Chapter 11

In verses 1-19 the subject is decorum surrounding the Lord’s table. The first principle is the necessity for spirituality in the approach to the Lord’s table. In fact, spirituality is vitally necessary for any phase of worship. Worship here is broken down into one facet of ritual, the Lord’s table. Worship generally includes other things such as singing praises in assembly. Giving is a part of worship, Bible teaching is a part of worship, and so on.

Verse 1, “Be ye” are the first two words and they are not correctly translated. It should be “Become.” This is the verb ginomai which means to become something you were not. This is a command to the Corinthians who at this point are carnal and before they can get cranked up they need to become spiritual. The present tense means to make this a habit — by means of rebound. The imperative mood is a command. “Keep on becoming.”

There are many ways in which to express spirituality and Paul uses five or six: “Keep on being filled with the Spirit; Keep on walking by means of the Spirit; Put on the Lord Jesus Christ; Become imitators of me,” etc.

“followers of me,” “imitators of me,” literally; “even as I also of Christ.” This all boils down to imitating Christ, one of the ways of expressing spirituality [in the Church Age]. In the Church Age Christ is absent from the earth, present at the right hand of the Father. Therefore the purpose of the indwelling and filling of the Spirit is to produce the character of the absent Christ. So spirituality produces the character of the Lord Jesus Christ. When Christ returns at the second advent and in the Millennium He will be present on earth and when He is then spirituality is appreciation of one who is there, and therefore at that time we will have ecstatics, emotion, and so on.

Paul is going to make it very clear that this has its limitations, “as I of Christ.” This means that the believer can only imitate Christ by means of the filling of the Spirit.

The doctrine of spirituality

1. The first point is the ability to distinguish between salvation and the post-salvation ministry of the Holy Spirit. At the point of salvation God does 36 things for every believer.

a) At God is three persons and the Holy Spirit does five of these things. He is the agent of regeneration, He is the one who makes us born again. He indwells

b) He indwells.

c) He seals — the basis of our eternal security.

d) He baptises, which is simply taking the believer at the moment of salvation and entering him into union with Christ.

e) He distributes spiritual gifts..

These are all done in a second of time at the moment of salvation. One second later the Holy Spirit has a new ministry. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit takes place at the moment of salvation and His new ministry is what is called the filling or the spirituality concept. This must be distinguished. For example, Ephesians 5:18, “Be filled with the Spirit.” We are never commanded to be indwelt by the Spirit, we are always indwelt by the Spirit. But we are commanded to be filled, or to walk in the Spirit, Galatians 5:16, or to walk in the light, 1 John 1:7; 2:27.

2. Spirituality and carnality are mutually exclusive and therefore absolutes in the Christian way of life.

3. Imitation is the great issue in the Christian way of life, 1 Corinthians 11:1. The spiritual believer is controlled by the Holy Spirit, he imitates God — Galatians 4:19; 5:22,23. But when he is controlled by the old sin nature the old sin nature imitates the unbeliever. So every Christian either imitates God or he imitates the unbeliever. There are two ways you can imitate the unbeliever: the sins you commit, or the human good which imitates the moral and the religious unbeliever. The carnal believer walks in darkness. In 1 Corinthians 3:3 he is said to walk as men. These are phrases which indicate imitating the unbeliever, whereas the spiritual believer is said to imitate God.

4. The believer filled with the Spirit accomplishes three general objectives: He imitates God, Ephesians 5:1; 1 Corinthians 11:1; he glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ — John 7:39 cf. John 16:14; 1 Corinthians 6:19,20; he fulfills the Mosaic law, Romans 8:2-4; 13:8.

5. The believer filled with the Spirit is not subject to the Mosaic law. When the believer is filled with the Spirit he is not subject to the Mosaic law because he is under a higher law — Galatians 5:18, 23; Romans 10:4; 8:2-4, the filling of the Spirit supersedes the Mosaic law.

6. The believer filled with the Spirit produces the character of the incarnate Christ, Galatians 4:19; 5:22,23; 1 John 2:5,6.

7. The believer filled with the Spirit cannot sin under the status of the filling of the Spirit, 1 John 3:9. You can’t sin when the Holy Spirit controls your life. In order to sin a believer has to go on negative and grieve or quench the Spirit. In reality the believer filled with the Spirit magnifies Christ — Ephesians 3:16,17; 2 Corinthians 3:3; Philippians 1:20,21.

8. Production in the Christian way of life depends on the filling of the Spirit. The believer who is filled with the Spirit is said to produce a certain type of production. When you are filled with the Spirit you produce “gold, silver, and precious stones,” 1 Corinthians 3:12, and when you are controlled by the old sin nature you produce “wood, hay, and stubble.” At the judgment seat of Christ wood, hay and stubble is burned and destroyed. Human good has never been judged.

9. The results of being filled with the Spirit include imitating Christ, perception of the Word, John 14:26; 16:12-14; 1 Corinthians 2:9-14; witnessing, Acts 1:8; divine guidance, Romans 8:14; assurance, Galatians 4:5,6; worship, John 4:24; Philippians 3:3; prayer, Ephesians 6:18; helping other believers to rebound — Galatians 6:1.

10. How do you know when you are spiritual? Can you feel anything? The answer is negative. Emotion or ecstatics is not characteristic of spirituality during the Church Age, 2 Corinthians 6:11,12 in the Greek; Romans 16:17,18.

The principle of verse 1 is that the believer must be filled with the Spirit when he participates in the communion table other wise the Eucharist has no meaning and no purpose. He cannot recall, he cannot understand, he cannot enter into the true meaning of the Lord’s table which is a way of occupation with Christ. And if you are not filled with the Spirit then you must stay away from the Lord’s table as a believer, or before you partake be sure that you use rebound. You cannot effectively participate in the Lord’s table unless you are filled with the Spirit, and if you go to the Lord’s table as a believer and you’re not filled with the Spirit you are going to be very severely punished for it.

Verse 2, the observation of the ordinances. “Now I praise you, brethren.” The word “praise” means to commend.

“that you remember me in all things,” this means that they have been praying for Paul and therefore have been entering into his ministry through prayer. So he commends them at this time for their remembrance of him. The word “remember” is a perfect tense and it means they have been remembering Paul in the past and have been faithful in it ever since. The word actually means to keep in mind and it refers to prayer. To keep on praying means to concentrate.

“and [you] keep the ordinances,” the word for “keep” or to observe the ordinances is a compound verb, katexew. E)xw means to have and kata means a norm of a standard. To have them [the ordinances] according to a standard means to observe them according to the prescribed standard. The Word of God prescribes the standard, and not only do they observe the Lord’s table but they observe it according to the standard of ritual which is specified in the Bible.

