Chapter 10

The doctrine of idolatry

1. Idolatry is forbidden by the Word of God, Exodus 20:3-6; Deuteronomy 4:16-19; 27:15.

2. Definition: Paying divine honours to a created being, the ascription of divine power to natural agencies.

3. Categories of idolatry.

a) The inanimate category, the worship of stones, trees, rivers, etc.

b) The worship of animals.

c) Worship of the powers of nature — fire, air, sun, moon, stars, and so on.

d) Worship of people — ancestor worship, hero worship, etc.

e) Idealism is a form of idolatry — the worship of abstractions or mental qualities. Illustration: phallic cult.

f) The worship of God under symbols or images.

4. Idolatry is a part of religion, Romans 1:18-32, especially verses 22,23. The subject of this part of 1 Corinthians is the devil’s communion table and in that we will see that idolatry is a part of religion. Specifically this is verses 20-21.

5. The pattern of Israel’s failure is indicated by idolatry, specifically the golden calf incident, Exodus 32. In the history of Israel where idolatry was such a temptation the discrediting of idolatry is clearly represented by the activities of Elijah on Mount Carmel, 1 Kings 18.

The concept of this passage, verses 1-21.

1. Israel’s failure is connected with idolatry, verses 1-10.

2. The Corinthian believers are warned regarding idolatry and its repercussions, verses 11-15.

3. The religious principle behind idolatry, verses 16-21.

Verses 1-10, the failure of a past generation, the Exodus generation. In verses 1-4 we have God’s grace.

The failure of the Exodus generation cannot be blamed upon God in any way, He graciously provided everything that they would ever need.

Verse 1, provision #1, divine guidance. God constantly guided the children of Israel. “Moreover brethren,” addressed to believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, they are now going to be warned with regard to religion. Believers are in danger of being infiltrated by religion.

“I would not” means to wish or to desire; “that you should be ignorant.” This is Paul speaking to the Corinthians and this is God speaking to us through the apostle Paul. There is one thing we cannot afford to be and that is ignorant. This is our greatest problem today. “I would not” is present active indicative means “I keep on desiring.” You should never be in the status of ignorance. The Greek word for ignorance here is a)gnoew from which we get “agnostic.” Agnostic was originally used for ignorance. The worst thing that could happen to any believer is to be ignorant of doctrine.

“how that all our fathers,” the word “all” refers to the entire generation of the Exodus aged 20 and over, approximately two million people. It also implies that they were all saved, all believers, all under the blood of the Passover. “Fathers” refers to a previous generation.

“were [kept on being] under the cloud,” the imperfect tense here. The cloud was simply the system of guidance. Wherever they moved it was exactly where God wanted them to be, they were all under the cloud, Exodus 13:21; 14:19. Today we have a cloud too. The cloud has become the Word of God to us. There is a principle that comes out of this: You cannot be guided by God unless you know the Word. The more you know the Word the more that you can be guided by God. You must know the Word in order to execute the Word, to do the Word. First of all you must know it, and then do it. This is the principle of guidance as it exists today. Many times you are going to find that the Bible does not cover a specific event in your life, not by a direct statement. You find principles of doctrine in the Word and learning the principles of doctrine makes it possible for you to apply these things and to execute the will of God.

Of course there are different types of the will of God. There is the directive will of God, the permissive will of God, and the overruling will of God. There are categories of the will of God as well. Geographical: Where does He want me to be? Vocational: What does He want me to do? Viewpoint: What does He want me to think? Then there are various types of mechanics of guidance, these are all summarised in the eleventh chapter of Acts. He guides through prayer, through the mind, the Word, the providential circumstances, through the Spirit, through comparison, through scripture memory, and so on. There is no excuse for the believer in Jesus Christ to be ignorant of the will of God.

The second divine provision is also found in verse 1, deliverance: “and all passed through the sea.” All were believers, the entire community of Israel. “Passed through the sea,” aorist tense, reference to Exodus 13:10-14.

Verse 2, the third provision. Identification. This does not say that all were baptised in the sea. Only the armoured forces of Pharaoh were baptised in the sea, and they drowned! This is not a water baptism, this is a dry baptism which is one of the four real baptisms. The identification here is threefold. “Were all baptised’ is an aorist tense and it refers to the point of time when the Red Sea was open. The middle voice means they were benefited by this baptism. The indicative mood is the reality of this baptism and/or identification. “All were identified into Moses in the cloud, in the sea.” a) They were identified into Moses. Moses was the only one who had any faith. It was the faith-rest technique of Moses that cause the divine response of opening the sea. Eventually they were all identified with Moses in that they became calm and moved in an orderly fashion through the Red Sea pulled back. b) They were identified into the cloud. The cloud is Jesus Christ. The cloud instructed them to move across the dried up sea, which is exactly what they did. c) Then they were said to be identified into the sea. That is, they actually walked through the dried path. The word “baptise” means identification. In the three identifications here there is no water. The Red Sea with which the Jews were identified was the air. The sea was rolled back. The only one who was immersed in this case was the unbelieving Egyptian who was drowned.

“And all were identified into Moses, into the cloud, and into the sea,” threefold identification.

