1Cor 10:14-17 | KingComments | STEP | Here Paul starts with a new issue. Up until now he has spoken about the church as a house where God dwells. Because God dwells there, He has the right to say how believers should behave there. It is His house after all, isn’t it? When things happen in the church that do not please Him, He points out how to deal with them. In chapter 5 you have read about a clear example regarding such a case. There it is written that the evil person has to be removed ( ). The issue Paul starts with now is still connected to the church. But here the church is no longer presented as a house, but as a body. In you read about “one body”. We will see what that means soon. . First another thing about : This verse connects to the previous part. Actually it is a kind of summary of . In the previous verses it is made clear that idolatry is something that takes your eyes off of God and Christ. It is something that takes Their place. The meaning of that ‘something’ is often different for each child of God. Apparently you know for yourself which things can so easily bring a distance between you and God. But the call “flee” is the same for each child of God. He who lets himself be dragged down in any way by idolatry, cannot partake in the blessings which are the result of “a sharing in” or better “the communion of” the blood of Christ. . In the case of the Corinthians, it was the tendency of going back to the idol temples. Besides, they also could fool themselves, now they were Christians, that an idol was nothing. That, however, was a mistake. You cannot participate in religious, idolatrous rituals without denying your position as a Christian. That was something the Corinthians had to think about very carefully. Paul addressed them as “wise men”, which means people who were able to judge what they were doing. . The absurdity of their participation in the service of idols is most visible in the presentation of their communion, which they have as Christians. As Christians they celebrated the Lord’s Supper every first day of the week. Thereby they made use of a cup and bread, as the Lord Jesus told them. You can read about the institution of the Lord’s Supper by the Lord Jesus in the Gospels ( ; ; ). Also in the next chapter of this letter you read about it ( ). The emphasis there is that the Lord’s Supper is a meal of remembrance. When we eat of the bread and drink of the wine, we do that in remembrance of what the Lord has done on earth. We think of Him and we do that in remembrance of Him . In the study of chapter 11 I will tell you more about this special event. In chapter 10 that lies before you, another aspect is highlighted. The issue here is that by partaking of the Lord’s Supper, you have communion of the blood and the body of Christ. Of course I don’t know whether you already partake of the Lord’s Supper. In case you don’t yet partake, I do hope you soon will. Of course the reason should not be just ‘to belong to the fellowship’, but out of love for the Lord Jesus because He invites you. It is important to examine where you should do that. To be able to do that you should discover if the place where you want to partake of the Lord’s Supper, is a place where the practice is according to what is written here. In the first place it is: Do you recognize if they gather there, it is to express the communion of Christ’s blood and of Christ’s body? That is what says. Second: Do you recognize that they gather there as a unity, as it is expressed in ‘the one bread’? That is what says. You might find it difficult, which is understandable. You ought to make some efforts to become aware of these aspects. Therefore it is not for nothing that Paul addresses them as wise men. These are not things you talk about with little children. The partaking of the Lord’s Supper by little children is therefore not according to God’s thoughts. He who partakes of the Lord’s Supper, needs to have some awareness of what he is doing. I will try to clarify that a little bit more. The word ‘share’ or better ‘communion’ that occurs often in this part, means ‘to be partakers of something together’. You share something with others. Before you knew the Lord Jesus, you shared the things in the world with your friends. You partook of their pleasures, you feasted with them. Now you have other people, your brothers and sisters in Christ, with whom you share in blessings that have become your share also because you know the Lord Jesus. That communion has been made possible through the blood of Christ. It is the communion of His blood. Through the blood you have been reconciled with God. Your sins have been taken away forever. All who hide behind the blood ( ), which means whose sins are covered before God through faith in the blood, partake of that communion. All who have no share in the blood of Christ are outside of that communion. The blood is mentioned here first because it is the basis of the communion. When subsequently the bread is spoken about, you see there the communion of the body of Christ. The expression “the body of Christ” has two meanings. The first meaning is the physical body of Christ, which is His body in which He was on earth and in which He bore our sins. The second meaning is the figurative body of Christ, which is the church, to which all true believers belong. When we break the bread we first think of His body that He surrendered into death. We admire collectively, that is together or with one another, that precious body with which He glorified God. That means that we admire His Person. Christ has come in the body that God had prepared for Him when He came into the world ( ). That is also in remembrance of the fact that the church has come into being because He gave His body into death. A beautiful picture of that you find in Genesis 2 ( ). God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, a death sleep so to speak. Then God took one of Adam’s ribs and built him a woman out of that rib. When He brought Eve to Adam, Adam says: “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh.” This is how you can recognize in the church the body of Christ. Therefore we break the bread in remembrance of both the body that Christ gave into death and of the church that has come into being through His death. . In this verse the issue is obviously the church. It is about us, “we who are many”. All who belong to the church are allowed to show that by partaking of the one bread. Thereby you may say that it is ‘inclusive’, which means they who are included, who belong to the body. You may also say that it is ‘exclusive’, which means that it excludes everyone who doesn’t belong to the body. It is inclusive because it is for all who really belong to the church. It is exclusive because the Lord’s Supper has no room for unbelievers and for believers who live in sin or don’t exercise discipline on it. Now read 1 Corinthians 10:14-17 again. Reflection: Do you already partake of that one bread?