There are two ordinances: water baptism, which depicts positional sanctification; the communion table, which depicts experiential sanctification. The communion table relates the filling of the Holy Spirit with the ascension of Christ.

Ordinances involve ritual. Ritual is meaningless unless the believer understands the doctrine involved. For water baptism you must understand positional truth, both retroactive and current. For communion you must understand not only the work of Christ on the cross but its relationship to the Christian way of life and/or the doctrine of spirituality. So because the Corinthians failed to understand pertinent doctrine the faithful observation of the ordinance was meaningless. Furthermore, persistent carnality without rebound made it impossible for these Corinthians believers to enter into the true meaning of the Lord’s table.

“as I delivered them to you,” “I delivered” is an aorist tense, and the aorist goes back to the time when Paul was actually in Corinth as their first pastor. He delivered at that time and it just goes to show at that time all the things that Paul provided for them.

There is a third problem. The first one we saw was the problem of spirituality, the second the problem of ritual, and the third is verses 3-15, the problem of ladies hates in the church. Legalistic bullies existed in the congregation at Corinth, and as always with legalistic bullies they were contentious about women wearing hats in church. They insisted on it. Many of the people who attended these services were slaves and these Greek slave girls did not have veils or a hat. In the ancient world hats were really veils. They wore a covering on the head and the word for hat is actually veil. The legalistic believers wouldn’t let these slave girls in without a hat. They didn’t have a hat, they were slaves. Slaves were never permitted in the Greek or Roman societies to wear or have veils. If a slave woman went down through the streets wearing a veil and anyone knew she was a slave they usually grabbed her immediately, beat her up, shaved her hair off, tortured her, all sorts of things. She was fair game for anyone to do anything they wanted to do to her. Veils were worn by ladies only, never slaves. Ladies were defined as free women, not slaves. So legalistic believers were standing at the door and forbidding slaves to enter without a hat. Verses 3-15 deals with these contentious type individuals.

So understand that we are taking up some of the problems that existed with regard to the Corinthians church: coming to the Lord’s table without being filled with the Spirit; making the Lord’s table a matter of ritual in ignorance of the doctrinal meaning; and now legalistic bullying or the problems of hats in church.

Verse 3, “I would” means “I desire” “to have you know,” he is going to teach in verse 3 the doctrine of authority. “I desire” is a present tense which means this is a constant desire. When Paul had a desire with regard to believers generally the desire was always the same. He wanted them to know doctrine. So we are not surprised to see, “I keep on desiring to have you know.” The words “to have you know” is a perfect active infinitive. The perfect tense means to know this in the past with the result that you will always know it. This is a perfect tense used with a present tense for doctrine in the soul. The active voice: you have to learn the doctrine. The infinitive indicates that it is God’s purpose for you to know doctrine. This is not only the desire of the apostle Paul but it is God’s purpose for all believers. You can’t come to any phase of worship without knowing.

We have three kinds of authority mentioned here. We have: a) authority in the church; b) authority in marriage; c) authority in God’s plan. Paul wants them to know about these three kinds of authority. This is the outline of verse 3.

Authority in the church: “the head of every man is Christ.” The word “head” means the top authority; “every man” refers to the believer. The word “is” is present active indicative of the verb e)imi which means to be in status quo, and the present tense means to keep on being in the status quo. So we should translate this: “the chief authority of every believer keeps on being Christ,” Colossians 1:18.

Marriage: “the head [chief authority] of the woman is the man.” The woman is involved in the marriage, is part of the marriage, but when there is more than one person there must be authority, so the final authority is the man. Both in marriage and in family the man is the final authority or the ruler. This is Bible doctrine and some people have a hard time with this and the reason they do is that they have a problem with all kinds of Bible doctrine. This is the Word of God. And this doesn’t degrade the woman as we will see when we get to the woman’s long hair, but it does establish authority. You can’t have two people and have order unless one of them is the final authority, and the final authority is the man; that is the way it is. Apart from divinely constituted authority the human race would be in chaos if were not for the fact that when you have a two-person organisation you have authority, beginning at that point.

Where does authority begin? Where is your first authority, the most basic authority in the human race? Volition. This makes your decisions. The second authority in the human race is marriage. With two people, what do you have to have? Authority. You have to have a leader. You cannot have order in the human race without authority and without leadership.

This passage states very simply that Christ is the head of the Church. And, by the way, since the head is absent, how does He rule the church? Through the Word. But the Word is not a person. How does He rule it through people? Through the pastor.

The point is that we have authority at every point: authority in the church — Christ is the head of the church; authority in marriage — the man is the authority; authority in the family — parents. When you go from the home where is the next authority? Nationalism. Never internationalism which never ever has any authority in God’s economy. Internationalism is outlaw all the way. That includes the United Nations and the National Councils of Churches — religious or political, internationalism is Satanic and anti-God. The final authority in the human race are national entities. Under a national entity you have authority.

In 1 Corinthians 2:16 the Word is said to be the mind of Christ. Therefore the authority to the Corinthian church is the Word. The under-shepherds are the pastors . What is the primary responsibility of the pastor? Teach the Word! Between the Word and the pastor you have the authority in the local church.

God’s plan: “and the head [authority] of Christ is God.” This is Christ in His humanity and God refers to the Father who is the author of the plan. Christ started the plan at the cross. The father sent the Son — John 3:16. So the Father is the final authority in the plan of God.

Verse 4, the first application. “Every man,” the word for man here is different. It is male in the noble sense, a)nhr. In other words, praying and prophesying is part of divine standard nobility. This is a present active participle. The word “prophesying” means preaching in an assembly worship.

“having his head covered,” the covering of the head would be a little hat that men used to wear, or a veil, or just some kind of a shawl over his head. If he does this he “dishonoureth his head.” The word “head” means he dishonours his authority. To wear a hat or a veil is to dishonour his authority, or to literally disgrace his authority. Men should never wear women’s veils or hats in church.

Verse 5, the second application. “But [by way of contrast] every woman that prayeth or prophesyeth with her head uncovered.” Notice something interesting here. “Prophesyeth.” We know it says that women should keep silent in the church but there is a place for women. Where would a woman prophesy? In the ancient world she would obviously be speaking to women. Today we would call it Sunday school. Women do have the gift of teaching. There is just one place they can’t teach and that is behind the pulpit of a church in a church service. Why? It has nothing to do with teaching, it is a matter of authority. There is no authorisation in the Word of God for a woman to ever run a church.

