Lessons #379 and 380
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+ 1. It is best to use this note after you have listened to the lessons because there are +
+ comments given in the actual delivery not in the note. +
+ 2. The Bible abbreviations are as follows: CEV =Contemporary English version, +
+ CEB = Common English Bible, ESV= English Standard Version, +
+ GW = God’s Word Translation, ISV = International Standard Version, +
+ NAB=New English Bible, NASB= New American Standard Bible, +
+ NEB= New English Bible, NET = New English Translation, +
+ NLT = New Living Translations NJB = New Jerusalem Bible, +
+ NJV = New Jewish Bible, TEV = Today’s English Version. +
+AMP = Amplified Bible, UBS = United Bible Society +
+ 3. Notes have not been edited for grammatical errors. +
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Improper conduct in the pre-the Lord’s Supper meal (1 Cor 11:17-22)
17 In the following directives I have no praise for you, for your meetings do more harm than good. 18 In the first place, I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you, and to some extent I believe it. 19 No doubt there have to be differences among you to show which of you have God’s approval. 20 When you come together, it is not the Lord’s Supper you eat, 21 for as you eat, each of you goes ahead without waiting for anybody else. One remains hungry, another gets drunk. 22 Don’t you have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you for this? Certainly not!
We are concerned with the criticism of the Holy Spirit through Apostle Paul concerning the improper conduct among the Corinthians that occur when they gather to worship and to celebrate the Lord’s Supper. Thus, we stated that the message of this section of 1 Corinthians 11:17-22 is: Think of other believers as you take your portion of food during fellowship meals of believers. We indicated that although the general character of what the apostle wrote in our passage is negative in nature because of his rebuke of the Corinthians but that we will expound on this passage by presenting positive assertions that if we understood and applied will lead to avoidance of the criticism the apostle levelled on the Corinthians. To this end, we have considered a first positive assertion which is that the assembling of believers for fellowship meals should be praiseworthy. This led to the first responsibility of the believer regarding the matter of fellowship meals which is that you should aim to make the assembling of believers in fellowship meal praiseworthy. We explored how we go about doing this in a general way, so we continue to explore how this is to be achieved by considering the second positive assertion.
A second positive assertion is that there are things that would ensure that fellowship meals are praiseworthy and so ensure that one is conscious of the portion of meal one takes during the fellowship meals of believers. This assertion enables us to consider the second and third responsibilities of believers that ensure fellowship meals are praiseworthy.
A second responsibility that you should undertake to ensure that the fellowship meals of believers are praiseworthy, leading to you being conscious of the portion of meal you take is to ensure you do not cause division during the meal. This responsibility is derived from the second criticism the apostle brought against the Corinthians. This criticism is given in 1 Corinthians 11:18 In the first place, I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you, and to some extent I believe it.
Apostle Paul was quite emphatic as he began to provide reasons or explanations for not praising the Corinthians. We say this because of two Greek words that were not directly translated in the NIV. The first is a Greek particle (men) not translated in our English versions that may be used as a marker of linkage in a discourse so it may be translated “and, so” but often it is left untranslated. While it is possible to interpret the particle as linking the present verse and the previous so that it may be left untranslated as it is done in nearly all of our English versions, it is most likely that the apostle used it emphatically to stress what he was about to give as the first reason for not praising the Corinthians in which case the Greek particle may be translated “indeed.” None of the modern English versions I consulted had this translation. However, the literal translation of Young produced in 1862 translated it. Hence the reason the apostle gave is emphatic.
Speaking of reason, we indicated that verse 18 is the beginning of the reasons the apostle gave for not praising the Corinthians because of the second Greek conjunction the apostle used that is not translated in the NIV although majority of our English versions translated it with the word “for.” The apostle used a Greek conjunction (gar) that has several usages. For example, it can be used as a marker of inference with the meaning “so, then, by all means” or it can be used as a marker of cause or reason for something in which case it may be translated “for, because.” In our context, it is used as a marker of reason for the apostle not praising the Corinthians as he stated in the previous verse, that is, verse 17. The reason the apostle gave also is an explanation for how the Corinthians getting together was for the worse.
Apostle Paul indicates that before anything else or firstly, he wants to focus attention to the fact of division found among the Corinthians during their getting together for fellowship meal that ends with the Lord’s Supper. The reason we use the phrase “before anything else or firstly” is because of the phrase of 1 Corinthians 11:18 In the first place. This phrase is translated from a Greek word (prōton) with two general meanings. The first pertains to being first in a sequence, inclusive of time, set (number), or space. When used of time it may mean “first” as an adjective as Apostle Paul used it in his acknowledgment of the participation of the Philippians in his ministry of preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ in Philippians 1:5:
because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.
