When you come together, it is not the Lord’s supper that you eat.

1 Corinthians 11:20

After having given a lengthy discourse on the need for the Christians at Corinth to stop condemning each other over scruples and to be willing to give up their freedoms to do certain things for the sake of helping others reach heaven (8:1-11:16), the apostle now turns his attention to another problem existing within this troubled congregation.  He had just commended them for obeying inspired apostolic directives in many things (11:2), “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” (11:17, cf. 11:22b).  This was for several reasons (cf. 12-14), but the first reason Paul wants to address involves that “when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you” (11:18).  Some of these divisions had to do with improper allegiance to preachers (1:10-4:21), and Paul even acknowledges that there can be some good that comes from divisions in that they can help show which side, if any, is actually correct in the sight of God (11:19; cf. 1 John 2:19).  However, in the end God does not want division in his church (1:10ff), and there were other divisions at Corinth which now needed to be corrected.

The first point of contention on Paul’s list concerned their observance of communion (cf. 10:16-17), the act of worship in which unleavened bread and fruit of the vine are partaken in remembrance of Christ’s death (11:23-25; cf. Matt. 26:26-28; Mk. 14:22-24; Lk. 22:17-20).  He starts out by saying, “When you come together, it is not the Lord’s supper that you eat” (11:20).  In other words, they were eating a “supper” (deipnon, dinner, meal, banquet), but it did not belong to the Lord.  Apparently remembering Christ’s death was the last thing on the Corinthian Christians’ minds when they assembled to worship.  They indeed ate and drank, but apparently in doing so “each one goes ahead with his own meal.  One goes hungry, another gets drunk.  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?” (11:21-22a).  Paul’s rhetorical question about having houses in which to eat and drink, along with his subsequent reminder of the specifics of Christ’s instructions concerning how and why to partake of communion (11:23ff), indicates that the Corinthians were treating the observance of communion as if it were a secular meal.  Not only that, but it was a meal in which they didn’t care about sharing food and drink with those among their number who had none or arrived late, causing those without food or those who came late to be humiliated and hungry while those with sustenance drank well.  (“Gets drunk” – methyo – could refer to drinking to the point of intoxication, which is a possibility here; it also could refer to hydrating well with regards to the quantity of the drink [cf. John 2:10].)

Paul now reminds them of instructions which he had “received from the Lord” and had at some point in the past “also delivered to you” (11:23a).  (These directives concerning the memorial of Christ’s sacrifice to save us from our sins will be more fully examined in next week’s article, God willing.)  The purpose behind reminding them of the guidelines the Lord had given when he had instituted communion was to show them that this was an act of worship and reverence to the Lord, not a regular dinner gathering where they could feel free to help themselves to satisfy hunger and not care about leaving any food for anyone else.  The apostle’s mention of Jesus’ command to “do this…in remembrance of me” and to “examine (themselves)” while doing so (11:24-25, 28) – in correlation with his teaching that “whoever, therefore, eats the bread and drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner” (i.e., by NOT remembering Christ’s death and examining themselves while doing so) “will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord” (11:27; cf. Heb. 6:3-6; 10:26-31) – is meant to show the Corinthians, and by extension us, that improper observance of communion has very serious spiritual ramifications.

We’ll continue studying this passage next week, Lord willing.

— Jon