Now in giving this instruction, I do not praise you, because you come together not for the better but for the worse.
Now Paul is talking about another matter, that they just are not understanding. So they're not doing any good by it.
For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that divisions exist among you, and in part I believe it.
Since this is a new section, I don't think he's talking about the kind of divisions he dealt with in chapters one to three, I think he's referring to different views of what the Lord's Supper is supposed to be.
For there must also be factions among you, so that those who are approved may become evident among you.
"Factions" refers to different opinions, like an opposing political party. It's rendered as "heresies" in the King James Bible, with a note that it could also be translated "sects."
This is very strong language, which shows how passionate Paul feels about this issue. Maybe we need to think of the Lord's Supper in more weighty terms.
Therefore when you meet together, it is not to eat the Lord's Supper,
They were meeting for church, but Paul insists that it is not the right way to meet to celebrate this Ordinance of the church.
for in your eating each one takes his own supper first; and one is hungry and another is drunk.
It appears that these Corinthians are bringing their own suppers to the church gathering and not sharing their food, so that some of the members go hungry and others have even showed up inebriated.
What! Do you not have houses in which to eat and drink? 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 will not praise you.
These people are not showing any concern for one another, and Paul refuses to compliment any part of these goings on.
Now Paul will set them straight about what the Lord's Supper is all about.
For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you,
He's telling them exactly what the Lord taught him.
that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread;
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.
Now he describes the Last Supper. The one part, where Jesus institutes this Ordinance. They had already finished the meal, and Jesus picks up a piece of the bread they had been eating, and says that the "bread" we eat is His "body," what nourishes us. Previously He explained to the disciples that,
It is the spirit that gives life, the flesh profits nothing: the words that I speak to you, they are spirit, and they are life (John 6:63).So the physical piece of bread has no worth in the spiritual realm. It is a reminder for us to see, to remember that He took our death on the Cross.
In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, This cup is the New Covenant in My Blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.
In the same way, the cup represents His Blood, that spattered the sides of His altar, the Cross, to wash away our sins. Sins can only be dealt with by blood, the blood of the animal sacrifices covered the sins so that the people could be forgiven, now the Blood of Jesus, God's own Blood, fulfills those sacrifices, and has the unlimited value to wash away all of our sins completely. Now we don't have to offer animals on an altar any more.
The Old Covenant was the animal sacrifices. Now He is instituting a New Covenant, based on the Blood He shed in His Sacrifice to end all other sacrifices.
As often as you drink it, to keep it on our minds continually.
For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes.
This is the whole purpose for this Ordinance: To announce that Jesus has died as the Lamb of God, our atoning Sacrifice; and that He was buried, and rose from the dead, and will return one Day to set up His Kingdom on this Earth.
Therefore whoever eats the Bread or drinks the Cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the Body and the Blood of the Lord.
This is a very solemn and pivotal Ordinance that we need to take seriously. To be flippant about this is to flip off the whole purpose for which Jesus left His glory in Heaven to become our Savior and Redeemer. To take as trivial the great Sacrifice He suffered for each of us, making it all meaningless.
But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the Bread and drink of the Cup.
We are to look at our own hearts, our own weaknesses and failings, and get right with the Lord; giving respect to the importance of remembering what He has accomplished for us by His death and shedding His Blood.
For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the Body rightly.
If we do not have the reverence and respect for the Body of our Lord that was broken for us, then we are calling down God's judgment on us to have to pay it personally.
For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep.
The church in Corinth had members who were suffering failing health, and some had even died, because of their attitudes toward the Lord's Supper. This is serious, with consequences.
But if we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged.
When we face our own sins, and confess them and forsake them, seeing them as God sees them, then He will not pour out His wrath on us, having already put it on Jesus on the Cross in our place.
But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord so that we will not be condemned along with the World.
Those in Corinth who are sick and weak and have died are being disciplined by our Loving Father so that He will not have to condemn them with the rest of the World.
So then, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one another.
If anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, so that you will not come together for judgment.
Paul concludes this discussion with giving them practical advice to follow: Consider how sacred this Ordinance is and act accordingly, by eating your meals at home and having consideration for one another. He considers these Christians as his brothers in the Lord, and sincerely wants them to get it right.
And in writing this out for them in this letter, God has also given us this instruction today. This is how we are to think of the Lord's Supper, giving Christ the honor He deserves, and having consideration for one another.
The remaining matters I will arrange when I come.
Other items of concern he needed to talk to them about were probably specific to their circumstances at that point in time.
So there are also items of concern we need to face and deal with in our time.
Each time has its own problems and concerns, and God has given us all the foundational principles under all the issues we will ever need to take care of each day, in whatever time and culture we are living.
O my Father, thank You for Your written Word, that we can read and study and draw out all the things You put into it. Every time I turn to it to dig into what You have told us, I find that I come to a fuller, deeper, more expansive understanding than what I had before.
Father, help all of us Your children to view this Ordinance in the light of what our Lord Jesus did for us, and continually keep in mind how much You Love us, to have sent Him, Your Most Precious, to be our personal Sacrifice! How it must have broken Your heart to do that to Your own Son, but You considered each of us worth that extreme Sacrifice!
Help us, also, Father, to love one another the way You have Loved us, to be willing to also sacrifice our most precious possessions for the benefit of our brothers and sisters.
Teach us how to love You back, Father, and to show our love for You in our treatment of those You Love: all the people who live in this World.
Strengthen us and prosper us to share and go and broadcast Your precious Seed in all the fields of this World, so that every person of every Nation and every tribe and every tongue will hear. Until every person alive, from the smallest child to the most elderly citizen will be able to understand enough to make an informed decision to accept or reject Your gracious offer.
Then You will send Your Son back to us, to reward the saints, to judge the wicked, and to set up Your Kingdom on this Earth. And Your Kingdom will never end, and will continue to increase throughout all eternity!
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
