1Cor 11:17-34 | KingComments | STEP | . Paul is giving an instruction. It is possible that he is referring to the previous verses, but it is also possible that he is referring to the following verses. There is surely a connection with the previous verses. Imagine that man or woman doesn’t take the right place in God’s creation order – for that’s the point in the –, do you think that each of them would take the right place in the church of God? I don't think so. Apparently the believers at Corinth did not gather to have a good time with one another. They gathered for the worse. Of course they were not intending to, but that appeared to be the result in the practice of their gathering. . How did it become apparent that they did not experience their gatherings for the good, but for the worse? First of all, that was expressed in the fact that there were divisions among them. In the first chapter Paul has to admonish them for that. There were divisions among them. Read that again in chapter 1 ( ). A division causes dissension within a local church. Outwardly it seems that all believers still belong together. They all still come together to the same place at the same time, but they do not come together with the same desire. They fall apart in different groups. In the case of the Corinthians the spirit of division revealed itself during the celebration of the Lord’s Supper because there was a distinction between poor and rich. In our time it can be an equally big danger. It is possible that believers with a high social position quickly get a leading role in church exactly because they have such an important function in society. That should not be allowed. The cause of divisions is also due to other human factors. A good speaker for instance, may impress some people, but to others it can be good manners. These aspects should not play a role in the gatherings of the church. When the church comes together, only one thing is important and that is that each believer takes his place as a member of the church. Taking that place has nothing to do with one’s place in society or with one’s natural capacities, but with the work of the Lord Jesus at the cross. That is the origin of the church. Each person who knows that the Lord Jesus has accomplished that work for him also, is a member of the church. And each member of the church has his own unique place in that church and also the responsibility to be guided by the Holy Spirit. . Nevertheless it can happen that when the believers come together as a church, things happen that are not from the Holy Spirit, but are invented by the believers themselves. It is about matters that are condemned by the Word of God. Factions in a local church for example, is inexcusable. That should be confessed as sin. If such situations happen, God uses them to reveal “those who are approved”. The ‘approved’ are they who bow to God’s Word and sense that such a situation is not to His glory. They shall confess the wrong and not participate in the factions. There is a mention here of “factions” (or: sects). A faction goes a step further than a division. A division is something within a still existing whole. In case of a faction, the division has separated them in such a way that they go separate ways openly . It is important to understand the meaning of a faction or sect. A faction or sect is not what it is normally taken to mean. Normally people speak of a sect when it is about a religious community that has separated itself from the big churches. Sometimes it is indeed a sect, but it doesn’t have to be. Biblically, a sect is each religious community that believes that another unity, besides the unity of the believers, is also important with which you must agree to be a member of it. Let me repeat for the record: the believers at Corinth are divided; there are factions because some people are attracted to Paul, others to Peter and still others to Apollos. If this is not judged, it can reach such a point that believers get separated from each other. Then factions become reality. Church history provides the shameful proofs. The true unity on the contrary, is the unity of the church. That unity is presented by a body. Each believer is a member of it. There is a mention of a faction when people have to endorse a doctrine or confession, defined by people (how biblical that may be, however) to be able to belong to that certain religious community. The Word of God doesn’t acknowledge the membership of a church community, but speaks only of the body of Christ. . The gathering of a church, whereby the believers gather as believers, nothing more and nothing less, is a special occasion. Is it not wonderful that that can happen at several occasions? In you can read on which occasion the church right after its beginning gathered, and what we still can do again and again. We can still as the church, as they did in those days, gather to break bread. That is the main topic in the section you have before you. We can also gather to pray and also to examine “the apostles’ teaching”, which means: to collectively study the Word of God and also act accordingly. To continue in the teaching of the apostles is not only examining their teaching with perseverance, but also continue in what they have taught. For the healthy growth of a local church, the latter is essential. In 1 Corinthians 14 you will see more matters that concern the gathering of a church. Matthew 18 speaks about a wonderful promise in connection with the gathering of the church. The Lord Jesus says there: “For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst” ( ). You cannot apply this verse at any occasion where two or three believers meet one another. From the context of Matthew 18 it becomes clear that it is about the gathering of the church ( ). And where does the church gather? There, where believers come together in the Name of the Lord Jesus. That means, where they consider His glory and His authority, according to the Bible, for that is what’s embedded in the ‘Name’ of the Lord Jesus. . The Corinthians gathered together to celebrate the Lord’s Supper, but they certainly did not do it reverentially. They were used to have a fellowship meal preceding the Lord’s Supper. Everybody brought food and drink of their own, i.e. only the ones who could afford it. There were also believers who couldn’t afford anything. Instead of sharing their riches with the poor ones, the rich people were eating and drinking as if they were at a feast. The contrasts are expressed in such a way that some of them are hungry, while others indulge in wine and get drunk. . Although they gathered at one place and were willing to eat the Lord’s Supper, Paul says here that that was out of the question because of their shameless conduct toward the other members. Their excessive behavior, whereby they did not consider their fellow brothers and sisters, their fellow members of the body, is in fact also a contempt for the church of God. They embarrass those who have nothing. No, the apostle can’t praise them in this. Another thing: It is about the Supper of the Lord . It is His meal. That means that is about the Supper that belongs to Him. Therefore He alone has the right to invite to partake of His Supper. No man or group can do that. The essence of the Lord’s Supper is described in a special way in the next verses. Now read 1 Corinthians 11:17-22 again. Reflection: When do the believers come together as a church?

