Understanding Communion in the Church

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Reflection on 1st Corinthians 11.20-end

Analyzing Heresies and Believers

August 26th 2018
MILK

Okay, we left off last week covering verse 17-19 where Paul broaches a new topic to hit the church with – the topic of inappropriate behaviors in the church-bride that were leading to division. This was not to be. But at the same time, we left off with Paul making an admission. He said:

19 For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you.

And we talked about this before wrapping it up last week – that even Paul admits that within the church-bride there had to be heresies so that those who are really His would be proved so. I think it's fascinating. And something we all need to remember in this world where we are called to love unconditionally. That there will be heretical stances out there – from religious charlatans to good believers just misled – and that such things work to illustrate who worship God and His Son in spirit and truth . . . and those who have yet to get clear of the fugliness.

Examining Communion Practices

Okay. At this point Paul lays out the next problem he wants to address – what the believers are doing in relation to coming together and taking communion. We are not going to spend a lot of time on this and there is a very simple reason why – doesn’t apply to us here.

How can I say this? Let’s read our text (again – because we read it last week) where Paul says:

20 When ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's supper.
21 For in eating every one taketh before other his own supper: and one is hungry, and another is drunken.
22 What? have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? or despise ye the church of God, and shame them that have not? What shall I say to you? shall I praise you in this? I praise you not.
23 For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread:
24 And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.
25 After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.
26 For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's deathSeparation from God—now overcome. Physical death remains, but it no longer separates us from life with God. till he come.

I am convinced that under Apostolic direction, and an abundance of the Holy Spirit working miracles, that the Bride of the New Testament Church was under some stern obligations to remain holy and pure in and through their faith in Christ and walk.

I am simultaneously convinced that with Christ coming as promised and having victory over all things the focus of our faith is no longer on His death and not only on His resurrection, but now on His total victory and reign over the Universe; that while we certainly see Him as Lord, God and King because He lived perfectly, submitted Himself to death unjustly, and then rose from the grave, the culmination of that age was in His return with justice on His own and reward and salvation for His bride, and now we remember ALL of these elements about Our Savior as Lord, God and King.

Because there is a differentiation between believers in the Bride then and believers in the Body ever since, Paul makes it clear that the Saints of that day were to partake of His Supper until he returned. Now, in Ephesians chapter 1 we come upon some really interesting verses about what God was doing here among the Saints and the Apostles who were over them. For many these passages are some of the most troubling in the New Testament when it comes to the idea of free will. I want to take a minute to read it with you because Paul says something here that relates to this topic of communion being held here in Corinth.

Because there are nine verses ahead of ten that relate to what ten says, let’s start and verse one of Ephesians one and learn together. Ready?

Ephesians 1:1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the

Understanding the "Us" and "We" in Ephesians

The book of Ephesians opens with a standard greeting from Paul to the saints at Ephesus and the faithful in Christ Jesus. He begins his epistle as follows:

2 Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. I'll say no more.

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.

In verse three, we learn that it is God the Father who blesses with all spiritual blessings. However, this is where we encounter our first "us" in the passage. Many people tend to assume this "us" refers to believers in general. While it's commonly understood in this way, the "us" that Paul refers to here is actually not speaking to Gentile believers at Ephesus or us today. It's true. When Paul writes "us," he means either the Apostles themselves or Jewish converts to Christ. In these verses, every time we see "us," Paul is distinguishing his original audience.

The Chosen and Predestinated

4 According as he (God the Father) hath chosen (here’s the second “US”) in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love.

Again, people usually interpret this "us" as the church in general. However, the "us" refers specifically to the Apostles or the Jews who converted to Christianity, chosen by God before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before Him in love.

5 Having predestinated us (the Apostles or the Jews) unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us (the Apostles or the Jewish converts) accepted in the beloved.
7 In whom we (the Apostles or the Jewish converts to Christ) have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;
8 Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence;
9 Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself.

Paul mentions an "us" or "we" in these passages to highlight God the Father's selective election, choosing, and predestination of some, specifically the Apostles and the Jewish converts.

The Fulness of Times

10 That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him.

Verse ten explains why God chose and predestined the "us" and "we" that Paul refers to. The goal was that "in the dispensation of the fulness of times he (God) might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him."

The phrase "dispensation of the fullness of times" has often been misunderstood to refer to the time from Jesus's birth to today. However, the word translated as "dispensation" is "oikonomia," meaning "economy," and relates to the master plan established for managing a period of time or age, by either a lord or by God Himself. This period was the "oikonomia" of the "fullness of times," where the consummation of preceding ages came together, and the plan God devised could then proceed.

