The Lord's Supper
The first
Corinthian epistle, was written during the early days of the church
age and during the transition period in which thousands of believing
Jews in the city of Jerusalem were all zealous of the law of Moses
(Acts 21:20) while the Gentile believers were admonished not to become
entangled with the yoke of bondage (Gal. 5:1 and Acts 21:25).
Jerusalem
was the very center of where the apostles and elders were preaching
and if they had been teaching the believing Jews to stop observing the
law,
Jerusalem
would have been the first place for it to happen and the apostles and
elders would have been the first to be accused of it by the thousands
of Jews in
Jerusalem
.
Before this
time, the council at
Jerusalem, concluded that the yoke of the law was not to be placed upon the
necks of the Gentiles (Acts 15:10). There was no question at that
time, about the Jews continuing to observe the law with its temple
worship, Sabbath days, feast days, fast days, holy day, purifications,
animal sacrifices, etc. Therefore, there were two walks of the Jew and
Gentile believers in the early church until the natural branches were
cut off and the wild branches were grafted in (Rom. 11:7-25) and it
was revealed that the middle wall of partition had been broken down
(Eph. 2 and Col. 2).
The unique
condition that existed in the first 30 or so years of the church age
was filled with unique events that would not be repeated. Paul, at the
end of his third missionary journey, came into
Jerusalem
and was told of the rumor being told about him. The rumor stated that
Paul taught the Jew which lived among the Gentiles to forsake Moses.
Therefore, Paul was instructed by the elders at
Jerusalem
to take four other Jewish brethren and to be at charges with them,
having a Jewish vow on them. They shaved their heads, and entered the
temple to accomplish their Jewish purification (baptism). This was
followed by an offering (an animal sacrifice) which was to be made for
them at the end of the seven day period (Acts 21:20-28). Paul was not
guilty as rumored and was not at this time observing the law to
deceive the Jews in
Jerusalem
. He was instructed by the elders at
Jerusalem
to do these things to inform the people that their rumor was nothing
(not true) and that Paul walked orderly and kept the law. It was to
prove the rumor was false, and to show that he had not taught the Jews
that lived among the Gentiles to forsake Moses,
Corinth
being one of those Gentile cities. (Acts 21:21)
Many people
today believe the same false rumor, believing that Paul was trying to
persuade the Jewish believers to quit observing the law where ever he
went. This supposition is a basic flaw which has caused churchmen to
apply Jewish observances upon the church, simply because Christian
Jews were yet observing them after the church had begun. The end
result has produced great confusion among Christians, today.
A basic
understanding of the transition period in the early days of the church
age is very important as it relates to the 10th and 11th
chapters of first Corinthians if one is to discern the text.
Paul and
other Jewish believers continued to observe the law, but were often
persecuted and sometimes cast out of the Jewish synagogues. As
believing Jews, who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, they continued
to observe the law with its Jewish ceremonies of worship, though their
faith in the resurrected Lord caused them to be persecuted by their
Jewish brethren. They were unacceptable in part to both their own
nation and to the Gentile nations except for the believers among them,
which made up the church. Even in the church, the Jews and Gentiles,
who believed, had some serious adjustment problems.
Paul and the other
apostles were given gifts of the spirit for the time then present to
perform super-natural deeds, including the word of knowledge, and the
word of wisdom, faith, discerning of spirits, gifts of healing,
miracles, tongues, etc (1 Cor. 12:). During this time, we find God
declaring Himself in behalf of the believers in ways that left no
doubt that their faith in the resurrected Lord was valid. The Holy
Spirit was given to the apostles in a very dramatic way on the day of
Pentecost with gifts following (Acts 2). Peter and John continued to
go to the temple to worship and while they were there, they healed the
forty year old man, who had been lame from his mother’s womb (Acts
3). With great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of
the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all (Acts 4). An-a-ni’as
and his wife, Sap-phi'ra, were stricken dead on the spot for their
deceit and for lying to the Holy Ghost (Acts 5). Believers were more
added to the Lord in so-much that they brought forth the sick into the
streets, and laid them on beds and couches, that at the least the
shadow of Peter passing by might overshadow some of them. A multitude
out of the cities brought their sick folks and them which were vexed
with unclean spirits: and they were healed every one (Acts 5).
The apostles were put in the common prison but the angel of the
Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out (Acts 5). Stephen,
full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the
people (Acts 6), but was stoned into eternity and God allowed it to
come to pass (Acts 7). From the apostle Paul, handkerchiefs or aprons
were brought unto the sick and their diseases departed from them, and
the evil spirits went out of them (Acts 19). In
Corinth
, many were weak and sickly and many slept (in death), because they
ate and drank of the Lord’s Supper, unworthily, failing to eat it in
remembrance of Christ (1 Cor. 11:23-30).