As an adverb, the word in this first general usage may mean “after” as Apostle Paul used it to inform the believers in Rome of his intention to visit them on his proposed journey to Spain as we read in Romans 15:24:
I plan to do so when I go to Spain. I hope to visit you while passing through and to have you assist me on my journey there, after I have enjoyed your company for a while.
The second general meaning of the Greek word pertains to prominence. So, it may mean “most important” as in the question of one of the teachers of the law directed to Jesus Christ regarding the most important of all the commandments as we read in Mark 12:28:
One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”
The word may be used as adverb of degree with the meaning “in the first place, above all” as Apostle Peter used it as he described how we got our Scripture in 2 Peter 1:20:
Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation.
In our passage of 1 Corinthians 11:18, the word is used with the meaning “firstly,” that is, “before anything else” so that the apostle conveyed the degree of importance to what he states. It is because of this meaning of the Greek word that we indicated that the apostle firstly or before anything else brings the criticism recorded in verse 18 of 1 Corinthians 11 that we are considering. By the way, there are those who take the first meaning of the Greek word to indicate first in a series. The problem with that interpretation is there is no second or follow up in the context. Thus, it means that what the apostle states was the main thing that he wanted to bring up with the Corinthians.
Anyway, criticism of others must be based on facts, not on innuendos. It is possible to criticize a person because of a perceived wrongdoing. I mean that it is possible for you to criticize someone who does something that is correct but that you judge to be wrong. Take for example, the Pharisees criticized the Lord Jesus during His earthly ministry for interacting and eating with those they described as sinners as we read in Matthew 9:10–11:
10 While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and “sinners” came and ate with him and his disciples. 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and ‘sinners’?”
Their criticism of the Lord Jesus was wrong because they did not understand that Jesus Christ came to die for our sins and so it was proper for Him to interact with the sinners that He came to save. Even then, the Pharisees were themselves sinners who needed forgiveness of their sins but because of their religious arrogance they judged themselves to be righteous. The point is that it is possible for someone to criticize you and be wrong. This being the case, we insist that before you criticize anyone you should be sure that your criticism is based on truth not subjective opinion that you may have regarding what you are criticizing someone of being guilty. Furthermore, you should be sure that your criticism is based on fact not an assumption. This kind of assumption played out with the Jews in Jerusalem who assumed that Apostle Paul brought Gentiles into the temple area that Gentiles were not permitted because they had seen the apostle with a Gentile, among other reasons, as we read in Acts 21:27–29:
27 When the seven days were nearly over, some Jews from the province of Asia saw Paul at the temple. They stirred up the whole crowd and seized him, 28 shouting, “Men of Israel, help us! This is the man who teaches all men everywhere against our people and our law and this place. And besides, he has brought Greeks into the temple area and defiled this holy place.” 29 (They had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with Paul and assumed that Paul had brought him into the temple area.)
The point we are stressing is that criticism of others must be based on facts, not on innuendos.
Apostle Paul demonstrated this point several times in his epistle to the Corinthians. In the verse we are considering, the apostle introduced the fact that his criticism of the Corinthians is based on report he received as in the sentence of 1 Corinthians 11:18 I hear. The word “hear” is translated from a Greek word (akouō) that literally means “to hear”, that is, to have or exercise the faculty of hearing. This is the second time the apostle used this Greek word in connection with information he received regarding the Corinthians. The first usage involves the report he received regarding the sexual immorality that existed in the church in Corinth where the Greek word is translated “reported” as we read in 1 Corinthians 5:1:
It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that does not occur even among pagans: A man has his father’s wife.
The word may mean “to receive news or information about something, to learn about something” as that is the sense of the word in Apostle Paul’s thanksgiving in his prayer on behalf of the Colossians, as we read in Colossians 1:4:
because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints—
It is true the word is translated “heard” in this verse, but the sense is that the apostle learned about their faith. The Greek word may mean “to understand” as it is used in Apostle Paul’s treatment of speaking in tongues in 1 Corinthians 14:2:
For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God. Indeed, no one understands him; he utters mysteries with his spirit.