‏ 1 Corinthians 11:17-34

How to Gather At One Place

1Cor 11:17. Paul is giving an instruction. It is possible that he is referring to the previous verses, but it is also possible that he is referring to the following verses. There is surely a connection with the previous verses. Imagine that man or woman doesn’t take the right place in God’s creation order – for that’s the point in the 1Cor 11:1-16 –, do you think that each of them would take the right place in the church of God? I don't think so.

Apparently the believers at Corinth did not gather to have a good time with one another. They gathered for the worse. Of course they were not intending to, but that appeared to be the result in the practice of their gathering.

1Cor 11:18. How did it become apparent that they did not experience their gatherings for the good, but for the worse? First of all, that was expressed in the fact that there were divisions among them. In the first chapter Paul has to admonish them for that. There were divisions among them. Read that again in chapter 1 (1Cor 1:10-12).

A division causes dissension within a local church. Outwardly it seems that all believers still belong together. They all still come together to the same place at the same time, but they do not come together with the same desire. They fall apart in different groups. In the case of the Corinthians the spirit of division revealed itself during the celebration of the Lord’s Supper because there was a distinction between poor and rich. In our time it can be an equally big danger. It is possible that believers with a high social position quickly get a leading role in church exactly because they have such an important function in society. That should not be allowed.

The cause of divisions is also due to other human factors. A good speaker for instance, may impress some people, but to others it can be good manners. These aspects should not play a role in the gatherings of the church. When the church comes together, only one thing is important and that is that each believer takes his place as a member of the church.

Taking that place has nothing to do with one’s place in society or with one’s natural capacities, but with the work of the Lord Jesus at the cross. That is the origin of the church. Each person who knows that the Lord Jesus has accomplished that work for him also, is a member of the church. And each member of the church has his own unique place in that church and also the responsibility to be guided by the Holy Spirit.

1Cor 11:19. Nevertheless it can happen that when the believers come together as a church, things happen that are not from the Holy Spirit, but are invented by the believers themselves. It is about matters that are condemned by the Word of God. Factions in a local church for example, is inexcusable. That should be confessed as sin. If such situations happen, God uses them to reveal “those who are approved”. The ‘approved’ are they who bow to God’s Word and sense that such a situation is not to His glory. They shall confess the wrong and not participate in the factions.

There is a mention here of “factions” (or: sects). A faction goes a step further than a division. A division is something within a still existing whole. In case of a faction, the division has separated them in such a way that they go separate ways openly.

It is important to understand the meaning of a faction or sect. A faction or sect is not what it is normally taken to mean. Normally people speak of a sect when it is about a religious community that has separated itself from the big churches. Sometimes it is indeed a sect, but it doesn’t have to be. Biblically, a sect is each religious community that believes that another unity, besides the unity of the believers, is also important with which you must agree to be a member of it.

