Sunday, October 9, 2016

1 ;Corinthians 11:17-34

1 Corinthians

A new section begins with verse 17 in Chapter 11.
Here, instead of praising them as in verse 2, Paul criticizes some of them for their self-centeredness in connection with their love feast and not recognizing that they are all equal in Christ before God.

(17) BUT in the following instructions, I cannot praise you. For it sounds as if more harm than good is done when you meet together.

  • BUT: In verse 2, Paul praised the Corinthians because they maintained the teachings he passed on to them. But, here in these first six verses, Paul rebukes the Corinthian believers for not treating one another as equals in Christ.
  • More harm than good: Paul is implying it would be better if they'd just eliminate their love feasts and communion if they continued the way they were maintaining their class distinctions in their meetings.
  • Meet together (Greek - sunercomai):
    • The verb translated here “meet together” (sunercomai) is used five times in this passage (verses 17, 18, 20, 33, 34). Here again is the context - in their "church" meetings! In fact, this is what "church meetings" were during the Acts period. Paul would barely recognize many present-day church meetings - especially the ritualistic meetings of the roman and orthodox churches which would more resemble pagan services.

(18) First, I hear that there are divisions among you when you meet as a church, and to some extent I believe it.

  • Divisions (Greek schismata):
    • Instead of treating one another with brotherly love and as equals in Christ, there are divisions among them. What Paul has in mind is a division between those who have more than enough to eat and drink at the Lord’s Supper and those who have insufficient quantities - rich versus poor, free versus slave. This is evident from the contrast in verses 21-22 between the "hungry” and the "drunk".
  • Meet as a church:
    • The word “church” here does not mean, as it frequently does with us, a “building.” No instance of such a use of the word occurs in the New Testament; but it means when they came together as a Christian assembly. The "church" would gather in a home, most likely the home of a wealthy person since it would provide the space and the provisions. The dining room, called the triclinium, averaged to be about 36 square feet with room for about 9-12 people for a meal. A larger room, the atrium, was similar to a courtyard in the house. This area could hold about 30-50 people for a meal. Church meetings of hundreds or thousands would have been unheard of, in contrast to pagan worship in temples. Jesus defines a church meeting in Matthew 18:20: For where two or three gather together as my followers, I am there among them.”

(19) BUT, of course, there must be divisions among you so that you who have God’s approval will be recognized!

  • Divisions (Greek haireseis):
    • The Romans were a society heavily based on social class. Mixing of the classes would have been not only unusual, but strongly criticized - just as Jesus was criticized for eating with rich tax collectors and associating with undesirables. Paul wants the rich and the poor, the free and the slave, the Greek and the Jew, to recognize that they all belong to the body of Christ and are equals before Christ.
    • Ray Stedman: "When Paul speaks of the church 'coming together,' or 'assembling as a church,' he is not primarily talking about a Sunday morning church service. He has in view the agape, the feast of love and of sharing. This grew out of that atmosphere in the early church (described in the Book of Acts) where no one counted anything as belonging to himself alone but shared with others the resources and riches that God had provided so that no one was left out. This rapidly grew into a common meal which they all shared together. We would call it a 'pot luck' supper. (I do not like that term because I do not believe in luck and I am sensitive to the word pot! I prefer "multiple-choice dinners." They are wonderful occasions where everyone brings something, and all share together.) This is what the early church was doing, too. It was a perfectly proper and beautiful thing to do, but unfortunately, here in Corinth it was being spoiled by cliques, by divisions among them. The cliques and divisions that Paul mentions earlier in this letter had ruined the gathering of the church together, so that he could say, as he does here, 'It is not for the better that you come together, but for the worse.' 'You are actually injuring one another and destroying the character of the church by the way you are conducting yourselves at these love feasts which terminate in the celebration of the Lord's table together.'"
    • Paul had already spoken to the problem of divisions among the Corinthian Christians in 1 Corinthians 1:10-17. There, the approach was more theological. Here, the approach is more practical, dealing with the problem of division as it shows itself in the Corinthian Christians during their gatherings.
    • Romans 16:17: And now I make one more appeal, my dear brothers and sisters. Watch out for people who cause divisions and upset people’s faith by teaching things contrary to what you have been taught. Stay away from them.
    • 1 Corinthians 1:10-11: I appeal to you, dear brothers and sisters, by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, to live in harmony with each other. Let there be no divisions in the church. Rather, be of one mind, united in thought and purpose. For some members of Chloe’s household have told me about your quarrels, my dear brothers and sisters.
    • Galatians 3:28: There is no longer Jew nor Gentile, lave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus.
    • Colossians 3:11: In this new life, it doesn't matter if you are a Jew or a Gentile, circumcised or uncircumcised, slave or free. Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us.
    • James 2:1, 9: My dear brothers and sisters, how can you claim to have faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ if you favor some people over others? ... if you favor some people over others, you are committing a sin. You are guilty of breaking the law.