Verse 3, a fourth divine provision: food. “And all did eat the same spiritual food.” “All did eat” is in the aorist tense. At a point of time this aorist tense gathers into one forty years the feeding of two million people. The active voice: the Jews themselves did the eating. The indicative mood is the reality of God’s provision for them. The principle: God blesses the believer on the basis of His character. They did not earn or deserve this spiritual food which we know simply as manna.

Manna itself is a beautiful type of Christ. While they were eating the food it was also a type, a source of teaching. They had the privilege of eating and being taught at the same time. Manna as a type of Christ is emphasised n two passages — Exodus 16; John 6:47-51.

Manna is a type of Christ

1. Manna tasted good to some and bad to others, Cf. Exodus 16:1 with Numbers 21:5. And so it is with the Lord. He tastes good to some and bad to others. Eating is a picture of faith. Some people know the Lord and some do not. Some people don’t care for the Lord and don’t care for His provision. “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of.” That is the scripture. Physical bread is a detail in our existence; the Word that proceeds out of the mouth of God is our life.

2. The manna spoiled if it was kept overnight, but if it was in the ark it kept forever. Any manna that was not gathered spoiled. If you gathered the manna and you didn’t eat it that day, if you took more than you could eat in one day, what you kept overnight spoiled. This means simply that manna in the ark is a picture of the principle of positional truth. The manna represents Christ and we are in Christ. So we are in union with Him forever and we are going to live forever. Eternal security is pictured in the manna which was kept in the ark. It was also a memorial to God’s faithfulness. Our eternal life and our eternal security is based upon the faithfulness of God. So the manna in the ark was a reminder that God’s faithfulness is the basis of our eternal life. But the manna which was kept in a tent overnight and spoiled simply demanded that we have fellowship with God every day, and there must be a fresh supply, as it were. In other words, the provision for having fellowship with God is constant. So actually we have a picture of eternal security and temporal provision. The one who provides for eternity also provides for time.

3. The manner which spoiled and kept overnight is a picture of past victory also — past success in the Christian life. Past victory simply breeds pride. Our victory and fellowship with Christ must be new and fresh.

4. Manna was provided every morning, except on the Sabbath morning. On Friday morning they were to take a double portion, take twice as much as would ordinarily be needed. And over Friday night it would not spoil. The principle again is that you must stick with what the Word says. So there is a challenge of faith, you have to believe what the Word says.

5. Manna melted but it didn’t melt. Ungathered manna always melted when the sun came up. This also tells us that everyone had to get up early to gather food. But the manna which was gathered and put in the tent never melted, the only manna that disappeared was the ungathered manna. The sun represents adversity, suffering, pressure. As soon as it hits ungathered manna it melts the manna, but inside is a pot full of manna and that doesn’t melt. What is the point? The doctrine you have in your frontal lobe is what you use in time of suffering and pressure. The doctrine you have not learned you cannot use. It is in the Bible but as far as you are concerned it is melted. Once you are under pressure you cannot learn. This is why the filling of the Spirit is so important, it means that you are free from mental attitude sins. You can’t learn if you are worried or are afraid of something. To learn your mind must be open to do so. So it is what you know from the Word of God that counts.

6. Those who gathered much manna had no more than those who gathered little. Everyone has a different capacity for eating, but inside the tent they ate this manna all day. What you couldn’t eat was left overnight and it spoiled. So the point is, grace meets the capacity of every individual. No two individuals have the same capacity but grace meets every capacity.

7. Manna was provided for both the carnal and the spiritual believer.

Verse 4, “And all did drink of the same spiritual drink.” The water problem was designed by God to challenge the faith, to develop the faith-rest technique, of the generation that came out with the Exodus. Actually there were three different kinds of water problems. The first one we have already had — too much water, the Red Sea. In the problem of too much water what was demanded was faith: “Stand still and watch the deliverance of the Lord.” In Exodus 14 it calls simply for faith-rest. Learn to let the Lord do the fighting. The second problem was the problem of no water, the Meribah. Whether you have too much or no water the demand is the same. Trust the Lord. Let the Lord do the providing. So first there was too much water, Exodus 14; then there was no water, Exodus 17. In between there was the wrong kind of water, Exodus 15. Again, that demands the same thing: faith. So if you have too much water you put it in the Lord’s hands, you trust Him. If you have the wrong kind of water you put it in the Lord’s hands. If you get to the place where there is no water you put it in the Lord’s hands. All of these water incidents required the faith-rest technique. So the whole water problem was designed under different situations to claim the promises of God.

Exodus 17, “They did all drink the same spiritual drink.” The spiritual drink was water from the rock.

“and that Rock that followed them was Christ,” in other words, from this point on the Rock was always there and the water always came out of the rock, and they always drank. From the time of the Meribah on they were never thirsty. This was His provision. God provided.

With all of this provision God had to discipline Israel.

Verse 5, “But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the desert.” Here is the discipline. “Many of them” refers to the carnal believers who failed to use the faith-rest technique. The application of this principle is found in Hebrews 3:6-4:3. Out of that generation only two people were consistent of the faith-rest technique, Caleb and Joshua who were the only ones who learned from the water problems. Caleb and Joshua developed a strong faith-rest technique as a result of these problems. They faced the same pressures everyone else did but they believed the promises of God when everyone else fell apart.

