but especially to the manifestation of that spirit in the common meal that in those times was held before the Lord's Supper and in close connection with it. As Alexander Campbell said:

There can be no doubt that the Eucharist at this period (shortly after Pentecost) was preceded uniformly by a common repast, as when the ordinance was instituted. Most scholars hold that this was the prevailing usage in the first centuries after Christ; and we have traces of this practice in 1 Corinthians 11:20ff.[38]