1 Corinthians 11:17-34

(1 Corinthians 11:17-34)

 

Now in this that I declare unto you I praise you not, that ye come together not for the better, but for the worse. For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you; and I partly believe it.  For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you.  When ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's supper.  For in eating every one taketh before other his own supper: and one is hungry, and another is drunken.  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.  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:  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.  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.  For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come.  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. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.  For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body.  For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.  For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.  But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.  Wherefore, my brethren, when ye come together to eat, tarry one for another.  And if any man hunger, let him eat at home; that ye come not together unto condemnation. And the rest will I set in order when I come.

The two important ceremonies in the Christian faith are baptism and the sacrament. These two are holy ceremonies that show the core of the Christian faith because Jesus himself performed while he was on earth and commanded the saints to do them. Through water-submerged baptism, it is declared that the sinful life died with Jesus, and as the body is rescued from the water, it is proclaimed that he was born as a Christian, a new creature who breathes anew with the life of the resurrected Jesus. . The sacrament is a sacrament showing that the life of a saint living as a Christian is united with Jesus Christ, who died on the cross.

 

In John 6:48-51, "I am that bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and 』And Jesus said in John 6:55, ``For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. 』. It means that those who eat Jesus' flesh and drink blood are united with Jesus, who died on the cross.

 

However, a problem arose when the Corinthian church celebrated the sacrament that Jesus himself commanded to do.『 When ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's supper.  For in eating every one taketh before other his own supper: and one is hungry, and another is drunken.  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. 』

Since the sacrament is held during worship, the bread and wine used in the sacrament are only a small piece and a sip, but the first situation in which Jesus celebrated the sacrament was during the Passover meal, and the sacrament of the early church was also held with the meal. . After they ate together, they would celebrate the sacrament with bread and wine at the end. However, during the sacrament held at the Corinthian church, some people came early to eat and eat, but some people were missing and could not eat.

This is not irrelevant to the situation in which the church was divided into Pauline, Geba, and Christian. The wealthy group of people who brought a lot of food ate and drank among themselves without waiting, knowing the situation where people from slaves and workers who couldn't properly bring their food were coming from work. At the end of the sacramental meal, poor slaves and workers were forced to watch a wealthy group of people who were full of wine in hunger.

Paul needed to remind the Corinthians of the meaning of the sacrament, so he began to explain the sacrament. 『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: 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. 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. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come. 』

 

If so, what is the right attitude toward the sacrament? It means to look at yourself. See if you died on the cross with Jesus. To sacrament without dying is to drink sin. Paul exhorted the Corinthians to live without realizing the meaning of the sacrament of Jesus, who gave up his body for the Corinthians: ``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. 』The body of the Lord is the body that died on the cross, was torn flesh, and shed blood. If I do not realize that the very death of Jesus Christ is my death, I become a person who cannot discern the body of the Lord.

 

“Wherefore, my brothers, wait for one another when you gather to eat”. If the saints and Jesus Christ are united as one with each other, it is appropriate to be united among the saints as well. The primary meaning of the body of the Lord was said to mean the body of Jesus Christ. However, the secondary meaning of the Lord's body is the church community that has been granted to the saints. Colossians 1:24 expresses the church community in the body of the Lord. We must wait for each other for unity of the body of the Lord, the church community.

 

Jesus celebrated the Passover with his disciples, and in Luke 22:19-20, ``And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you. 』Said.
Because Jesus said, "Do this and commemorate me," the sacrament meeting is held in the church today. The thing to celebrate through sacrament meeting is to remember the new covenant that Jesus said. The new covenant established with blood is that no one can be saved except through Jesus Christ, who died on the cross. Jesus came to this world and died on the cross.

 

Because, Jesus Christ came to save the spirit who left God. In John 6:63, "It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. 』In order to save the spirit, the physical body must die and the spirit body must be put on. So, only when the spirit puts on the body of the spirit, the spirit is revived. In 1 Corinthians 15:44, "It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. In 15:49, 『And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. 』

 

The resurrection of Jesus means that the physical body died and the spirit body was raised again. In 1 Peter 3:18, 『For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: 』
Today, most churches believe that after the body received from the parents dies, the body is resurrected. However, the flesh received from the parents dies and is resurrected as a spirit body from heaven. In 1 Corinthians 15:42, So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: 』

 

It is about the salvation of the spirit that Jesus asks to remember through the sacrament. It is to realize and remember that you are all dead in the flesh and living in the spirit. If you do not know the meaning of the sacrament, it is “not worthy”. So, take a look at yourself. If you treat the sacrament in a way that you do not die with Jesus Christ and receive salvation if you believe in Jesus, you cannot discern the body of the Lord. It is like saying, "I am united with Jesus, who died on the cross," while drinking a cup without dying with Jesus.

 

Salvation is the salvation of the spirit. When the spirit puts on the body of the spirit, it can enter the kingdom of God. In John 3:31-32, "He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from heaven is above all. And what he hath seen and heard, that he testifieth; and no man receiveth his testimony. 』Jesus speaks of heaven, and those on earth accept it as things of the earth. The way Jesus showed his disciples from death and resurrection was to show that he had a spirit body, and people still think about the flesh they received from their parents. Jesus said to deny yourself, to bear your own cross. It helps us to realize that the body seen by the human eye is not the true body, but the spirit body from heaven is the true body.