“God was not well pleased” simply means that they failed to operate under faith-rest. The thing that pleases God is faith, and what does faith actually do? Faith makes you realise that you cannot do it yourself. But faith-rest says God will do it. Because of who God is He can do it. Faith-rest recognises human helplessness but it doesn’t stop there, it recognises that God can do it. Faith-rest doesn’t mean that you do not have problems, but that you never worry about them, you never get upset or emotionally disturbed. “God is not well pleased” is an aorist active indicative. The aorist tense refers to the point of time of the Exodus generation, a span of 40 years. The active voice means that God Himself was not pleased, because they did not put their problems in His hands, they didn’t faith-rest them. The indicative mood is the reality of this situation.

“for they were overthrown,” but the word “overthrown” does not mean overthrown at all. This is an aorist passive and the word “overthrown” means they were strewn out as a corpse in the wilderness. So, aorist tense, during this 40 years they became corpses, dead bodies, except for two. The passive voice: they received death. They didn’t want to die but they received death as a punishment for failure to faith-rest. They wouldn’t live by the Word, they wouldn’t live on the Word, they wouldn’t depend on the Word. They didn’t depend on doctrine, they didn’t depend on promises. They had both.

Verse 6, the purpose of this passage. “These things” is a reference to the Exodus generation and forty years of desert wandering.

“became our examples,” “our” refers to the Corinthians, and it refers to us today. We are to learn something from this.

“to the intent” expresses a purpose clause; “that we should not lust after evil things, as they lusted.”

This generation of Jews were minus the faith-rest technique. They rejected faith-rest as the principle for their life. When you reject a spiritual principle you create a vacuum and into this vacuum is placed a substitute. The substitute was lust. When you reject the faith-rest technique or when you do not operate because of ignorance a vacuum is created. To lust after evil things as they also lusted is explained by verse 7, “Neither be ye idolators as were some of them.” This is the primary lust. When Moses, for example, went up on to the mountain to get the law they went into idolatry. Why? They failed in the faith-rest technique and in their failure they lusted for some God they could see and worship. They made a golden calf because the calf was one of the gods of Egypt. When you reject the faith-rest technique in your life you open up a vacuum which draws in various types of operation lust. They lusted after a religion and it took on the form of idolatry.

Today we might have a different type of a god. We may worship gold, or money, or success, or some field of lust. Whatever type of lust it is it will only make us miserable. It is impossible to be happy under the lust program. But the point is, when you do not live in the faith-rest technique you operate under the lust program. This lust controls the life to the point of great misery.

Verse 7, idolatry of Israel. As we deal with idolatry we are dealing with a principle of religion. Religion is the devil’s ace trump and the worst thing that has ever happened to this world is religion. We discuss religion under the definition of man seeking to gain the approbation of God by man’s works. In other words, religion is a system of energy of he flesh, it is man’s system, man’s plan whereby he tries to gain from God eternal salvation. You cannot earn or deserve anything from God at any time and God in His plan does not have any place for man’s cooperation or man’s works because God is perfect and man is imperfect. If at any point in the plan of the God there is any place for man then the plan is no stronger than its weakest link, the weakest link is man, and therefore the plan is no stronger than man or no more permanent or stable than man. Therefore the plan is no good at all. So God has a way of salvation and a plan, operation grace, in three phases. But here we are discussing the plans which emanate from Satan himself which had to do with salvation and spirituality by works. Behind all of this is the principle of idolatry as a part of the pattern of religious systems in the past. Actually, we are not free from idolatry today because we have adopted the idealism type, and if you have a scale of values as a believer and it puts anything before the Lord, any of the status symbols: money, people, whatever it happens to be, then you have a form of idolatry in your frontal lobe.

“Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them.” This correlates the Exodus generation with the Corinthians generation. This is literally, “Stop becoming” and it is a present active imperative and the verb to become, not the verb to be. This indicates that the Corinthian believers had now gone back into the great system of idolatry which existed at that time in the city of Corinth. Corinth was one of the greatest cities in the ancient world for its number of temples and for the operation of the phallic cult and the worship of Aphrodite. “Some of them” refers to the Exodus generation.

Then we have a quotation from Exodus 32:6, “as it is written.” The phrase in the New Testament always refers to an Old Testament scripture. Here it is in the perfect tense, referring to something that happens in the past with results that go on forever. In this case the canon of scripture was written in the past, started around 1500 BC and completed around 96 AD, and it is completed with the result that stands forever. The active voice indicates the emphasis on the human authors. Sometimes this is in the passive voice emphasising the ministry of then Holy Spirit, but in this case we have the ministry of the human authors as directed by the Holy Spirit. The indicative mood is the reality of the Old Testament canon, as well as the New Testament now.

The quotation is a very quick picture as to how they started into idolatry. “The people” refers to the Jews of the Exodus generation; “sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.” Sitting down to eat is a part of the system of idolatry, especially the phallic cult. “They rose up to play” simply means to have sexual relationship in a dance. So they rose up actually to have a sexual orgy. The word “play” is totally misleading.

We have now three results of this idolatry or the system of religion which infiltrated Christianity in Corinth.

