Lessons #383 and 384
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+ 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. +
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Improper conduct in the pre-the Lord’s Supper meal (1 Cor 11:17-22)
… 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!
Recall the message of this section of 1 Corinthians 11:17-22 that we have been considering is: Think of other believers as you take your portion of food during fellowship meals of believers. Although the general character of what the Holy Spirit gave through Apostle Paul in our passage is negative in nature because of his rebuke of the Corinthians but we stated 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. 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 we stated leads to the second and third responsibilities of believers that ensure fellowship meals are praiseworthy. The second is to ensure you do not cause division during the meal. The third is to ensure that you have the spirit that characterizes the Lord’s Supper. Recall also, we indicated that although we presented the third responsibility in a positive manner, but our intention is for the believer to act in a manner that avoids the criticism of the Holy Spirit through Apostle Paul against the Corinthians regarding the matter of the fellowship meal that precedes the Lord’s Supper. We started to consider in verse 20 the criticism of the Holy Spirit through Apostle Paul of the Corinthians from which we derived the third responsibility given positively. The facts that provided the basis for the criticism of the Corinthians are given in verse 21 where we begin our study today.
The primary fact that is responsible for the criticism of the conduct of the Corinthians during their fellowship meals that end up with the Lord’s Supper is selfishness evident in insensitivity to the needs of others as we will demonstrate later. Because we indicated that the primary fact of the apostle’s criticism of the Corinthians is selfishness, we should spend some time to consider the subject of selfishness.
Are you a selfish individual? You may be quick to say that you are not but before you answer this question, you should understand the subject of selfishness. This is important because of ignorance of what the Scripture teaches about some concepts, we may think we are not guilty of failing regarding a specific concept, but we are if we fully understand the concept. For example, there are many religious people who think they are not guilty of adultery because they are not involved in sexual relationship with a married person. However, if they understand that as the Lord Jesus expounded about adultery to include mental sexual sin then such individuals would recognize that they are guilty of the sin of adultery and will step down from their high horse of self-righteousness. It is for such a reason I tell you to withhold assessing yourself regarding the concept of selfishness until we have considered the subject as given in the Scripture. We begin by understanding what selfishness means. The Concise Oxford English Dictionary says that the adjective “selfish” is “concerned chiefly with one’s own personal profit or pleasure at the expense of consideration for others.” Thus, we can understand “selfishness” as self-centered concern for oneself, without due regard to the needs of others. This definition of selfishness indicates that by our sinful nature we all, as humans, are selfish. This we can support from the Scripture. The Holy Spirit through Apostle Paul described the unregenerate humans in such a way that conveys that by our fallen nature we are selfish as we read in Ephesians 2:3:
All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.
Selfishness is at the heart of the description of the conduct of people in the last days as the Holy Spirit directed Apostle Paul to assert as we read in 2 Timothy 3:1–2:
1But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,
Anyway, even after salvation we still have the propensity for selfishness. This we can demonstrate in two ways. First, if we are no longer capable of selfishness after salvation, it would be needless to command us against being self-centered in the sense of not thinking of the needs of others as stated in Philippians 2:4:
Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
Second, Apostle Paul asserted the fact that believers are often concerned with their own interests that they neglect the interests of Christ as he commended Timothy to the Philippians as we read in Philippians 2:20–21:
20 I have no one else like him, who takes a genuine interest in your welfare. 21 For everyone looks out for his own interests, not those of Jesus Christ.
So, you get the idea that regeneration does not mean that you will never become selfish.
We have defined what selfishness is and has demonstrated that it is part of the human fallen nature that even after salvation the believer can still be guilty of such sin. To further help us to evaluate when we become selfish, we need to consider the various ways selfishness is manifested. Boastfulness is evidence of selfishness since when a person boasts that individual is focusing on self. Thus, it is this manifestation of selfishness that Nebuchadnezzar exhibited before the Lord brought judgment on him as we read in Daniel 4:30:
he said, “Is not this the great Babylon I have built as the royal residence, by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty?”
Greed is another manifestation of selfishness because greed is a sin in which a person thinks only of self at the exclusion of others. It is therefore not surprising that the Lord Jesus as He denounced the self-centered and hypocritical teachers of the law and the Pharisees, He charged them of being greedy as recorded in Matthew 23:25:
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.
Desire for supremacy may be a manifestation of selfishness in which a person thinks of what is best for the individual at the exclusion of others. This kind of selfishness was evident in the request of the mother of James and John, the sons of Zebedee, according to Matthew 20:21:
“What is it you want?” he asked. She said, “Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom.”
The mother of these two disciples of Jesus Christ was only thinking of herself in the sense of her two sons because she requested the Lord to grant her sons positions of authority and power not knowing that it is not a matter of her desire but God’s plan who has already determined those who would enjoy special privileges in the eternal state as the Lord Jesus retorted in Matthew 20:23:
Jesus said to them, “You will indeed drink from my cup, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by my Father.”
Another manifestation of selfishness is closing one’s eyes to the suffering of others or neglecting to help the disadvantaged when it is in one’s power to do so. It is this kind of evidence of selfishness that is implied in 1 John 3:17:
If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?
We should be clear that the Holy Spirit in this passage assumes that the individual involved has the means of helping but did not. We say this because, it is when we fail to help when we could that a person would have violated the instructions of Proverbs 3:27–28:
27Do not withhold good from those who deserve it, when it is in your power to act. 28Do not say to your neighbor, “Come back later; I’ll give it tomorrow”— when you now have it with you.