(20) When you meet together, you are not really interested in the Lord’s Supper.

  • The New International Version translates this verse as “When you come together, it is not the Lord’s Supper you eat.” The Amplified Bible reads, “It is not the supper instituted by the Lord that you eat.” The point that Paul made is that the way these Corinthians were observing the Lord’s Supper was not consistent with the way the Lord instructed. So, Paul in this chapter gives the proper method of taking communion, if at all.
  • Meet together:
    • These were the social meals of the early church, called love feasts, followed by the Lord's Supper. According to the Greek custom, each brought his own provisions, and while the rich fared sumptuously, the poor sometimes had little or nothing.
    • Acts 2:42-47: All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer. A deep sense of awe came over them all, and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders. And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need. They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity - all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved.
    • 2 Peter 2:13: Their destruction is their reward for the harm they have done. They love to indulge in evil pleasures in broad daylight. They are a disgrace and a stain among you. They delight in deception even as they eat with you in your fellowship meals.
    • Jude 1:12: When these people eat with you in your fellowship meals commemorating the Lord’s love...
  • The Lord's Supper:
    • The early church enjoyed a meal together before celebrating the Lord’s Supper. The meal was called an agape, a love feast, which has its origin in Acts 2:42-47. Disorders had arisen and now Paul commands that the agape be discontinued.
    • Bob Deffinbaugh: "The second half of chapter 11 deals with misconduct at the Lord’s Table. When the early church met to observe the Lord’s Table, they did so in the midst of a shared (potluck?) meal. It would seem that the rich arrived at church earlier than the poor. Instead of waiting for the poor to arrive before beginning the meal, some of the Corinthians began to gorge themselves with food and wine. By the time the poor arrived, the food was gone, and those who arrived early were drunk. The result was that the Lord’s Table – the most solemn event of the church’s gathering – was conducted in a way that must have been similar to the heathen rituals the Corinthian saints were forbidden to attend. Because of the seriousness of this sin, a number of the Corinthians had become ill, and some had died (11:30). Paul instructs the Corinthians to wait for one another, to search their hearts, and to commemorate the Lord’s Supper in a manner befitting the body and blood of our Lord."

(21) For some of you hurry to eat your own meal without sharing with others. As a result, some go hungry while others get drunk.

  • Hurry to eat:
    • The rich and those who were not slaves could arrive earlier as they had more free time in their day and would eat and get drunk before everyone else showed up!  Further, they would eat all of their food before some of the poor could show up later and share in those meals! The poorer Christian who had to work longer hours couldn't share in the meals because most of the food would be gone even before they showed up.
  • Drunk:
    • Deuteronomy 21:20: The parents must say to the elders, ‘This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious and refuses to obey. He is a glutton and a drunkard.’
    • Proverbs 21:17: Those who love pleasure become poor; those who love wine and luxury will never be rich.
    • Proverbs 23:20-21: Do not carouse with drunkards or feast with gluttons, for they are on their way to poverty, and too much sleep clothes them in rags.
    • Proverbs 23:29-35: Who has anguish? Who has sorrow? Who is always fighting? Who is always complaining? Who has unnecessary bruises? Who has bloodshot eyes? It is the one who spends long hours in the taverns, trying out new drinks. Don’t gaze at the wine, seeing how red it is, how it sparkles in the cup, how smoothly it goes down. For in the end it bites like a poisonous snake; it stings like a viper. You will see hallucinations, and you will say crazy things. You will stagger like a sailor tossed at sea, clinging to a swaying mast. And you will say, “They hit me, but I didn’t feel it. I didn’t even know it when they beat me up. When will I wake up so I can look for another drink?”
    • Proverbs 31:4-5: It is not for kings, O Lemuel, to guzzle wine. Rulers should not crave alcohol. For if they drink, they may forget the law and not give justice to the oppressed.
    • Habakkuk 2:15: What sorrow awaits you who make your neighbors drunk! You force your cup on them so you can gloat over their shameful nakedness.
    • Luke 21:34: “Watch out! Don’t let your hearts be dulled by carousing and drunkenness, and by the worries of this life. Don’t let that day catch you unaware,
    • Romans 13:13-14: Because we belong to the day, we must live decent lives for all to see. Don’t participate in the darkness of wild parties and drunkenness, or in sexual promiscuity and immoral living, or in quarreling and jealousy. Instead, clothe yourself with the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. And don’t let yourself think about ways to indulge your evil desires.
    • Ephesians 5:18:Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit,
    • 1 Thessalonians 5:7-8: Night is the time when people sleep and drinkers get drunk. But let us who live in the light be clearheaded, protected by the armor of faith and love, and wearing as our helmet the confidence of our salvation.