What does it means for a woman to have her head uncovered? Anticipating, a woman’s authority is her long hair. This is the badge of the woman’s authority. If a woman prays uncovered what do you suppose it means? It doesn’t mean unveiled, it means shaved. There is nothing that looks worse than a woman with her hair shaved off. The point is that if a man gets up wearing women’s clothing he has lost his authority; if the woman gets up to teach her class or to pray and she is shaved, she has lost her authority.

“dishonoureth her head [authority],” Why? “for it is just as if she were shaved.” Shaving a woman’s head was punishment for adultery in the ancient world, or for a female slave running away. Sometimes in cases of where a woman betrayed her country or betrayed her master’s secrets she was also shaved. So if a woman stands up with her head shaved she has lost her authority.

Women do not have to wear hats in church. Whether a woman wears a hat or not is strictly personal taste. So what is their badge of authority? We will see in verse 15. “But if a woman have long hair it is a glory to her; for her hair is given to her for a covering [instead of a veil].”

Verse 6, clothing does not make the worshipper. “For if the woman be not covered” means to be veiled or to wear a hat; “let her also be shorn,” this is making a point by sarcasm. He doesn’t means that if the women don’t have the proper attire they should be shaved. Remember a woman’s hair is her covering, so Paul uses sanctified sarcasm on the legalist. Legalism has to be stopped by shock methods and sarcasm is a shock method.

Now Paul modifies what he has said to show that this is sarcasm to beat down the bully and to shock him: “but if it be a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaved, let her be covered.” This is the modification in which he gives what he means. The corrected translation says, “But if it be indecent to be shorn or shaved [and it is: first class condition] then let the woman be covered.” How is she covered? With long hair, verse 15.

What effect does this have on the legalist? The legalist has been keeping the women outside because they weren’t wearing hats of veils, and Paul now says that must stop. He say they have no right to keep a Greek slave girl out because she doesn’t have a veil or a hat. Her hair is her covering.

Verse 7, now we go back to the doctrine of creation to pick up the principle of authority. “For a man ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God,” this has to do with the fact that God created man out of nothing, but He didn’t create the woman out of nothing, He created the woman out of the man. God took existing materials and created the woman. The man was bara which means to create something out of nothing; the woman was yatsar which means to fashion something out of existing materials.

Does a woman have rights? Yes, she does. The man obviously was created with the authority and the woman was taken from the man. So that the man is incomplete. The man has the final authority, but even though he has the final authority he is incomplete by himself he is incomplete by himself and he needs the woman to complete him, and in this way the woman also has an authority in life. The man has volition and so does the woman, but her origin is different. She was created to be the glory of the man and to complete the man. No man is complete without the woman.

The man ought not to cover his head has to do with the principle of authority. A man’s short hair is going to be the sign of his authority; a woman’s long hair is going to be the sign of hers. The “glory” in verse 7 means that the man was created in order to resolve the angelic conflict. But note that the woman is the glory of the man, she was created to keep man from being lonely and to complete him.

Verse 8, the order of creation. The word “man” here is the Greek word a)nhr again which is man in the noble sense: “is not from the source of the woman, but the woman is from the source of the man.” God took something out of man and fashioned woman. Man is incomplete until he gets her back, he gets her back by marriage, and the physical consummation of it is, of course, the sexual relation.

Verse 9, the purpose of creation. “Neither was the man created for the woman,” not correctly translated. It should be, “Neither was the man created because of the woman.” We have the preposition dia plus the accusative case.

Verse 10, the woman is protected by divine law and by her own free will. In this verse the woman is protected from angels by divine power and protected from man by her volition. All of this is pulled together in the woman’s hair as the badge. The hair is the sign that no angel will ever be able to cohabit with a woman again — this takes us back to Genesis 6. But it is also a sign of her volition and her right to choose a man, the man of her choice, and be under his protection and his care, and to fulfill him, and so on.

“For this cause,” literally, Because of this [the preceding two verses] “the woman ought.” The word “ought” is a present active indicative and it means “keep on,” it is the linear aktionsart concept.

“to have power [authority] on the head” [which is the hair].

1. The woman’s authority on her head refers to her hair, not to ladies hats.

2. Woman has free will to choose a man for a lifetime partner, or reject all men if she desires. Her hair is the badge of this authority. No man has control over a woman unless she gives him that right. Marriage is a woman surrendering her right to the man in exchange for his protection, his love, and for his fulfillment. 3. Her long hair is the badge of this authority, the outward sign.

4. This same badge of authority is also the divine guarantee that she is protected from fallen angels and will never again be molested by an angelic creature — Genesis 6:1-9 is where this happened.

“because of the angels”

1. The woman’s hair is a picture of her freedom and her submission.

2. Her freedom to accept or reject a man and her submission to the man she accepts.

3. As a badge of submission the woman’s hair conforms to the divine purpose of her life — to complete a man.

4. The elect angels observe and rejoice in the long hair badge. The angels can’t see inside but they can see the long hair on the woman. They rejoice because they know that the woman is fulfilling her function: freedom in the single woman, submission in the marriage.

5. Man rejoices in the long hair because man is completed by the one who comes to him of her own volition and in response to his love.

Verse 10, the protective authority of the woman. “For this cause,” the preposition dia plus the accusative should be translated “Because of this.” Because of the doctrine of the angelic conflict, because of the doctrine of authority, because of the application of both of these doctrines to the situation.

“the woman ought to have authority,” e)cousia which does not mean power, it means authority.

“on her head,” the head refers to her right of volition. Remember, the head refers to authority. A woman is a member of the human race and therefore she has rights and she has authority. This is literally, “on the head", not “on her head.” Not on her head, meaning the head above the shoulders, but the head referring to her authority as a member of the human race. Why?

“because of the angels,” this brings up the matter of a woman’s hair. This is a very important part of a woman’s beauty and also a sign of her authority. A woman should have long hair because it very definitely indicates that she has a right to make certain decisions for herself. She chooses to love and her hair becomes the sign of her volition.

Verse 11, authority does not eliminate equality. “Nevertheless, neither is the man without the woman.” Remember that the head of the woman is both her freedom and her submission, therefore the woman has the right to assemble in a church wearing the badge of her authority. This is the sign that she is free, that she is a member of the human race, that she has a right to choose in life a man and to submit to the man that she chooses. But this long hair must never be construed as a hat. Hats are not necessary in church.

God has designed the male and the female in the human race to be dependent upon each other. There is the basis of authority but they both have volition. While the man has the authority over the woman he cannot get along without the woman.

“in the Lord,” in the area of Christianity. The Christian way of life gives the woman her proper place.

