The early churches stood out because of their simplicity. However as time went on all things began to get more complex and complicated and today’s church is so different from what it was in the early days. If we look at The Lord’s Supper, we are reminded that there was simplicity about this ordinance. Today this remembrance meal has almost become a mysterious ritual that is done by the church and has today become the brunt of many debates as to the veracity of the sacrament. The book of Acts 20:7 tells us that this meal and the instructions that come with it have become the centre point of Christian assemblies. It was almost considered a form of worship in days past when Christians ate the bread and remembered the Lord in the Supper. Today however those practices have changed somewhat and are almost beginning to carry a different meaning. I will look at 1 Cor. 11:23-28 in a bid to compare what it meant to partake in this supper and the instructions to the disorderly.
The Historical Scope of the Supper
There were three perspectives that were celebrated in this Supper – the past, the present and the future. In remembering the past we are shown how the shedding of Christ’s blood redeemed us and brought forgiveness of sins. The Israelites were familiar with the word ‘Remembrance’ as they had always been commanded to remember the acts of God and his faithful covenants. This Supper is therefore celebrated with an aim to remembering the costly price by which our blessings were purchased. Although the Supper brings to remembrance the past, it also admonishes us to celebrate and enjoy the present. The new covenant brings us in connection with our new family – the church. In this instance the Supper is now a joyous celebration eaten in the presence of Jesus (Criswell). This covenant celebration also takes its roots from the past where we saw Old Testament worshippers sharing covenantal meals in celebration of the mighty works of their God (Exod. 24:11). This now brings us to the future and how this Supper helps us to look ahead. The Christians were instructed to have this Supper repeatedly until Christ returns. As often as we partake in the eating this‘body and blood’ being done in remembrance of Christ, we are not just reminded of his death but we also are looking forward to his coming. For now this expectation of his coming is based on faith but when he does appear it will become sight.
The early church therefore viewed the Supper as central to Christian worship. However Paul wrote about the Supper with regards the divisions that had been taking place in the body of Christ. While he was okay with the aspect of the meals they shared together, what he was concerned about though was the way the body of Christ came together – in a way that reflected schism and not bondedness. People were no longer eating together in unity and the poor in their midst were getting humiliated through the way the food was shared. This coming together to celebrate the Lord’s Supper could only lead to unworthiness of the practice and a denial of all that the Supper stood for (Fortner 154). The church is meant to come together to eat the Supper and if they ate in disunity or even at different times then the purpose of the Supper had been defeated. He told the Corinthian church that it was a grave matter to experience the Supper in disharmony and division.
The Meal as the Lord’s Supper
While there are many people that think that the bread and wine should be taken in isolation from a meal during the practice of the Lord’s Supper, I believe it to be an integral part of a meal and I will like to give the following reasons.
- In the old covenant the Passover always included a meal as it was meant to satisfy physical hunger as well as a reminder of the exodus of the Israelites. The books of Matthew, Mark and Luke also confirm that it was indeed a full meal. When Jesus had the Last Supper with his disciples, he did share a full meal with them before he gave his body and his blood. Following that his disciples also followed the same ordinance with the meal before the Lord’s Supper called a ‘love feast.’
- The book of Matt. 26:26 clearly tells us that Jesus and his disciples did in fact eat a real meal as we are told that “while they were eating” (1 Cor. 11:25). We also see how their coming together to eat seemed to coincide with their coming together as a church so they came to share the love feast before they broke bread (Armstrong 20).
The Instructions to the Disorderly
However the Corinthians began to display disorderly actions and these made it impossible to have the Supper. Cliques were formed when the people rejected the instructions of sharing the available food equally amongst each other and they rather distributed it among people they considered as their own friends. The rich and prosperous were being treated differently from those who lacked and soon the Agape ceased to be Agape. The Corinthians disorderly attitude at the Supper did not condemn the elements of the Supper but rather they exposed how their relationships in the body of Christ were broken. Paul therefore warns that this problem comes with a judgement, which he clearly stated in 1 Cor. 11:23-26.
What therefore does it mean to be unworthy? Paul clearly tells that when the Corinthianchurch abuses the sanctity of the Supper and what it stands for; their gatherings are for the worse and come with judgement. This is true because Paul says that the partiality that comes about because of the forming of cliques also brings about a divisive spirit as their actions seem to contradict the oneness in Christ. This condemnation that Paul spoke about does not go to the person that fails to discern he has in his hands the Lord’s body but rather the person that fails to see Christians as the body of Christ and therefore approaches the Supper in disunity (Witherington 32)..
Paul wrote in the passage of 1 Cor. 11:23-28 that the church in Corinth was a disorderly church and that the hand of God had come upon Christians(Woodard). The question of ‘self-examination’ now comes into play as one is forced to ask themselves if Paul would still have spoken the words he did to a seemingly orderly gospel church. This self-examination is needed more today in our churches than before and Paul’s words are still apropos. Zens commented that every communicant has to ensure through a testing of himself that he is fit to partake of this holy sacrament. Although the examining of the self before the Supper may be one of deep introspection, the meal itself should be one of joyful celebration. The atmosphere at the table should resemble a festival and not a funeral. People need to be reminded that just as the two sorrowful men on their way to Emmaus became joyful when they recognised Jesus through the breaking of bread, the same should happen to Christians at the table (Luke 24:17-21). That is the same mind-set the church should have when they come to break bread in remembrance of Christ. This remembrance should look into the past and how he died for the world, the present as we have him with us now and the future as we look forward to his return. This knowledge alone is enough for us to aim to be different from the disorderly church.
