Lesson #16

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1 – 2 Corinthians

September 21, 2015

Lesson #01

January 16, 2010

Lesson #02

January 16, 2010

RETURN TO THE SYLLABUS

1CORINTHIANS 11:17-34
Lesson #16
DISCERNING THE BODY OF CHRIST

• Memory Verse: 1Cor 11:31

• After Paul’s discussion concerning relationships in the church and in marriage between men and women, Paul seems to suddenly change the theme. He talks about something which does not seem at all related. That subject is Holy Communion (The Lord’s Supper). However, there is a relationship, as we will see.
• The celebration of Holy Communion is the highest form of Christian worship, but for many Christians it is not at all important and not well understood.
• In the Corinthian Church, Holy Communion had a level of such low importance that they actually abused it. This is what Paul wants them to change.
• Read 1Cor 11:17-22
• Why does the church congregate together?
• The church meets together for the high purpose of the worship of God.
• The church meets together for the high purpose of encouraging and edifying Christians in their faith.
• The church meets together for the high purpose of teaching believers the Word of God, and as to how it applies to their lives.
• The Corinthian church was not meeting for these high purposes. (17)
• That church met together to promote divisions within the church. (18)
• That church met to promote heresies that entered the church. (19)
• What does the word heresy mean?
• The word, heresy, means = a fundamental error in the basic doctrines of Christianity as stated in the Bible.
• Heresy is to pick and choose what you think is correct and add it to the basic Christian doctrines and in this way changing the basic doctrines of the Bible.
• The Corinthian church added ideas of Greek philosophy that later became Gnosticism. We can see the evidence of this in 1Cor 8:1 and 1Cor 13:8.
• The Corinthian church added an attitude of sexual liberalism from pagan Greek religion. We can see this in 1Cor 6:13.
• Later we will see that the Corinthian church denied the physical resurrection in 1Cor 5:12.
• That church met to abuse the ordinance of Holy Communion (The Lord’s Supper).
• Background:
• To understand the exact nature of the abuse of the ordinance of Holy Communion, we need to understand how they practiced the ordinance.
• In the early church the Lord’s Supper or Holy Communion was practiced daily and then weekly. (Act 20:7) In other words, it was a part of the worship service every time the church met together.
• The believers in the book of Acts met in homes and ate a meal together. (Act 2:46-47)
• Holy Communion was part of the meal of fellowship that was called the “love feast”. (Jud 1:12) Just as Jesus ate the last supper with his disciples and ended it with the initiation of Holy Communion, the Christians in the early church did the same thing.
• Churches today usually do not link a meal of fellowship with Holy Communion.
• The Love Feast in the Corinthian church:
• The congregation in Corinth contained rich people and poor people. The rich people brought all kinds of food but they did not share it with their poor brothers and sisters in the church. Instead the rich people sat separately and ate. Sometimes they even got drunk during the love feasts. The poor people in the church had nothing to eat.
• Paul told them that the rich should have eaten their food at home and then come to the church with empty hands. That would be the least they could do. (22)
• Instead, their actions revealed how they truly felt about the body of Christ.

• Read 1Cor 11:23-34 Holy Communion (The Lord’s Supper)
• This passage concerning Holy Communion is the most complete instruction concerning the observance of this ordinance.
• The Holy Communion after the Love Feast:
• Paul says in verse 23 that the Lord Jesus Christ revealed to him directly the deep significance of Holy Communion.
• The breaking of the bread together

for the purposes of unity:

• Just as Jesus broke the bread and gave pieces to the disciples, the Christian church is supposed to break the bread and distribute it to the congregation.
• In the Passover meal which Jesus shared with his disciples on that last night, they used unleavened bread which was to represent the sinless nature of Jesus Christ.
• The significance of the breaking of the bread is that all individuals are a part of the whole. They share together their part in the body of Christ that was broken for the whole. The individual believers share together in the sinless nature of Jesus Christ.
• Therefore, the breaking of bread together was to represent the unity we have in Christ with other believers.
• The sharing of the cup together

for the purposes of unity:

