27Celebrating the Lord’s Supper (11:17-34)
But in giving this instruction, I do not praise you, because you come together not for the better but for the worse. 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. For there must also be factions among you, in order that those who are approved may have become evident among you. Therefore when you meet together, it is not to eat the Lord’s Supper, for in your eating each one takes his own supper first; and one is hungry and another is drunk. 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. For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, 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.” 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.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes. 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. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself, if he does not judge the body rightly. For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep. But if we judged ourselves rightly, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord in order that we may not be condemned along with 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 may not come together for judgment. And the remaining matters I shall arrange when I come. (11:17-34)
By instruction and by example Christ instituted two ordinances, baptism and Communion, ordinances that those who believe in Him are to follow faithfully. Jesus commanded His disciples to “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit” (Matt. 28:19), following His own example of being baptized by John the Baptist (Matt. 3:13-17). During His last Passover meal in the upper room Jesus initiated the Communion (or Lord’s Supper, as it has come to be known), telling the disciples to continue the ordinance as a remembrance of Him (Luke 22:19-20).
Paul had been faithful in establishing these ordinances in Corinth. Although he did not personally baptize many of the believers there (1 Cor. 1:14-16), he affirmed baptism as a non-optional act of obedience to the Lord. The present passage makes it clear that the Corinthians regularly celebrated the Lord’s Supper, in which the apostle had shared with them many times.
It was not incidental that Christ initiated Communion rites during the Passover meal. God instituted the Passover when He delivered His people from their 400 years of bondage in Egypt. The meal celebrated the death angel’s passing over the houses of those whose doorposts and lintels were smeared with lamb’s blood. The lamb itself was roasted and eaten, along with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. “Now this day will be a memorial to you, and you shall celebrate it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations you are to celebrate it as a permanent ordinance” (Ex. 12:1-14). Throughout her history Israel celebrated this meal in remembrance of the Lord’s supreme deliverance of them, from Egypt to the Promised Land. It is still the holiest of Jewish feasts.
Jesus transformed the Passover meal into the celebration of the infinitely greater deliverance He came to bring, of which the Passover was only a foreshadow When we eat His body and drink His blood, we remember the spiritual and eternal redemption that He bought with the sacrifice of that body and the offering of that blood. The Passover celebrated the temporary, physical deliverance of the Old Covenant. The Lord’s Supper celebrates the permanent and spiritual deliverance of the New “This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood” (Luke 22:20). The Lord’s table reminds us of the cross of Jesus Christ.
Luke tells us that the four marks of the daily life of early Christians were obedience to apostolic teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread, and prayer (Acts 2:42). We may be sure that the breaking of bread included frequent celebration of the Lord’s death with the bread and the cup. Some scholars and historians of the early church believe that in some households Communion was celebrated at every meal.
The early church developed special fellowship meals that came to be called love feasts (Jude 12) and that usually were closed with the observance of Communion. Those were congregational meals stressing fellowship, affection, and mutual caring among the believers. The emphasis on oneness led very readily into a celebration of the unifying accomplishment of the Savior on the cross. The church at Corinth followed this custom but, like those whom Peter condemns (2 Pet. 2:13), they had turned the meals into gluttonous, drunken revelry. And when the meal was connected to the bread and cup remembrance, it was a flagrant desecration of the holy ordinance.
When he introduced the discussion of women’s head coverings, Paul praised the Corinthians for holding firmly to the doctrines he had taught them (11:2). Now he has no praise. But in giving this instruction, I do not praise you, because you come together not for the better but for the worse.
Giving … instruction (parangellō) means “to command,” specifically to give a charge or order. The basic idea of the word is “to pass along from one to another.” It was used especially for the order given by a military commander and passed along the line by his subordinates. Paul made it clear that what he was about to say was not merely personal advice. It was apostolic instruction that his readers were commanded to accept and follow
It would have been much better for those Corinthians never to have had a love feast, and even never to have observed the Lord’s Communion, than to have so abused them. They came together not for the better but for the worse. The term for worse is a comparative of kakos, which represents moral evil. Instead of the celebrations being times of loving fellowship and spiritual enrichment they involved selfish indulgence, shaming the poorer brethren, mocking the Lord’s sacrificial death, and scandalizing the church before the unbelieving world around them.
In calling the Corinthians to sanctity in their observance of the Lord’s Supper, Paul discusses their perversion of it, the Lord’s purpose for it, and the right preparation for it.