Verse 8, the first result is fornication. Just as in Corinth fornication was quite widespread among believers because of the infiltration of religion so it had been in time past in the Exodus generation. All of these principles are taken back to the Exodus generation. “Neither let us commit fornication.” This is a present active subjunctive meaning this was a continual activity; “as some of them,” the Exodus generation, “and fell in one day three and twenty thousand.” This is a reference to the 25th chapter of Numbers where we have 24,000 dying, according to Numbers 25:9. Twenty-three thousand died in one day, the other one thousand were strung out over a short period of time. The principle is that one of the results of the infiltration of this system of religion was fornication. There are other systems of religion and there are other results.

Verse 9, the second result: presumption. :"Let us not tempt.” In this verb we have a slightly different concept than the word “tempt” here, we do not tempt Jesus Christ. This is a verb of presumption to test Him in the sense of almost begging Him to wipe us out.

“as some of them also tempted [teased], and were destroyed by serpents,” this refers to Numbers 21 where we have such widespread unbelief and presumption that the Lord took out a large number of them through the principle of the sin unto death. This is also developed in Psalm 78:18,19 and is alluded to in John 3:14,15. The second result of religion, then, is presumption. Presumption simply means the carnal believer maintaining his carnality to the point where the Lord says he has to go out.

Verse 10, the third result is complaining. We have the word “murmur.” It means Meribah and “murmur” is not a good translation. Complain and grumble is close. This simply is a type of unbelief, dissatisfaction with divine provision. This is actually the story of Numbers 16 where we have the revolt of Dathan and Abiram and Korah.

The application is made to the Corinthians in verses 11-15.

Verse 11, “Now all these things happened unto them” referring to the Exodus generation, “as an example,” to the Corinthians and, by the way, an example to us.

“and they are written for our admonition,” of the Corinthians and our admonition. This is actually the preposition proj plus the accusative case which means that “for our admonition” means “face to face with a warning.” In other words, when you read the Word of God you are face to face with warning with regard to various problems in the Christian life.

“upon whom the ends of the world,” the phrase ‘ends of the world’ means the “ends of the ages.” The ends of the ages actually refers to the dispensation of the Church. It isn’t the last dispensation but “the ends of the world are come” means to reach out for or to come down upon by surprise. In other words, the age is moving along and it’s reaching out for its termination. The ends of the ages actually means the dispensation in which nothing has to be fulfilled prophetically to terminate it. So it doesn’t mean the last dispensation. It is an idiom which refers to the dispensation of the Church because the Church Age is the only dispensation that has nothing in it to be fulfilled before it terminates.

“are come” means to reach down, to come upon suddenly, to reach out for a conclusion.

Verse 12, the hindrance to the biblical warning. One of the greatest hindrances to Bible warnings as far as the believer is concerned is a little operator in the old sin nature. The lust pattern of the old sin nature has four or five different operations, e.g. ego lust, power lust, approbation lust, materialism lust, and lasciviousness. Ego is selected out of the lust pattern to show us that the greatest hindrance to heeding the scripture, the greatest hindrance to learning doctrine, is the lust pattern. The lust pattern is actually the source for legalism. The point is in this verse that we have a great hindrance to learning doctrine, and that great hindrance is operation lust pattern — ego. “Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth.” Who is the believer that thinks he stands? When we are filled with the Spirit we are said to walk in the light which is simply imitating the character of God. But when we are controlled by the old sin nature we produce sins from the area of weakness and we produce human good from the area of strength. From the area of strength this human good is said to be walking in darkness. So the believer controlled by the old sin nature is walking in darkness which means that if he is doing a lot of sinning he is imitating the immoral unbeliever. If he is performing a lot of good deeds he is simply imitating the moral or religious unbeliever. The great tragedy is that ego lust keys up with this human good process and this is the worst dope in the world. They are performing all of this human good and they think they stand. They actually think that they are spiritual. The word to “think” here is a very interesting word because it means to assume on the basis of a feeling rather than to know on the basis of the Word. The word for “standing” is the imperfect active infinitive. The perfect tense meaning that you are assuming that you have been a spiritual giant for a long time when in reality you are not a spiritual giant at all. The active voice: this is an assumption based on emotion as the criterion rather than the Word as the criterion. And the infinitive indicates that this is your personal modus operandi.

“take heed,” this is a word which means to beware, present active imperative. Be on your guard, be on the alert.

“that you do not fall,” “fall” always is defined by its context, and fall means different things in different contexts. In Galatians the word simply means to be out of fellowship in status quo carnality and under discipline. It never means loss of salvation. Here in this passage fall means to perpetuate carnality to the point of the sin unto death.

Verse 13, divine provision for the resistance of both temptation and testing. “There hath no temptation taken you.” The Greek says “No temptation has taken you.” No temptation has two different concepts and both of them are in view here. The first concept of temptation is a solicitation to evil. That is the way that we in the English language generally use the word temptation. But the Greek word has another connotation and that is testing under pressure in order to achieve growth and stability. Both are true. “No testing has overtaken you” is a better translation.

“but such as is common to man,” these things we have in common. All testings and temptations which come to you are common, all people have the same thing. The Greek says something else, it says “all testing and temptation is human.” You are never given something that a human being cannot stand. And you immediately have some protection for both temptation and testing even whether you want it or not. “God is faithful,” the faithfulness of God is the immutability of God, and the point is that under both temptation and testing we fail but God never fails us.