The clause no one understands him is literally no one hears. Clearly, the other worshippers hear the one who speaks in tongue or a different language, but they simply do not understand, which is similar to when you hear someone who speaks a foreign language. You certainly hear the person; you simply do not understand what the individual is saying. Thus, the meaning “to understand” is intended in 1 Corinthians 14:2. In our passage of 1 Corinthians 11:18, the sense of the word is “to receive a communication from someone.” The apostle used the word here simply to state the fact he had received information without being concerned with when he received it or how he received it. It is also possible the apostle intended to convey that the report he received that is the basis of his criticism of the Corinthians is one of the many reports he received about misconduct among the Corinthians during their fellowship meals that concludes with the Lord’s Supper.
The information the apostle received concerns something specific, which is the getting together of believers in Corinth as indicated in the clause of 1 Corinthians 11:18 when you come together as a church. Literally, the Greek reads coming together in church. The expression “come together” of the NIV is translate from a Greek verb (synerchomai) that may mean “to come/go” with someone in the sense of traveling with the person as the word is used to describe the believers who accompanied Apostle Peter as he went to the house of Cornelius to give him the gospel of Jesus Christ as we read in Acts 10:23:
Then Peter invited the men into the house to be his guests. The next day Peter started out with them, and some of the brothers from Joppa went along.
The word may mean “to come together,” that is, to unite in an intimate relationship in a sexual context as the word is used in the instruction of the Holy Spirit through Apostle Paul regarding the matter of frequency of sexual relationship in marriage as we read in 1 Corinthians 7:5:
Do not deprive each other except by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.
The word may mean “to assemble,” that is, to come together with others as a group as in the assembling of believers for worship as Apostle Paul mentioned in 1 Corinthians 14:26:
What then shall we say, brothers? When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church.
In our passage of 1 Corinthians 11:18, it is used in the sense of “to meet,” that is, “to get together for a specific purpose.” The apostle used a participle to indicate that what he heard was something that occurred at the time of the meeting of the Corinthians in local church house as in the phrase as a church or literally in church.
The word “church” is translated from a Greek word (ekklēsia) that we have considered in detail in a past study, but I will review briefly what I said previously here, not only for the benefit of those who were not there when we examined the word in detail, but also as a refresher to those who were in that study. The word may refer to a group of citizens assembled for socio-political activities and so means “assembly, gathering” as in the riotous group that rose against Apostle Paul in Ephesus, as recorded in Acts 19:32:
The assembly was in confusion: Some were shouting one thing, some another. Most of the people did not even know why they were there.
Here the Greek word is translated “assembly.” The Greek word may be used to describe people with shared belief, hence means “community, congregation.” It is in this sense that the word is used to describe Israel in the desert in Acts 7:38:
He was in the assembly in the desert, with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers; and he received living words to pass on to us.
Most of our English versions used the meaning “congregation” instead of the word “assembly” to translate the Greek word in this passage of Acts although the Authorized Version (KJV) used the word “church,” but the NKJV used the word “congregation.” In our passage of 1 Corinthians 11:18, it is used in the sense of a local church, that is, an orderly congregation specifically of those who have believed in Jesus Christ for eternal salvation. It is probably to keep a person from thinking of a building when the word “church” is used that our English versions translated the literal Greek in church in the way we have it in the NIV as a church. So, it should be clear that it is the meeting together of believers is the focus not where they met.
The apostle’s use of the word “church” in a sense sets up his criticism of their coming together. They are supposed to come together as a body of Christ as he had already conveyed to them in a previous, passage, that is, 1 Corinthians 10:16–17:
16 Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? 17 Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf.
The phrase one body of verse 17 implies unity in the body of Christ but that was not what occurred when the Corinthians come together for their fellowship meal that ends with the Lord’s Supper.
Be that as it may, the criticism of the apostle against the Corinthians is given in the sentence there are divisions among you. The apostle is concerned with the state of divisions in the church during the meetings of the Corinthians for fellowship meal that culminates in the Lord’s Supper. We say this because the expression “there are” is translated from a Greek word (hyparchō) that may mean “to belong” as it is used to describe the estate of the chief official of the Island of Malta where Apostle Paul and his team came following a shipwreck as we read in Acts 28:7:
There was an estate nearby that belonged to Publius, the chief official of the island. He welcomed us to his home and for three days entertained us hospitably.
The word may mean “to be” in a state or circumstance as Apostle Paul used it to describe the state of Sarah regarding being unable to become pregnant in Romans 4:19:
Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead.