THE PERVERSION OF THE LORD’S SUPPER
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. For there must also be factions among you, in order that those who are approved may have become evident among you. Therefore when you meet together, it is not to eat the Lord’s Supper, for in your eating each one takes his own supper first; and one is hungry and another is drunk. 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. (11:18-22)
Church (ekklēsia) means “assembly,” or “congregation,” and in the New Testament is never used of a building or meeting place but always of believers. Apparently wherever and whenever the Corinthian Christians got together they bickered and quarreled. When you come together as a church, I hear that divisions exist among you. Divisions (schismata, from which we get schism) literally refers to tearing or cutting, and metaphorically to division or dissension. The Corinthians apparently could not agree on anything, nor did they seek to serve each other. Instead of sharing together in fellowship and worship they spent their time in selfish indulgence, arguing, and disputing. Perhaps because he suspected that some of the reports had been exaggerated, the apostle wanted to give them the benefit of any doubt. So he added, and in part, I believe it.
Yet the reports would not have been hard to believe. Paul began this letter by strongly rebuking them for their divisions based on party loyalties (1:10-17; 3:1-3). Those divisions inevitably ended in “quarrels” (v. 11). The believers were also divided socially, as this passage indicates. Those who were well off brought their food and selfishly ate it before the poorer members arrived. Far from having “all things in common” and “sharing … with all, as anyone might have need,” as did the first Christians in Jerusalem (Acts 2:44), the Corinthian upper class disdained even sharing in a “pot luck supper” with their less fortunate brothers and sisters. It was every person for himself.
Paul’s first appeal to them had been, “Now I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree, and there be no divisions among you, but you be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment” (1 Cor. 1:10). “As fellow followers of Christ you ought to have the same understanding, the same opinions, the same attitude, the same outlook,” he was saying. The reasons for their division were carnality, selfishness, and worldliness. “I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to babes in Christ” (3:1). They were walking in the flesh rather than in the Spirit and following their own wills rather than the Lord’s.
One of the most fearful things in the church is division, because it is one of the first and surest signs of spiritual sickness. One of the first symptoms of worldliness and backsliding, often before it shows up in compromised doctrine or life-style, is dissension within a congregation.
Paul was well aware that division cannot be entirely avoided. Until the Lord returns, there will always be tares among the wheat, and disobedient believers as well. For there must also be factions among you. There … must be translates the single word dei, which means “it is necessary” or “it must be,” and denotes necessity or compulsion of any kind. When Peter and the other apostles were told by the Sanhedrin to stop preaching the gospel, they replied, “We must [dei] obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29). The word is often used in the New Testament to represent divine necessity. Jesus used the term on numerous occasions in relation to certain scripturally predicted and divinely appointed events, including His crucifixion and resurrection (Matt. 24:6; 26:54; John 3:14; etc.). He even said, “For it is inevitable that stumbling blocks come; but woe to that man through whom the stumbling block comes!” (Matt. 18:7). That is the sense in which Paul uses the term here.
The paradox is that it was necessary for there to be factions in the Corinthian church in order that those who are approved may have become evident among you. The worldliness and fleshly disobedience of those who caused the divisions would expose and highlight the love, harmony, and spirituality of those who are approved. Approved (dokimos) refers to that which has passed a test. The term was used of precious metals tried in fire and proved to be pure. Church division, ungodly and sinful as it is, nevertheless is used by the Lord to prove the worth of His faithful saints. In the midst of bickering and divisiveness they are separated out as pure gold is from the dross. Evil helps manifest good. Trouble in the church creates a situation in which true spiritual strength, wisdom, and leadership can be manifested.
Paul spoke to the Thessalonians of the dokimos, those who “have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel” (1 Thess. 2:4). In every congregation of believers God has His approved people in whom He entrusts the work of His church. Those approved ones are especially made manifest in adversity and hardship, and it is only to such tried and tested saints that a church should entrust its leadership. A major cause of pastors, missionaries, and other Christian leaders leaving the ministry or being unproductive in it is that they are not approved, they are not fully qualified spiritually in the first place to do the Lord’s work. “Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial,” James says, “for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those who love Him” (James 1:12).
Factions are not merely disruptive; they are destructive. Initially they help reveal the strong, spiritual leaders, but when left unchallenged they will undermine any Christian group and are not to be tolerated. “Reject a factious man after a first and second warning,” Paul wrote Titus, “knowing that such a man is perverted and is sinning, being self-condemned” (Titus 3:10-11). By the very fact that he is factious and divisive a person proves his carnality and his unfitness to be a part of the Christian fellowship. It is necessary that factions appear, but it is not necessary that they be tolerated or allowed to lead to division in the church.
