The Lord’s Supper and the Corinthian Church

The Lord’s Supper and the Corinthian Church

Paul concerned and discussed about the issues related to the Lord’s Supper in the Corinthian Church. Because he heard that there was a disruption among the church about it. This problem that Corinthian Church had stood out specifically about the supper that they had together regularly as a congregation. Even though they got together for the Lord’s Supper, they wavered in purpose and instead of bringing unity to the church but they used the Lord’s Supper to fill themselves selfishly. So there were some people starve while other people get drunk. The reality of the Lord’s Supper in the church was far from how it should be.

The Temptation and the Eating

Eating and drinking was causing an big issue in the church, but if you look back in the very beginning of the Bible, you will notice that the first sin was also caused by eating. Eve fell into temptation and ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil which God commanded her and Adam not to eat. So by this sin, the sin entered the world and brought a disruption between God and the creation.

Adam and Eve sinned at the first meal that they had after being created. So it was like a first feast for the human before God in the Garden of Eden. But they turned this feast of blessing into the meal of curse. So it means that they changed the blessing from God into curse by “eating” just like Corithian Church did with the Lord’s Supper.

“For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you. And I believe it in part, for there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized. When you come together, it is not the Lord’s supper that you eat. For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal. One goes hungry, another gets drunk.”
- 1 Corinthians 11:18-21

The Curse and the Death

So by the sin that entered the world, people were put under the curse and death, they needed to be restored by the redemption. But than God gave this sinful human a greatest love and mercy and promised the salvation. God showed his greatest compassion to the sinners and he promised the redemption from the dominion of death and curse. And this redemption and salvation that he promised was Jesus Christ, that He will come as the woman’s seed and will bruise Satan’s head. The salvation of Jesus Christ was brought through His death and resurrection. Because He conquered the sin by His death and resurrection.

The Promise of the Perfect Sacrifice

But there were more than thousand years till the promise was fulfilled, so in the mean time,
God commanded the sinners to offer sacrifice as the symbol of perfect redemption to come. There were several kinds of offerings, and the sinners were allowed to eat some of them. So it was like a feasting with God in some ways. But there were also many rules about it and there were many detailed orders about what to eat and what not. Because the sacrifices in the Old Testament was a temporal thing that signifies Jesus Christ the perfect sacrifice.

The Temporal Sacrificial System

Another big difference between Jesus Christ and the temporal sacrificial system was that with temporal sacrificial system, the sacrifices had to be offered constantly. Because it was done by the High Priest who was a sinner as well. So even if he offered a sacrifice, it did not bring the perfect redemption to the world. But this sacrificial system was fulfilled by Jesus Christ. So Jesus Christ died only once as the ultimate sacrifice for the redemption on the cross. And fulfilled the promise of salvation. By this salvation, the “feasts” that were restricted by the sacrificial system became the Lord’s Supper which we will feast before God in the memory of the salvation of Jesus Christ.

The Eternal Life and the Dominion of Death

God sent us His only begotten Son Jesus Christ as he promised us. And by this salvation, we were brought back into the promise of eternal life from the dominion of death. This is what the Lord’s Supper is about that Paul explained in 1 Corinthian chapter 10. But as he wrote in the same chapter, the Lord’s Supper which is the feast of blessing was turned into the meal that brings disruption among the church instead of unity. So we can think about the Lord’s Supper and the first meal of Adam and Eve in parallel. Adam and Eve also brought in death to the world by the food that was given to them as blessing.

The Unity

Paul had to write to the Corinthian Church in order to solve this problem in the church about the Lord’s Supper to bring back unity in the church. So from chapter 11 verse 23, Paul wrote about the Lord’s Supper and how it should be done in details.