(22) What? Don’t you have your own homes for eating and drinking? Or do you really want to disgrace God’s church and shame the poor? What am I supposed to say? Do you want me to praise you? Well, I certainly will not praise you for this!

  • Shame the poor:
    • Their treatment of the poor, some of whom were probably slaves, would embarrass them and tell them that they weren't welcome. Can you imagine the impact on a poor unbeliever visiting the "church" and seeing the inequality?
    • Barclay: "The early Church was the one place in all the ancient world where the barriers which divided the world were down. The ancient world was very rigidly divided; there were the free men and the slaves; there were the Greeks and the barbarians - the people who did not speak Greek; there were the Jews and the Gentiles; there were the Roman citizens and the lesser breeds without the law; there were the cultured and the ignorant. The Church was the one place where all men could and did come together. . . . A Church where social and class distinctions exist is no true Church at all. A real Church is a body of men and women united to each other because all are united to Christ. A Church is not true Church where the art of sharing is forgotten."
  • Not praise you: Repeated three times in this brief section for emphasis. Paul is pretty upset with the Corinthian Christians about this abuse!

(23) For I pass on to you what I received from the Lord himself. On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took some bread

  • I pass on:
    • 1 Corinthians 15:3: I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said.
    • 2  Thessalonians 2:15: With all these things in mind, dear brothers and sisters, stand firm and keep a strong grip on the teaching we passed on to you both in person and by letter.
  • I received from the Lord himself:
    • WHEN did Paul receive this DIRECTLY from the Lord?
    • Wuest's Word Studies from the Greek: "Paul had doubtless heard the account of the institution of the Lord's Supper from the eleven, but he also had it by revelation from the Lord. He received his gospel by direct revelation in Arabia."
    • 1 Corinthians 15:8: Last of all, as though I had been born at the wrong time, I also saw him.
    • 2 Corinthians 12:2-4, 7: I was caught up to the third heaven fourteen years ago. Whether I was in my body or out of my body, I don’t know - only God knows. Yes, only God knows whether I was in my body or outside my body. But I do know that I was caught up to paradise and heard things so astounding that they cannot be expressed in words, things no human is allowed to tell. ... even though I have received such wonderful revelations from God. So to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud.
    • Galatians 1:12, 17: I received my message from no human source, and no one taught me. Instead, I received it by direct revelation from Jesus Christ. ... Nor did I go up to Jerusalem to consult with those who were apostles before I was. Instead, I went away into Arabia, and later I returned to the city of Damascus.
  • Bread:
    • The unleavened bread used at a Passover meal would have the scorch marks "stripes" and holes from baking that would look like "pierce" marks. In the same way, the body of Jesus was broken for us. He was without sin (as the bread had no leaven), and His body bore stripes and was pierced (as the bread). It definitely looked nothing like the wafer used by the Roman church, which is more like a symbol of the full moon.
      • transubstantiation
      Does the wafer the Pope is holding look like the bread that Jesus broke and distributed to his disciples? Of course not! But, it does look like the full moon.

(24) and gave thanks to God for it. Then he broke it in pieces and said, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