Verse 12, the panorama of this relationship. We have three factors here. First of all, we have the human race before the fall — male and female. Secondly, we have the human race after the fall. Thirdly, we have the human race after regeneration.

Before the fall: “For as the woman is of the man,” literally, “from the man.” The Greek says, “For just as the woman is from the source of the man.” The rib taken out of man and from that rib God created woman, Genesis 2:21-25. This indicates the original source of the woman.

After the fall: “even so the man is by means of [or through] the woman,” after the fall women started having babies. In other words, after the fall the woman became the source of the man — childbirth. There is a principle here: After the fall the woman is under the man’s authority in the family, but the woman’s position changed in that she is free of the man if she wants to be but she is trapped by her volition. She desires the man. That goes back to Genesis 3 where the woman is said to be a child bearer under the curse “and he desire is toward the man.” This is a part of her punishment, and cursing is turned to blessing by the virgin birth. Jesus Christ came into the world born of a woman and the blessing is the cross in salvation.

After regeneration: “but all things of [from] God.” “From God” refers to doctrine. All things pertaining to the relationship between man and woman, these things are doctrine, “from God.”

Verse 13, an appeal to common sense. Common sense is doctrine in the frontal lobe. The word “judge” which begins the verse is literally, “discern.” It is a present active imperative. It is linear aktionsart, “Keep on discerning.” You must be discerning about everything in the Christian life and discernment comes through doctrine. Just because you are saved it does not mean to turn off your common sense. Keep on thinking. The word “discern” here means to apply doctrine. The active voice: you have to do it. The imperative mood: it is an order.

“in yourselves” means thinking this thing out.

“is it proper that a woman pray unto God uncovered?” the answer is no. What does it mean to be uncovered? It means to be shaved. Common sense militates against a woman doing anything without her badge of authority. Her badge of authority is her hair, and it has to do with prayer, teaching Sunday school, entering a church. Remember that all of this has to do with cutting down the legalistic bully who was keeping the Greek slave girls from entering the church without a veil or a hat.

Verse 14, man should never wear the woman’s badge. In this we have an appeal to nature. The word “shame” is literally “dishonourable.” It is dishonourable because the man is wearing the woman’s badge of authority.

Verse 15, the significance of a woman’s long hair. “But if a woman have long hair” is a third class condition, indicating maybe she will and maybe she won’t. Long hair is anything that covers the ears.

“it is her glory,” this is a word which also means glamour. Under the concept of divine institution #2, marriage, the woman has the right to accept or reject the man who proposes to her and her long hair is the badge of her volition. After marriage her long hair is the badge of her submission to her husband.

“for her hair is given to her for a covering.”

“is given,” the word means to give, as indicated, and this means that God in nature has provided for the woman hair in abundance, and it can grow long and it can continue to be thick. Men have not had a lot of hair, it is not necessary. The perfect tense means the permanence of the doctrine as well as the woman’s hair. The passive voice: the woman receives her badge as a guarantee from God as to her volition and her rights in the human race. The indicative mood is the reality of the fact that the woman’s hair is her covering [instead of a veil]. This means that the women who were slaves in Corinth could come to church even though they did not have a veil, and the legalistic bullies were commanded to lay off.

Verse 16, introducing the troublemaker. “But if any man [1st class condition: if and it’s true] seem to be contentious [and he is].” The word “seem” means presumes to be contentious. He is described also by 1 Timothy 6:3-6. “we have no such custom,” there is no custom about keeping women out of church because they do not have hats. Whether women have hats or not is not an issue in the spiritual life. The issue is the Spirit-filled life rather than the wearing of apparel. God is interested in the mental attitude rather than hats.

In verses 17-19 we have the dissension.

Verse 17, dissension in assembly worship. “I declare unto you” is the matter of bullying, keeping the ladies out of church because they do not wear hats; “I praise you not, that ye come together, not for the better, but for the worse.” In other words, with bullies at the door, obviously when you have assembly worship it isn’t for the best interests of assembly worship, it is for the worse. The Corinthian believers are coming together not to worship, not to study the Word, not observe the Lord’s table, but they are coming together to bicker, to abuse, to bully, to judge, to malign, to cause divisions. So there is a principle here. Dissension neutralises the purpose of assembly worship. Hence, ladies’ hats are not the issue in assembly worship, and the observation of the Eucharist, spirituality and mental attitude are the things which are.

Verse 18, divisions in the Corinthian assembly. “For first of all,” since there is no secondly with this first of all this means that carnality is responsible for the dissension in public worship. While outward facts, such as the ladies wearing hats, is the basis of the outward dissension the real inner cause is operation carnality. When you have widespread carnality and legalism you have the real inner cause for dissension, which is self-righteousness, legalism, pride.

“when you come together in the church” is a reference to their assembly worship; “I hear that there are divisions,” the Greek word here is “schisms, divisions, splits, factions. “

“and I partly believe it,” I believe it is true of part of the congregation. It isn’t true of all of them, but it is true of part. In this case they have a false opinion which is the schism, and it has to do with ladies’ hats. While only a few are involved over the argument about ladies’ hats this has caused dissension in the church, and part of the congregation is involved, is what Paul is saying.

Verse 19, other types of schisms. he word “also” means ladies’ hats is only a part of this. The carnality, the legalism, the religiosity has led to, other things.

“heresies,” self-willed opinions which are contrary to doctrine.

“that they which are approved may be manifest among you,” when there are heresies and opinions that are contrary to doctrine this does one good thing. Out of all of this mess in Corinth one good thing can happen.

“that” is a purpose clause; “they which are approved,” there is no verb here, it is a noun, “they, the approved ones.”

Corrected translation: “It is necessary that there be heresies among you that the approved ones might be manifest among you.”

Who are the approved ones? They are believers who know doctrine and who stand up under the bullying pressure of the legalists. The approved ones are not snowed by this pseudo spirituality, by this bullying, and they do not succumb to the temptation to join in and to bully the slave girls about hats. In other words, they do not succumb to herd pressure. Schisms or divisions in a church cause herd pressure. Leadership in any local church should be made up of individuals who know doctrine, who are mature, who can apply doctrine to experience, who neither bully themselves nor permit others to bully.

Verse 18, “For first of all, when ye come together in the church” is a reference to assembly worship or a local church assembling for any particular reason.

The doctrine of the Church — e)kklhsia

1. This word is found in Attic Greek, the Classical Greek of Athens in the 5th century BC. This word was first used in connection with the Athenian government when the assembly of the people was called together.

2. In Acts 7:38 we have the second use of the word e)kklhsia where it denotes the assembly of Israel. 3. In Matthew 18:17 the word e)kklhsia is translated “church” but it should be transliterated e)kklhsia and it refers to a Jewish synagogue. This is very important because the church only occurs once in Matthew, in chapter 16, and that is prophetical.