“who will not suffer” is literally, “he will not permit us to be tested beyond your ability.” We will never be tempted or tested beyond our capacity to resist or to overcome. God knows that each one of us has a different capacity. Testing is all suffering that comes to you when you are in fellowship to cause you to grow, e.g. 1 Peter 1:7,8. The purpose is your blessing.

“but will with the testing also make a way of escape, that ye might be able to bear it.” The word “will” is literally “will make with the testing” or “will provide with the testing.” It is a future tense, it is future from the testing, it is future from the temptation.

The way of escape: What is it?

1. The application of retroactive positional truth to experience. Romans 6:10, He died with reference to the sin nature. It means two things. First of all, our sins he bore on the cross, they were judged. Human good Christ rejected. The application of retroactive positional truth is two fold. The application of the sin part: we confess our sins. And we reject all human good in the life. Rejection of human good comes immediately after confession which is the filling of the Holy Spirit. This is the application of retroactive positional truth to experience. Confession is simply to agree with God about the judgment of our sins. They were judged and can never be judged again — law of double jeopardy.

2. The mechanics: rebound. Rebound mechanically is simply 1 John 1:9, confess it. Once you confess it is forgiven, and the rest of rebound is very simple: confess it, 1 John 1:9; forget it, Philippians 3:13, isolate it, Hebrews 12:15.

3. The operation of the faith-rest technique whereby the believer places his worries, his anxieties, his pressures, his fears, his problems in the Lord’s hands. When you can do this consistently you have arrived at the point where you are spiritually self-sustaining, not sustained by self but spiritually independent of others for help. In other words, you live your own life and no one else lives it for you and that is where every believer ought to arrive when he learns doctrine. You make your own decisions and you handle your own problems by simply dumping them in the Lord’s hands so that He can handle them. When you do this you are a very relaxed person because you are not afraid of anything.

4. The filling of the Spirit, the other side of the coin from rebound. It is brought in simply to demonstrate that once you are filled with the Spirit you can have that inner happiness and peace, etc.

5. Living in the Word, the means by which you begin to accumulate doctrine. The Word becomes important to you in your life and through listening and study you begin to absorb doctrine, both categorically and by the promise system.

6. Finally you get to the mature technique, occupation with Christ, Hebrews 12:2; Colossians 3:1.

Verse 14, “Wherefore” is actually a conjunction and it means because of the foregoing principle; “flee from idolatry.” The word “flee” is a present tense which means to keep on doing it. It is an active voice, it introduces the principle of volition in temptation. The active voice indicates that if you are going to avoid getting under the control of the old sin nature then your own volition is definitely involved. The imperative mood means that this is a command; “my dearly beloved” is an emphasis on positional truth and recognises the fact that God loves every believer with exactly the same amount of love that He has for Jesus Christ, and therefore an infinite amount of love. “Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from the idolatry,” literally. The idolatry is the system of religion which was universally practiced by what we call paganism of the ancient world.

Verse 15, “I speak as unto wise men; discern what I say.” The words “wise man” is a dative plural of advantage. Those in the Corinthian church who have doctrine are called wise men. They have doctrine in the frontal lobe and therefore they were qualified to apply it. The word “judge” is literally to “discern.” The only ones who could discern with regard to what Paul is about to say about the devil’s communion table are those who have the doctrinal background. In other words, here is a case of you learn by already knowing. It takes doctrine to learn doctrine. You have to know doctrine before some principles of doctrine are understandable. The word “discern” doesn’t mean to learn something entirely new, but because you have certain doctrines and you understand certain principles when you hear new information it will make sense and you put it into a category which already exists. So the point is that knowledge is built on knowledge.

Verses 16-21, the principle of communion.

Six preliminary questions with regard to the communion table

1. Should wine or grape juice be used at the Lord’s table? In the New Testament the Greek word for wine is used 33 times and it refers to two different kinds of juice from the grape. Most of the time it refers to that which is fermented but sometimes it refers to unfermented grape juice. At the wedding at Cana the wine was fermented. There is only one time in the New Testament when wine was used for unfermented beverage and that was the Passover. Any time that the Jews drank at the Passover they drank boiled grape juice rather than fermented grape juice, the reason being that fermentation is a part of leaven and all leaven was excluded. The Lord’s table occurred at the Passover. It was the Passover which He converted into the Eucharist. The Lord observing the last Passover took wine from the table. It was boiled juice of the grape, it was not fermented. There is no reason to have fermented wine at the Passover.

2. Who is eligible to distribute the elements? Application of the doctrine of the universal priesthood of the believer: every believer is a priest and any believer in fellowship has the right to serve. This means you can have communion anytime, at any place, under any conditions. A clergyman’s presence is not necessary.

3. Who is eligible to partake of the elements? Any believer in fellowship. Church membership is not an issue and it did not exist for the first 300 years of the church. The basis of church membership is being a believer and attending some fellowship under recognition of the authority of the pastor. But church membership is not a prerequisite for taking communion.