  • Gave thanks: eucharisteo, from which we get the word eucharist. Strong's Greek # 2168.
    • Acts 27:35: Then he took some bread, gave thanks to God before them all, and broke off a piece and ate it.
  • Broke it in pieces:
    • In the Roman church, instead of breaking a loaf of bread, the priest holds up a round wafer. Even in Evangelical churches, there is no actual "breaking the bread in pieces" as part of the tradition - that would be unsanitary. According to the custom of ancient times, bread was broken (by hand), not cut, and the pieces were passed out to share with others at the meal.
  • Is = represents.
  • This is my body:
    • Remember that those at The Lord’s Supper were Jews and the supper was connected with the Jewish feast of the Passover. Jesus is changing the meaning of Passover from not only reminding them of the deliverance of Israel from Egypt, but ‘announcing the Lord’s death until he comes again’, which is further interpreted in 1 Corinthians 5:7 by the words, ‘Christ, OUR PASSOVER LAMB, has been sacrificed for us’.
    • The use of this phrase is in the context of Semitic imagery.  It is completely out of context for the disciples at the Last Supper to have thought that the bread Jesus passed around the table had turned into his flesh.  They could not have understood that when he said “This is my body” that somehow the bread had replaced Jesus’ body or had miraculously somehow become an extension of his body. Other examples of this type of imagery are:
      • John 8:12: “I am the Light of the world.”
      • John 10:7-&:9 “I am the gate.”
      • John 14:6: “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”
      • John 15:1: “I am the true grapevine.”
      • 1 Corinthians 5:7: “Christ, our Passover Lamb.”
      • 1 Corinthians 10:4 “That rock was Christ.”
    • Isaiah 53:12 (KJV): Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
    • John 6:32-63: Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, Moses didn’t give you bread from heaven. My Father did. And now he offers you the true bread from heaven. The true bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” “Sir,” they said, “give us that bread every day.” Jesus replied, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. But you haven’t believed in me even though you have seen me. However, those the Father has given me will come to me, and I will never reject them. For I have come down from heaven to do the will of God who sent me, not to do my own will. And this is the will of God, that I should not lose even one of all those he has given me, but that I should raise them up at the last day. For it is my Father’s will that all who see his Son and believe in him should have eternal life. I will raise them up at the last day.” Then the people began to murmur in disagreement because he had said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” They said, “Isn’t this Jesus, the son of Joseph? We know his father and mother. How can he say, ‘I came down from heaven’?” But Jesus replied, “Stop complaining about what I said. For no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them to me, and at the last day I will raise them up. As it is written in the Scriptures, ‘They will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me. (Not that anyone has ever seen the Father; only I, who was sent from God, have seen him.) “I tell you the truth, anyone who believes has eternal life. Yes, I am the bread of life! Your ancestors ate manna in the wilderness, but they all died. Anyone who eats the bread from heaven, however, will never die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live forever; and this bread, which I will offer so the world may live, is my flesh.” Then the people began arguing with each other about what he meant. “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” they asked. So Jesus said again, “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you cannot have eternal life within you. But anyone who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise that person at the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Anyone who eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. I live because of the living Father who sent me; in the same way, anyone who feeds on me will live because of me. I am the true bread that came down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will not die as your ancestors did (even though they ate the manna) but will live forever.” He said these things while he was teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum. Many of his disciples said, “This is very hard to understand. How can anyone accept it?” Jesus was aware that his disciples were complaining, so he said to them, “Does this offend you? Then what will you think if you see the Son of Man ascend to heaven again? The Spirit alone gives eternal life. Human effort accomplishes nothing. And THE VERY WORDS I HAVE SPOKEN TO YOU ARE SPIRIT AND LIFE.
      • Pay close attention to the last sentence that I put in all-caps - Jesus is explaining His words are SPIRITUAL, not physical!
    • 1 Corinthians 10:16b: “And when we break the bread, aren’t we sharing in the body of Christ?”
  • Teaching on the Lord's Supper by various religious groups:
    • Roman Catholicism:
      • In the Roman church's teaching of the Eucharist (from Greek "eucharistia", meaning "thanksgiving"), the body is miraculously transformed into the body of Christ, which is termed transubstantiation. If that were actually physically true, what does one do with Jesus' saying that he was "the door" or "the gate" - is His body physically also a door?
      • The Council of Trent (1545-1563): "If anyone denies that the body and blood, together with the soul and divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ and, therefore, the whole Christ is truly, really, and substantially contained in the sacrament of the most holy Eucharist, but says that Christ is present in the Sacrament only as in a sign or figure, or by his power: let him be anathema. ... If anyone says that Christ present in the Eucharist is only spiritually eaten and not sacramentally and really as well: let him be anathema. ... If anyone denies that each and everyone of Christ's faithful of both sexes, is bound, when he reaches the age of reason, to receive Communion at least every year during the Paschal season according to the command of holy Mother Church: let him be anathema."
      • Some contend that "hocus-pocus" is a play on the words in the Latin mass "hoc est corpus" during transubstantiation.
