1 Corinthians 11:17-34

Teacher: Rusty Kennedy
​Series: 1 Corinthians (Acts)

Rusty's Notes

Review:

• We began in 7:1 with consideration of the issues that the Corinthian church wrote to Paul about.
• Chapter 7 dealt with the collection of issues surrounding marriage
• Chapters 8–10 with issues surrounding food sacrificed to idols and related analogous concerns
• Chapters 11–14 are a series of issues bound up directly with the gathered community in Corinth for Christian worship.[1] (public worship)
• We left off with Matt talking about head coverings and submission.
• During the age of Augustus Caesar, there was a group increasingly called “the new Roman woman.”
• Much more so in Latin or Roman contexts than in a Greek context, but recall that Corinth was a Roman colony, despite being in Greece, where women were given greater freedom, given greater public privilege, and especially those of some substantial means.
• Apparently, some of these women are having the opportunity to pray and prophesy but without what Paul believes is the appropriate head covering.[2]
• There has always been (and always will be… until all things have been made new) a competition between men and women.
• Genesis 3:16 - He said to the woman:

I will intensify your labor pains;
you will bear children with painful effort.
Your desire will be for your husband,
yet he will rule over you.[3]

• As for the head covering (the Greek translates it as “comes down” – which could even mean the length of hair).
• I personally believe it is a cultural practice of both men and women showing fidelity to their relationship with Jesus.
• Signifying identification is different for both men and women.
• Gender identity and competition has always been an issue.

 
THE LORD’S SUPPER
1 CORINTHIANS 11

• Paul turns to a second issue concerning public worship (Chapters 11-14)
• Since the beginning of the church, it was customary for the believers to eat together (Acts 2:42, 46).
• It was an opportunity for fellowship and for sharing with those who were less privileged.
• No doubt they climaxed this meal by observing the Lord’s Supper.[4]

17 Now in giving this instruction I do not praise you, since you come together not for the better but for the worse. 18 For to begin with, I hear that when you come together as a church there are divisions among you, and in part I believe it. 19 Indeed, it is necessary that there be factions among you, so that those who are approved may be recognized among you. 20 When you come together, then, it is not to eat the Lord’s Supper. 21 For at the meal, each one eats his own supper. So one person is hungry while another gets drunk!

• Paul is not saying, “Stop having these ‘love feasts’”.
• He is literally telling them what to do and what not to do.
• Sometimes you have to state the obvious.
• Don’t get drunk when we come together.

22 Don’t you have homes in which to eat and drink? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What should I say to you? Should I praise you? I do not praise you in this matter!

• The divide between the handful of wealthy and the vast majority of poor in the Corinthian congregation (as in the community) created a disproportionate percentage of the problems that Paul has to address.[5]
• Symposium was more of a “love feast” rather than a gathering to talk about a certain subject like it is today.
• They called this meal “the love feast” since its main emphasis was showing love for the saints by sharing with one another.
• It would be more like a pot-luck dinner today.
• Tables were placed in a u-shaped partial square and were served from the middle.
• Very typical to today’s hibachi set up.
• Each family brought food and drink to share among each other
• The rich would bring food and drink enough for them and leave the “leftovers” for the poor.
• Today, we gather on “cyber weekend” but you have still generously filled 175 stockings for those in need this month.
• There is a balance in taking care of the poor and taking care of yourself.
• That balance is dependent upon the Spirit inside of you.

23 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, and said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

• And Paul’s wording is strikingly similar to the wording in Luke 22 about Jesus’ Last Supper.
• All three of the Synoptic Gospels—Matthew, Mark, and Luke—have similar accounts of this last night.
• Paul’s is closest to Luke, not because Luke was his travel companion and he got it from Luke;
• Luke’s Gospel would not be written until, at the earliest, the early 60s, and we’re still here in the mid-50s.
• No, it’s Paul and Luke who both know the oral tradition—faithfully passed on—of the words, the sayings, the teachings of Jesus.[6]
• Jesus Christ took the cup and the loaf—the ingredients of a common meal in that day—and transformed them into a meaningful spiritual experience for believers.
• However, the value of the experience depends on the condition of the hearts of those who participate; and this was the problem at Corinth.[7]
• No one would have imagined that somehow that bread supernaturally became molecular extensions of His hand and fingers.
• It’s profoundly symbolic: “This bread represents, in a deep and meaningful and religiously poignant way, my body about to be given for you in death on the cross.”
• Jesus wants us to remember how He died. Why? Because everything we have as Christians centers in that death.
• We must remember that He died, because this is a part of the Gospel message: “Christ died … and was buried” (1 Cor. 15:3–4).[8]
• He rose from the dead so as to conquer death.
• We have the ability to really live here on earth and after for eternity.
• In the midst of the pandemic, let’s practice/remember this by symbolization of eating. Simply by placing your hand to your mouth.
• “In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood.”
• No, the cup and its contents have not suddenly become blood in some physical molecular fashion, but they stand for, memorialize, represent, symbolize, in a profound way, Jesus’ giving of His life blood in death on the cross. “Do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.”
• His blood was shed as a sacrifice for our sins.
• Total for forgiveness was available to all.
• Total forgiveness for all believers.
• All sins: past, present and future.
• Drink from the cup with both hands.
• Jesus may not be literally present in the bread and in the cup, but He is present. He is present spiritually.[9]

 
SELF-EXAMINATION
27 So, then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sin against the body and blood of the Lord. 28 Let a person examine himself; in this way let him eat the bread and drink from the cup.

• Examine to see if they are worthy?
• We have participated in the Lord’s Supper where condemnation was expressed and we either had to deal with it immediately for refrain from participating in the Lord’s Supper.
• No, examine to see if they are behaving unworthily, in an unworthy manner.[10]

29 For whoever eats and drinks without recognizing the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself. 30 This is why many are sick and ill among you, and many have fallen asleep. 31 If we were properly judging ourselves, we would not be judged, 32 but when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined, so that we may not be condemned with the world.
33 Therefore, my brothers and sisters, when you come together to eat, welcome one another. 34 If anyone is hungry, he should eat at home, so that when you gather together you will not come under judgment. I will give instructions about the other matters whenever I come.[11]

• The Communion is not supposed to be a time of “spiritual autopsy” and grief.
• It should be a time of thanksgiving and joyful anticipation of seeing the Lord!
• Jesus gave thanks, even though He was about to suffer and die.
• Let us give thanks also.[12]​
• When we figure out what Jesus truly did for us… and what we have inside… it changes everything.
• Sometimes we lose focus and need to be reminded by stating the obvious.
• Remember what it was like when you stepped out of “religion” into a “relationship”?
• It is the difference of just being alive versus living.

You can really live right now

[1] Blomberg, C. L. (2017). NT334 Book Study: Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[2] Blomberg, C. L. (2017). NT334 Book Study: Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[3] Christian Standard Bible. (2020). (Ge 3:16). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[4] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 604). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[5] Blomberg, C. L. (2017). NT334 Book Study: Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[6] Blomberg, C. L. (2017). NT334 Book Study: Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[7] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 605). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[8] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 605). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[9] Blomberg, C. L. (2017). NT334 Book Study: Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[10] Blomberg, C. L. (2017). NT334 Book Study: Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[11] Christian Standard Bible. (2020). (1 Co 11:17–34). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[12] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 607). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.