Let me repeat for the record: the believers at Corinth are divided; there are factions because some people are attracted to Paul, others to Peter and still others to Apollos. If this is not judged, it can reach such a point that believers get separated from each other. Then factions become reality. Church history provides the shameful proofs.

The true unity on the contrary, is the unity of the church. That unity is presented by a body. Each believer is a member of it. There is a mention of a faction when people have to endorse a doctrine or confession, defined by people (how biblical that may be, however) to be able to belong to that certain religious community. The Word of God doesn’t acknowledge the membership of a church community, but speaks only of the body of Christ.

1Cor 11:20. The gathering of a church, whereby the believers gather as believers, nothing more and nothing less, is a special occasion. Is it not wonderful that that can happen at several occasions? In Acts 2:42 you can read on which occasion the church right after its beginning gathered, and what we still can do again and again.

We can still as the church, as they did in those days, gather to break bread. That is the main topic in the section you have before you. We can also gather to pray and also to examine “the apostles’ teaching”, which means: to collectively study the Word of God and also act accordingly. To continue in the teaching of the apostles is not only examining their teaching with perseverance, but also continue in what they have taught. For the healthy growth of a local church, the latter is essential. In 1 Corinthians 14 you will see more matters that concern the gathering of a church.

Matthew 18 speaks about a wonderful promise in connection with the gathering of the church. The Lord Jesus says there: “For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst” (Mt 18:20). You cannot apply this verse at any occasion where two or three believers meet one another. From the context of Matthew 18 it becomes clear that it is about the gathering of the church (Mt 18:15-20). And where does the church gather? There, where believers come together in the Name of the Lord Jesus. That means, where they consider His glory and His authority, according to the Bible, for that is what’s embedded in the ‘Name’ of the Lord Jesus.

1Cor 11:21. The Corinthians gathered together to celebrate the Lord’s Supper, but they certainly did not do it reverentially. They were used to have a fellowship meal preceding the Lord’s Supper. Everybody brought food and drink of their own, i.e. only the ones who could afford it. There were also believers who couldn’t afford anything. Instead of sharing their riches with the poor ones, the rich people were eating and drinking as if they were at a feast. The contrasts are expressed in such a way that some of them are hungry, while others indulge in wine and get drunk.

1Cor 11:22. Although they gathered at one place and were willing to eat the Lord’s Supper, Paul says here that that was out of the question because of their shameless conduct toward the other members. Their excessive behavior, whereby they did not consider their fellow brothers and sisters, their fellow members of the body, is in fact also a contempt for the church of God. They embarrass those who have nothing. No, the apostle can’t praise them in this.

Another thing: It is about the Supper of the Lord. It is His meal. That means that is about the Supper that belongs to Him. Therefore He alone has the right to invite to partake of His Supper. No man or group can do that. The essence of the Lord’s Supper is described in a special way in the next verses.

Now read 1 Corinthians 11:17-22 again.

Reflection: When do the believers come together as a church?

The Lord’s Supper

The impressive thing of these verses lies in the contrast with the previous verses. There the chaotic situation of the Corinthians is pictured, as it became apparent when they celebrated the Lord’s Supper. It was a just a mess. They dealt in a very unholy way with holy things. How do you respond to that? Does Paul put the church at Corinth aside? No, first he points out the wrong and then he tells them what the real and special meaning of the Lord’s Supper is.

It is significant that Paul could address the Corinthians in that way. So the situation was not totally hopeless. They could still be corrected and restoration was still possible. That is different from nowadays Christianity. Due to human institutions that have slipped into many churches and groups, it is not possible anymore to celebrate the Lord’s Supper according to how the Lord Jesus introduced it in the last night of His life on earth before the cross. The whole ecclesiastical structure should be abandoned to have room for what Paul says here in all simplicity and in a very moving way.

1Cor 11:23. Paul takes you to “the night in which He [the Lord Jesus] was betrayed”. That is the moment in the life of the Lord that He certainly had the right to be occupied with Himself and with everything that awaited Him. That was the moment when Judas, one of His disciples, betrayed Him with a kiss. It was right before that moment that the Lord Jesus introduced His Supper with a view for His disciples to remember Him when He would not be on earth anymore.

