Home Bible Study©
Rightly Dividing
the Word of Truth (2 Timothy 2:15)
Established
November 2008 Published weekly on Friday
This is good and
acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men (and women) to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. (1Timothy 2:3-4)
1 Corinthians (Lesson 34)
Welcome to HBS.
We began our study
of 1 Corinthians chapter 11 last week. In
the course of this, we found our Apostle Paul responding to the questions or
reports of disruptive problems in this church, specifically speaking in this
case of the custom of hair and hair
coverings for both men and women (1 Corinthians 7:1). I mentioned then that these customs were relevant for that time
period. They are not being imposed or practiced in the Body of Christ today. Church
customs or traditions come and go, and some return again, but the Word of God stands forever (Isaiah 40:8).
With the following
words our Apostle Paul makes it clear God has established principles of order,
authority, and accountability both in His Church and in the home: But I
want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the
head of a woman, and God is the head of Christ.
Male headship existed before the fall of man and is based on the
order of creation (Genesis 2). In other
words, Adam’s fall from grace did not bring about the difference in the gender
roles and it does not alter man or woman’s roles either in the church or in the
home (Romans 5:12; 1 Corinthians 15:21).
But men should not get the wrong impression, i.e. an inflated opinion
about themselves concerning their role because Paul later adds this: However,
in the Lord, neither is the woman independent of the man, nor is man independent
of the woman; and all things originate from God (11:12). (Ephesians 5:21)
In this Bible
lesson, Paul reproves the Corinthians for their disrespectful behavior towards God
and each other when they come together for
the Lord’s Supper.
********
Please
open your Bible at 1 Corinthians 11:17.
The Lord’s Supper
1 Corinthians 11
17: But in giving
this instruction, I do not praise you,
because you come together not for the
better but for the worse.
In
the transition verse between the last section and this section Paul said: But in
giving this instruction, I do not praise
you, because you come together not for the
better but for the worse. There’s
more going on in this verse than meets the casual eye. When the Corinthians came together weekly,
these Believers weren’t being “built up” in Christ Jesus, which is one of the
reasons they meet together as a body,
they were in effect “tearing each other down” by their actions and attitudes or
their disgraceful practices. Paul could
not praise them for this.
Let’s
read verses 18-22:
18: 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.
19: For there must
also be factions among you, so that those who are approved may become
evident among you.
20: Therefore when
you meet together, it is not to eat the
Lord’s Supper,
21: for in your eating
each one takes his own supper first; and one is hungry and another is drunk.
22: 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, in the first
place (v18)
– if you study the rest of this section you’ll note Paul doesn’t
Mention
a “second” or “third” place. He doesn’t
give an ordered list of things he wishes to discuss with these folks. He used the word first; Protos in the Greek language, (pronounced:
pro’- tos) an Adjective, meaning: first in time or place; primary, Strong’s
Greek #4413. We know Paul has already addressed one of
the misbehaviors during their church services – that of the women going
unveiled, which was contrary to the cultural practices of that day for women of
good character. But now Paul is about to
discuss another issue that actually takes precedence, i.e. more severe than
that issue.
When you come
together as a church – I stopped here because I wanted you to see
and understand that Paul has chosen to use two Greek words that ensure he is
speaking of regular meetings of the local church in Corinth: come
together in the Greek language is Sunerchomai
(pronounced: soon-er-khom-ahee), a Verb,
meaning, to gather together, Strong’s
Greek #4905; and church, Ekklesia
(pronounced: ek-klay-see’-ah), Noun,
Feminine, meaning: an assembly, Strong’s Greek #1577. The specific occasion Paul
has in mind is their gathering together
as an assembly (Ekklesia) of
Believers on the first day of the week for the purpose of public worship,
prayer, and the teaching of the Word.
I hear that divisions
exist among you – Paul
hasn’t only “heard,” he keeps on hearing
(present continuous action) that
divisions exist within their assembly.
The Greek word for divisions is
Schismata; there are only two
occurrences in the N.T. of this word first at 1 Corinthians 1:10 and then at 1
Corinthians 11:18; from the root word
schisma, (pronounced: skhis’-mah),
Noun, neuter, and it means: a rent, as in
a garment, a split. Paul used this
same word in 1 Corinthians 1:10 where he exhorted them to have unity rather than divisions in their church. These
divisions or splits became more obvious when they came together as a church for the Lord’s Supper.