Gathering All in One

Waiting world by the work of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

What did God intend to do in this period called the Dispensation of the Fullness of times? The next line tells us.

“That he might gather together in one all things which are in heaven and which are on earth . . . in Him.”

All heavenly inhabitants and earthly into one common denominator (hence the reason I detest denominationalism) into Himself. This is the Economy that Paul’s words to the believers at Corinth were too. But the economy had not yet been fully established. It would be gathered fully into one denominator when that age wrapped up – and back to the point – it was an age where God had predestined from the foundation of the world participants to help set the oikonomia up.

Read the next verses with me where Paul continues and says, speaking of God:

11 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: 12 That we (the Apostles and/or Jews who converted) should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.

Got that? Now, listen to the shift where Paul now says:

13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,

The Shift in Audience

In verses 4 through 12 Paul is speaking of Himself, the other Apostles and/or the Jews who believed. In those verses he speaks of how God called them specifically before the foundation of the world to play a key role in setting up His economy in that, the dispensation of the Fullness of Times.

But in verse 13 he shifts to another group – the “ye’s” – those who were either not apostles or were not Jewish converts to Christ – perhaps these were only the Gentiles, who Paul now refers to as ye instead of us and we, and says:

13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, 14 Which (the Holy Spirit of Promise) is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

What we are reading about here relative to the Church-Bride of the New Testament “oikonomia” is the practice of the Lord’s supper instituted by Him for His Church that the Gates of Hell would not prevail against and it was incumbent on those who were His to eat the elements whenever they got together until He came in remembrance of His death because once He came in the dispensation of the fullness of times and finished setting the “oikonomia” up, there would be no reason any longer for such rituals.

Apostolic Instructions

So, at verse 20 Paul now gives them some apostolic instructions, saying:

1Co 11:20 When ye come together therefore into one place, (meaning when you are gathered as a church) this is not to eat the Lord's supper.

In all probability they were meeting in a common location and what Paul seems to be saying is that when you are all gathering IT COULDN’T be for the purpose of partaking of the Lord’s supper. “No way could that be the case.” It is called the Lord’s supper because it was held in the evening probably because that was when Jesus instituted it. So after saying something that sounds sort of sarcastic, Paul explains, saying:

21 For (or in other words, I am saying this because) “in eating every one taketh before other his own supper: and one is hungry, and another is drunken.” If they were just getting together to partake in the Lord’s table then why are some of you bringing food and eating it while others go hungry and why are some of you getting drunk?

Isn’t it revealing? Here in the apostolic age, when Jesus was walking the earth and there were people who KNEW Him, his followers got together and turned the worship and remembrance of Him into a bacchanalian event!

It’s as old as Moses going up to the mount and the people rising up to play as the scripture puts it. Our carnal nature is to turn the things of God into the things of man and it happens really, really easily – usually with some good justifications at first. Apparently, the

Issues in Corinth: The Distortion of Communion

The Lord’s supper had become something more over time and it wound up doing damage to the reason they got together in the first place and to some of the believers as well. It is thought that this custom that developed at Corinth was derived from the fact that the Savior instituted the Supper after a festival, a feast in which he had been engaged with his disciples, and that since that was the setting of the first communion they could approach it in a similar fashion. But the Passover was the meal eaten by the Lord and the Apostles and had little resemblance of what was happening at Corinth.

The Love Feast and Its Consequences

Now, there is this idea of what people call a love feast going on in the Church-Bride. The Moravian church still practice the Love Feast officially as do many churches unofficially. It used to be connected to Communion but by 250 CE the feasts and communion were separated – perhaps because of problems like this here. And these problems included rudely, selfishly consuming food in front of others and getting plastered. Looking at the Greek there is no doubt that Paul clearly was telling them that they had selfishly turned the Lord’s table into a time of excess and that their excuse of saying their gathering was for the Lord was a lie – they gathered for the party.

But we’ve gotta remember these people came from hedonism and some were still babes in the faith and their pagan ways transferred perhaps a little too easily to the faith. So Paul begins his rebuke with a word, saying (verse 22) “What?” Sort of like we would to a teenager trying to justify their behaviors. “What? You think its acceptable to drive drunk with your little sister on the hood?” type of thing. So, Paul says, come on, don’t you all have your own houses to eat and drink in? or despise ye the church of God, and shame them that have not? What shall I say to you? shall I praise you in this? I praise you not.