Paul had directly “received from the Lord” because the Lord’s Supper fits totally in his ministry. After all, Paul is the man who is used by the Lord to make everything known about the church, which is originated through the death, the resurrection and the glorification of the Lord Jesus. In his conversion he was already given to understand that the church on the earth and the Lord Jesus in heaven are one. When he persecuted the church he heard from heaven: “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” (Acts 9:4).

That Paul is exactly the one who receives the order to pass on this institution, proves that the Lord’s Supper is a part of the Christian’s life, thus also yours. It is a remembrance meal whereby you always remember a Savior Who was willing to die for you and all people who have accepted Him in faith.

If you ponder on the Lord’s Supper, do you then realize that His lips asked: “Do this in remembrance of Me”? Therefore the Lord Jesus took bread while celebrating the Passover. The Passover, which He was celebrating with His disciples, was a remembrance of the deliverance of Israel from Egypt. The institution of the Passover is described in Exodus 12 (Exo 12:1-14). But what the Lord Jesus instituted during the celebration of the Passover is not related to Israel in the first place, but to the church. As long as the church dwells on earth, she can express her intimate and indissoluble alliance with the Lord Jesus through the celebration of His Supper. When you join a gathering where the Lord’s Supper is celebrated, your heart will be filled with a great gratitude.

The Lord Jesus took bread. It says it so simply. Yet it is so exceptional. The exceptional thing about it is not the bread. The bread is just plain bread. It does not go through an uncommon change by pronouncing an extraordinary prayer of blessing, as the roman-catholic church teaches. It remains plain bread. The exceptional thing about it is what the bread represents.

You can compare it to a photo of someone who you love very much. The material of the photo is plain paper. The point is who is on that photo. If someone spat on that photo, you would be very offended, not because of the paper, but because of their contempt for the person who is on the photo. It is the same idea with the bread during the celebration of the Lord’s Supper. The Lord Jesus said about the bread: “This is My body, which is for you.” It is an awful thing to deal with that inappropriately.

1Cor 11:24. When you join the gathering and you see the bread, you can remember that the Lord Jesus, the eternal Son, has become Man and has taken on a body, without ever giving it up again. In that body he lived thirty-three years on earth. In His body He has glorified God in a perfect way. In that body He suffered as well.

Try to realize: He became captured, while He could call twelve legions of angels with one sigh to heaven to consume all (Mt 26:53). Such capture did not happen gently at all. Evil people laid their violent hands upon His holy body and hauled Him before the courts. In spite of the declaration that had to be given again and again, that He hadn’t done anything for which He should be punished, they spat in His holy face, tore His clothes off from His body and tore His holy back open by scourging Him terribly.

Beaten up like that, He had to walk with the cross on His back to the place of execution. At that place brutal hands of soldiers grabbed His holy hands, with which He did nothing but bless, and hurried to hit them cruelly with nails on the cross.

Then they raised the cross. The Savior was hanging there on the cross! He was mocked and provoked to come down from the cross. Still He remained hanging on the cross. Imagine what would have happened if He had come down from the cross. Then you and I would have been perished forever. His love for you and me kept Him on that cross, yet the worst still had to happen.

The suffering He underwent till then was done to Him by people. That suffering could not take away sins. It just only increased the guilt of man. What still had to happen and the only thing through which we could be redeemed from our sins, was that He would bear “our sins in His body” on the cross (1Pet 2:24). In the three hours of darkness His holy body was burdened with our sins and was struck by God. This is how He died. It is poignant to be continually aware of that, when you see the broken bread before you.

1Cor 11:25. Also the cup represents something. It represents the blood of the Lord Jesus, which He shed. The blood is of such great value, that God can therefore forgive sins. That forgiveness is a great thing, something you can be amazed of again and again and for which you can express your gratitude toward God again and again.