The word may mean “to possess” as it is used to describe the virtues that if believers have would keep them from being ineffective in their spiritual life as we read in 2 Peter 1:8:
For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
In our passage of 1 Corinthians 11:18, it is used in the sense of “to be or to exist in a state.” So, the apostle asserted the existence of a state of division in the local church whenever the Corinthians came together to participate in fellowship meals and eventually the Lord’s Supper as in the words there are divisions among you.
The word “divisions” is translated from a Greek word (schisma) from which we get our English word “schism.” This is the second time in this epistle to the Corinthians the apostle used the Greek word we are considering. The first was in his appeal for unity among the Corinthians in the beginning section of this epistle, that is, 1 Corinthians 1:10:
I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought.
This aside, the Greek word may mean “tear, crack” as it is used in the Lord’s declaration when He was asked as to the reason His disciples did not fast. He replied by referring to a proverb that in its usage in the context of the question He answered, probably meant to convey that the new way of life brought through His teaching does not need to be restrained by the old as in Matthew 9:16:
“No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse.
The Greek word may mean “division, dissension, schism” as a condition of being divided because of conflicting aims or objectives or beliefs. Of course, the division often results in two different groups with opposing views. This meaning is reflected among the Pharisees regarding the person of Jesus Christ, as we read, for example, in John 9:16:
Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.”
But others asked, “How can a sinner do such miraculous signs?” So they were divided.
The division among the Pharisees is because they were not united in their view of Jesus Christ. So, division is that which indicates that there is a tear in a group that will not be present if there is unity. In our passage of 1 Corinthians 11:18, the word is used in the sense “schism,” that is, “division of a group into opposing factions.” Some have suggested that perhaps the meaning here is that of “splits” to convey the tensions that exist among the various groups when the Corinthians came together for their fellowship meal. Anyway, the fact is that there were factions when the Corinthians met for their fellowship meals.
Apostle Paul asserts that there were divisions in the local church in Corinth that plays out during their fellowship meal as we read in the last clause of 1 Corinthians 11:18 there are divisions among you, and to some extent I believe it. The apostle meant that to some degree, he accepted there were divisions among the Corinthians. We say this because the expression “to…extent” is translated from a Greek word (meros) that has two major meanings. The word may mean “part” in contrast to the whole as Apostle Paul used it to describe members of the body of Christ in Ephesians 4:16:
From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.
The word may mean “share” of or in something, as the word is used to refer to the warning of the eternal punishment of those who reject the prophetic message of the book of Revelation, and by implication rejection of the gospel message, presented in terms of being excluded from participating in the fruit of the tree of life in the holy city as we read in Revelation 22:19:
And if anyone takes words away from this book of prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.
In our passage of 1 Corinthians 11:18, the word is used together with a Greek pronoun (ti) that in this passage means “some”, so our word has the sense of “partially,” that is, “in part or in some degree.”
The apostle, as we indicated, accepts the existence of divisions among the Corinthians to be true since the word “believe” is translated from a Greek verb (pisteuō) that its predominant meaning in the Greek NT is “to believe”, as it is used by Apostle Paul to describe the belief in resurrection, cast in the sense of living with Christ in Romans 6:8:
Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.
The Greek word may also mean “to believe in, to trust”, with the implication of total commitment to the one who is trusted, as it is used in the apostle’s short prayer for the Roman believers in Romans 15:13:
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
In our passage of 1 Corinthians 11:18, the word means “to believe” in the sense of to accept something to be true and therefore worthy of one’s trust.
We should recognize that when the apostle wrote in 1 Corinthians 11:18 and to some extent I believe it he does not mean that there is an element of falsehood in what has been reported to him. Instead, he was concerned with specific divisions that are reflected during the fellowship meals of the Corinthians since he had already dealt with the partisanship among them in the first chapter of this epistle. In effect, there is a difference between the division he was concerned here and the one he addressed in the first chapter. The division of the first chapter was concerned with personality and to some extent teachings that come from the persons that were the bases for the division as we read in 1 Corinthians 1:12:
What I mean is this: One of you says, “I follow Paul”; another, “I follow Apollos”; another, “I follow Cephas”; still another, “I follow Christ.”
But the division or factions in 1 Corinthians 11:18 is concerned with the social standing of individuals that form groups that were separated from each other along socio-economic line. That aside, it is also possible that when the apostle wrote the clause of 1 Corinthians 11:18 and to some extent I believe it that we are considering that that was his way of acknowledging that not all the Corinthians were guilty of the divisions or factions he mentioned although present within them.