The focal point of this evil was the Lord’s Supper. The term deipnon (Supper) was the normal word used for the evening meal. The addition of the Lord’s gives it special and much greater significance. This was a genuine meal, where the church congregated to eat the “love feast,” a meal followed by the Communion. The Communion was connected to this supper in the Corinthian church, but abuses were obscuring its divine purpose and destroying its sanctity. In the early church the love feast and Communion customarily were held together, but abuses such as those in Corinth eventually forced the two to be separated in order to protect the Communion. The love feast soon disappeared altogether.
The factious members of the Corinthian church had so perverted the congregation that the celebration of Communion was a mockery; in fact it was not Communion at all. Therefore when you meet together, it is not to eat the Lord’s Supper. They could not properly say it was devoted to the Lord. Neither the meal nor the Communion was honoring to Him. They had the ceremony but not the reality, the form but not the substance. “You may be breaking some bread, passing the cup, and repeating some of Jesus’ words,” Paul said in effect, “but what you are doing has nothing to do with the ordinance the Lord instituted. Christ has no part in it.”
For in your eating each one takes his own supper first; and one is hungry and another is drunk. The poorer believers came to the supper expecting to share in the food brought by the wealthy, but they went away hungry—physically as well as spiritually. Those who brought food and drink gorged themselves and became drunk. They mocked the very purpose of the occasion, which was to bring harmony and unity among those who belonged to Christ, as they remembered His sacrifice to make them one in Him. “Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ? Since there is one bread, we who are many are one body; for we all partake of the one bread” (1 Cor. 10:16-17).
In seeming frustration, as if trying to find a rational explanation, Paul asks, 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? If they intended to selfishly indulge themselves, could they not do that at home? Or were they actually trying to destroy the fellowship by flagrantly despising God’s church? Or were they so contemptuous of their poor brothers and sisters in Christ that they purposely embarrassed and shamed them? Whatever the reasons may have been, they could not justify the harm being brought to the church. If they could not show love, why have a love feast?
Again Paul tells them that he can say nothing in their defense. What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? In this I will not praise you. “You will get no approval from me,” he said. “And you will certainly get no praise.”
A Christian’s attitudes and motives should be pure at all times. But when believers come to the table of the Lord, sharing the bread of His body and the cup of His blood, it is absolutely necessary that they leave behind all sin, all bitterness, all racial and sexual prejudice, all class pride, and all feelings of superiority. Of all places and occasions, those attitudes are most out place at the Lord’s Supper. They grievously profane that holy, beautiful, and unifying ordinance of God.
THE PURPOSE OF THE LORD’S TABLE
For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, 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.” 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.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes. (11:23-26)
These verses are like a diamond dropped in a muddy road. One of the most beautiful passages in all of Scripture is given in the middle of a strong rebuke of worldly, carnal, selfish, and insensitive attitudes and behavior. The rebuke, in fact, is of Christians who have perverted the very ceremony that these verses so movingly describe.
As he often did when about to present an especially important or controversial truth, Paul makes it clear that what he is teaching is not his own opinion but God’s revealed Word. From the tenses inverse 23 we know that what he is about to tell the Corinthian believers is not new to them. He is reminding themof what he had already taught them. For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you.
Most conservative scholars agree that 1 Corinthians probably was written before any of the gospels. If that is true, Paul’s account here is the first biblical record of the institution of the Lord’s Supper, and includes direct quotations from Jesus. It is perfectly consistent with the gospel accounts, but Paul’s revelation most likely was received from the Lord directly, not through the other apostles (cf. Gal. 1:10-12), even though the terms here speak of a chain of tradition that had come from the Lord to Paul and then to the Corinthians.
In the night in which He was betrayed gives the historical setting, which many of the believers may not have known, because, as just noted, probably none of the gospels was yet written. Again we see a jewel against a filthy backdrop. This most beautiful and meaningful of Christian celebrations was instituted on the very night the Lord was betrayed and arrested. In the midst of the world’s evil, God establishes His good; in the midst of Satan’s wickedness, God plants His holiness. Just as, by contrast, the fleshly factions cause the Lord’s approved saints to “become evident” (11:19), so Jesus’ betrayal and arrest cause His gracious sacrifice to become more evident. In the midst of Satan’s absolute worst, the condemnation of the Son of God on the cross, God accomplished His absolute best, the sacrifice for the redemption of the world through that cross.
Although Jesus was celebrating the Passover meal with His disciples in the upper room, neither the gospels nor Paul’s account here give all the details of the meal. They concentrate on Jesus’ institution of the new meal, the new supper, which now supersedes the old.