4. A reference to an assembly of people in some of the city states in Anatolea, Acts 19:25,29,32.

5. The general or technical use in the New Testament of e)kklhsia. It became a technical word for the church and it is translated that way. It denotes the church as the body of Christ or all believers in union with Christ. E)kklhsia in the technical sense depicts every believer in union with Christ. It is the assembly of believers in heaven positionally in this technical sense, Ephesians 1:22,23; 5:25-27; Colossians 1:17,18; 2:9,10.

Verse 19, “For there must also be heresies among you.” You cannot have divisions without heresies. This is usually one of the big causes for divisions.

“that they which are approved may be manifest among you.” The division leads to the approval of some. Verses 20-34, the purpose of the Lord’s table.

Verse 20, by divisions and dissensions in the Corinthian church the very purpose of the Eucharist was destroyed. One thing that should characterise the Lord’s table is unity among believers. The communion table was preceded by a love feast which was simply everyone getting together and having a common meal and then observing the Lord’s table. The reason that the early church did this was to follow what the Lord had done Himself. First of all there was the Passover and in the Lord’s last Passover He switched it into the Eucharist. So to follow this principle there was in place of the Passover now in the early church what they called the Agape, which is simply the love feast in which they had a meal together. The purpose was unity and love one for another.

“When ye come together,” again the principle of the assembly of believers; present active participle indicating that this is to be a regular affair; “into one place” refers to someone’s house. The early church met in houses, Acts 12:12; Romans 16:5; 1 Corinthians 16:19; Colossians 4:15. It was not until 300 years after Pentecost that the church began to meet in buildings. The change was because of unification of church and state in the days of Constantine.

“this is not to eat the Lord’s supper,” “is it not to eat” is an aorist active infinitive plus the negative. The aorist tense means the point of time when you come together. The Lord’s supper does not refer to the Eucharist part, the bread and the cup, it refers to sitting around and eating and having fellowship. “When you assemble together in one place, it is not to eat the Lord’s supper?” This question is to take up the slack on some of the problems. The aorist tense refers to the point of assembly. As soon as they are assembled worship starts. The meal was an act of worship in this case. The active voice: the believers assembled of their own volition. You must come of your own volition; positive signals. Believers must assemble because they want to assemble. The infinitive plus the negative means that the purpose of the love feast and the communion table was frustrated by this dissension mentioned in verses 18 and 19. This passage cannot be understood unless it is understood that two things are under worship: a) The Agape which was strictly a time of eating; b) The Eucharist. We have eliminated the former today and we call the latter the Lord’s table. But they called the whole package the Lord’s table. This is to fulfill the Passover plus the Eucharist.

Factions and heresies make a true worship function impossible. In dissension people are out of fellowship. If you are out of fellowship you can’t worship. “They that worship him must worship him is Spirit and in truth.”

Verse 21, the abuses of the Agape or the love feast. “For is eating” refers to the actual eating of a dinner, it has nothing to do with the eating of the bread which follows later. “Eating” is an aorist active infinitive, and because it is we know that is actually refers to the love feast. In the previous verse we had an aorist active infinitive plus a negative. Now we know that we are dealing with exactly the same subject because we have a Greek system of parallelism where you have an aorist active infinitive minus the negative showing that the two go together. The purpose of that assembly is first of all to eat and the aorist active infinitive refers to the Agape. Eating does not refer to the Lord’s table but it refers to the area where the problem exists, the feast which immediately precedes the Lord’s table.

“every one,” literally, “each one.” This is an individual sin; “before,” to eat before everyone else is assembled; “his own supper,” this means everyone brings something to eat.

“and” introduces the results of the dissension; “one is hungry, and another is drunken.”

Verse 22, the rebuke. “What? have ye not houses,” houses represents the area of privacy, “in which to eat or to drink.” The words to eat and to drink here are both present tenses and they indicate a little more than just eating and drinking which is required to survive, it requires excessive eating and excessive drinking. All he is saying at this point is, “Look, if you want to enter into debauchery do it privately in your own house.” He isn’t commending it, he is saying the church is not the place for it. He is saying that if they want to stuff themselves with an eight course meal or drink they should do it at home. The church is public assembly, not a private situation. Application: If you as a believer are going to make an ass out of yourself, do it at home. If the Corinthian believers do not want to share their food with others they should stay home. The purpose of the love feast is to demonstrate the harmony and fellowship of believers and there is no fellowship or harmony in freezing out the impoverished, the less fortunate, the obnoxious, and so on.

“or despise ye the church of God,” the word “despise” means to treat with contempt or to fail to recognise the authority of. Their actions were simply failure to recognise the authority of the local church.

“and shame them,” disgrace them; “that have not,” many of these believers were slaves and were totally impoverished. They came to the worship service even though they were impoverished and they took an awful lot from those who were the “haves.”

“What shall I say about you? shall I praise you in this? [the abuse of the love feast] I praise you not.” The whole purpose of the love feast and the Lord’s table which followed, the Eucharist, is harmony and fellowship. There are two kinds of believers who can never enter into this. First of all, the antinomian; secondly, the legalistic. Neither antinomianism nor legalism is ever commended by the Word of God, it is always condemned.

Verse 23, the word for “receive” is in the aorist tense for the point of time when he learned these things, and the aorist tense indicates that the writer who is Paul did some heavy studying. The principle is that you cannot disseminate the Word unless you know something about the Word. You cannot teach what you do not know. The word to receive is a compound verb, paralambanw [para = the preposition of immediate source; lambanw = to receive]. It means here to learn or to derive from God through some system of perception, some type of revelation, biblical information — doctrine. In this case, the doctrine is the Eucharist. The problems connected with the communion table will be corrected on the basis of doctrine. This doctrine had to first of all be received by the writer before he could disseminate it. The active voice indicates that Paul himself was involved in learning this doctrine before he now teaches it. The indicative mood is the reality of the fact that the apostle Paul did some studying and had a tremendous perceptive experience in the field of doctrine. This indicates that he is now ready to deliver information which will correct the situation.

“of the Lord,” the preposition a)po, the preposition of ultimate source. So the ultimate source of this information is God Himself. All Bible doctrine has its ultimate source from God. Therefore Bible doctrine can only be taught dogmatically, emphatically, with authority.