How often would you like to celebrate the Lord’s Supper? It is written: “As often as.” From the beginning of Acts you can understand that the first Christians daily came together to celebrate the Lord’s Supper. Further on in Acts the first day of the week is mentioned as a day on which the bread was broken (Acts 20:7). This first day of the week is called in Revelation 1 “the Lord’s day” (Rev 1:10). Do you remember that the Supper is called “the Lord’s Supper” in 1Cor 11:20? So there is a clear connection between ‘the Lord’s day’ and ‘the Lord’s Supper’. Therefore the first day of the week seems to be the most suitable day to celebrate it.

Another indication is that the Lord Jesus came on that day, the first day of the week, after His resurrection in the midst of His disciples (Jn 20:19 ; 26). On that day He likes to meet with His own, so that they may worship Him. Is there a more suitable way than through the celebration of that remembrance meal?

1Cor 11:26. Therefore when you eat the bread and drink from the cup, you proclaim “the Lord’s death”. Can you imagine two words that are so contradictory and yet are made so closely related here than ‘death’ and ‘Lord’? Yet your hopeless situation cannot be put forward in a more striking way. To save you required no less than the death of the Prince of life.

Therefore you say, though without words, so much when you partake of the Lord’s Supper. It is a proclamation to whoever wants to see it, whether it is people or angels, that you owe everything to a Lord Who died. When that is a reality for you, then the result will be that you will not allow anything anymore in your life the Lord had to die for. That should be really out of the question.

By impressing upon them the amazing thing about the Lord’s death again, Paul wanted to persuade the Corinthians to confess their wrong practices and to put them away. Isn’t that a wonderful way to get believers on the right track?

We must realize that every time we have proclaimed the death of the Lord, it could have been the last time. With the celebration of the Lord’s Supper we remember His death, while we know that He lives. For we proclaim His death “until He comes”. What an amazing prospect!

Now read 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 again.

Reflection: What does the Lord’s Supper represent?

How to Participate in the Lord’s Supper

1Cor 11:27. I hope that you are impressed by the Lord’s Supper; that is to say by what it represents: Christ and His reconciling death. Then you can imagine that God is very displeased when Christians trivialize the Lord’s Supper. God tolerates ignorance, but He does not tolerate it when this holy institution is abused.

In most cases when believers are of the opinion that the Lord’s Supper serves to strengthen faith, it is a matter of ignorance. The Lord’s Supper is not to strengthen faith, but to remember a Savior Who died. It is not that believers receive something, like a word of encouragement, when they partake of the Lord’s Supper, but they come to do something and to bring something. They proclaim the death of a Beloved and thank Him that He wanted to enter death. It is possible to remember His death and at the same time thank Him because He is the living One in their midst.

It is another thing when, as at Corinth, the believers deal with the Lord’s Supper in a wrong way. Then they do not realize anymore what the bread and wine represent. It can easily happen that you eat the bread and drink the cup totally thoughtlessly. You do it unconsciously. Suddenly you realize what you have done. Then you confess to God that you were absent in your thoughts again. Fortunately, He knows that such a thing can happen.

It is another thing when the Lord’s Supper becomes just routine, meaningless again and again. With the Corinthians the point was that they used bread and wine “in an unworthy manner”. So the wrong thing was the way they dealt with the bread and the wine. They ate the bread to satisfy their hunger and they drank the wine to quench their thirst. They forgot the real essence.

This “unworthy manner” has got nothing to do with being worthy or unworthy of the person who partakes of the Lord’s Supper. Each true member of the church has been made worthy through the work of the Lord Jesus to partake of it. Therefore you should not cease from partaking of the Lord’s Supper because you feel unworthy to do that.

The only reason for the believer not to be worthy of partaking is, when there is a sin in the believer’s life that is not confessed. In chapter 5 this was extensively paid attention to. The warning here is not to partake of the Lord’s Supper inconsiderately, for you would make yourself guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord.

1Cor 11:28. Each person who takes the Lord’s Supper seriously, will recoil from that and therefore examine himself. This self-examination, this “examine” yourself, is essential. Do you want to know how that works? When you ponder on meeting the Lord in the gathering, you also directly become aware of His holiness, that He knows everything about you. Do you have any fear by that thought? Can you frankly look Him in the eyes?