Before the
“church age” began, the Lord, at the last supper with His Jewish
disciples, instructed them to eat the Passover with its spiritual
meaning. Not only would they remember the old Passover lamb and the
passing over of the death angel and their deliverance out of
Egypt
, but they were to eat it in remembrance of Christ, the anti-typical
Lamb of God. They were about to witness the sacrificial Lamb of God,
shedding His blood and dying for their sins and that reality was
always to be remembered as they ate their Passover Supper. The
Passover supper with its spiritual meaning in the early years of the
church, was often called, “The Lord’s Supper.”
Christ, as the
Lamb of God, was sacrificed for them and had caused the penalty of
death to pass over believers in salvation. Their eating the supper,
without discerning the Lord’s body, is said to have caused them to
eat and drink damnation to themselves (1 Cor. 11:27-30). At that time,
God’s chastening hand was upon believing
Jews, who ate the supper unworthily, even to the extent of
death.
These and other unusual things were a
part of God’s promised sign-program to
Israel
- “For the Jews require a
sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom.” (1 Cor. 1:22). The
ministry of the apostles went forth to
the Jew first and also to the Greek (Rom. 1:16; Acts 11:19). The
Lord gave special opportunity for the nation of
Israel
to recognize their promised Lamb of God. God was dealing in a
super-natural and miraculous way with the new believers during this
transition period and until the epistles to the church were written to
reveal God’s order in the church, being yet in the time when believing
Jews were observing the law, but the believing Gentiles were to
observe no such thing, (Acts 21:25).
The Passover
Supper was often called the Lord’s Supper after Christ gave them the
spiritual meaning of the bread and the fruit of the vine and after He
said He would not again eat thereof until it be fulfilled in the
kingdom
of
God
. Christ said, “With desire
I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.” (Lk.
22:13-16). The Lord’s Supper was a continuation of the Passover
supper: The ingredients of the supper were not changed, the day for it
to be eaten was not changed, the people who were to eat it were not
changed. Therefore the Lord’s Supper, as recorded in Scripture, was
only for the Jews to whom it belonged. When Christ ate the Passover
with his twelve disciples at their last Passover supper, He did not
institute a new supper. He only gave them a new or spiritual meaning
to the old Passover supper which they were eating and which had been
observed for over two thousand years.
After the
time of the last supper, more than twenty of the first years of the
church age passed with no instructions to the Gentiles or to the
church at large to observe the supper. The council at
Jerusalem
, recorded in Acts 15, was over the question of the Gentiles. “There
rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed, saying,
That it was needful to circumcise them, and to command them to keep
the law of Moses.” (v-5) God’s order was portrayed by Peter,
saying, “Now therefore why
tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which
neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?” (v-10) James
further confirmed and established Peter’s words, saying, “Wherefore
my sentence is, that we trouble not them, which from among the
Gentiles are turned to God:” (v-19)
At the end
of the Apostle Paul’s third journey among the Gentile nations, he
came to Jerusalem and was advised by the elders at Jerusalem to
disprove a false rumor, being told about him, by showing his
observance of the law (Acts 21:19-24). The elders further declared
what was done at the council at
Jerusalem
, saying, “As touching the
Gentiles which believe, we have written and concluded that they
observe no such thing, save only that they keep themselves from things
offered to idols, and from blood, and from strangled, and from
fornication.” (v-25)
During
Paul’s third journey, he was at
Ephesus
for three years in which time he wrote the first Corinthian epistle.
Therefore, the epistle was written, when the Jews were observing the
Passover Supper (the Lord’s Supper) and the Gentiles were not.
Jew,
Gentile,
Church
of
God
Parts of the
first Corinthian epistle were specifically written to and about the
Jews among them, though
Corinth
was predominately Gentile.
1
Cor. 10:1-4, Paul began by saying, “Moreover, brethren, I would
not that ye should be ignorant, how
that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the
sea; And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea;
And did all eat the same spiritual meat; And did all drink the same
spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed
them: and that Rock was Christ.”
Only
the Hebrew fathers passed through the Red Sea to escape the
Egyptians as Moses led them out and away from their bondage. So it is
easy to see that Paul was addressing his Hebrew brethren, not his
Gentile brethren.