“that which I also delivered to you,” so the principle, you have to know it before you can teach it. The delivery here is the teaching. The word “deliver” is a poor translation. The verb is paradidomi, the verb which means to betray. It was used of Judas Iscariot when he betrayed the Lord Jesus Christ. It should be translated so far. “For I have received [study, perception] from the ultimate source of the Lord that which I also betrayed to you.” This is an excellent choice of words for teaching. Doctrine has to be betrayed. In other words, once you get it in your frontal lobe God wants you to betray it. Betraying is a system of perception whereby everyone understands. It is interesting that betrayal is always wrapped up in secrecy but everyone knows what is going on. So it is one of the more subtle words for teaching the Word of God — betraying doctrine. In other words, to betray you communicate. In this case the communication of the doctrine emphasises that which is being betrayed. When Judas Iscariot betrayed Christ the one who was betrayed was Jesus, and when He was betrayed He was seized. So we have an analogy. When doctrine is properly taught it is seized by those who hear it. So we have the word which is translated “deliver.” It also means to give from an immediate source — para is the preposition of immediate source, and didomi is the verb to give — and it has the concept of giving something in such a way that it cannot be misunderstood.

“unto you” is dative of advantage. It is to your personal advantage to have doctrine in the frontal lobe through teaching.

“That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed too bread.” We again have the word “betray” and it is the same verb exactly. The word “same” is not there is the original. This time “betray” is in the imperfect tense which means linear aktionsart in past time and it gives the concept that while the communion was going on Judas was out haggling for the betrayal of Christ. So we have a change in tense. Paul betrays doctrine, aorist tense; Judas betrayed Jesus, imperfect tense. In other words, while this communion was going on, about which Paul is now teaching, and while the Passover was being converted to the Lord’s supper, Judas was out betraying. Now Paul is out betraying. There is an exact analogy from this paronomasia. A paronomasia is used to make an analogy so subtle and yet so obvious. Principle: The believers in Jesus Christ who were raising that fuss in the previous verses, at the Agape, they in a sense are no better than Judas who left the table just before it was instituted to go out to betray the Lord. This is an analogy from a paronomasia. Jesus Christ was betrayed by Judas. Just as Judas was betraying Christ so the Corinthians minus this doctrine are also betraying Christ at the same Lord’s table which they do not understand and which they abuse. The only difference is that Judas was an unbeliever and they are believers. But to make an analogy between a believer and an unbeliever is to demonstrate carnality. By repeating the word paradidomi and changing the tense to the imperfect we have this: You Corinthian who are guilty of the Agape farce are no better than Judas Iscariot who at least left the communion table, he didn’t stay around to get drunk, to hate everyone; he left.

“took bread,” the aorist tense refers to the point of time when He picked up the bread toward the end of the Passover. The bread represents the humanity of Christ or the person of Christ, whereas the cup represents the work of Christ.

Verse 24, “And when he had given thanks.” This is why we call the Lord’s table the Eucharist, e)uxaristew, which means to be thankful. He didn’t break it, he didn’t give to them to eat until He had first of all given thanks. The principle: To receive Christ is to be thankful for Christ. The breaking of the bread: the aorist tense refers to the point of time of the cross. The active voice: Christ went to the cross. The indicative mood is the reality of the cross.

“and said, “Take, eat,” this is not found in the original. He did not say this — yet. The implication is there. All the verses says here is “Having given thanks he broke it and said, This is my body, which is on behalf of you: keep on doing this in remembrance of me.” It is important to get the corrected translation here because it has to do with the meaning of the bread. The bread has to do with the person of Christ but not His work. The cup refers to the work of Christ.

“this is my body” is literally, “this keeps on being my body,” present linear aktionsart of the verb e)imi, absolute status quo. Think of Jesus just before the cross saying to His disciples, “This keeps on being my body.” What does that do for the disciples? He is going to die within 24 hours physically. But He says, “This keeps on being my body.” What is He telling them? He is telling them that He is going to rise from the dead and He will keep on being humanity forever. The bread represents the uniqueness of the Lord Jesus Christ. He doesn’t tell them at this point to take and eat, that comes later.

Four reasons for the humanity of Christ

1. To be our saviour. Whoever is the saviour of the world must be a member of the human race. The doctrine of redemption demands it. The human race is born in the slave market of sin. We are born with an old sin nature, we are born spiritually dead. Someone must come on the outside, it takes a free man to liberate slaves, and Jesus Christ could not free mankind until He became a member of the human race. First if all He had to be virgin born so that He would be minus the old sin nature, minus the imputation of Adam’s sin. The saviour must be a man in order to save the human race — Hebrews 2:14,15; Philippians 2:5-8. There is another reason for this from the standpoint of the essence box. Jesus Christ is God. Jesus Christ is therefore sovereign, sovereignty cannot become obedient unto death. Philippians 2 says He became obedient unto death. As sovereign God He cannot do so. When Jesus Christ hung on the cross His deity did not die, could not die, could not become obedient, and could not have contact with sin. He had to be a member of the human race.

2. He had to be our mediator. To be our mediator He has to die. Job 9:32,33 cf.. 1 Timothy 2:5,6. He is the one who bridges the gap but to do so He has to be equal with both parties in the mediation. He is equal with God because He is God and He is equal with man because He is man, so it takes the God-Man to become the mediator. The mediatory who bridges the gap between man and God is the Lord Jesus Christ.

3. If Jesus Christ is going to be a priest He must be a man, Hebrews 7:4,5,14,28; 10:5,10-14. A priest has to be a bona fide member of the human race to represent the human race.

4. The king must be a man. This goes back to the Davidic covenant, 2 Samuel 7:8-16; Psalm 89:20-37. God in these unconditional covenants promise David that he would have a son who would live and reign forever and the fulfillment is the Lord Jesus Christ. But in order for this to be fulfilled He has to be born in the line of David, and He has to be a man to do it. The one who returns to the earth is the God-Man and in His humanity the son of David rules, fulfillment of the Davidic covenant.

“is broken” is not found in the original. The Greek is to u(per u(mwn. To is the definite article, u(per is a preposition of substitution which is followed by a pronoun. Literally, this “the on the behalf of you.” In the English translation “is broken” is a verb, and there should be a verb in English. And when you should have a verb and you substitute a noun or an adjective or a pronoun or a prepositional phrase it gives great emphasis. They didn’t have punctuation marks in the Greek. “On behalf of you” emphasises the substitutionary concept of Christ on the cross, and since the bread represents the person of Christ and this phrase represents substitution we have the person who is the substitute. And the point is the read tells us in the communion that in all of the history of the human race there is only one person who has ever lived who could be the substitute for the rest of the human race. So the bread tells us He is qualified as to His person. This includes such principles as the virgin birth, the hypostatic union, the impeccability of Jesus Christ.