• In the last supper that Jesus had with His disciples, they used one cup and all drank from that one cup. While that does not seem sanitary to us today, the purpose was to instill a feeling of unity in the group. They were all indentified one with the other as they identified themselves with the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The cup represents the new covenant that New Testament believers have through the blood of Christ.
• The cup they shared was not fermented wine. On Passover, they were to clean their houses of all leaven or yeast. That included any fermented drink that contained alcohol.
• Notice that Paul says some of them were drunk. (21) They therefore violated the sinless significance of the cup of communion by drinking fermented drink that contained alcohol. They abused it to the excess as some were drunk.
• The cup they shared was a commemoration. (26)
• Holy Communion was, and is, supposed to be a time of reflection, looking back to the crucifixion of Christ when Jesus paid for our sins on Calvary and was raised from the dead signifying a completed act.
• This is the acknowledgement of the past.
• The cup they shared was a communion. (26)
• The command in verse 26 is plural. Believers in Jesus Christ are supposed to join together in unity of fellowship to remember the Lord’s death.
• This is the acknowledgement of the present.
• The cup they shared was a commitment. (26)
• The command to partake was a command to commit oneself to the body of Christ until the second coming of Jesus Christ.
• This is the acknowledgement of the future hope of Christ’s return.
• Verse 26 says that when believers share in Holy Communion, they “show” the Lord’s death. The word, “show”, means to preach. Therefore, the practice of partaking of Holy Communion is a means of preaching the new covenant of the forgiveness of sins in the blood of Jesus Christ through His death and resurrection.
• The abuses of Holy Communion in Corinth:
• What specific abuses in the Corinthian church does Paul mention in this chapter?
• Paul mentions divisions, heresies, selfishness in the love feasts, abuses of the concepts of unity as signified in Holy Communion.
• The consequences of these abuses: (27)
• Paul said that they drank the cup of Holy Communion unworthily and that they were guilty of the body and the blood of Jesus Christ.
• What does he mean?
• There are two ways we can view these words and both of them are legitimate:
• =1= We can consider that these words mean the literal body and blood of Jesus Christ that was broken and crucified for our sins.
• If we consider the ordinance of Holy Communion as an empty tradition with no real meaning to us personally, literally, and spiritually, we take Holy Communion unworthily.
• =2= We can consider that these words mean the spiritual body of believers in Jesus Christ, the church, for which Christ shed His blood.
• This is the context in which Paul discusses the topic of Holy Communion. The Corinthian believers had no love for one another. As a result, they took Holy Communion unworthily.
• What is meant by the word, “unworthily”?
• Paul does not mean that the believer should take Holy Communion only when he has become worthy of it. We can never be worthy of it in ourselves. We are immediately worthy of it through Jesus Christ.
• The believer immediately becomes worthy when he realizes he is a sinner, repents of his sin, and receives the Lord’s forgiveness.
• The word, unworthily, speaks of a person’s attitude. The believer should come to the Lord’s Table with a serious attitude and discerning the meaning of the ordinance.
• In verse 29, Paul says that they did not “discern” the Lord’s body. How must we discern the Lord’s body in Holy Communion?
• Read Luk 24:30-35
• The resurrected Jesus walked with two disciples on the road to Emmaus. They did not know him until He broke the bread. Then suddenly they knew He was with them.
• The Lord’s presence, by means of His Holy Spirit, is in the keeping of Holy Communion. If we discern that He is present in Holy Communion, it becomes more than a tradition. It becomes a living remembrance.
• We must discern our relationship to other believers in the church, the body of Christ.
• If we have any relationship problems with anyone in the church or he with us, we should not take communion until we correct that relationship.
• What did the Corinthian church suffer because of their failure to discern the body of Christ?
• Many were weak. (physically and spiritually)
• Many were physically sick.
• Some physically died (sleep).
• The Bible uses the word, sleep, for physical death to impress upon Christians the temporary nature of physical death. Jesus used the word, sleep, in this way when speaking of Lazarus’ death. (Joh 11:11-14)
• The Christian’s individual responsibility to judge himself: (31-32)
• If the individual Christians in Corinth had discerned their own sins and failures in their relationships with one another and in their relationship to the Lord, they would not have suffered these consequences.
• Therefore, the solution to the abuses of that church is self examination.
• Through self-examination, the Holy Spirit is able to convict the heart of sin that leads to repentance.
• The avoidance of self-examination leads to chastisement. God must punish His believers when they do wrong just as a father punishes his rebellious children. (Heb 12:6)
• If God did not punish us in this life, we would have to stand before the final Great White Throne Judgment of non-believers.
• Therefore, it is better to be a believer chastened by God in this life.
• The best time for self-examination is just before the believer takes communion.
• He should examine his personal relationship to God to determine if there is any sin not forgiven.
• He should examine his personal relationships with other believers to determine if there is any cause of hatred, unforgiveness, or resentment.
• Application:
• Unfortunately many times in Christian churches, the ordinance of Holy Communion (The Lord’s Supper) becomes an empty tradition that is tacked onto the end of the church service. In reality Christ intended that participation in this ordinance would bring unity of purpose to His church around the preaching of the gospel.
• We can see this purpose in the context of the Corinthian church that had many divisions and lacked unity in Christ.
• As individual believers, it is important that we continually examine ourselves in the context of Holy Communion so as to keep Him alive in our fellowship with other believers and in our relationship with God.

HOMEWORK
1CORINTHIANS 12:1-11
This is a self-study. Please do not send homework answers to the teacher forcorrection.

• Application of 1Cor 11:17-34
• In what ways do you need to make Holy Communion (The Lord’s Supper) more meaningful to your Christian life?
• How can you more adequately discern the Lord’s body through self-judgment?

• Preparation for 1Cor 12:1-11
• Read 1Cor 12:1-26
• How do the spiritual gifts mentioned in verses 1-11 relate to the divisions in the Corinthian church?
• What do all the spiritual gifts have in common?

• Memory verse: 1Cor 12:4