‏ 1 Corinthians 10:14-17

One Bread, One Body

Here Paul starts with a new issue. Up until now he has spoken about the church as a house where God dwells. Because God dwells there, He has the right to say how believers should behave there. It is His house after all, isn’t it? When things happen in the church that do not please Him, He points out how to deal with them. In chapter 5 you have read about a clear example regarding such a case. There it is written that the evil person has to be removed (1Cor 5:13b).

The issue Paul starts with now is still connected to the church. But here the church is no longer presented as a house, but as a body. In 1Cor 10:17 you read about “one body”. We will see what that means soon.

1Cor 10:14. First another thing about 1Cor 10:14: This verse connects to the previous part. Actually it is a kind of summary of 1Cor 10:1-13. In the previous verses it is made clear that idolatry is something that takes your eyes off of God and Christ. It is something that takes Their place. The meaning of that ‘something’ is often different for each child of God. Apparently you know for yourself which things can so easily bring a distance between you and God. But the call “flee” is the same for each child of God. He who lets himself be dragged down in any way by idolatry, cannot partake in the blessings which are the result of “a sharing in” or better “the communion of” the blood of Christ.

1Cor 10:15. In the case of the Corinthians, it was the tendency of going back to the idol temples. Besides, they also could fool themselves, now they were Christians, that an idol was nothing. That, however, was a mistake. You cannot participate in religious, idolatrous rituals without denying your position as a Christian. That was something the Corinthians had to think about very carefully. Paul addressed them as “wise men”, which means people who were able to judge what they were doing.

1Cor 10:16. The absurdity of their participation in the service of idols is most visible in the presentation of their communion, which they have as Christians. As Christians they celebrated the Lord’s Supper every first day of the week. Thereby they made use of a cup and bread, as the Lord Jesus told them. You can read about the institution of the Lord’s Supper by the Lord Jesus in the Gospels (Mt 26:26-28; Mk 14:22-24; Lk 22:19-20). Also in the next chapter of this letter you read about it (1Cor 11:23-26). The emphasis there is that the Lord’s Supper is a meal of remembrance.

When we eat of the bread and drink of the wine, we do that in remembrance of what the Lord has done on earth. We think of Him and we do that in remembrance of Him. In the study of chapter 11 I will tell you more about this special event.

In chapter 10 that lies before you, another aspect is highlighted. The issue here is that by partaking of the Lord’s Supper, you have communion of the blood and the body of Christ. Of course I don’t know whether you already partake of the Lord’s Supper. In case you don’t yet partake, I do hope you soon will. Of course the reason should not be just ‘to belong to the fellowship’, but out of love for the Lord Jesus because He invites you.

It is important to examine where you should do that. To be able to do that you should discover if the place where you want to partake of the Lord’s Supper, is a place where the practice is according to what is written here.

In the first place it is: Do you recognize if they gather there, it is to express the communion of Christ’s blood and of Christ’s body? That is what 1Cor 10:16 says.

Second: Do you recognize that they gather there as a unity, as it is expressed in ‘the one bread’? That is what 1Cor 10:17 says.

You might find it difficult, which is understandable. You ought to make some efforts to become aware of these aspects. Therefore it is not for nothing that Paul addresses them as wise men. These are not things you talk about with little children. The partaking of the Lord’s Supper by little children is therefore not according to God’s thoughts. He who partakes of the Lord’s Supper, needs to have some awareness of what he is doing.

I will try to clarify that a little bit more. The word ‘share’ or better ‘communion’ that occurs often in this part, means ‘to be partakers of something together’. You share something with others. Before you knew the Lord Jesus, you shared the things in the world with your friends. You partook of their pleasures, you feasted with them. Now you have other people, your brothers and sisters in Christ, with whom you share in blessings that have become your share also because you know the Lord Jesus.

That communion has been made possible through the blood of Christ. It is the communion of His blood. Through the blood you have been reconciled with God. Your sins have been taken away forever. All who hide behind the blood (Exo 12:13), which means whose sins are covered before God through faith in the blood, partake of that communion. All who have no share in the blood of Christ are outside of that communion. The blood is mentioned here first because it is the basis of the communion.

When subsequently the bread is spoken about, you see there the communion of the body of Christ. The expression “the body of Christ” has two meanings. The first meaning is the physical body of Christ, which is His body in which He was on earth and in which He bore our sins. The second meaning is the figurative body of Christ, which is the church, to which all true believers belong.

When we break the bread we first think of His body that He surrendered into death. We admire collectively, that is together or with one another, that precious body with which He glorified God. That means that we admire His Person. Christ has come in the body that God had prepared for Him when He came into the world (Heb 10:5). That is also in remembrance of the fact that the church has come into being because He gave His body into death.

A beautiful picture of that you find in Genesis 2 (Gen 2:21-23). God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, a death sleep so to speak. Then God took one of Adam’s ribs and built him a woman out of that rib. When He brought Eve to Adam, Adam says: “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh.”

This is how you can recognize in the church the body of Christ. Therefore we break the bread in remembrance of both the body that Christ gave into death and of the church that has come into being through His death.

1Cor 10:17. In this verse the issue is obviously the church. It is about us, “we who are many”. All who belong to the church are allowed to show that by partaking of the one bread. Thereby you may say that it is ‘inclusive’, which means they who are included, who belong to the body. You may also say that it is ‘exclusive’, which means that it excludes everyone who doesn’t belong to the body. It is inclusive because it is for all who really belong to the church. It is exclusive because the Lord’s Supper has no room for unbelievers and for believers who live in sin or don’t exercise discipline on it.

Now read 1 Corinthians 10:14-17 again.

Reflection: Do you already partake of that one bread?