In
verses 15-17, Paul said “I
speak as to wise men; judge ye what I say.” This gives us a clue
that his message requires some spiritual discernment. He explains,
spiritually, their cup of blessing was their communion of the blood of
Christ and the bread they broke was the communion of the body of
Christ. Obviously, he was speaking of their spiritual communion with
Christ through his sacrifice for their sins.
Beginning
with verse 18, he says, “Behold
Israel
after the flesh: are
not they which eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar?” In so
saying, Paul refers to
Israel
after the flesh as the fleshly example of the spiritual reality.
Therefore, Paul professed that the spiritual cup of blessing and the
spiritual bread, which the believers broke, were their communion with
the crucifixion of Christ, which was the fulfillment of the fleshly
example, portrayed by the Passover observance.
In
verse 32, Paul gave them a very important rule which he applied to
his summation of the matter, saying, “Give
none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor the
church
of
God
:” There were then three different peoples who must be
considered and to recognize God’s instructions for each.
Paul told
Timothy, saying, “Study to
show thy self approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be
ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth,” (2 Tim. 2:15). To
rightly divide the word of truth was simply to apply the word which
belonged to the Jews, to the Jews; which belonged to the Gentiles, to
the Gentiles, and which belonged to the church, to the church. The
failure to make these distinctions has caused a great deal of
religious confusion throughout the years since the apostles.
When
Ye Come Together in the Church, 1 Cor. 11:18
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.
In verse 20,
Paul spoke of their coming together into one place. This coming
together was further described as the
church
of
God
(v-18 & 22). Therefore, it was a gathering of believers, both Jews
and the Gentiles, who made-up the
church
of
God
.
Firstly,
they were bringing a Jewish feast into a gathering of the
church
of
God
, among Gentiles, who had been told to observe no such things (Acts
21:25). This single fact made it completely inappropriate and was as
if they were flaunting their Jewish heritage while despising their
church relationship with believing Gentiles. The Jews were giving an
offence to the Gentiles and to the church as forbidden in 1 Cor.
10:31-32.
Secondly,
they were eating their own supper before others (apparently the
Gentiles), who had none (v-21-22), and they were not eating the
Lord’s Supper in remembrance of the Lord (v-27). Apparently, they
were eating the Lord’s Supper in remembrance of the passing over of
the death angel and their exodus out of Egypt and were not eating the
Lord’s Supper in remembrance of Christ (the Lamb of God), His
crucifixion, and the spiritual death which had passed over the
believers in Christ. The fulfillment of the physical type had now
come, and the eating of the physical supper without discerning its
fulfillment was a serious sin. Also, it is possible that they may have
been eating the Supper in disregard for godly values and may have been
eating in a flagrant display of festive indulgence to satisfy their
hunger and their fleshly lust.
Knowing the
Corinthian behavior in these matters, Paul infers that they despised
the
church
of
God
and shamed them that had not (v-22). Their behavior was a very serious
corruption of a sacred, memorial feast, which brought upon them the
discipline of God to the extent that many were weak and sickly among
them, and many slept (in death). This infraction was not merely some
greedy or lavish feasting of a common meal, but a degradation of the
Passover Supper with its spiritual meaning.
According to
the Greek/English Interlinear translation, verse 20 is rendered as, “coming
together therefore ye into one place, not it is [the] Lord’s supper
to eat.”
These words
were translated, “When ye
come together therefore into one place, this
is not to eat the Lord’s Supper,” in the King James
Version.
These same
words were translated, “When
you come together, it is not the Lord’s supper you eat,” in
the New International Version.
The two
controversial thoughts are obvious and the first or second is usually
chosen, depending upon each persons personal choice or his religious
background.
To those,
who respect the two walks of the Jews and the Gentiles, they choose to
believe Paul’s words clearly forbid the whole idea of observing the
Lord’s Supper in a gathering of the church of God or among the
Gentiles, who were very surely told not to observe such things (Acts
21:25). They point out that Paul indicated that they could have eaten
this supper at home, rather than in the church assembly, to avoid the
disrespect and shame toward the
church
of
God
. Likewise, the misguided zeal of the believing Jews, in the
observance of one of their special feast, was now causing the
discipline of God to be upon them, even to the point of death. And
such discipline was appropriate only upon Jews who were yet
accountable to the law and subject to its condemnation.
To those,
who disregard the two walks of the believers, during the transition
period, they choose not to condemn the practice of the Lord’s Supper
in the
church
of
God
or among believing Gentiles and choose to believe Paul was saying they
were not eating the Lord’s Supper. They conclude that the Lord’s
Supper would have been in order in the
church
of
God
, if they were, in fact, eating the Lord’s Supper. They conclude
that the Lord’s Supper was not the Passover Supper, but was a new
supper instituted at the last supper of Christ and the twelve.