Self-examination always has its effect. It may have the result that you’re reminded of things that are wrong; then you can put them away. The result can also be that you are sincerely not aware of anything wrong; in that case you may frankly partake of the Lord’s Supper. In Matthew 5 you find how the Lord Jesus says what I have just said with my own words (Mt 5:23-24).

Staying away from the Lord’s Supper or not partaking when bread and wine are passed on, are in no case a solution. In that way you let sin conquer over your love for the Lord Jesus. No, examine yourself, take away the hindrance or the wrong and eat in such a way the bread and drink in such a way the cup.

1Cor 11:29. He who is not willing to examine and judge himself, easily eats and drinks judgment to himself, which God shall execute over him or her. God guards the honor of His Son. He cannot act as if He is not interested in how we deal with the remembrance of His Son. He also loves His own that much that He will not allow them to continue in that way. He loves them to enjoy the full value of this institution. Therefore He is obliged to chasten all who do not take into account this which they hold in their hands, as sanctified, and which is represented by the bread and the wine of the Lord’s Supper.

‘Not discerning the Lord’s body’ means that the believers do not relate an exceptional meaning to the bread of the Lord’s Supper. Their hearts are cold and aren’t touched by it anymore. Then God has to speak clearly to them.

1Cor 11:30. Therefore many believers at Corinth were weak and sick, and quite a few of them have even already passed away. These things must have said a lot to the Corinthians. It is not the purpose of Paul here to say that each weakness or sickness of the body or each death is a cause of sin. God could have had other plans with it. At Corinth, however, all this was the cause of that.

Nowadays it can also be the case that a local church is addressed by God explicitly, when suddenly several believers show weakness and sickness and that even believers are taken away by death. Of course it is a good thing that the believers of that church pray at prayer meetings for the weak, the sick and the relatives of the dead, but it should also be the idea that they ask the Lord why these things happen, what the cause of that is.

It is certainly not meant that weakness, sickness and death only happen to the ones who are to blame. That may be the case, but at Corinth the whole church had to be addressed because the state of the whole was not good. It is also possible that God took away some faithful believers to bring the unfaithful to their senses. So we have no certain indications which we could relate to God’s ways of acting, except that, through such occurrences, God wants to point us to situations that are not good.

1Cor 11:31. We can prevent that God has to judge us, by judging ourselves. You are able and even called to judge yourself. Judging yourself implies that you yourself can discern whether you do or do not walk in the path of the Lord. If you have done something wrong, you will judge what you’ve done wrong. You will not only judge the deed, but also yourself and the condition of your heart because you could only do that wrong deed because you were not close to the Lord.

1Cor 11:32. If we do not judge ourselves, then the Lord will chasten us. As said already: He loves us so much that He will not allow us to continue to live in sin. If He doesn’t chasten us, we would then perish together with the world under God’s judgment when He will judge this world.

1Cor 11:33-34. After these serious verses about the judgment and discipline of the Lord, Paul appeals to the Corinthians to consider one another. He who eats his usual meal at home, will not risk misusing the Lord’s Supper by satisfying his hunger with the bread of it, which would cause a judgment to the gathering. When the believers prepare themselves well at home for the gathering, then the gathering will be a blessing and not a judgment to all who are present.

The preparation for the gathering is important. You do not just take a few minutes on Saturday evening, and surely not just an hour before the gathering begins. However it is also important to be occupied with the things of the Lord as a family as well as personally then. The preparation for the gathering is a matter you should be involved with during the whole week, your whole life. The death of the Lord you (maybe?) proclaim influences every aspect of your life, right?

By saying all this Paul didn’t say all that was on his mind regarding this issue. There are things he wanted to save till he would be with them. Those things are not written in the Bible. It would not be a good thing to have records of everything formally. The Word of God as we have it now is enough for all times and all circumstances. We have received the Holy Spirit to be able to cope with our circumstances at any time by the means of what Paul did pass on to us. He who submits to God’s Word and the guidance of the Holy Spirit, shall experience the blessing thereof.

Now read 1 Corinthians 11:27-34 again.

Reflection: How do you judge yourself?