In giving this instruction, I do not praise the fact that your meetings are doing more harm than good. 18 First of all, I hear that when you meet as a church there are divisions among you, and to a degree I believe it; 19 there have to be factions among you in order that [also] those who are approved among you may become known. 20 When you meet in one place, then, it is not to eat the Lord’s supper, 21 for in eating, each one goes ahead with his own supper, and one goes hungry while another gets drunk. 22 Do you not have houses in which you can eat and drink? Or do you show contempt for the church of God and make those who have nothing feel ashamed? What can I say to you? Shall I praise you? In this matter I do not praise you.
Paul chastises the community at Corinth (the Church) for abusing the liturgical Tradition he taught them about the Lord’s Supper. He has heard that when they are assembled, the assembly of God, there are divisions among them. Church was usually held in a private house (Rom 16:23). There were various groups of converts that made up the assembly including some False Apostles (2 Cor. 11:13) who would congregate together at the Lord’s Supper. Some did not share their food with those outside of their group. Some groups were authentic in their belief and ‘approved’ by God, but the behavior of others was not in keeping with what Paul had taught. The divisions allowed the members of the community to clearly see who the genuine members were. Paul told them that when they gather they do not really celebrate the Lord’s supper (v. 20).
It appeared that each group would eat and drink among themselves and the food was not evenly distributed so the poorer members of the community may go hungry while others ate and drank to excess. The wealthy would usually arrive first and start to eat and drink while the poor and slaves usually came later and sometimes got nothing to eat or drink. The poor, as well as slaves in the Christian community (Col. 3:22), would have had no homes of their own or the means to bring food or wine (v. 22). The behavior of those with means made those who had nothing feel ashamed. Paul told them that those who only want to eat and get drunk should do it at their home as opposed to making a mockery of the Lord’s Supper in the Assembly of God.
Almighty God, grant us the grace to be authentic in our belief and fervent in our faith. This we ask through Christ our Lord. Amen.
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References
Chiu, José Enrique Aguilar, et al. The Paulist Biblical Commentary. Paulist Press, 2018.
Brown, Raymond Edward, et al. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Upper Saddle River, NJ, United States, Prentice Hall, 1990.
Chiu, José Enrique Aguilar, et al. The Paulist Biblical Commentary. Paulist Press, 2018.
Brown, Raymond Edward, et al. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Upper Saddle River, NJ, United States, Prentice Hall, 1990.
Orchard, Bernard, et al. A Catholic Commentary on Holy Scripture. Feb. 1953.
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