      • The Roman Catholic priest raises the "host" up high at the climax of the Mass. He then speaks the mystical Latin words, which mean, "This is my Body." In the modern Mass the priest may say, "Behold your Lord." The wine is also supposed to become the literal blood of Jesus. In this way, the priests of Rome create and kill Jesus every time they do the Mass.
    • The Eastern Catholic, Oriental Orthodox and Eastern Orthodox Churches agree that the bread and wine truly and actually become the body and blood of Christ.
    • Martin Luther held the idea of consubstantiation, which teaches the bread remains bread and the wine remains wine, but by faith they are the same as Jesus' actual body. Luther did not believe in the Roman Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation, but he did not go far from it. He said, "It is not the doctrine of transubstantiation which is to be believed, but simply that Christ really is present at the Eucharist. ... transubstantiation — certainly, a monstrous word for a monstrous idea".
    • John Calvin taught that Jesus' presence in the bread and wine was real, but only spiritual, not physical.
    • Zwingli, the Swiss reformer, taught that the bread and wine are mere symbols that represent the body and blood of Jesus.
    • The 39 articles of 1563, the Church of England declared: "Transubstantiation (or the change of the substance of Bread and Wine) in the Supper of the Lord, cannot be proved by holy Writ; but is repugnant to the plain words of Scripture, overthroweth the nature of a Sacrament, and hath given occasion to many superstitions".
    • Most Protestants believe there are two ordinances, baptism and the Lord's Supper. A few Protestant groups include "foot-washing" as a third ordinance on the basis of John 13:12-17 (e.g., the Grace Brethren, some Mennonites and others).
    • Baptists usually use the term “ordinances” rather than “sacraments” when referring to baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Baptists consistently declare that baptism and the Lord’s Supper are symbols and are not necessary for salvation. In eating the bread and drinking from the cup, a person does not actually partake of Christ’s flesh and blood. Rather, it is an opportunity to obey a command of Christ and to recall his sacrifice for us, his presence with us and his certain return (1 Corinthians 11:24-28).
    • Quaker theology rejects outward observances as unchristian and unspiritual. Thomas Clarkson writes in his book, Quaker Baptism: "... baptism and the supper were both of them outward Jewish ceremonies, connected with the Jewish religion." (www.worldspirituality.org/quaker-baptism.html).
    • Acts 9 & 13 Dispensationalists do not observe water baptism, but most do observe the Lord's Supper (communion).
    • Most Acts 28 Dispensationalists observe none of the ordinances believing they are strictly for Israel and have been done away with as mentioned in Ephesians 2:15 and Colossians 2:14.
      • Charles Welch: "We note that we find mention of the Lord’s Supper in those Scriptures written before the beginning of this dispensation of grace which began at Acts 28:28, but not even a hint of it afterwards. The Lord’s Supper is connected with the Jewish feast of the Passover, and by reading 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 we see that henceforth this feast was not merely to remind them of the deliverance from Egypt, but to ‘show the Lord’s death till He come’, which is further interpreted in 1 Corinthians 5:7 by the words, ‘For even Christ our Passover hath been sacrificed for us’. Both Matthew 26 and 1 Corinthians 11, tell us that the wine typified the ‘blood of the new covenant’. What is this new covenant? The New Covenant is related to a greater, though parallel, exodus than that from Egypt, that it is specifically connected with the future gathering of Israel back to their land, and that the church of the Mystery of Ephesians 3 finds no place therein whatsoever. In Matthew 26, the Lord Jesus looks forward to ‘that day’, to ‘His Father’s kingdom’; the kingdom in which the Father’s will shall be done on earth; ‘I appoint unto you a kingdom, as My Father hath appointed unto Me; that ye may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel’ (Luke 22:29,30). Where in all this is room and place for, or hint of, the church of the Mystery? When we pass the dispensational boundary of Acts 28 we read in Ephesians not of the kingdom of the heavens, nor of the kingdom of the Father, but of ‘the kingdom of Christ and of God’ (Ephesians 5:5). In Colossians 1:13 we read, ‘The kingdom of the Son of His love’ (R.V.), which is in operation now, and is entirely distinct from the kingdom that hinges upon the restoration of Israel. We search in vain for the faintest allusion to the ordinances in the epistles written after Acts 28. If we read 1 Timothy, we find the apostle giving Timothy detailed instructions, that he may know how to behave in the house of God. The apostle repeats some of his instructions regarding the ministry of women (e.g. 1 Timothy 2 and 1 Corinthians 11:1-17), and yet, although the Lord’s Supper is the very next item in 1 Corinthians 11, he finds no place for it in his instruction to Timothy. The simple reason is that when the kingdom became in abeyance, everything connected therewith necessarily went with it. Spiritual gifts, the Lord’s Supper, the covenants, all went with the kingdom teaching. The apostle was then commissioned to set out the new economy. To him was the grace given ‘to make all men see what is the dispensation of the Mystery which from all ages hath been hid in God’ (Ephesians 3:9 R.V.). Is it not striking then that the Lord’s Supper, so fully described and enjoined in Matthew, the kingdom gospel, is omitted by John who above all should have taught it if he had a message for believers today? It is not as though the feast does not come into the subject of his writing. It does. John 13 tells of the betrayal and many incidents which took place at that supper. This omission must not be lightly set aside; it adds its weight to the evidence we seek to bring from the Word on this important subject. We have seen that the Lord’s Supper is the memorial feast of the New Covenant. The people with whom that New Covenant was made, are the people of Israel, the Gentile participating only as a wild graft ‘contrary to nature’, during the period covered by the Acts."
      • If we believe the Lord's Supper and water baptism belong to this present dispensation, why not spiritual gifts, tongues, miracles?
  • In remembrance of me:
    • This refers to remembering what his body was for. It was a sacrifice for sins. Hebrews 10:19-21 (NIV): – “living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body.”

