"Until He Comes.”

"For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.” (1Corinthians 11:26 ESV)

Paul continues his teachings in this letter to the “Saints at Corinth” from Chapter 9, where he discusses the use of our liberty as Christians. We are free from the Old Testament Law; it no longer has any authority over New Covenant believers, but that doesn’t mean that we are free to live anyway we choose. As a matter of fact, Paul states in 10:23, “All things are lawful,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful,” but not all things build up.” (ESV). 

Paul just told us that we are no longer under the law of Moses, but now he says all things are lawful. What’s that about? Well, here he is using “lawful” in its more general sense, like “permitted”, not in the strict sense of meaning “Old Testament Law”. Paul is saying that as believers, we are free to enjoy everything God has created; we are not judged by what we eat or drink. But with this freedom, we have responsibilities to our brothers and sisters in the Lord. While it’s permitted for me to eat or drink whatever I choose, it may hurt a younger or weaker believer, and therefore I can never do it in their presence. Love is more important than my personal freedom.

 Now, in Chapter 11:17-34, we have the passage that many of us hear every month as we partake in the “Communion Service”. “…. Do this in remembrance of Me.”  As you know, I really stress “context” when I study and interpret a passage of Scripture. I think if we look at the surrounding verses before and after verses 27-29, which are used to exhort everyone that is planning to participate in the Communion Service, that “we take a moment and examine our lives and confess any sins before we partake of the communion service,” this exhortation is often taken out of context. This exhortation is based on verses 27-29, and it is taught that the “examination” that Paul is speaking of is our individual unconfessed sins.

However, I think the surrounding context does not support that interpretation. If you go back to verses 17-22, Paul is condemning these believers for “despising the church of God” and bringing shame to those who are poor. He says, “In this I will not praise you.” (v 22).  Paul was condemning the congregation for segregating themselves between the rich and the poor and using “the Lord’s Supper" before their communion service as an event to show partiality. It seems that one group would eat all the food and drink all the wine, when the church had what we called in the South a “Potluck Supper”.

In the modern-day church, we don’t have a meal, "the Lord’s Supper", before our communion service, where we eat the bread and drink the grape juice, remembering what our Savior did for us. Our custom is a bit different from that of the first-century church. The “examine yourself” to see if you are eating and drinking in an “unworthy manner” is a reference to “despising the church of God, and shaming those who have nothing.” (reference verses 20-22). This doesn’t seem applicable to today’s church service.

Then the last verse of this chapter summarizes Paul’s exhortation about examining yourself: “If anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, so that you may not come together for judgment.” It seems that the examination that Paul is speaking about is our contempt for the poor in the body of Christ, not our examination of how we have lived for the past month since our last communion.

It seems to me that some are turning the communion service away from rejoicing over what Jesus has done for us, to a mournful service where we beat ourselves up and proclaim how unworthy we are, even to remember Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection. Instead of being happy over our salvation and looking forward to Christ’s return, we review our own

“unworthiness”. I see Paul’s teaching in this passage, from verses 18-34, as a unit, and that we shouldn’t pull out one or two verses to build a “theology of communion” that takes away from the joyful remembrance of what our Savior has done to save each of us.

Of course, we can apply Paul’s exhortation to today’s believers: we need to have love in our hearts for our fellow believers and not segregate them into groups. We need to treat all our brothers and sisters in Christ with love and respect.

How about the next time we participate in a communion service, we realize that it is not about "me", it's about Him. It's not about what I haven't done, but about what He has done. How about rejoicing in the salvation that our Lord and Savior purchased for us with his broken body and shed blood!

Let's rejoice and remember Jesus.

"Living in Grace is not about what I can do, but about what Jesus has already done!"