1 Cor 11:23-26
23 For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread;
24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”
25 In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”
26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.
Those are some classic verses. Typically they are recited once a month, when a church would observe and partake of communion. Good stuff indeed.
We would do well to consider the context of the verses, necessarily recited out of the context of the whole epistle, for time-saving purposes on Sunday mornings. Paul did not write his letters for time savings purposes. He wrote them to be read as letters.
I will not go back to the how-long-is-long-hair speculations of Paul’s era versus our era. We’re not in church right now, but folks get antsy reading blogs.
Let’s start at verse 17.
1 Cor 11:16-32
17 Now in giving these instructions I do not praise you, since you come together not for the better but for the worse.
18 For first of all, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you, and in part I believe it.
19 For there must also be factions among you, that those who are approved may be recognized among you.
Above, Paul is addressing the fact that there are divisions and contentions in church (go figure) – and further recognizing that the Lord would utilize those situations to validate and approve ones in alignment with the purposes of heaven. The “holy filter system” of our righteous God. He lets stuff play out, so what is pure comes to the surface and what is impure gets exposed and can be removed.
Then Paul goes on to rebuke the Corinthian church because their purposes of eating together are not the divine purposes as prescribed by our Lord at the last supper – a Passover seder, by the way.
20 Therefore when you come together in one place, it is not to eat the Lord’s Supper.
21 For in eating, each one takes his own supper ahead of others; and one is hungry and another is drunk.
22 What! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and shame those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you in this? I do not praise you.
Paul is saying – you’ve made a pig-out of this communion command. One eats, others go hungry. Some drink too much. You don’t even care that some go hungry. You are just like the world, except worse, because you ought to know better. The purpose of the Lord’s supper was fellowship with Jesus, and with one another, and it was to be a sharing and divine encounter, not simply a mess hall.
Going on – here is what we hear in church on “Communion Sunday”:
23 For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread;
24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”
25 In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”
26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.
Amen. Huge. Partaking of the remembrance. Prophetically pointing to His return.
And that is where the Communion Sunday reading typically concludes, because it functions within the purposes and time schedule of a Sunday morning. But the rest of the writing of Paul is there to be read, understood, and embraced. Sunday AM ought not be our only time in the Word.
Verse 27 is the warning label that we typically don’t read – but it is there, as valid as the scriptures already read:
27 Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.
Paul understood the divinity of the communion. Eating of the body and blood of Christ is supernatural. The bread does not become flesh. The wine/juice does not transubstantiate into blood. But it is nonetheless holy and sacred, to the point of the warning label. Don’t partake of the communion if you are not in right standing with God.
Looking to include rather than exclude, Paul invites us to self-examine (there’s maturity here. Sobriety. Fear of the Lord). And there’s the admonishment to examine, repent as necessary, and then partake – not to remain in denial, or condemnation, and avoid communion. PLAN A is always restoration to right relationship.
28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup.
And more warning, to the point of examples that apparently had already been witnessed by the church (v 30) – because it is that serious:
29 For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.
30 For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep.
WHAT???? Paul is saying that some (having partaken of the holiness of communion in an unholy state) have already, and other might in the future bring upon themselves sickness and even death? Are you kidding me? Who could make that happen? Would God Himself do that to a believer? Seriously?
Humbly. I would say yes. Here we go: the fear of the Lord stuff, again.
OT Reference – (Remember, WE are called priests now):
Lev 10:1-2
1 Then Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it, put incense on it, and offered profane fire before the LORD, which He had not commanded them.
2 So fire went out from the LORD and devoured them, and they died before the LORD.
NT Reference – (God has never lowered the bar for holiness. To the contrary – Heb 12:25, Matt 5:27-28 )
Acts 5:1-6
1 But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession.
2 And he kept back part of the proceeds, his wife also being aware of it, and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostles’ feet.
3 But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself?
4 “While it remained, was it not your own? And after it was sold, was it not in your own control? Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.”
5 Then Ananias, hearing these words, fell down and breathed his last. So great fear came upon all those who heard these things.
6 And the young men arose and wrapped him up, carried him out, and buried him.
BACK TO COMMUNION – Paul tells us that critical, biblical Holy Spirit led self-examination (to the level of self-judging), is the safest early-prevention steps we can ever do, to assure us eternal rest and safety and well-being:
31 For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged.
And then we are assured that our loving God will relentlessly work with us on this kind of stuff, because He understands the eternal significance of, well, eternity. It trumps our good health, our current state of “well-being”. This gospel is never-ending. It is eternal. Eternity is our Lord’s priority, because He loves us so much.
32 But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world.
Jesus loves me. And I want to love Him back, biblically.
John 14:23-24
23 Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.
24 “He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father’s who sent Me.
All scriptures NKJV
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