(25) In the same way, he took the cup of wine after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant between God and his people - an agreement confirmed with my blood. Do this in remembrance of me as often as you drink it.”

  • Cup of wine:
    • In the Jewish ritual meal of Passover, there are four times everyone is to have a drink of wine together. The third drink, the cup of redemption, is for Jews to remember their collective redemption by God and the fact they were saved from slavery. We know that this is the "third" cup is right after the Passover meal and Luke emphasized that fact in Luke 22:20.  (The fourth cup is used to remember God will return to the world one day and the fact He will "wrap up life as we know it" one day.)
    • Luke 22:20: After supper he took another cup of wine and said, “This cup is the new covenant between God and his people - an agreement confirmed with my blood, which is poured out as a sacrifice for you.
  • "After supper" suggests that Jesus distributed the bread before the meal and the wine after the meal. This was probably the pattern that the Corinthian Christians were following when some ate their fill while others went hungry.
  • New covenant:
    • The word "covenant" in Greek is diathéké - Strong's # 1242 defined as a covenant between two parties, (the ordinary, everyday sense [found a countless number of times in papyri]) a will, testament.
    • What is this new covenant? Is it connected with the Mystery hidden since the age-times and revealed to the Gentiles by Paul after the Acts period ended in Acts 28:28? Let us turn to Jeremiah 31. The one reference to a covenant in Ephesians 2:12 refers back to ‘the time past’ when these Ephesian believers were aliens and strangers, or at most guests, with regard to the ‘covenants of the promise’. No covenant is ever mentioned in relation to the ‘church which is His body’. There is a promise and a purpose given before the age-time (Titus 1:1-3), but not a covenant old or new. The new covenant is God’s gracious provision for the very people who failed under the old covenant - ISRAEL.
    • What is the new covenant all about and with whom was the covenant?
      • It is about an inner transformation, that cleanses from all sin: I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins. (Jeremiah 31:34)
      • It is about God's Word and will: I will put my instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts. (Jeremiah 31:33)
      • It is about a new, close, relationship with God: I will be their God, and they will be my people. (Jeremiah 31:33)
      • It was with Israel: The day is coming,” says the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah. (Jeremiah 31:31). I suggest reading Jeremiah chapters 30 & 31 all the way through to understand the context of the "new covenant".
    • Of the 33 usages of diathéké in the New Testament, more than half (17) occur in the book of Hebrews. This should not be surprising since the covenants belonged to the Jews. The key word of the book of Hebrews is “better.” Hebrews teaches the New Covenant is better than the Old (Mosaic) Covenant. Of the 17 verses in which diathéké occurs, 5 are direct quotes from the Old Testament prophets about God’s promise to establish a New Covenant with national Israel. Jesus initiated the establishment of the New Covenant at the last supper. The Twelve disciples were representatives of the nation since the Lord had promised they would rule over the nation (Matthew 19:28). But while the Lord inaugurated the New Covenant, it has not yet taken full effect. For that to occur Israel must repent. The covenants belonged to Israel alone – Gentiles had no part of them.
    • Jeremiah 31:31-34, 38-40: “The day is coming,” says the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah.  This covenant will not be like the one I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand and brought them out of the land of Egypt. They broke that covenant, though I loved them as a husband loves his wife,” says the Lord. “But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel after those days,” says the Lord. “I will put my instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. And they will not need to teach their neighbors, nor will they need to teach their relatives, saying, ‘You should know the Lord.’ For everyone, from the least to the greatest, will know me already,” says the Lord. “And I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins.” ... “The day is coming,” says the Lord, “when all Jerusalem will be rebuilt for me, from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate. A measuring line will be stretched out over the hill of Gareb and across to Goah. And the entire area - including the graveyard and ash dump in the valley, and all the fields out to the Kidron Valley on the east as far as the Horse Gate - will be holy to the Lord. The city will never again be captured or destroyed.”
      • So, when is the day that "is coming" from Jeremiah's viewpoint. Notice this new covenant replaces the old covenant given in the wilderness - between God and ISRAEL!
    • Romans 9:4: They are the people of Israel, chosen to be God’s adopted children. God revealed his glory to them. He made covenants with them and gave them his law. He gave them the privilege of worshiping him and receiving his wonderful promises.
    • Romans 11:25-27: I want you to understand this mystery, dear brothers and sisters, so that you will not feel proud about yourselves. Some of the people of Israel have hard hearts, but this will last only until the full number of Gentiles comes to Christ. And so all Israel will be saved. As the Scriptures say, “The one who rescues will come from Jerusalem, and he will turn Israel away from ungodliness. And this is my covenant with them, that I will take away their sins.”
    • 2 Corinthians 3:6: He has enabled us to be ministers of his new covenant. This is a covenant not of written laws, but of the Spirit. The old written covenant ends in death; but under the new covenant, the Spirit gives life.
    • Galatians 3:15-18: Dear brothers and sisters, here’s an example from everyday life. Just as no one can set aside or amend an irrevocable agreement, so it is in this case. God gave the promises to Abraham and his child. And notice that the Scripture doesn’t say “to his children,” as if it meant many descendants. Rather, it says “to his child” - and that, of course, means Christ. This is what I am trying to say: The agreement God made with Abraham could not be canceled 430 years later when God gave the law to Moses. God would be breaking his promise. For if the inheritance could be received by keeping the law, then it would not be the result of accepting God’s promise. But God graciously gave it to Abraham as a promise.
    • Galatians 4:24-26: These two women serve as an illustration of God’s two covenants. The first woman, Hagar, represents Mount Sinai where people received the law that enslaved them. And now Jerusalem is just like Mount Sinai in Arabia, because she and her children live in slavery to the law. But the other woman, Sarah, represents the heavenly Jerusalem. She is the free woman, and she is our mother.
    • Ephesians 2:11-12: Don’t forget that you Gentiles used to be outsiders. You were called “uncircumcised heathens” by the Jews, who were proud of their circumcision, even though it affected only their bodies and not their hearts. In those days you were living apart from Christ. You were excluded from citizenship among the people of Israel, and you did not know the covenant promises God had made to them. You lived in this world without God and without hope.
    • Hebrews 8:10; 10:16: But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel on that day, says the Lord: I will put my laws in their minds, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. ... “This is the new covenant I will make with my people on that day, says the Lord: I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.”
      • Notice in Jeremiah and confirmed in Hebrews that the new covenant (testament) is WITH ISRAEL!
  • Confirmed with my blood:
    • Exodus 24:8: Then Moses took the blood from the basins and splattered it over the people, declaring, “Look, this blood confirms the covenant the Lord has made with you in giving you these instructions.”

