Scripture often warns us that God's instructions are not to be taken lightly (Galatians 6:7; Hebrews 2:2–3; Deuteronomy 30:15). Even when the consequences of disobedience aren't immediate, they can be devastating (Romans 2:5). Here, Paul reveals the high stakes for those participating in the Lord's Supper in an "unworthy manner." The Corinthian Christians had been doing exactly that: using the Lord's Supper gathering as a freewheeling party of sorts, with the wealthy believers treating the poorer believers badly (1 Corinthians 11:17–22).

Paul writes that blatant ungodliness while eating the bread and drinking the cup of the Lord's Supper will cause them to be guilty of sinning against the blood and body of Christ. In a sense, Paul is saying that the person who does this becomes liable for the Lord's death. Symbolically, communion is meant to commemorate the sacrificial death of Jesus on the cross. Those who treat such an event as a party, or take it in a careless way, are not entirely unlike those who stood by and laughed while Jesus died (Matthew 27:38–44). Or the indifferent soldiers who pursued pleasure as He bled to death (John 19:23–24).

Unlike those real-life bystanders, born-again Christians are supposed to know the meaning and importance of the crucifixion. To disrespect communion—the Lord's Supper—through selfishness or arrogance is not a small charge. The verses that follow show that such disrespect risks paying a heavy price.

First Corinthians 11:17–34 contains Paul's rebuke of the church in Corinth for their application of the Lord's Supper. They had turned it into a gathering at which the wealthy ate and drank too much, leaving the poorer Christians hungry and humiliated. Paul warns that communion should be a time of sober self-reflection about our sin and Christ's sacrifice, as well as a time to unite the body of Christ, the church, while taking in representations of the blood and body of Christ. Some in Corinth were sick and others had died as part of God's judgment for participating in communion in an unworthy manner.

Paul confronts two issues the church in Corinth was failing to practice correctly. First, some women were not wearing head coverings while praying or prophesying in their meetings. Paul insisted they must do so, and that men must not, based on mankind's relationship to God and the social implications of that covering. Second, Paul describes the reasons for observing the Lord's Supper and how it should be done. The Corinthian Christians had brought God's judgment on themselves for practicing communion in a way which dishonored Christ's sacrifice for sin and humiliated the poor among them.

After concluding his teaching on meat offered to idols, Paul turns to two issues the church in Corinth was getting wrong. The first was head coverings when praying or prophesying in their meetings. Differences between men and women in that regard are because of both spiritual and social reasons. Paul also corrects the disastrous way in which they were practicing the observance of the Lord's Supper. They were dishonoring Christ's sacrifice for sin as well as the poor in the body of Christ, the church. Despite having more to say on communion, Paul will move on to the topic of spiritual gifts in chapter 12.

First Corinthians is one of the more practical books of the New Testament. Paul writes to a church immersed in a city associated with trade, but also with corruption and immorality. These believers are struggling to properly apply spiritual gifts and to resist the ungodly practices of the surrounding culture. Paul's letter gives instructions for real-life concerns such as marriage and spirituality. He also deals with the importance of unity and gives one of the Bible's more well-known descriptions of love in chapter 13.

Accessed 4/28/2024 6:10:58 PM

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