Communion and the Corinthian Church

 There are only two sacraments ordained by our Lord Jesus Christ for the New Testament church. One is baptism and the other is the Lord’s table.  Even though our Lord conducted the first communion and set an example for how it should be done in our Sunday worship, he did not give any elaborate teachings on it.

Paul provides us with further insight into communion. There are four concepts in chapters ten and eleven of 1 Corinthians that we need to focus on to gain Paul’s understanding of the communion.

1.            Communion shows that we are one in the Lord. (10:14- 17).

This was a revolutionary statement for Corinthians. The church had both Jews and Gentiles, and both masters and slaves. Monday through Saturday, they belonged to different social groups and different social classes. But on Sunday, they all became brothers and sisters when they came to worship Jesus. The proof was that they were eating from the same bread and drinking from the same cup.

According to Middle Eastern customs, if you share your bread with another, you have accepted the other as your brother. Thousands of our people either work or have worked in the Middle East. They know how the Arabs share the ‘kuppus.’ They tear one piece of it and then hand over the bread to the next person. He or she will tear one piece of it and hand it over to the next person, and it will continue around the table. This is how Jesus and his disciples celebrated communion. Paul did the same thing in Corinth. The reference to ‘one bread’ is not a symbolic statement in 1 Cor. 10: 17. They literally ate from one bread.

2.            There is a table of the demons and the Lord’s table.

What was the table of demons? Paul was referring to a powerful cult they had in Corinth called the cult of Dionysus. Dionysus, the ancient Greek Olympian god of wine and festivity, was worshiped in central and northern Greece, the Aegean islands, and the Greek colonies. Corinth was such a colony. (The word colony had a different meaning then. It referred to a class of cities in the Roman Empire). Sometimes Dionysus was called “Eleutherius” or the liberator. The tables at parties in his honor had unlimited wine and meat available. They had wine, music, and ecstatic dance that freed his followers from self-conscious fear and care. Those who partook of his mysteries were believed to become possessed and empowered by the god himself.

When Paul established the Lord’s table in the Corinthian church and started talking about the elements as meat and wine, it created a confusion in the minds of the believers there. They came from a background of celebrating the table of Dionysus. There, they literally had meat and wine. Here Paul was also talking about meat and wine. Was communion a Christianized version of Dionysus table?

Paul told them that one is the table of the demons, and the other is the Lord’s table. Paul uses the Old Testament system of sacrifices, where the meat was given to the person (except in sin offering), to show that you identify with whichever table you celebrate. When they celebrated the Dionysus table, they identified with him. But now they are new creations in Christ. The old have passed away. When believers in Jesus celebrate communion together, they become one body, the body of Jesus on earth. Their identification is with Jesus. As a Christian, you cannot participate in the communion and then go back and participate in the table of Dionysus or drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of the demons again.

3.            Communion is not the same as a love feast.

Paul addresses the difference between the communion and the love feast in chapter eleven. Corinthian church had members of different social classes. This led to cliques in the church. The wealthy always hung out together. They ate together. Despite the immense spiritual significance of the communion, the carnal Corinthian church gave more importance to the love feast. “When you meet together, you are not really interested in the Lord’s Supper. 21 For some of you hurry to eat your own meal without sharing with others. As a result, some go hungry while others get drunk.” (1 Cor. 11:20,21 NLT). At some point, the love feast got out of hand. Paul says some of them were drunk. This is not what Paul taught them. That is why he starts the section we often read for communion with a statement. “Let me go over with you again exactly what goes on in the Lord’s Supper and why it is so centrally important. I received my instructions from the Master himself and passed them on to you.” (The Message Bible).

4.            Communion is a serious business.

Paul, as he continues his teaching on the communion, after reiterating what he learned from Jesus himself, warns the Corinthians not to take communion in an unworthy manner. He challenged them to examine themselves before they took part in communion. This meant a number of things. First of all, the communion was instituted for the disciples of Jesus. A disciple of Jesus is one who has obeyed his commandments (John 14:15). Until you become a disciple of Jesus, even if you are a member of a church, you should not participate in the communion. Secondly, since the communion sends a message that ‘we are one in the Lord.’ If you have an issue with a fellow believer in your church, you cannot participate in communion until you reconcile. You will be inviting judgment upon yourself. This is why we had testimony time before communion. It allows you to request forgiveness from whomever you have offended publicly and take communion with a good conscience.

Thirdly, make sure you are taking part in the communion for the right reasons. If you are not meditating on the sufferings of Jesus during communion time, which will allow your heart to be filled with gratitude for what he has done for you, there is no point in taking communion. Taking communion for any other reason will be despising the Lord’s table.

Let us continue to celebrate the Lord’s table with a full understanding of its significance of it and with due reverence. If taking it in an unworthy manner brings judgment, taking it worthily will bless you.