The Passover meal began with the host’s pronouncing a blessing over the first cup of red wine and passing it to the others present. Four cups of wine were passed around during the meal. After the first cup was drunk bitter herbs dipped in a fruit sauce were eaten and a message was given on the meaning of Passover. Then the first part of a hymn, the Hallel (which means “praise” and is related to hallelujah, “praise ye the Lord”), was sung. The Hallel is comprised of Psalms 113-118, and the first part sung was usually 113 or 113 and 114. After the second cup was passed, the host would break and pass around the unleavened bread. Then the meal proper, which consisted of the roasted sacrificial lamb, was eaten. The third cup, after prayer, was then passed and the rest of the Hallel was sung. The fourth cup, which celebrated the coming kingdom, was drunk immediately before leaving.
It was the third cup that Jesus blessed and that became the cup of Communion. “And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood’” (Luke 22:20). After Jesus gave some brief words of warning, rebuke, and instruction (w. 21-38), the meal was concluded with the singing of a hymn (Matt. 26:30).
When He, that is, Jesus, had given thanks, He broke it (cf. John 6:11). In the Greek had given thanks is a participle of eucharisteō, from which we get Eucharist, the name by which some Christians refer to the Lord’s Supper.
The bread that had represented the Exodus now came to represent the body of Jesus Christ, the Messiah. To the Jewish mind the body represented the whole person, not just his physical body. Jesus’ body represents the great mystery of His whole incarnate life, His whole teaching, ministry, and work—all He was and all He did.
The word broken (as in the KJV of verse 24) does not appear in the best manuscripts or in most modern translations. Though the Romans frequently broke the legs of crucified victims in order to hasten death as an act of mercy, John specifically tells us that Jesus’ legs were not broken. In order “that the Scripture might be fulfilled, ‘Not a bone of Him shall be broken’” (John 19:33, 36). The best reading therefore is simply This is My body, which is for you.
For you are two of the most beautiful words in all of Scripture. Jesus gave His body, His entire incarnate life, for us who believe in Him. “I became a man for you; I gave the gospel to you; I suffered for you; and I died for you.” Our gracious, loving, magnanimous, merciful God became incarnate not for Himself but for us. Whether a person wants and receives the benefit of that sacrifice is his choice; but Jesus made it and offers it for every person. He paid the ransom for everyone who will be freed.
The cup that had represented the lamb’s blood smeared on the doorposts and lintels now came to represent the blood of the Lamb of God, shed for the salvation of the world. The Old Covenant was ratified repeatedly by the blood of animals offered by men; but the New Covenant has been ratified once and for all by the blood of Jesus Christ (Heb. 9:28), which God Himself has offered. The old deliverance was merely from Egypt to Canaan. So Jesus took the cup and said it is the new covenant in My blood. It is important to realize that this was not new in the sense that it was a covenant of grace replacing one of works. It is new in that it is the saving covenant to which all the Old Testament shadows pointed. The new deliverance is from sin to salvation, from death to life, from Satan’s realm to God’s heaven. Passover was transformed into the Lord’s Supper. We now eat the bread and drink the cup not to remember the Red Sea and the Exodus but to remember the cross and the Savior.
Do this in remembrance of Me is a command from the lips of our Lord Himself. Sharing in the Lord’s Supper is therefore not an option for believers. We must have Communion on a regular basis if we are to be faithful to the Lord who bought us through the act we are called to remember. Not to partake of the Lord’s Supper is disobedience and a sin.
For the Hebrew to remember meant much more than simply to bring something to mind, merely to recall that it happened. To truly remember is to go back in one’s mind and recapture as much of the reality and significance of an event or experience as one possibly can. To remember Jesus Christ and His sacrifice on the cross is to relive with Him His life, agony, suffering, and death as much as is humanly possible. When we partake of the Lord’s Supper we do not offer a sacrifice again; we remember His once-for-all sacrifice for us and rededicate ourselves to His obedient service.
For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes. As often as we are willing to remember and to proclaim the death of Christ, we will celebrate Communion. No frequency is given, but it is a permanent feast. It is more than a remembrance for our own sakes; it is also a proclamation for the world’s sake. It is a testimony to the world that we are not ashamed of our Lord or of His blood, that we belong to Him and are obedient to Him.
Communion is also a reminder of the Lord’s coming again, for He tells us to proclaim His death by this means until He comes. It helps keep us looking forward to the day when we will be with Him. It is a celebration of His present life and of His future return in glory.
There is much involved in that remembrance. When a believer comes to the Lord’s table, he remembers Christ’s work on the cross (11:25), he partakes of Christ’s spiritual presence in the fellowship, not the elements themselves (10:16), he communes with the saints (10:17), he worships in holiness (10:20-22), he proclaims salvation in Christ (11:24-25), and he anticipates the return of the Lord (11:26) and the coming Kingdom (Matt. 26:29).