The disorderly from the Corinth church was largely because they took the Agape away from the Supper and this was prohibited. This disorderliness then showed deep rooted problems in the conception of the church. While Paul spoke about the disorderliness with respect to the sacrament in the Corinth church; the events that caused this disorderliness were also the reason for the church to lose its strength – a strength that came about on the power of the death of Jesus Christ. Paul found fault with the forming of cliques, and the ignoring of the poor and the treatment of bias and all the other things that made the Supper unworthy to accomplish what had been promised (Hodge 253). These traits also affected the church in other facets of church life or church prominence. The spirit of the New Testament church was missing and as a result the breaking of bread could not produce the vibrant life that had been promised.
In the book of 1 Cor. 11:23-26, Paul speaks vividly about the institution of the ordinance and how Christ is the focus of the Supper as our coming together is in a bid to remember him. The social implications of this supper meant however that it was impossible to have this Supper correctly if the church was dwelling in disunity that may warrant them to eat at different times or to be clustered in different groups. Paul says regarding the Corinthian situation that it carries grave implications when an assembly just goes through the motions of the Supper in a state of division. The Corinthian assembly as a result were eating and drinking alright, but they were doing so in an ‘unworthy manner’.
Conclusion
This great connection that Christ has formed with his people on earth meant that eating and drinking in a divided church was a sin against that very body and blood of the Lord. In the book of Acts we are told that it is impossible to sin against the brotherhood and hope it does not translate into sinning against Christ. That is what Paul was warning about as he said those sins against their fellow men had made their Supper unworthy and them in essence, disorderly.Self-examination would help them retrace their steps to the time when the unity of the body was necessary in the remembrance of the meal.
It therefore goes to show that if as a church the practice of the Lord’s Supper is done in an unworthy manner or disorderly as Paul claims, this must also be an indicator of things being wrong in the church as a whole (CrossRoads Baptist Church). So the Lord’s Supper and how it is handled could be indicative of the church in general. The spirit of the New Testament church is necessary in the practice of the Lord’s Supper as this helps points at the value, edification and the blessings gained when the Lord is remembered together by the group during the meal.
While Paul spoke to the early church at Corinth about the wrong things they were doing with regards the Lord’s Supper, the same admonition can be applied to today’s church. The body of Christ needs to go back to the times when they understood what it meant to be a body. After all, that same bible says that it is impossible for the head to say it is alright if the foot is hurting or the hand to imagine it is fine when the knee is hurting. This is because the body performs best when the whole body is okay. And as the body of Christ divisions in the body only creates cracks and exposes the weaknesses in the body of Christ. This will not only make our sacrament unworthy but we too like the Corinth assembly will be accused of being disorderly.
Works cited
Hodge, Charles. “An Exposition of 1 Corinthians.” n.d. Web. 7 Nov. 2013.E-Book.http://www.lbu.edu/Library/Charles%20Hodge/1%20Corinthians.pdf
Fortner, Donald. S. “The Church of God: What it Means to Belong.” Danville, KY: Grace Books, 2011. E-Book.
http://grace-ebooks.com/library/Don%20Fortner/DF_Church%20of%20God%20The.pdf
The King James Version Bible. Abridged Edition. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing, 1995. Print
Zens, John. “The Lord’s Supper: A Study of 1 Corinthians 11:17-34.” n.d. Web. 7 Nov. 2013. http://lords-supper.org/resources/zens_ls.html
CrossRoads Baptist Church. “Understanding the Lord’s Supper: 1 Corinthians 11:23-28.” n.d. Web. 7 Nov. 2013. http://www.crbible.com/sermon/sermon/Understanding%20the%20Lord%20Supper%20-%20pt%2031.pdf?CFID=6894382&CFTOKEN=13123137
Armstrong, John. H. “Understanding Four Views on the Lord’s Supper.” Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2007. E-Book.http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=AcSXo1lvAn4C&pg=PA7&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=3#v=onepage&q&f=false
Witherington, Ben. “Making a Meal of it: Rethinking the Theology of the Lord’s Supper.” Texas: Baylor University Press. 2007. E-Book. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=1YnBMi5uF6QC&pg=PA1&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=4#v=onepage&q&f=false
Woodard, Jenee. “1 Corinthians 11:23-32.” n.d. Web. 7 Nov. 2013. http://www.textweek.com/pauline/1cor11.htm
Criswell, W.A. “The Holy Ordinance.” n.d. Web 7 Nov. 2013. Sermon. http://www.wacriswell.com/transcript/?thisid=5CE4832E-D2F7-4441-8A98EF0AE06BA495
Bible.org. “Corrections for Communion.” n.d. Web. 7 Nov. 2013. https://bible.org/seriespage/corrections-communion-1-cor-1117-34