(26) For every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are announcing the Lord’s death until he comes again.

  • For returns us to Paul’s words to the Corinthians. Paul now gives his reason for quoting the tradition he handed down to the Corinthians.
  • Comes again:
    • During the Acts period , the coming of the Lord was imminent as practically all the early epistles clearly teach (cp. Acts 3:19-26). Paul expected to see and participate in this great event. Therefore this supper was a proclamation of the nearness and reality of his return. This sacrificial meal then linked both the comings together. While the Lord's Supper does look back to what Jesus did on the cross, it also looks forward to the return of Jesus, and the marriage supper of the Lamb (Revelation 19:9). In Matthew 26:29, Jesus spoke of His longing expectation for the day when He would take communion with His people in heaven, which is the ultimate Lord's Supper.
    • Matthew 26:29: Mark my words - I will not drink wine again until the day I drink it new with you in my Father’s Kingdom.”
    • Acts 3:19-26 (Peter speaking on Pentecost): Now repent of your sins and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped away. Then times of refreshment will come from the presence of the Lord, and he will again send you Jesus, your appointed Messiah. For he must remain in heaven until the time for the final restoration of all things, as God promised long ago through his holy prophets. Moses said, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from among your own people. Listen carefully to everything he tells you.’ Then Moses said, ‘Anyone who will not listen to that Prophet will be completely cut off from God’s people.’ “Starting with Samuel, every prophet spoke about what is happening today. You are the children of those prophets, and you are included in the covenant God promised to your ancestors. For God said to Abraham, ‘Through your descendants all the families on earth will be blessed.’ When God raised up his servant, Jesus, he sent him first to you people of Israel, to bless you by turning each of you back from your sinful ways.”
    • Revelation 19:9: And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding feast of the Lamb.” And he added, “These are true words that come from God.”

(27) SO anyone who eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord unworthily is guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord.

