Divisions at the Lord’s Table
1 Corinthians 11:17-34
Truth Taught- We must discern the body and blood of Christ as we eat of the Lord’s Supper.
Now we come to Paul’s addressing the second abuse the Corinthians were engaged in. Remember the first abuse we looked at last week, women within the Church seeking to function as men. Now, the second abuse was divisions around the Lord’s Supper.
Let’s look briefly at some context and historical setting to better understand the situation. First, the Lord’s Supper in the early Church was part of a fellowship meal. Most likely they ate their normal food and along with it had a portion where they ate bread and drank wine which was to commemorate the Lord’s body and blood.
This practice had been partially taken from what they were taught by the Apostles and partially adapted from their pagan cultic meal. They had to revert back to what Paul had taught them not what they had formerly practiced as they ate the pagan meal in the idol’s temple.
Second, the rich were guilty of abusing or at least neglecting the care for the poor during the Lord’s Supper. Some in Corinth were getting there early before everyone else and were eating the bread and drinking all the good wine before the poor and those of lesser social standing were not able to partake of the Lord’s Supper. Others who were meeting in large homes of the wealthy were missing out because they were eating and drinking excluding the poor.
Third, and maybe the crucial issue, they were not discerning the Lord’s body and blood. This is one we must always focus on as we partake, we must remember we are not eating bread and drinking wine or juice but discerning the symbolic meaning behind the bread and wine. We must not forget that the elements symbolize Jesus’ broken body and shed blood for the Church.
1 Corinthians 11:17–34 (ESV)
17 But in the following instructions I do not commend you, because when you come together it is not for the better but for the worse. 18 For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you. And I believe it in part, 19 for there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized. 20 When you come together, it is not the Lord’s supper that you eat. 21 For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal. One goes hungry, another gets drunk. 22 What! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I commend you in this? No, I will not.
23 For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he 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, saying, “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.
27 Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. 28 Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. 30 That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. 31 But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. 32 But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.
33 So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another— 34 if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home—so that when you come together it will not be for judgment. About the other things I will give directions when I come.
1. Abusing the Poor (11:17-22)
17 But in the following instructions I do not commend you, because when you come together it is not for the better but for the worse. 18 For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you. And I believe it in part, 19 for there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized. 20 When you come together, it is not the Lord’s supper that you eat. 21 For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal. One goes hungry, another gets drunk. 22 What! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I commend you in this? No, I will not.
There are many issues Paul brings out in this section.
The first point he makes here is in verse 17 where he tells them that their gatherings as a Church do them more harm than good. Can you imagine a Church where you become less like Christ when you attend than if you’d have just stayed home? This was Corinth at its worse. Their problem was not that they didn’t gather but that their coming together was not for their good.
He then proceeds to describe how exactly their gatherings were not for the better but for the worse. How are their gatherings problematic?
when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you.
Do you notice the illogical thrust here? How can you come together and there be divisions? If there are divisions then the Church has not really come together.
He will latter tell them that they should be functioning as one unified body but they are not…
1 Corinthians 12:12–13 (ESV)
12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.
In Christ, the social lines are broken down. The Jews are not better than Gentiles and the rich better than the poor. All are important, all matter because the blood of Christ was shed equally for all who come to Him by faith.
So, when a Church begins neglecting the poor or creating some hierarchy within its people it is in grave danger of bringing down the discipline of God upon itself.
These divisions were cut so deep we read…
20 When you come together, it is not the Lord’s supper that you eat. 21 For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal.
They were calling this meal the Lord’s Supper. It was not the Lord’s Supper it was their supper. It was their own meal not a fellowship meal in honor of Christ but a meal in which the rich ate first and the poor ate second if any at all. The reality was that the meal had more in common with the pagan meal than with the Lord’s Supper.
We see next the reason it was no longer the Lords Supper they were eating…
21 For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal. One goes hungry, another gets drunk.
There were divisions and excesses. One has nothing…he goes hungry and another has everything, he gets drunk. Here, the Apostle highlights the portions of the Lord’s Supper. He tells us that the rich were eating all the bread and drinking all the wine. There was none left for the worshippers. Can you imagine a portion of the Church getting to the worship service before everyone else and eating all the bread and drinking all the wine? They were drunk with the wine that was to be used in the Lord’s Supper.
If you want to eat and drink like that you spoiled rich people, do it in your own homes not in the Church gathered for worship.
22 What! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing?
Paul is filled with such righteous anger that he can hardly contain himself. What! I can’t believe what I’m hearing! Really!
When you are out in society there are the haves and the have-nots. There are those who are wealthy and can exploit the poor. We see this today in our world don’t we? The current lawsuits against former President Trump are an example. Many analysts are calling these politically motivated lawsuits. My goal here is not to be political but simply to say these lawsuits mean nothing to him because he’s a billionaire. They are no big deal to him. A poor person or even a regular everyday middleclass type person would be in jail or financially ruined. The rich can exploit the poor. However, in the Church there must not be divisions like this.