Permit
me to apply an illustration here for you – I can’t relate to how a high school
cafeteria operates today, but when I was attending high school freshmen,
sophomores, and seniors all headed to the cafeteria to eat lunch at the same
time. Seniors did not sit and eat with
juniors and sophomores, as a rule. Adding
to this, cliques existed. There were
those groups of people, solid friends, based on mutual likes and dislikes,
school activities, boy-friends and/or girl-friends, social status, etc. What I’m trying to say is this – you didn’t
fill your food tray and walk over to just any table in the cafeteria and sit
down to eat. There was a place for you
to be sure, but it was with “your kind.”
I want you to picture this because this is how it was, in part, when the
Corinthians showed up to participate in the “Love Feast,” or the Lord’s
Supper.
And in part I
believe it – Paul
hadn’t witnessed the disrespectful behavior first-hand but received the report(s)
from reliable Believers, so there had to be something to it.
For there must also be factions among you – The Greek word for factions is Haireseis (pronounced: hah’-ee-res-is), Noun, Feminine, meaning: an act of choice, which came to mean – a chosen way of life, i.e. belonging to a sect or specific philosophical group, Strong’s Greek #139. By the way, this wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.
Let’s
note the difference in word usage here. The
word “divisions” is used to describe
the divisive splits that
characterized the different groups in this church. When Paul said, “there must also be factions among you,” it is as if he
expected this attitude of “taking sides” to occur in this situation.
So that those who
are approved may become evident among you – Here Paul gives the
reason for the factions. The word approved
in the Greek language is Dokimos (pronounced: dok’-ee-mos), Adjective, and it means: approved,
acceptable; to be proven by testing; Strong’s Greek #1384. Dokimos
was used for the proving (testing) of coins in circulation in Paul’s day, i.e.
confirming they were genuine (not counterfeit), validated and verified.
The
ancient Greek and Roman world didn’t have a banking system like ours today.
There
was no paper money. All money was made
from melted precious metal, which was poured into molds and then allowed to
cool. When the coins cooled off, money
makers would “shave” off the uneven edges to make them smooth. Now people are human no matter what century
they live in, meaning some of these folks would “shave” off too much – a
practice called “clipping.” They put the
excess shavings in their pocket – a
practice they called “profit.” Eventually,
they would have enough of these precious metal shavings saved up so they could turn them into gold bars or use
them to make their own coins. People,
who chose to put the correct weighted coin into circulation, without shaving
“clipping” off too much, were called Dokimos
– approved.
The
word evident in the Greek = Phaneros and this word means: to
become apparent, manifest; visible to all.
God’s purpose in these factions was
to make the ones who have been tested and
approved become evident (or easily recognizable) by everyone in the church. I’ll illustrate: without a dark backdrop any object that is light
in color will not stand out as clearly.
It was necessary for there to be factions
in this assembly in order for the ones who were approved (Dokimos) by God
to be clearly evident, because the
godliness of some would form a stark contrast to the worldliness of the rest.
Therefore when you
meet together, it is not to eat the Lord’s Supper – the Lord’s Supper as Believers know it
today may be referred to as The Communion
Service. This is when y’all come
together, as a family of Believers, to commemorate the last supper Jesus shared
with His disciples, recognizing God’s redemptive plan for all mankind through Jesus
Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection, according to the Scriptures (1
Corinthians 15:1-4). To be honest, I’ve
only heard it referred to as the Lord’s
Supper once in my entire life and that was long ago.
The
Lord’s Supper in Paul’s day
literally meant “the supper belonging to
the Lord” Kuriakos
(pronounced: koo-ree-ak-os’), Adjective,
Strong’s Greek #2960; Supper = Deipnon (pronounced: dipe’-non), Noun, Neuter, Strong’s Greek
#1173; meaning: the main meal of the day,
usually held in the evening. This wasn’t
the communion service. This phrase describes a sort of “church
supper” or “pot luck” as we know it today that was held before the communion service. There’s little doubt the early church
patterned their church supper after the Passover meal during which Jesus Christ
instituted this ordinance.