  • SO:
    • The opening word “SO” indicates that Paul is now resuming his main discussion from 11:22 about their disgraceful conduct in their love feasts and communion. The sin of the Corinthians, for which divine discipline was imposed, was related to the manner in which the Lord’s Supper was observed.
  • This cup:1 Corinthians 10:21: You cannot drink from the cup of the Lord and from the cup of demons, too. You cannot eat at the Lord’s Table and at the table of demons, too.
  • Unworthily:
    • We can never really make ourselves "worthy" of what Jesus did for us on the cross. He did it because of His great love, not because some of us were so worthy.

(28) That is why you should examine yourself before eating the bread and drinking the cup.

  • Examine is dokimazo. It means to examine and to approve after examination. This word refers to testing metals of a coin to see if they are genuine. In this case, when dokimazo is applied to the believer in Jesus Christ, that believer should examine himself to see if he is what he says he is.
  • Eating the bread: Notice the reference to “eating the bread” and not to “eating the body.”  Another verse that undermines the concept of transubstantiation.

(29) For if you eat the bread or drink the cup without honoring the body of Christ, you are eating and drinking God’s judgment upon yourself.

  • Honoring the body:
    • David Guzik: "The words not discerning the Lord's body have been used by Roman Catholics to support their doctrine of transubstantiation. Their thinking is, "see, the Corinthians did not understand they were actually receiving the real body and the real blood of Jesus, and that is why they were guilty." But this is a very narrow foundation, that a huge building has been built upon! It is just as easy - and just as valid - to see the Lord's body as a reference to the church family, and it was the lack of respect and love for the church family that was causing the problems of selfishness among the Corinthian Christians."
    • “Honoring the body” means not to honor or recognize his death. “Honoring” is the word “dokimazo” which was translated "examine" in verse 28.
    • This is not a reference to the bread but to what the bread represents – the death of the Lord.
  • Judgment Krima  - Strong's Greek # 2917:
    • Reconnects with Paul's presentation of the judgment on Israel because of their sins and all but two died - just as in verse 30.
    • Paul is not referring to eternal judgment, but to corrective judgment. There is no article "the" before "judgment," so it is not the judgment. So this chastening is not a judge condemning a criminal; it is a father dealing with disobedient children.
    • 1 Peter 4:17: For the time has come for judgment, and it must begin with God’s household. And if judgment begins with us, what terrible fate awaits those who have never obeyed God’s Good News?

(30) That is why many of you are weak and sick and some have even died.

  • Sick:
    • Even in a church such as Corinth that had the gift of healing (12:9, 28) the members were still sick and dying.
  • Died:
    • As mentioned in 1 John 5:16, there is sin leading to death, and Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5 seem to be examples of this. Apparently, a believer can sin to the point where God believes it is just best to bring them home, probably because they have in some way compromised their testimony so significantly that they should just come on home to God. Hopefully, no one in my studies, including myself, or reading this study would ever sin to that point.

(31) BUT if we would examine ourselves, we would not be judged by God in this way.

  • Examine ourselves:
    • If the believers at Corinth would only turn the searchlight of judgment upon themselves instead of on others, they would have disciplined themselves and avoided the Lord having to discipline them, although this discipline, even if severe, was better than being condemned with the unsaved world around them.

(32) Yet when we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned along with the world.

  • Disciplined:
    • Hebrews 12:8-11: If God doesn’t discipline you as he does all of his children, it means that you are illegitimate and are not really his children at all. Since we respected our earthly fathers who disciplined us, shouldn’t we submit even more to the discipline of the Father of our spirits, and live forever? For our earthly fathers disciplined us for a few years, doing the best they knew how. But God’s discipline is always good for us, so that we might share in his holiness. No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening - it’s painful! But afterward there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way.
  • Not condemned:
    • This makes it clear Paul knew none of the Corinthian Christians - even those who had died as a result of God's corrective judgment - had lost their salvation. They were chastened so that they would not be condemned with the world.

(33) SO, my dear brothers and sisters, when you gather for the Lord’s Supper, wait for each other.

  • Wait Greek - ekdechomai:
    • The phrase translated “wait for each other” more likely means “welcome one another.” If the Corinthians merely “wait for one another” the problem is not corrected because there is no real love or fellowship between the individual believers and the Lord. The poor are without food and are not treated as equals in Christ. Paul is instructing the Corinthians to receive each other as equals in Christ.

(34) If you are really hungry, eat at home so you won’t bring judgment upon yourselves when you meet together. I’ll give you instructions about the other matters after I arrive.

  • After I arrive: Paul knows he isn't dealing with the whole issue here. There is more to say, but Paul will leave it for another time.

NOTES:

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