What is not mentioned here? There is no direct mention at this point to the death of Christ. The bread speaks of the person of Christ. Before you can have a unique death you must have a unique person. The Lord Jesus Christ is unique, and were it not for the fact of His uniqueness His death would not have the significance on behalf of us. He could not go to the cross on behalf of us unless He was a unique person.

“this do” is not correctly translated either. It is literally, “Keep on doing this.” This is a present active imperative; present tense, linear aktionsart. The active voice: you do it, keep on partaking of the communion elements. This is addressed to believers and believers are the ones who are commanded to do it.

The word “in” which precedes “remembrance” is an interesting preposition, e)ij. One of the meanings of e)ij is purpose. So it may be a little awkward in the English but it is “Keep on doing this for the purpose of remembrance of me.” The communion table has a purpose and the purpose of the bread is to bring to your memory the uniqueness of the person of Christ.

Verse 25, the cup. The bread speaks of the person of Christ, the cup speaks of the work of Christ. The meaning of the cup is derived from two passages of scripture, Matthew 20:22, the baptism of the cup; 26:39, the Gethsemane, “If it be possible let this cup pass from me.” They add up to this. The cup refers to the old sin nature with its sins. On the cross all of the sins, as it were, were put into a goblet and then Christ drinks them so that the sins are in Him who is sinless. When all of the sins of the world are in Him then the Father, who has not been judging sins up to this time, judges them there. That is when Christ died spiritually. “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?” The reason for His spiritual death, 2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 Peter 2:24.

“saying, this cup [death on the cross] is the new testament in [the sphere of] my blood.” The words ‘new testament’ are very important as Jesus said it because it takes into account all the people from the time of Adam to the death of Christ. It means that everyone who believed in Christ from Adam down to the death of Christ was under this same blood even though the efficacious blood had not been shed until the cross. In the Old Testament or old covenant what kind of blood was used? Animal blood. In the new covenant what kind of blood is used? Christ’s. The blood of the animal causing physical death is a direct analogy to the spiritual death of Christ when He was bearing our sins. “This cup is,” present active indicative if e)imi, “keeps on being.” Exodus 12:3; Acts 20:28; Romans 3:25; 5:9; Ephesians 1:7; 2:13; Colossians 1:20; Hebrews 9:15,22; 13:12; 1 Peter 1:18,19; Revelation 1:5.

“this do ye” is “keep on doing this,” present active imperative. It is a command; “as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.” In verse 24 the words “take, eat” are not in the original. Why didn’t He tell them to eat it? They did eat it but why didn’t He tell them to eat it? Because it speaks of His person and you don’t appropriate the person, you appropriate the work. This is technical but important. The person of Christ in all of His uniqueness cannot help us unless He goes to the cross. So when He instituted the Lord’s supper He didn’t say, “Take, eat,” though later on we find that this was implied and they did eat. But the person of Christ cannot help us, it is His work that saves us. His person can’t save us but He has to be the person He is in order to be our saviour. But He did say to drink the cup, and the point is we appropriate His work. We understand His person but it isn’t His person who saves us, it His work on the cross which saves us.

Verse 26 gives us the significance. “For as often as ye eat this bread” indicates that we are to eat it, but He didn’t command to eat it. He commanded drinking because it is the work of Christ which must be appropriated. The person of Christ cannot provide salvation, it is the person going to the cross. You must link the person to the cross. If the person of Christ had not gone to the cross we would not have salvation. In salvation the person must be linked with His work.

“ye do shew,” katagellw which means to announce according to a norm or a standard. This comes to mean to proclaim according to a norm or standard. “You announce [according the norm of the Word] His death.” What is the purpose of communion then? It is to announce His death.

“till he come,” “until He comes.” This is an aorist tense referring to the Rapture. Active voice: Christ does the coming. Subjunctive mood: the Rapture of the Church could happen at any time. The potential concept here is to indicate that there is nothing left to be fulfilled before the Lord returns. Why “till he comes” Lord’s table or the Eucharist is for the body of Christ only. Once the body is removed and becomes the bride there is no body on the earth, it is back with the Age of Israel, the concept of the Passover, and so on. The Lord’s table is peculiar to the body of Christ.

Verse 27, the purpose of communion is restoration. The communion table has the principle of restoration to fellowship. This is the third purpose of the communion table.

“whosoever” refers to any believer. Remember that every believer is a priest and because of this he has the right of worship, 1 Peter 2:5,9, the universal priesthood of the believer. Because the believer is a priest he has certain privileges. The priest has the right of worship, he represents himself before God in worship. The priest has the right of giving. But the one that we want to notice is the only one that can exist when the believer is out of fellowship. When out of fellowship there is one function of the priesthood whereby the believer can come back in; rebound, 1 John 1:9. “Whosoever” describes the believer because he is a priest.

“shall eat this bread,” eating represents the picture of faith in Christ, the bread represents the humanity of Christ; “and drink this cup,” drink indicates faith in Christ, specifically the work of Christ. Eating and drinking are illustrations of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

“unworthily,” this adverb which occurs only here in the New Testament describes the believer out of fellowship. When the believer partakes of the communion elements out of fellowship he is in for some discipline which can be from mild to the very serious, depending on several factors — ignorance of doctrine, his spiritual growth, and his understanding and utilisation of rebound. Here is a believer who partakes of the Lord’s table out of fellowship and when he does so whatever discipline he is under it is increased. So this adverb indicates that a believer should never participate out of fellowship. “Unworthily” means to be out of fellowship, a believer in status quo carnality.

This believer is said to be “guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord.” There are several reasons for this. First of all, the Holy Spirit teaches the believer the spiritual phenomena giving reality to the significance of the Lord’s table. In other words, everything we understand in the spiritual life is taught to us through the indwelling ministry of the Holy Spirit in teaching. When the believers grieves or quenches the Spirit there is no reality to it. Secondly, the carnal believer is not oriented to grace when he is out of fellowship and therefore he rejects the grace principle of rebound and he stays out of fellowship, increasing his discipline and his misery. And a carnal Christian is incapable of worship because they that worship Him must worship Him is Spirit and in truth. Finally, the carnal believer taking the cup of the Eucharist is guilty of blasphemy. God neither condones nor fellowships with the carnal believer in time, and therefore this blasphemy must be disciplined.

Verse 28, because of the great danger of blasphemy and failing to enter into the reality of the Lord’s table there is a preliminary procedure. In this verse we have a procedure which should always precede the Lord’s table.

“But” is a conjunction of correction, the situation will be corrected.