From
a historical perspective, the city of Corinth had many social clubs or
communal events which promoted a spirit of fellowship, if you will, by hosting
common festive meals, usually in gardens near a pagan altar. And don’t you know, meat was served and eaten at these gatherings… but we’ve covered
this subject already. Here our Apostle
Paul is saying, when they gathered together as a church, they were claiming to
celebrate the Lord’s Supper, but
they were actually imitating the pagan supper clubs that flourished throughout
the city. In doing so, they were making
a mockery of the celebration of the solemn Lord’s
Supper event.
For in your eating
each one takes his own supper first – Now I want you to try and picture this scene,
as these believing saints arrived to their “pot-luck” supper, they took the
dish or contribution (it may have only been a loaf of home-made bread) they brought
with them over to the main table where all the food lay and then they started
serving themselves and they began eating, one faction apart from another, and at different intervals. There was no concern for the other person at
all. The verb translated take first Prolambano (pronounced:
prol-am-ban’-o), a Verb, means to
take before others; Strong’s Greek #4301.
They had an attitude of “First
come; first served, and they applied it.”
They showed no regard for anyone else, meaning if the food ran out, and
others were left with little or nothing to eat they had an attitude of, “Oh well… You should have been here earlier. Maybe
you’ll do better next time around.”
The
other thing you should know is some of these Believers were not as well off economically
as others in the church. The wealthy
folks would bring rich cuts of meats, cheeses, and the best wines to these
church suppers while those who could not afford these things brought what they
could; we’re talking fresh vegetables, and maybe fresh rolls or a loaf of bread
and an urn of goat’s milk on a good day.
Well, the wealthy Believers would not share the food they brought with
the poor Believers telling them to go sit someone and enjoy the food they
brought because they certainly weren’t going to taste any of their food…
For in your eating
each one takes his own supper first; and one is hungry and another is drunk.
This
was the end result of their selfish and unloving behavior towards one
another. I think everyone knows the
meaning of the word hungry. It means deprived of food. There wasn’t much, if anything, left for him
or her at the banquet table. The people
who came early had plenty to eat and drink but there was precious little left
for anyone who arrived after these gluttonous folks had their fill.
The
Greek word for drunken is Methuo (pronounced: meth-oo’-o), a Verb, meaning – I am intoxicated with wine, am drunk; Strong’s Greek #3184. This kind of disgusting behavior was
considered shameful even in pagan supper clubs, but here the Corinthian
Believers were indulging their own sensual appetites in eating and drinking,
rather than solemnly celebrating the Lord’s
Supper itself.
Do you not have houses in which to eat and
drink? Here Paul is
saying, “If you’re going to party, do it
at home!” A church gathering for the purpose of worshiping the Lord is not
the place to exhibit such worldly
behavior.
Or do you despise
the church of God – The
Greek word for despise is Kataphroneo’ (pronounced: kat-af-ron-eh’-o), Verb, meaning – I despise, scorn, and show it by active
insult, disregard; Strong’s Greek #2706.
Paul is saying the party atmosphere some of these Corinthians were
enjoying was destructive and degrading and is disrespectful towards God and to those
fellow Believers in Christ Jesus.
Remember what Paul has already said concerning unity and fellowship that
should result from celebrating the Lord’s Supper as a church (1 Corinthians 10:16-17).
And shame those who
have nothing? The Greek word for shame is Kataischuno (pronounced:
kat-ahee-skhoo’-no), a Verb, meaning – I shame, disgrace, put to utter confusion, frustrate; Strong’s
Greek #2617. Some of the Corinthians, by
their disrespectful behavior, were dishonoring
their brothers and sisters in the Lord; the ones who approached the banquet
table and found little or nothing at all to eat; the have-nots at the church gatherings.
Shall I praise
you? In this I will not praise you. Based on the disgraceful “goings-on” at
these Love Feasts, one would not call
this a common supper, let alone a Lord’s Supper (Kuriakos Deipnon) in the full sense of the term. In fact, this mode of behavior brought about
the complete separation of the Love Feast
from the Lord’s Supper, eventually
eliminating it altogether as a common practice later on in church history.
(To
be continued)
©
Copyright 2011
GJ
Heitzman’s Ministry
All
Rights Reserved
No comments:
Post a Comment