Paul's Table Manners Part 2

As we continue to narrow upon the text, it will be necessary to take a quick look at the six verses preceding 1 Corinthians 11:23. In the following directives I have no praise for you, for your meetings do more harm than good. In the first place, I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you, and to some extent I believe it. No doubt there have to be differences among you to show which of you have God's approval. When you come together, it is not the Lord's Supper you eat, for as you eat, each of you goes ahead without waiting for anybody else. One remains hungry, another gets drunk. Don't you have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you for this? Certainly not! (1 Corinthians 11:17-22). Paul demonstrates the severity of the error by leaving his, “yes, but…” approach as seen in earlier motifs within his writing, and offering “no praise” toward the Corinthian church for their actions in communion. He writes that one (the poor) remains hungry, while another (the rich) gets drunk. This text, and the severity of Paul’s writing within this specific text, lay the foundation for 1 Corinthians 11:23-34. Paul is not happy with the Corinthian church for their actions around the table.

From the text we know that the church gathered in Corinth for a meal. We also know that the ancient church gathered in homes. Since the homes of the wealthy were more suitable to accommodate large crowds, it was most common to meet in the home of the wealthy. There are many theories surrounding what exactly was happening in the house churches of Corinth regarding the meal. I will highlight three. The first is that in following Hellenistic tradition, the head of the household would invite guests to a meal that was held in two stages. The first stage was the main meal, while the second stage was dessert. The poorer members of the church were simply not invited to the first portion, or the meal, but only to the dessert portion of the party. A second theory is that the rich were actually eating their meal in the presence of the poorer members as the poorer members of the church watched. A third theory, and one that I prefer, is that the rich welcomed the poor into the celebration at the scheduled beginning of the celebration. However, the rich gathered before the scheduled beginning to eat and drink (meat and fine wine) extensively before with poor arrived with their limited contributions. Regardless of which theory one desires to believe, the point of the passage remains clear. There was an overindulgence by the rich at the meal, therefore leaving the poor feeling inferior. To Paul, this is not what Jesus desired the church to practice around the communion table.

Beginning with the assigned text, the first four verses have a unique remembrance motif toward them. For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes (1 Corinthians 11:23-26). The word aÓna¿mnhsin which comes from aÓna¿mnhsiß is translated as remembrance. The word aÓna¿mnhsiß is literally appealing to memory. It is the same word used by the author of Hebrews. But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins (Hebrews 10:3). As a Western people, we must “remember” that our understanding of memory keeps the memory in the past. This word, however, also has implications of “remembering into the present”. In the Old Testament, remembering had little to do with the simple act of mental exercise, but also included physical activity. Just as Israel was to remember that they had been delivered from Egypt by building a memorial, so are we to remember the reality of Christ by eating the bread and drinking the wine. I submit that the act of remembering was especially important in the Pauline community of Corinth, as their actions in creating social divisions did not match well with the life of Jesus. Thus, Paul called them to remember the Messiah as they ate, a call of repentance to a people that had strayed from the very purpose of the meal.

Of all of the verses in chapter eleven, verse 27 comes with the most baggage. This baggage has been created in the West by a poor translation of the word aÓnaxi÷wß as “unworthily” rather than as “in an unworthy manner” in the King James Version of the text. 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 (1 Corinthians 11:27, KJV). The mistake has led to excluding people who “feel unworthy” from the table, when communion is precisely meant for those very people, for sinners. There is an individualistic ethos to this translation that is representative of the West. Rather, when translated as “in an unworthy manner”, the text more clearly points the reader away from the “unworthy individual” and toward those whom are unwilling to share their material goods with other Christians in the community. A better way to capture this passage would be to translate aÓnaxi÷wß as careless. Don’t be careless when partaking the elements. In other words, “care” for the elements and “care” for the community that surrounds the elements. This mistranslation of the KJV becomes more clear when put the in context of the passage in its entirety, and when viewed through the lens of Paul’s discontentment with the Corinthian people in their practice of a communion that did not include the very way that Christ lived.

For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves (1 Corinthians 11:29). Paul calls the church to discern the body of Christ to avoid judgment on themselves. Through the lens of the individualized West, and with a poor KJV interpretation upon the word aÓnaxi÷wß, it would be easy to unpack this verse as a mysteriously inward examining of the literal body and blood of Jesus. However, again, this lens is a cultural phenomenon that probably misses the full essence of Paul’s first century words. By the body of Christ, Paul probably meant the people that comprise the church. Paul precedes the term the body of Christ with the word “discern” in verse 29. To fail to discern the body of Christ, or the church, before taking the bread and the wine, is to incur God’s judgment. Paul’s main concern in this passage is unity in the body of Christ between the rich and the poor. This again, is not a text calling the individual to be inwardly introspective in case he or she might need to avoid the table, rather he is calling the church to discern their disunity by viewing the abuse of those of lesser socioeconomic status at the table, lest the rich be judged for their autocratic attitudes.

Paul saw many problems with the church in Corinth. His first letter to the Corinthians was one of pastoral advice for living the best kind of life. Within this specific section of chapter eleven, Paul is urging the church out of a wicked practice. The rich are suppressing the poor and as a result, many are becoming sick and dying. Paul is using the table as a means of making a point that Christ would not have accepted this type of behavior because he came for the very people that were being suppressed in Corinth. This text has an unfortunate history as it has been abused through poor translations and cultural lenses. This text is not one that encourages individuals to be self-absorbed in contemplation before communion in order to evaluate the worthiness of the table… No! The table is a place of celebration for all sinners who recognize the reality of Jesus. Rather this is a text that calls the body of Christ, the church, to discern its call to be the people of God, living in the image of grace, because as Gordon Fee states, “grace received that does not recognize the need to be gracious to others is to miss the point of the Table altogether.”