Be that as it may, because the apostle declared that divisions were present among the Corinthians during their fellowship meals, let me review three things that most of you have already heard in our study of this epistle that should be avoided because they could cause division during fellowship meals. First, you must avoid anything that will bring ethnic tension in the church of Christ. Ethnic tension was the first thing that crept into the church that threatened its unity as implied by the complaints of the Grecian Jews as reported in Acts 6:1:
In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Grecian Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food.
The church consisted primarily of Jews at this time, but some considered themselves pure Jews in terms of not having been affected by Greek culture and so there seems to be a neglect of the widows of those who have been affected by Greek culture by those who considered themselves uncorrupted Jews. Thus, our use of the word “ethnic.” That aside, it is natural for people to want to congregate with those who are of the same ethnicity, but we are not to act as natural humans because we are believers in Christ where nothing else matters but Him. Furthermore, we recognize that we are of the new humanity that God created through the death of Jesus Christ on the cross where ethnicity is no longer a concern. In effect, every believer should function by faith and not by sight. To do this during the assembling of believers requires that we have the same attitude of Apostle Paul that he voiced in 1 Corinthians 2:2:
For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.
Second, you should avoid greed and insensitivity to others as that would lead to division in the local church during the fellowship meals. Third, you should avoid slandering your fellow believers as that will lead to division in the local church that will manifest itself during fellowship meal. If you slander a fellow believer, you poison the mind of the one who hears you so that the individual would try to avoid the believer that has been slandered and so would not want to sit with such a person during the fellowship meals. Again, let me repeat that slander has the potential of poisoning one believer’s mind against another. In fact, a person who involves in it can cause trouble in the local church that will lead to the defilement of many believers in a local church, as implied in the warning of Hebrews 12:15:
See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.
You see, slander creates bitterness that would defile someone so that a person may act in agreement with the person who slanders another and so defile self or mislead others. It is for this reason that the Holy Spirit through James commands us not to slander each other in James 4:11:
Brothers, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against his brother or judges him speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it.
I am saying that you should not slander a fellow believer because it could affect the behavior of the one who hears the slander towards the one slandered that may manifest itself by avoidance of the one slandered during the fellowship meals. Anyway, to avoid factions or splits it is necessary that believers intermingle. This is in a sense one of the reasons that I request us to sit with those not in our family during our love feasts, besides that enables you to get to know others.
In any case, the apostle having acknowledged the existence of factions or splits among the Corinthians proceeds in an emphatic manner to provide an explanation or reason for such among them in 1 Corinthians 11:19. By the way, two English versions the TEV and the NEB, but not the REB, consider verse 19 as parenthetical hence they enclosed the verse in parenthesis to convey that verse 18 is linked to verse 20. But the Greek indicates that verse 19 is connected to verse 18 as we will note at the appropriate time. That aside, we used the word “emphatic” in our statement because the apostle used a Greek conjunction (kai) that often means “and” as a marker that joins words or clauses that is not translated in our passage in the NIV. Nonetheless, it is used in our passage to stress what is being stated, that is, that it is used as an emphatic conjunction so should be translated “even or indeed” or with a similar word that reflects emphasis. This interpretation is reflected in some English versions. The NRSV reflected this interpretation with the word “indeed” and the NET used the phrase “in fact.” The English versions, such as the NASB, that used the word “also” do not quite convey the sense of emphasis since the English adverb has the meaning of “in addition” or “too.” That aside, the apostle was being emphatic in his use of the Greek conjunction that we considered.
It is not only that the apostle was being emphatic but as we have stated, he provided an explanation or reason for factions that exist during the fellowship meals of the Corinthians. This statement is because of the Greek conjunction (gar) the apostle used that is not translated in the NIV but translated “for” in most of our English versions. The Greek conjunction (gar) the apostle used in our verse has several usages. For example, it can be used as a marker of inference with the meaning “so, then, by all means” or it can be used as a marker of cause or reason for something in which case it may be translated “for, because.” In our context, it is used as a marker of explanation or reason for the presence of divisions among the Corinthians during their fellowship meals.
