1 Corinthians 11:17-34 - New Passover Communion with Christ

1 Corinthians 11:17-34

Conduct at the Lord’s Supper

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. 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.

Institution of the Lord’s Supper (Matt. 26:26–29; Mark 14:22–25; Luke 22:14–23)

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.

Examine Yourself

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. 28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 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. 31 For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. 32 But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world.

33 Therefore, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one another. 34 But if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, lest you come together for judgment. And the rest I will set in order when I come.

Communion with God in Christ is both remembered and participated in when we come together to eat the Lord’s Supper together as Jesus did in the Passover Meal with the disciples just before His sacrificial death as a Lamb led to the slaughter (Isaiah 53:7, Acts 8:32) for we who believe and receive Him.  The Passover Meal outlined the meal Jesus instituted for His church of both Jew and Gentile which we now celebrate as our passing over of sin and judgement as the firstborn of Israel was in Egypt.  The blood of the cup we take is the blood of the His sacrifice of His life (Leviticus 17:11, John 6:53) we share to obtain the life given for us and the broken body of suffering and death which Jesus endured for sinners as you and I is seen in the bread broken and shared among us in the celebration of the Lord’s Last Supper.  The bitter herbs of the Passover Meal remind us of the bitter suffering of the Lord (Isaiah 53:4-5) for us as He was rejected by men (Isaiah 53:3) and beaten before a humiliating death on a tree of sin’s cursing meant for us (Deuteronomy 21:22-23, Galatians 3:13) we lovingly refer to as a cross.  Because of these truths, we celebrate the Lord’s death in this ordinance of the church until He comes again to take us home in the kingdom of Heaven come down to a new earth.  The beloved apostle reminded the Corinthians and us to not take this remembrance lightly by not eating and drinking the elements together or even overindulging in the wine and getting drunk!  He advised such to stay at home to eat and drink if not in corporate remembrance of Christ’s suffering and death together.  This warning is mostly to remind us of our unity in Christ we should come to in Him (1 Corinthians 1:10, Ephesians 4:13) and not splinter in disagreement over basic and essential doctrines as we argue in disunity.  Certainly there are doctrines which are not as clear as others and must be considered and discussed in love until we arrive at the scriptural meaning and intent, and we should not ignore these.  We are, however, to speak the truth in love as we grow in understanding and meet together for the Lord’s Supper in true unity of the faith without compromising the essentials.  He then lays out the order of the remembrance celebration by reiterating Jesus’s own words as He initiated the first Communion with Him at that Passover Meal with His followers.  When the Lord was about to be betrayed so He could offer Himself and shed the lifeblood to save us from our sin’s just punishment, He began with breaking the unleavened bread signifying His own sinless body broken to take their beating and told them to remember Him as they partook of it together.  Then Jesus took and shared the cup of that blood of His life-giving sacrifice as the Lamb of God as the seal of the New Covenant made with us by His work on our behalf to deliver us from sin and keep us eternally with Him again in remembrance of Him.  We are to do this to proclaim the gospel of the Lord’s death to ourselves and others as we anticipate His coming back for us.  We are also warned to celebrate this remembrance with sober thoughts and lives lived in ongoing confession of sins and righteous devotion to Him and each other as the first and second great commandments (Matthew 22:37-39) require.  Our relationship with God and those with each other need to be constantly settled (Matthew 5:23-24) before we partake together in the reconciliation of grace we are remembering here.  May we not partake in an unworthy manner leading to temporal judgment as we judge ourselves rightly and respond to God in humility and ongoing repentance.  The truth here is to judge ourselves to avoid His judgment on unrepentant sin and subsequent discipline to correct us in His great love, having already escaped the judgment of condemnation coming on the world apart from Christ.  The instructions then are to wait and partake together and eat at home first to avoid coming only to satisfy ourselves and not discern the Lord’s body in a corporate remembrance.  These are our guidelines of the new Passover communion with Christ who Himself is our Passover (1 Corinthians 5:7).