Paul really throws down on them not only for their actions of self-indulgence but especially for tying them to communion and for causing those who didn’t have means to feel shame – actions that are just antithetical to the faith and principles Jesus taught.

The Teachings of the Lord on Communion

At this point Paul takes them into the direct teachings he received from the Lord in his training to be the apostle to the Gentiles and he says:

23 For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread:

24 And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.

Obviously, the believers at Corinth had mistaken the purpose and way to partake of communion as a means to remember the Lord and His physical sacrifice. Here Paul explains the reason for communion FROM THE MOUTH of the Lord Himself. He took bread (unleavened). He Gave thanks for it. He broke it and he commanded them, saying: “Take, eat – this is my body which is broken for you – do this (take and eat) in remembrance of me.”

Again – let me emphatically say this – Paul did NOT want communion to be part of a festival and he learned from Jesus that it should be a constant reminder to the church-bride of the Lord and His . . . what? His suffering and sacrifice . . . AGAIN, it was a constant reminder of the Lord’s suffering and sacrifice UNTIL HE WAS TO RETURN.

This fact makes us wonder, well, then what about post His return? Are we to still remember His suffering and the sacrifice of His Body? I am going to tread onto some sacred lands here and I really want to be careful in how I do it. The suffering and sacrifice of Jesus on earth for us is a part – a part – of why we remember Him in our daily lives. I am not so sure it is the PRIMARY part of His earthly life that we, His followers, ought to focus upon. It should not ever be forgotten, never excluded from the conversation of our Lord, but there is something incomplete in looking up to a crucifix (which is different from a cross in that a crucifix has the suffering figure of Jesus attached to it).

Let’s just look at the whole picture for a minute. We have

The

The Word of God and Its Impact

Word of God creating the universe and all things that in it are. We have the Word of God being made flesh and condescending below all things – as God with us. We have the Word of God living the Law of God to perfection out of Love and Devotion for His Father and the World He created. We have the word of God patiently biding His time and growing in human wisdom and stature and learning obedience through the things He suffered. We have the Word of God performing miracle, and teaching the most wonder world-saving solutions to Man. We have the Word of God submitting to His Father’s will and placing Himself in the hands of Roman death which included beatings, mockery, slaps, stripped, a crown of thorns, brutality, burden bearing, thirst, derision, nailed to the cross, lifted up over the world, and left to die. His body was pierced, his blood drained, and he was buried. He then rose from the grave, appeared to His own, and others miraculously. He ascended into the clouds, entered into the Holy of Holies as a resurrected Man and took His place at the right hand of God. He promised to return with judgment and reward and He kept His promise – and in so doing had total victory over sinMissing the mark of faith and love—no punishment, just lost growth or peace., death, satan, hell and this world.

The First and Second Adam

LISTEN – just as the first Adam had TOTAL success in bringing the world into sin – ready for this – the Second Adam, Jesus Christ, has had the total victory of bringing the whole world into righteousness. (beat)

I mean ask yourself, Did Adam bring all of us into sin? Of course he did. The whole freaking world fell because of Him. I do not suppose that the Second Adam, who is far superior to the first, had any problem of bringing all of us – BY AND THROUGH HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS – back into relationship with our loving God. To say otherwise is illogical.

Now, where the earliest church-bride was also being put to physical death, and they were hoping and waiting on the Lord to return and save them, it makes perfect sense for them, WHENEVER they got together, they were to remember His brutal physical sacrifice. It was purposeful as they too were being put to death in a similar manner.

Communion and Its Significance

And while I think material communion is a nice expression because it allows us all to experience chiropractic religious expressions (meaning hands-on physical religious affects) in the age where God is in us and we serve as His temple, the age where God is all in all and Jesus reigns victoriously over heaven and earth, I am not convinced that believers need to focus so much on the physical elements of His salvivic work.

It is a part, it was a means, it was the means – the cross – but the means He provided are in place to allow for those who follow Him to follow Him in EVERY way, not just the being put to death in their flesh. That is only part as Christians are also called to

Rise to new life.
Abide in the vine.
Produce fruits of the Spirit
Love God and others more than self.

And the like.

We must ask why Jesus would tell the apostles to instruct the believers to partake in the elements of His death and resurrection only until He returned for them? And how do the instructions we read about the age to come mesh with continued practices of communion? These are reasonable and viable questions that must be asked when we cover content such as this.