The apostle’s explanation or reason for the presence of divisions/factions among the Corinthians during their fellowship meals is the recognition of the reality of the sinful nature among believers. Normally, we should not expect the sinful nature to rear up its ugly head during the fellowship of believers but that is not the case. Some believers are in error in claiming perfection contrary to the clear teaching of the Scripture as stated in 1 John 1:8:
If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
Part of the interpretation of the sentence the truth is not in us is that the person who makes such a claim knows nothing about God’s truth that indicates that salvation does not mean a person has parted with the sinful nature or that the sinful nature has not been eradicated and certainly such a person does not understand sin and God’s holiness to make such a claim. The existence of the sinful nature is evident in the struggles believers have, that is, a struggle between doing what is righteous and doing what is sinful. It is this struggle that is conveyed by the Holy Spirit through Apostle Paul in what he wrote in Galatians 5:17:
For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want.
Furthermore, if the sinful nature has been eradicated then several instructions of the Scripture become needless. Take the example of Colossians 3:5:
Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.
It is because our sinful nature has not been eradicated that it should not surprise you that a believer still sins or does things that are unbecoming of those who are in Christ. We have the responsibility of resisting the dictates of the sinful nature so that our old self would not manifest itself. This is only possible if we are led by the Holy Spirit hence the instruction of Galatians 5:16:
So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.
Anyway, the apostle recognized the truth that if a believer is not controlled by the Holy Spirit the individual would revert to the natural instinct or to the dictates of the sinful nature. This recognition is what the apostle stated in the sentence of 1 Corinthians 11:19 No doubt there have to be differences among you.
The inevitability of divisions or factions among the Corinthians is introduced with the verbal phrase No doubt there have. The phrase is translated from a Greek word (dei) that may mean “to be something that should happen because of being fitting” so it is used with the meaning “it is necessary” or “it is a must” in Apostle Paul’s instruction to Titus of ensuring that false teachers, especially Jews in Crete, should be silenced as we read in Titus 1:11:
They must be silenced, because they are ruining whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach—and that for the sake of dishonest gain.
The word may mean “to be something which should be done as the result of compulsion” so has the sense of “one ought as a matter of necessity” or “should” as it is used in Apostle Paul’s prayer request to the Ephesians regarding his proclaiming the gospel message as he ought or should, as we read in Ephesians 6:20:
for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.
In our passage of 1 Corinthians 11:19, it is used in the sense of “to be necessary,” that is, “to be unavoidably determined by prior circumstances” or “compulsion caused by the necessity of attaining a certain result.”
The thing that was inevitable among the Corinthians when they were gathered for their fellowship meal and eventually the Lord’s Supper is given in the verbal phrase of 1 Corinthians 11:19 to be differences among you. The word “differences” is translated from a Greek word (hairesis) that may mean “sect, party, faction” in the sense of a group that holds beliefs or doctrines distinctive to it, as it is used by outsiders to describe believers who they called the “follower of the Way” as Apostle Paul admits in Acts 24:14:
However, I admit that I worship the God of our fathers as a follower of the Way, which they call a sect. I believe everything that agrees with the Law and that is written in the Prophets.
The word may mean “opinion, dogma” as that which distinguishes a group’s thinking as the word is used by Apostle Peter to describe false teachers in 2 Peter 2:1:
But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves.
The phrase destructive heresies may alternatively be translated destructive opinions. There seem not to be an issue of dogma that is involved in the fellowship meals of the Corinthians so in our passage of 1 Corinthians 11:19, the word is used in a negative connotation so means “faction,” that is, a circle of people with a common purpose who dissent from another group.
The apostle indicated that the factions that exist among the Corinthians during their fellowship meal serve a purpose, or it is for a reason as in the last clause of 1 Corinthians 11:19 to show which of you have God’s approval. Literally, the Greek reads so that the genuine (ones) may become evident among you. This is first because the apostle used a Greek conjunction (hina) that in our passage is subject to two possible interpretations. A first interpretation is that the conjunction serves as a marker of purpose, aim, or goal in which case it may be translated “in order that” or “that.” The implication of this interpretation is that it gives the purpose of the existence of factions among the Corinthians during the fellowship meals. A second interpretation is to consider the conjunction as a marker of result so that it may be translated “so that, that, so as a result” implying that the existence of factions, results in what the apostle stated. Because in some cases, it is difficult to differentiate purpose from result, the apostle could have meant either. We will have more to say about this but that will be in our next study. Nonetheless, let me end by reminding you that a second responsibility that you should undertake to ensure that the fellowship meals of believers are praiseworthy leading to you being conscious of the portion of meal you take is to ensure you do not cause division during the meal.
01/07//22