4. Can the Lord’s supper be taken at home? Yes. It is not necessary to have the Eucharist in a church to make it valid. In fact, the early church didn’t have churches. Acts 12:12; 20:8; Romans 16:3-5; 1 Corinthians 16:19; Colossians 4:15; Philemon 2. Churches met in homes.

5. How often should the believer take communion? 1 Corinthians 11:25 says to do it repeatedly. What does repeatedly mean? The only precedent we have is the fact that the early church had the Lord’s table every Sunday night. This is about all we have to go on. It should be done constantly and repeatedly.

6. What does communion mean? It does not save, it does not make one spiritual, it does not make any points with God to help my business, etc., you can’t earn or deserve blessing from God, it comes on the basis of grace. In 1 Corinthians 11:20-34 there are four meanings of the communion. The communion table was the basis of establishing harmony among believers, verses 20-22; it was the basis of remembering the Lord specifically, verses 23-26; it provided a check on your life so that you could get back into fellowship. It was an impetus for restoration to fellowship, verse 27-32; communion means fellowship. It was fellowship, verses 33,34. This is the actual significance and the meaning of the communion table.

The true communion for the Church Age, verses 16,17.

Verse 16, “The cup of blessing which we bless… the bread which we break ...” Two elements are used in the ritual of communion, the cup representing the wine, and the bread — unleavened bread, unfermented wine. The juice of the grape was boiled in the ancient world and the bread was unleavened. The cup of blessing is used in connection with the communion service and it is called “blessing” because it is a reminder of the work of the Lord Jesus Christ with regard to the sin nature. The cup speaks of the fact that personal sin is removed as an issue. Christ was judged for our sins. The cup is called “blessing” because we are blessed by what Jesus Christ did on the cross. It was a cup of cursing when Christ drank it. In Matthew 20:22 Jesus Christ actually called the cross the cup, so one of the titles for the cross is the cup. The reason that He called it the cup is because you pour something into a cup and drink it with the result that it becomes a part of you. It was just as if God the Father took all the sins of the world, poured them into a goblet and Christ drank it. That is the analogy behind it. When Christ, as it were, drank our sins then the Father judged them. The Father never judged sins as sins until Christ bore them. The cup which Jesus took was a cup of cursing. To us it is a cup of blessing, and the principle is that He had to be cursed before we could be blessed. To us it is a cup of blessing because we have appropriated what He did for us on the cross.

“which we bless,” this means to rejoice. The purpose of the communion table is designed to bring back to mind information which restores to you to the joy of your salvation. So the word “bless” here has to do with great inner happiness.

“is it not the communion,” the word “communion” is koinwnia which simply means fellowship, association with, intimate relationship. It is translated “communion” in the KJV but 400 years ago communion meant fellowship. So the Lord’s table is fellowship.

“with the blood of Christ,” this means we have fellowship with something that happened nearly 2000 years ago, Christ bearing our sins. The communion table, then, comes from the principle of positional truth. Christ died on the cross. We accept Christ as saviour, we are in union with Him as He died on the cross; doctrine of retroactive positional truth. At the same time we enter into union with Christ as He is seated at the right hand of the Father; doctrine of current positional truth. The cup stands for retroactive positional truth and the bread stands for current positional truth. The bread represents the humanity of Christ and the bread replaces the lamb. In anticipation of the cross the lamb was always used, the lamb was one of the sacrifices. But after the cross all sacrifices are eliminated and bread is used rather than a living animal to represent Christ. Jesus said: I am the bread of life.”

“the bread which we break,” the breaking of the bread is a picture of Christ dying for our sins; “is it not the communion [fellowship] of [with] the body of Christ?” Fellowship with the body of Christ is a reference to current positional truth.

Verse 17, positional sanctification is emphasised. “For we,” all believers; “many,” there are many believers in the world today; “are one bread,” “are” is absolute status quo, present linear aktionsart, and it should be translated “keep on always being one bread.” This is followed by a phrase in apposition describing it: “one body.” There is no “and” in between and there shouldn’t be. We are “one bread, one body.” The body is used for positional truth, current type, and the bread is also used in the same way. These two phrases are in apposition. All believers are in union with the Lord Jesus Christ.

“for we are all partakers [sharers] of that one bread,” Christ is the bread of life, we all share in Him. This means we are in union with the Lord Jesus Christ. The basis of the communion table is recognition of positional truth.

Verse 18, Israel’s communion table (Old Testament). Israel anticipated the cross but the Church is retrospective in operation, it looks back. “Behold Israel after the flesh” means racial Jews, and we are going to find out that these are born again Jews because they eat, eating being a picture of faith in Christ. It is a testimony. “are not they which eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar?” Literally, “fellowshippers with the altar.” The principle here: the believing Jews would eat the sacrifices because eating is a picture of faith. Just as we do not have sacrifices because Christ has already died we have bread, and the eating of that bread is a picture of faith. When you eat the bread at the communion table you are saying you believe in Christ and that Christ is also in you. The bread becomes a part of you. Eating is a declaration of faith. The only difference is that we eat the bread today, in the Old Testament they ate the sacrifice under a system called the Passover. So if one ate of the Passover lamb it means that he was a sharer at the altar. The altar was a way of declaring the cross, it spoke of Christ. There is only one altar; there is only one way of salvation. The animal sacrifice was at the altar. They ate the animal which had been sacrificed at the altar. The altar and the animal being sacrificed at the altar speaks of Christ bearing our sins and taking our place and being judged. So this was their communion table. The Passover was the communion table of the born again Jews in the ancient world. Their communion anticipated; our communion is retrospective.