Likewise, they conclude that Paul imposed Christ’s words to the
twelve Jewish apostles upon the Corinthian Gentiles, also, and upon
the
church
of
God
in general.
Given the
difference in the sentence structure of the Greek and the English
language, with its order of words and phrases, this controversy, as
strange as it may seem, will not soon end, if ever. However, either
position is not sufficient to annul the over-whelming fact and the
clearly stated verses that the Gentiles were to observe no such
things. Unanimous agreement on this verse is not required in order to
know beyond reasonable doubt, that the Lord’s Supper was never
authorized by the Lord to be observed in the
church
of
God
or by the Gentiles in it. The total lack of specific authorization and
instructions is an evident token of its misuse and of the confusing
and contradictory practices relating to its observance in the church
setting.
The Apostle
Paul addressed the errors of the believing Jews in regard to the
Lord’s Supper. In so doing, he reminded the Jews at
Corinth
of Christ’s words to
his twelve apostles at the last supper, how the twelve were to eat the
bread and drink the cup in
remembrance of Him as shown in 1 Cor. 11:23-26. To the twelve, Christ
said:
23 For I
received of the Lord that which I also 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 is the new testament in my blood: this
do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.
26 “For
as oft as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the
Lord’s death till he come.”
Christ
said these words to the
twelve at the last supper and Paul admonished the Jewish
believers at
Corinth
to partake of it in
remembrance of the Lord’s body also. He
did not thereby grant them the choice to eat the Passover on any
other dates or with any other ingredients. Christ simply
stated that each time the twelve ate and drank of it they were to
show the Lord’s death till He came. Paul’s
reminder to the Corinthian Jews of Christ’s words, spoken to the
apostles at the last supper, did not institute or confirm the
Lord’s Supper upon the entire church or upon the Gentiles,
but was spoken to correct the error of the Jewish believers, who
were eating the Passover unworthily. He further admonished the
Corinthian Jews, saying:
27
Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of
the Lord, unworthily, shall
be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.
29 For
he that eateth and drinketh unworthily,
eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the
Lord’s body.
30 For
this cause many are weak
and sickly among you, and many sleep.
Their
eating and drinking brought condemnation upon themselves by not
discerning the Lord’s body, which was the chastening of the Lord
upon believing
Israel
, who casually partook of this sacred feast in careless profanity.
The Gentiles had no part in this observance and neither were they
under the penalty. Experimental knowledge should be sufficient to
know such penalty is not imposed upon the Gentiles of this day.
33
Wherefore, my brethren, when ye come together to eat, tarry
one for another.
34 And
if any man hunger, let him eat at home; that ye come not
together unto condemnation. And the rest I will set in order when
I come.
Here, Paul
further admonishes these Jews, when they came together to observe
their Jewish supper, to tarry one for the other that they might eat at
the same time in an atmosphere of remembrance as a memorial in which
they would discern the Lord’s body. Also, Paul admonished, if any
man was hungry, let him eat at home so that he might eat the Lord’s
Supper in remembrance of the Lord, not merely eating to satisfy his
hunger.
A large
portion of Christendom erroneously deny the two walks of the
believers, during the transition period, holding that believing
Gentiles and the church were supposed to observe the Lord’s Supper
during that time and thereafter.
The Gentiles
were explicitly told not to observe such things and not to be
entangled with the yoke of bondage which was the works or ordnances of
the law, (Acts 21:25; Gal. 3:1-5; 5:1; and Acts 15.)
The council
at
Jerusalem
(Acts 15) established among the believing Jews for the first time that
the Gentiles were not to participate with their Jewish brethren in the
observance of the law (Acts 15 and Acts 21). And
only after Paul wrote the later church epistles (prison epistles), was
it revealed that the middle wall of partition between the Jews and
Gentiles was broken down and that the law had been nailed to the
cross, thus liberating the believing Jews from the ceremonial
observances of the law for the church age.
Breaking
of Bread
When the
Lord feed five thousand, “He commanded the multitude to sit down on
the grass, and took the five loaves, and the two fishes, and looking
up to heaven, he blessed, and
brake, and gave of the loaves to his disciples, and the disciples
to the multitude,” (Matt. 14:19-21). Also, when the Lord feed four
thousand, “He took the seven loaves and the fishes, and gave thanks,
and brake them, and gave
to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude,” (Matt.