At verse 25 Paul continues and says, speaking to the second part of communion:

25 After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.

I want to ask you all something here – did you catch the difference between the taking and eating of the bread and the drinking of the cup of wine?

(long beat)

In the institution of the cup, Jesus says: This cup is the new testament in my blood: this (drinking of the cup) do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.

Paul says that Jesus instituted the practice of consuming the wine in the same manner that He did the bread, but the words he assigned to the wine are different. He said, “THIS CUP IS THE NEW TESTAMENT IN MY BLOOD, THIS DO YOU, as often as you drink it, IN REMEMBRANCE.

New Testament Covenant

He makes no mention of the eating of the bread being part of the New Testament. He only mentions it in connection to the cup, saying that it “represents the New Testament IN HIS BLOOD.”

What is this all about? I think you are going to be a bit surprised because religiously communion has always been a dual combination, right? Eat the bread, drink the cup. Granted, both elements were part of what Christ instituted for His Church-bride to consume in remembrance of His physical sacrifice but it was the cup that was “the New Testament in His Blood.”

Now, I want you to ask yourself something. When someone speaks of a Last Will and Testament, what is that? It is the will of the individual involved being executed after they are gone. “I, Shawn McCraneyFounder of TGNN and developer of the fulfilled perspective—calling people to faith outside of religion., in this my last Will and Testament, TO BE EXECUTED AFTER MY DEATH . . . leave my Iguana to . . . you get it.” It is MY last will and my last testament to describe my desires, my WILL, for what should be done with things that I have ownership over ONCE I DIE, right?

Covenant and Testament Differences

Now, if we go to the Old Testament, there is a word employed there which is translated to testament or covenant – BERITH – and it means a contract or compact – which is slightly different than TESTAMENT (of last will and testament). A “berith” is a covanental compact between two parties whereas a testament is more the definitive directives one person gives that impacts others. The Old Covenant was a compact God made with the Nation of Israel based on obedience to His Law and it included a number of facets – including animal sacrifice to temporarily cover sin. Got all this so far?

So now we get to the Greek language of the New Testament. The First word is DEE-ATH-AYE-KAY and it means throughout Greek History the type of testament as in Last Will and Testament. The Greek Word that would mean Berith, as in a compact between God and Man is “soong-kat-ath'-ess-is.” In other words, if we looked at the Old Testament Covenant or compact between God and the Jews the Greek word to describe that covenant would be SOONG-KAT-ATH-ESS-IS because it would be a compact between the two parties – God and Man. But this specific Greek term is only used once in the entire New Testament – its 2nd Corinthians 6:16 where Paul asks “what AGREEMENT the temple of God has with idols?”

Will and Testament of God

Interestingly enough, whenever the writers of the New Testament wrote of covenants, testaments in the New Testament it was always through appealing to the Greek term, DEE ATH AYE KAY – which again speaks to the last will and testament of someone and not a compact. Therefore the interpretation of this last verse of ours today has Paul saying that Jesus said, when He instituted His communion with His apostles, “THIS CUP IS THE NEW (BUT LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT) . . . and where is this WILL of GOD found? Jesus says . . . . IN MY BLOOD . . .”

Here is the truly interesting fact – even in the Septuagint (or the Greek translation of the OLD TESTAMENT) the term is NEVER used to describe a covenant or agreement between God and man! Never! It is always the Will and Testament of God and His ways and not an agreement between God AND Man. This is telling us something profound – even from the OLD Testament, and the profundity carries out all the way to Jesus day – God announces His will and Man has nothing to do with it. It was His will in the Old Testament and it was His last will and Testament in the New.

In the old it was through the Law and included the blood of animals. In the New the entire will and testament of God was in the blood of His Son. That shed blood was enough for God to make His testament and will final and again, it was without the approbation or agreement of humanity.

And the last will and testament in the blood of His Son said this: “I will save the world through this means. Not just the Jews. Not just believing Gentiles. But the whole world. This is my last will and testament.” “ . . . this (drinking of the cup) do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.

The Jewish nation was renown (then and now)

The Lord's Supper

For doing things to remember where they came from and what they had been through. Paul concludes our study today with:

26 For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death . . . till he come.

Passover's New Meaning

Passover was now passed on to Jesus' bride, and they were commanded, as often as believers gathered together, for them to keep it – until He came to get them.

Looking Ahead

This is the setting for the rest of what Paul will say to them about participating in communion – which we will cover next week. Again, I think you will be surprised.

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