Verses 19-20, the devil’s communion table.

Verse 19, “What say I then? that the idol is any thing,” an idol is nothing, 1 Corinthians 8:4-8. The food which has been offered in sacrifice to an idol is nothing, but behind it is something else. You never get into a communion table without having fellowship with someone. This is the point. There is a false communion table and that is idolatry. So when a person gets into idolatry he has fellowship not with the Lord but with demons. This is what Paul is pointing out.

Verse 20, “But, I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons, and not to God.” They are having fellowship with demons. Paul goes on to say literally, “I do not desire you to become fellowshippers with demons.” The believer cannot be demon possessed but he can become a fellowshipper with demons.

Verse 22, “Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? are we stronger than he?” This phrase explains the sin unto death which is connected with the communion table in 1 Corinthians 11:30. The word “stronger” means “are we greater [smarter] than he?” Do we have a system of justice that could make it fair for us to constantly ignore the principle of the communion table and come when we are out of fellowship and never rebound before we partake? Can we get away with that? The answer, of course, is no.

We have a dissertation on the law of liberty in connection with the shambles problem. In verse 23 we see expediency superseding liberty.

“All things are lawful for me,” remember that this is a believer controlled by the Spirit operating in compatibility with the Word of God and the will of God. When a believer is controlled by the Spirit he will only do those things which are compatible with divine will and the Word. This also indicates that there are X number of harmless things which are not wrong or sinful, e.g. eating a steak is not a sin.

“but all things are not expedient,” the law of expediency simply tells us that there comes a time in our relationship with the unbeliever when the law of liberty must be superseded by the law of expediency. The law of love supersedes in relationship with other believers, but we now switch to the law of expediency which is the superseding factor. This is a situation where a believer must choose between two legitimate things. One thing is legitimate under the law of liberty and one is a higher legitimacy under the law of expediency.

“all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not,” i.e. reach the peak of edification. It is possible to do two things that are legitimate and normal but one thing is more edifying than the other. The repetition of the phrase is to bring out the fact that when you have a choice of two things which are right one is always better than the other. It becomes a matter of discernment and application of doctrine as to which one should be used. So there are two principles found in this verse. When the law of liberty conflicts with expediency, then expediency supersedes liberty. And secondly, when the law of liberty conflicts with a principle of edification then edification becomes a means of superseding liberty with expediency.

Verse 24, a case where the law of liberty is superseded. “Let no man seek his own [benefit], but every man another’s [benefit].” The word ‘wealth’ is in italics but the principle here is another person’s benefit. (The words “his own [benefit]” is the operation of the law of liberty) This is the means of applying and discerning when to use the law of expediency over the law of liberty. If it is a case of your benefit versus the benefit of someone else in the human race then choose the benefit of someone else. Remember that expediency deals with the unbeliever so we are talking about the benefit of an unbeliever. The only benefit that can come to an unbeliever, and the only issue, is the cross. The only benefit to the unbeliever is that he personally accepts Christ as his saviour, the only way he can have relationship with God forever. There are many things that we do which the unbeliever will not make an issue of. But should he make an issue out of something that you are doing that is perfectly innocuous then you have to evaluate that as far as having a clear testimony to this individual. Remember that you are not the issue in salvation, Christ is the issue. The law of liberty is the operation of the filling of the Spirit, and it is a very relaxed law for when you are filled with the Spirit you are a relaxed person.

“but another’s [benefit],” we have the Greek word here which means another of a different kind, and this means an unbeliever. So here is a believer who instead of seeking his own benefit should seek the benefit of the unbeliever. This means he switches over to the law of expediency on certain occasions so that the issue before the unbeliever will be Christ, not an individual believer, the believer’s behaviour pattern or something he does, wears, thinks, says, etc. In verses 25ff we have the illustration.

Verse 25, an illustration of liberty. The “shambles” in Corinth was the best meat market in town and it was all meat which had been offered in the idol temple, freshly slaughtered and prepared for sale. “Whatsoever is sold in the shambles, eat.” The word ‘eat’ is the key word here, present active imperative. This is linear aktionsart which means ‘always eat it.’ Active voice: you do the eating. Imperative mood: this is an order. It is in he imperative mood as a command from God to show you that when you are filled with the Spirit under the law of liberty you can eat. This is legitimate, there is nothing wrong with it.

“asking not questions,” what kind of question would they ask? “Has this meat been offered to an idol?” That is not a legitimate question, that is not a legitimate issue. The law of liberty must always make an issue out of Christ, and it does. “Stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made you free, and be not entangled again in the yoke of bondage [legalism].”

“for conscience sake,” for whose conscience? The conscience of the unbeliever. This is actually “because of the conscience” and it means the unbeliever’s conscience, not the believer’s. Don’t go asking if the meat was offered to an idol or not, the only issue before that unbeliever is Christ. You must make an issue out of Christ, not out of a piece of meat. Why?