The Lord’s Supper is an act of the gathered family of those who believe in Jesus, the church. It is not an act for unbelievers. Unbelievers may be present—indeed, we welcome them to be present—there is nothing secretive about the Lord’s Supper. It is done in public. It has a public meaning. It is not a secretive, cultic ritual with magical powers. It is a public act of worship by the gathered church. In fact, in 1 Corinthians 11:26, Paul says, “As often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.” So there is a proclamation aspect to the supper. Proclamation, not privacy, is the note to strike.
We do not forbid taking the Lord’s Supper to someone in a home bound, nursing home or a hospital, but that kind of individual celebration is exceptional, not the Biblical norm. Five times in 1 Corinthians 11, Paul speaks of the church “coming together” when the Lord’s Supper is eaten. Verse 17b: “When you come together it is not for the better but for the worse.” Verse 18: “For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you.” Verse 20: “When you come together, it is not the Lord’s supper that you eat.” Verse 33: “When you come together to eat, wait for one another.” Verse 34: “If anyone is hungry, let him eat at home—so that when you come together it will not be for judgment.”
In other words, they were debasing the Lord’s Supper by connecting it too closely to their regular supper, and some people had lots to eat and others had nothing. So he said, Eat your own supper at home and come together to eat the Lord’s Supper.
And notice the word “church” in verse 18: “when you come together as a church.” This is the body of Christ, the assembly of the followers of Jesus. Those who have turned from idols and trusted Jesus alone for the forgiveness of their sins, and for the hope of eternal life, and for the satisfaction of their souls. These are Christians. So, the participants in the Lord’s Supper are the gathered believers in Jesus. It is to be done as an act of worship of the gathered Church. Not to be done by a special group within the Church or at weddings for example or other special meetings even of the Church.
2. Discerning the Lord Jesus in the Lord’s Supper (11:23-26)
23 For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he 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, saying, “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.
The Apostle patiently takes them back to the beginning when Jesus gave the first Lord’s Supper. As the Host, He explained to His disciples the meaning or how they were to discern the Lord’s Supper.
They were very familiar with this episode in the Gospels…
Mark 14:22–25 (ESV)
22 And as they were eating, he took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to them, and said, “Take; this is my body.” 23 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank of it. 24 And he said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. 25 Truly, I say to you, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”
The order in which the Gospels were probably written has Mark as the first one. The Corinthians had Mark’s account and Paul no doubt taught them about the Lord’s Supper. They needed to go back to the beginning to hear again from the Lord Jesus what the Supper was all about.
Jesus has taken the traditional Passover Meal which brought into remembrance the Exodus and the night in which the death angel killed all the firstborn who were not covered by the blood of the Lamb and placed a new superior but continued meaning. He tells us that He is the new Passover Lamb by which God will forgive the sins of all believers covered by His blood. Jesus shows the disciples that He is the true fulfillment of the Passover He is the Lamb of God who takes away sin.
Let’s turn our Bible to Jeremiah 31. I want us to see that the New Covenant ushered in by Jesus and His death on the cross was a planned event of God because it is a prophecy found in the Book of Jeremiah. Not only was it planned but it was entirely carried out by the Trinity each performing His perfect function.
Jeremiah 31:31–34 (ESV)
31 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. 33 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
God tells us that all who come to Christ by faith will know Him. In the OT they learned through wrote memory tools ect. However, now in the New Covenant we will know God because we have the Holy Spirit.
Jesus’ blood poured out, in other words, His death ratified the New Covenant.
3. The Danger of Not Discerning the Lord Jesus in the Lord’s Supper (11:27-34)
27 Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. 28 Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. 30 That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. 31 But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. 32 But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.
33 So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another— 34 if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home—so that when you come together it will not be for judgment. About the other things I will give directions when I come.
A worthy manner means the Lord’s Supper is eaten by believers, gathered together as a local Church, waiting on one another…the rich waiting on the poor for example, and understanding that it is a time of solemn remembrance. We discern and remember the Lord. Specifically, the cross and His suffering for us. We remember His beaten body and shed blood; we remember His death for us. We also must know what His death accomplished in the salvation of all His people the elect.
A worthy manner means unity and discernment.
There is judgement for unbelievers who eat the Lord’s Supper…
There is danger for believers who eat the Lord’s Supper not discerning the Lord…
28 Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. 30 That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died.
One does not have to be sinless to eat the Lord’s Supper but he does need to understand the Lord’s Supper and remember Christ as he/she eats. One does need to be a Christian and repenting of sin.
The Danger of not discerning the Lord’s death is to be held liable for his death. This is a strange but true fact. What is Paul telling us? To not discern as a Christian the Body and Blood of Jesus is to eat and drink condemnation.
On the night when He was betrayed… The one not discerning the body and blood of Jesus will be much like Judas.
For others, Paul tells us there are those who are sick and even died within the Church because they had not discerned Jesus in the Supper but simply ate.
Conclusion…
33 So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another— 34 if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home—so that when you come together it will not be for judgment.
This is why he told them that when they met they made things worse…rather than meeting in the Lord’s honor and eating His Supper, they were eating their own meal. This was evil and brought judgement and discipline upon them.
Are you discerning the Lord as you eat of the Lord’s Supper?
Resources Used:
1 Corinthians by Gordon Fee
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