THE PREPARATION FOR THE LORD’S SUPPER
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. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself, if he does not judge the body rightly. For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep. But if we judged ourselves rightly, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord in order that we may not be condemned along with 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 may not come together for judgment. And the remaining matters I shall arrange when I come. (11:27-34)
Again Paul returns to warning. Because of all that is involved in the ordinance, whoever participates in the Lord’s Supper in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. One can come to His table unworthily in many ways. It is common for people to participate in it ritualistically, without participating with their minds and hearts. They can go through the motions without going through any emotions, and treat it lightly rather than seriously. They can believe it imparts grace or merit, that the ceremony itself, rather than the sacrifice it represents, can save or keep one saved. Many come with a spirit of bitterness or hatred toward another believer, or come with a sin of which they will not repent. If a believer comes with anything less than the loftiest thoughts of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and anything less than total love for his brothers and sisters in Christ, he comes unworthily.
To come unworthily to the Lord’s table is to become guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. To trample our country’s flag is not to dishonor a piece of cloth but to dishonor the country it represents. To come unworthily to Communion does not simply dishonor the ceremony; it dishonors the One in whose honor it is celebrated. We become guilty of dishonoring His body and blood, which represent His total gracious life and work for us, His suffering and death on our behalf. We become guilty of mocking and treating with indifference the very person of Jesus Christ (cf. Acts 7:52; Heb. 6:6; 10:29).
Every time he comes to the Lord’s Supper, therefore, a person should examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. Before we partake we are to give ourselves a thorough self-examination, looking honestly at our hearts for anything that should not be there and sifting out all evil. Our motives, our attitudes toward the Lord and His Word, toward His people, and toward the Communion service itself should all come under private scrutiny before the Lord. The table thus becomes a special place for the purifying of the church. That is a vital use of Communion, and Paul’s warning reinforces that ideal.
A person who partakes without coming in the right spirit eats and drinks judgment to himself, if he does not judge the body rightly. Judgment (krima) here has the idea of chastisement. Because “there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:1), the KJV rendering of damnation is especially unfortunate. The great difference in Paul’s use here of krima (judgment) and katakrima (condemned) is seen in verse 32, where it is clear that krima refers to discipline of the saved and katakrima refers to condemnation of the lost. That chastening comes if he does not judge the body rightly, that is, the blood and body used in Communion. To avoid God’s judgment, one must properly discern and respond to the holiness of the occasion.
The types of chastening the Lord may use are illustrated in verse 30. For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep. God does not eternally condemn those who abuse the Lord’s table, but His punishment may be severe illness. Sleep is here, as in several other places in the New Testament, used metaphorically to speak of the death of believers (as of Lazarus, John 11:11; and Stephen, Acts 7:60). God actually put to death a number (hikanos, lit., “sufficient”) of believers in Corinth because they continually despised and corrupted the Supper of His Son, just as He had put to death Ananias and Sapphira for lying to the Holy Spirit (Acts 5:1-11). As in the Old Testament, such divine executions were to serve as examples of what all sinners deserve, and might receive (cf. Luke 13:1-5).
There is a remedy for unworthiness. If we judged ourselves rightly, we should not be judged. This involves discerning what we are and what we ought to be. If we confess our sins, our wrong attitudes and motives, God “is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).
As has already been mentioned, if we come unworthily and are judged by God, it is not for condemnation. It is for the very opposite. But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord in order that we may not be condemned along with the world. God sends individual chastening to push offenders back toward righteous behavior, and sends death to some in the church to encourage those who remain to choose holiness rather than sin. Even if the Lord were to strike us dead for profaning His table, it would be to discipline us, to keep us from being condemned. The thought is powerful. We are kept from condemnation not only by decree, but also by divine intervention. God chastens us to keep us from falling from salvation, and will even take our life, if need be, before that could happen.
Paul closes by admonishing the Corinthians to get their lives and their attitudes straightened out, to completely discard their prejudices, their selfishness, and their indifference to God’s holy ordinance. The fact that he says when you come together to eat assumes that he supported the idea of their fellowship meal, but they should wait for one another before they partake of it. If any were only attending in order to satisfy their physical hunger they should eat at home. Otherwise they pervert the love feast. When they come to the love feast, and especially to the Lord’s table, they should come to satisfy their spiritual hunger. There is no point in gathering to sin, because that is simply coming together for judgment.
Because they are mentioned here, rather than at the close of the letter, Paul’s closing remarks in this section, the remaining matters I shall arrange when I come, must refer to other issues related to worship, the Lord’s Supper, or both. He would take care of those matters when he arrived in Corinth personally.