Verse 26, “For [because] the earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof.” This is a quotation from Psalm 24:1. When it says ‘belongs to the Lord’ it means everything on it, including the meat on it. The ‘fullness’ in this case refers to beef being sold in the shambles. Principle: Meat is ordained by God to nourish and sustain man on the earth, Genesis 9:3,4. The cattle on a thousand hills belong to the Lord whether they have been offered in a heathen temple or not. Therefore the believer in Corinth has the liberty to purchase meat offered to an idol at the shambles, and he is commanded in fact to eat it. By meat on the basis of its quality, never buy meat on the basis of religion because when you make an issue out of religion you obscure the gospel. Satan is the father of religion and Satan designed religion to obscure the gospel, 2 Corinthians 4:3,4.

There is one exception to this command, stated in verses 27-33. When the law of liberty fails to make an issue of Christ then you switch to expediency.

Verse 27, liberty and the dinner party problem. “If any of them that believe not’ is talking about an unbeliever who is the host at a dinner party. ‘If’ introduces a first class condition, this is a true situation in Corinth.

“bid you,” i.e. ‘invite you.’

“to a feast [dinner party], and ye be disposed [willing] to go,” the word for dispose means to desire from your emotional pattern, you have an emotional desire to go and so you go; “whatsoever is placed before you,” whatever is served, “eat [it].”

“asking no questions” is an idiom for ‘don’t make an issue out of it.’

“for conscience sake,” ‘because of the conscience,’ dia plus the accusative is always causal. The point is, you go ahead and eat. Don’t make an issue out of the food. If you make an issue out of the food as a believer you obscure the issue of the gospel.

Verse 29, “Conscience, I say, not thine own, but of the other [the unbeliever].” Conscience means a norm or a standard. In the mind of the unbeliever he needs a norm or a standard call Christ, and that is missing from his norms and standards, his conscience. It needs to be there, therefore do not do anything to tilt it so that it won’t .

“for why is my liberty judged of another man’s conscience [because of another man’s conscience].”

Verse 30, “For if [1st class condition] I by grace be a partaker, why am I evil spoken of [maligned] for that for which I give thanks [grace]?” By the grace means that he offers grace [sanctify the food with prayer] at the meal.

Verse 28, “But if any man say [3rd class condition] unbeliever speaking up; “This is offered in sacrifice to idols,” now you have your exception, present active imperative plus the negative, “eat not.” Don’t eat. Why not eat in this case? Because in this verse this person has made an issue out of it. Here is where the law of expediency comes in. The law of liberty says eat; the law of expediency says eat not.

“because of him that shewed it, and because of conscience.” Now, ‘the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof’ is the same principle of doctrine as verse 26, it still exists. But now we have different application from that doctrine because the unbeliever has made an issue out of the meat that you are eating by telling the believer it is offered to idols. So whereas you could before eat it because the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, no you can’t eat it because the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof. What is the difference? He has introduced a false issue and you must remove the false issue by talking the opposite tack in your behaviour pattern. Before you ate because the food wasn’t an issue, now you eat not because he makes an issue out of the food. But the unbeliever has to make the issue and now the believer refrains from eating that meat because he made an issue out of it, and in order to get back to the right issue you simply remove that issue by eating not. Eating has nothing to do with salvation. The law of expediency is designed to remove false issues from the mind of the unbeliever.

Verse 29, “for why is my liberty judged by another man’s conscience?” In other words. the unbeliever brings the issue up in his mind and the believer has to remove the issue.

Verse 30, he has a perfect right to go ahead and eat that food.

Verse 31, but the believer’s liberty must be correlated with his overall objective in life, to win the unbeliever to Christ. Therefore he must set aside something which is a mere detail in order to accomplish his overall objective. So when those things which are a part of life become a false issue these things are set aside in order to focus the issue on Jesus Christ.

Verse 32, “Give none offence” is not what the Greek says at all, it says “Do not become a stumblingblock,” present active imperative of ginomai. Imperative mood: you are ordered not to become a stumblingblock. The Jews and the Gentiles are used here for the twofold division of the human race, and it is a reference to unbelieving Jews and unbelieving Gentiles. Then we have ‘the church of God’ which is the believer category. Liberty operates except where a stumblingblock operation may occur and then you switch from liberty in relationship with Jews, Gentiles, and fellow believers to the law of expediency or the law of the love in the case of believers.

Verse 33, “Even as I please all [unbelievers] in all things,” this means that the true issue of salvation is brought out. Therefore he has before the unbeliever that his relationship to Christ will determine his eternal future, not what he thinks of some Christian. It isn’t the unbeliever’s impression of the Christian that counts, it is the unbeliever’s understanding of what Christ did on the cross that counts. The Greek says here “Even as I please all in all” and it is simply an idiom which means that in his contacts with all unbelievers he makes the issue clear, all things pertaining to the gospel.

“not seeking my own benefit but of the many [the unbeliever].”

“that” introduces a purpose clause; “they might be saved,” aorist passive subjunctive. Aorist tense: the point of time when they believe. Passive voice: when a person believes in Christ he receives salvation. The subjunctive mood says that salvation is potential, depending on whether you believe in Christ or not. John 3:36.