“let a man [believer] examine himself,” this is a self-examination and it is a command, present active imperative of dokimazw, a Greek word which means to test. It was a used for testing or assaying ore. It means in this case to test for the purpose of finding the point of approval. Before partaking of a communion element the believer should have confidence that he is approved of the Lord. The present tense sets up a procedure. This is not linear aktionsart, it is linear aktionsart only in the sense that it sets up a procedure to be followed every time the communion table is observed. The active voice means that every believer must do this for himself, and he must understand what he is doing. The imperative mood is a command to go through a period of brief self-examination. What is he looking for? He is looking for any sin in the life which is unconfessed. If there is some unconfessed sin the believer is out of fellowship, and the purpose of this self-examination is to determine if he is out of fellowship and to correct the situation by means of rebound.

“and so let him eat and drink,” in other words, this conjunction “and” means the observance of the Lord’s table must follow the self-examination. Never partake of the Lord’s table unless you are in fellowship, the place of the filling of the Holy Spirit, the place where the Lord’s table has significance. Participation in the Lord’s table is a command to all believers, but it is an order to all believers in fellowship.

Verse 29, if you are inclined not to follow this principle here is a principle of added discipline. When the believer is out of fellowship he is carnal and under discipline. This is merely an addition to that. “For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily,” believer out of fellowship participating in the Lord’s table.

“eateth and drinketh discipline,” or condemnation, “to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.” “Not discerning” means not to make the distinctions involved in doctrine. This is failing to discern the doctrinal significance of the Eucharist.

Verse 30, the divine discipline is specified. “For this cause,” because believers out of fellowship are partaking in the Lord’s table, “many [believers]. Then we have three categories: weak, sickly, and sleep.

“weak,” this is a word which means to be feeble, to have loss of energy, or loss of strength. It does not man to have an actual sickness, it can simply mean loss of energy and strength. This is the mild illness category.

“sickly,” this means to be an invalid and refers to a definite type of illness.

“sleep,” the sin unto death. The word is a reference to physical death. There are several words for physical death. The word which is used here is used for the physical death of believers only, koimaw. The reason that the word “sleep” is so used is because when the believer dies his body merely sleeps in anticipation of resurrection. The soul and spirit are in the presence of the Lord. But sleeping here in this verse means to die before your time. The general reason for Christians dying is because their work is finished on this earth. A second reason to die is to glorify the Lord in some special way. A third reason for death is the superimposition over divine volition — suicide. The fourth and final reason is divine discipline, 1 John 5:16, the sin unto death.

The sin unto death

1. This doctrine is declared in 1 John 5:16; Psalm 118:17,18; Ezekiel 18:21-32.

2. Case histories: Corinthian incest, 1 Corinthians 5:1-5; lying to the Holy Spirit, Acts 5:1-10; habitually partaking of the Lord’s table out of fellowship, 1 Corinthians 11:30; disobedience to the Word of God, 1 Chronicles 10:13,14; 1 Samuel 13:9,10,13,14; the believer involved in apostasy, Numbers 31:8; 1 Timothy 1:19,20; Hezekiah, Isaiah 38.

3. The characteristics of the sin unto death. a) A sin which is not confessed — no rebound; b) a sin which persists unchecked; c) a sin which ignores grace, previous warning and previous discipline, Leviticus 26:1-31.

4. The characteristics of the sin not unto death. a) It is a sin which is confessed, 1 John 1:9; 1 Corinthians 11:31; b) It is a sin which is discontinued — Hebrews 12:1; Ezekiel 18:21-32; c) It is a sin which responds to discipline, Hebrews 12:6,11-15.

Verse 31, “For if” is a second class condition meaning that the Corinthians are nor confessing their sins.

“we would judge ourselves,” imperfect tense, making it a continual habit: “if we would keep on judging ourselves.” Judging ourselves is rebound.

“we should not be judged,” this is an imperfect tense but in the passive voice. We do not receive judgment or discipline.

Verse 32, the discipline is explained. “But when we are judged,” the principle that the believer is the child of God [Galatians 3:26], God the Father must discipline His children, Hebrews 12:6, God’s children are disciplined in time but never condemned in eternity, Romans 8:1.

“we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world,” we are disciplined under the authority of the Lord. The believer will never be condemned with the unbelieving world. The word “condemned” is katakrinw, a compound verb [krinw = to judge; kata = the preposition of norm or standard or criterion]. At the last judgment the unbeliever will be judged according to a norm or standard. The unbeliever stands before God with his old sin nature. His sins were judged at the cross therefore at the last judgment the unbeliever’s sins will not be mentioned because they were judged at the cross. However, all of his human good will be mentioned and he will be judged according to the norm or standard of his human good. He is resurrected, he stands before the great white throne because he is an unbeliever, and as an unbeliever he has chosen his own human good rather than the divine good of the cross. And so the norm or the standard of his judgment at the last judgment is human good. There is a difference between the judgment of the believer’s and the unbeliever’s human good. In the judgment of the believer’s human good he is separated from it and the wood, hay and stubble is burned, but the believer is saved yet so as through fire — 1 Corinthians 3:15. However with the unbeliever, since he has rejected Christ as saviour he is wrapped up with his human good and both the human good and the unbeliever are cast into the lake of fire forever and ever. Human good has to be judged. The old sin nature must be judged before time is completed. Part of the old sin nature has already been judged at the cross and the rest of it will be judged at the end of time as far as the unbeliever is concerned. The unbeliever rejects the cross [divine good], he therefore stands on human good. Human good wll be judged because human good is not acceptable to God, Isaiah 64:6; Romans 8:8.

Verses 33 and 34, the fourth and final purpose of the communion table: fellowship.

Verse 33, “Wherefore, my brethren,” a reference to believers. The communion table is for believers only.

“when ye come together,” reference to a church service where the Eucharist is observed; “to eat” is a reference to what preceded their service, the love feast.

“tarry one for another,” one believer waiting for the rest of them to show up.

Verse 34, some practical advice. “But if any man hunger,” eat at home first and come to the Lord’s table not hungry.

“that ye come not together unto condemnation,” this is a practical way of avoiding what has been outlined in this chapter. Doctrine is very practical in its approach to life. “And the rest” refers to other abuses which existed in the Corinthian church. But Paul is not going to straighten them out now because they require his personal presence, his absolute authority, it cannot be handled through a letter.

“will I set in order,” this means to make correct and precise arrangements, to straighten out the situation.

“when I come,” some of the problems require personal supervision and there is a principle behind this phrase. In every local church there must be someone who has the final authority, who can handle the problems and difficulties and situations which exist in the local church. There was no pastor in Corinth at this time. They had just run off their pastor, Apollos, and they had no pastor. When a church is without a pastor it is in very serious danger in this particular respect.