15:35-38). These verses and others show the recorded term for the
“breaking of the bread” was the same for a common meal as it was
for the Lord’s Supper. Therefore, it would be presumption to
arbitrarily assume they were eating the Lord’s Supper when that term
is used.
In the
evening of the same day that the women had found Jesus risen from the
tomb, Christ joined Ce-phas and Cle’o-pas on the road to Em-ma-us.
Their eyes were holden that they might not know him, but when they
arrived, “as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed
it, and brake, and gave to
them. And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished
out of their sight” (Lk. 24:13-31).
On the days
following the falling of the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost, the
disciples “continued daily with one accord in the temple, and
breaking of bread from house to house, did eat their meat with
gladness and singleness of heart” (Acts 2:46). In this recorded
event, they were not eating the Lord’s Passover Supper; they were
eating the meals of the seven day feast of Pentecost, also known as
the feast of weeks, which came about fifty days after the feast of
Passover.
When
the Disciples Came Together to Break Bread
Again, we
read in Acts 20:6-12, “And we sailed away from Phil-lip’pi after
the days of unleavened bread, and came unto them to
Troas
in five days; where we abode seven days. And upon the first day
of the week, when the
disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready
to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until
midnight.”
The time was
about twelve days after the Passover Supper and its seven days of
feasting had ended; therefore, the “breaking of bread” in this
event was not the Lord’s Passover Supper or any part of the seven
days of the feast, relating to the Passover. Why would one think this
event was the Lord’s Supper? Is it because men so desperately need a
verse to uphold their preconceived doctrine? To contend that the
“breaking of bread” in this event was the Lord’s Supper, is
nothing less than assumption and it contradicts the very precise and
biblical date on which it was to be eaten. There is no biblical basis
to contend that this “breaking of bread” was anything other than a
common meal among Christians. The Lord’s Supper idea has been
propelled by the erroneous suppositions of former teachers, passed
down by tradition and the doctrines of men.
Paul and other ministering brethren had
come to
Troas
by ship and the disciples used the limited time together in eating and
in sharing in the word. It was such a special time to be with these
brethren, where he had previously ministered continually for three
years, that Paul spoke a long time. About midnight a young man, named
Eu’ty-chus, drifted off to sleep and fell out of a window, falling
from the third story and was taken up dead, but Paul went down and
restored him to life again. “When he therefore was come up again, and
had broken bread, and
eaten, and talked a long while, even till break of day, so he
departed.”
They had
come together to break bread on the day before his departure, because Paul
was prepared to depart on the morrow (v-7). Paul spoke to them
until midnight and afterwards restored Eu’ty-chus to life and then
they “broke bread” again after which Paul talked a long while, even
till break of day, so he departed (v-11). Obviously, there were
two meals; the first meal on the day they came together and another,
after midnight. The second meal, which was eaten after midnight, was
apparently eaten on the next day and was not the primary meal for
which they had come together. The “breaking of bread” in either
the first or second meal could not have been the Lord’s Supper
because it was about twelve days after the seven days of feasting,
associated with the Passover Supper. Therefore, the breaking of bread
in Acts 20:7, was a common meal and cannot be biblically used to build
a doctrine for a new supper for the church or new ingredients or new
dates.
The
eating of the Lord’s Supper in a church gathering of both Jews and
Gentiles would have been inappropriate even if it had been on the
correct date, because it would be imposing a Jewish feast upon the
Gentiles and upon the
church
of
God
.
This text is
a good example of how men have imposed their preconceived doctrines
upon a verse that truthfully says no such thing and have held to ideas
which are inconsistent to a host of well known bible facts. And the
religious confusion continues generation after generation. Those, who
do not stand in awe of the word of God, often allow traditions and the
commandments of men to prevail (Matt. 15:3, 6, 9).
During the
early days of the church, before it was revealed that the middle wall
of partition was broken down, the Passover Supper (the Lord’s
Supper) continued to be observed by the Jewish believers in the
church, while the Gentiles were specifically told to observe no such
things (Acts 21:25). The key to this subject is rightly dividing the
word of truth (2 Tim. 2:15).
There is
much more truth related to this subject, to the general subject of the
Passover, to the Hebrew calendar of feasts, to the observing of
Sabbath days and holy days, to the observing of types and shadows and
examples versus their fulfillment, to rightly dividing in the
transition period, etc.
“Now we
have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of
God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
Which things also we speak not in the words which man’s wisdom
teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual
things with spiritual” (1 Cor. 2:12-13).
Questions
and comments are welcome.
Milton
Dunavant,
P. O. Box 37122
,
Fort Worth,
TX
76117
millindun@sbcglobal.net