One of the things that will cause a person not to be generous is the thought of self where a person thinks that perhaps if the individual gives whatever is to be given away that the person’s resources would be depleted. Such a thought is one that characterizes selfishness. It is this kind of thinking that is characteristic of selfishness that was displayed by Nabal when David sent his men to be compensated in a sense, for taking care of Nabal’s shepherds in the field but they were turned away with the reason of not wanting to give away something he needed as we read in 1 Samuel 25:11:
Why should I take my bread and water, and the meat I have slaughtered for my shearers, and give it to men coming from who knows where?”
It is self-centeredness that is characteristic of selfishness that caused Haman to conclude that he must be the one that the king sought to honor as we read in Esther 6:6:
When Haman entered, the king asked him, “What should be done for the man the king delights to honor?” Now Haman thought to himself, “Who is there that the king would rather honor than me?”
We have considered the subject of selfishness and after you go home to reflect on what we have studied; you should honestly answer the question: Are you a selfish person?
We have considered the subject of selfishness because we indicated that it is the primary reason Apostle Paul criticized the behavior of the Corinthians during their fellowship meals that culminated in the Lord’s Supper. We base our reasoning on what the apostle wrote in the clause of 1 Corinthians 11:21 as you eat, each of you goes ahead without waiting for anybody else. You may say that you do not see the word “selfishness” in this clause and so the apostle was not concerned with selfishness. If you think that way, you would be wrong; because we have considered the meaning of selfishness and some of the ways it can be manifested. Based on our consideration of the subject of selfishness this sentence describes selfishness. Before I touch on the expression that indicates there was selfishness among the Corinthians during their fellowship meals, we should note that the apostle did not tell us whether what he described is something that happened occasionally or habitually. We say this because of the clause as you eat that literally reads in the eating is concerned with focusing attention to the time of the fellowship meals of the believers in Corinth so that the apostle was concerned with what takes place at that specific time of the coming together of believers to enjoy together fellowship meal and eventually the Lord’s Supper. The apostle was not concerned at this point with what some of them did at their homes even if they had invited fellow believers to eat with them. No! His concern was with the meeting of believers when the conduct he criticized occurred.
Be that as it may, that the apostle was concerned with selfishness that is evident during the fellowship meals of the Corinthians that are gathered for fellowship meal that precedes the Lord’s Supper is conveyed in the sentence of 1 Corinthians 11:21 each of you goes ahead without waiting for anybody else. Before we zero in on the expression that enables us to conclude that the apostle was concerned with selfishness in this sentence, we need to consider the question of whether the apostle’s criticism is addressed to every member of the house churches that met for fellowship meals that precedes the Lord’s Supper or whether the charge is directed to some select groups.
The reason for raising the question of whether the apostle’s criticism is for everyone in the local church or to select group is the phrase each of you of the 1984 edition of the NIV reflected in some of our English versions. To begin with, the pronoun “you” in the 1984 edition of the NIV does not appear in the Greek since literally the Greek reads each one. This is because the apostle used a Greek word (hekastos) that as an adjective means “each, every” but when used as a noun as in our passage of 1 Corinthians 11:21 it may mean “each one, everyone” so that the participation of each individual in whatever the action is, is emphasized. The addition of the pronoun “you” in this verse may be justified on two grounds. First, the Greek pronoun that means “you” is used in the plural several times by the apostle in connection with our Greek word that means “each.” We have examples of such usage by Apostle Paul. When he instructed the Corinthians to set some money aside weekly for the contribution that was to be made to believers in Jerusalem, he used the Greek word that means “each” with the plural of the Greek pronoun that means “you” as we read in 1 Corinthians 16:2:
On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made.
The apostle reminded the Thessalonians of his tender care of them using the Greek word that means “each” and the plural of the Greek pronoun that means “you” in 1 Thessalonians 2:11:
For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children,
The same usage is found in the instruction to the Thessalonians against sexual immorality as we read in 1 Thessalonians 4:4:
that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable,
So, one could conclude that based on these examples that the apostle could have wanted us to understand the word “you” in the plural is implied in 1 Corinthians 11:21. Second, the addition of the word “you” when our Greek word that means “each” is used but the Greek pronoun that means “you” is not found in the text is implied when the context suggests that everyone in the group addressed is involved in the action expressed in a given sentence. Take for example, when the Holy Spirit through Apostle Paul forbids falsehood as we read in Ephesians 4:25:
Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body.
The sentence each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor is literally having put away falsehood, let each speak the truth with his neighbor. Although the personal pronoun “you” does not appear in the Greek but the context indicates that the instruction is for every believer in Ephesus. Take another example of believing men loving their wives as we read in Ephesians 5:33:
However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.
The sentence each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself is literally you also, each must thus love his own wife as himself. Although there is no Greek pronoun that warrants the phrase of you as we find in the NIV, but the context indicates that the instruction is directed to all Christian husbands and so its use is supported by the context.
We have considered two situations it is permissible to introduce the personal pronoun “you” or the phrase “of you” when our Greek word that means “each” is used. Both situations we considered are not met in 1 Corinthians 11:21 since we do not have a Greek pronoun that means “you” and the context does not seem to support its use. You see, if the apostle meant that everyone in the local church in Corinth is guilty of what he charged them then it would be difficult to understand his criticism if everyone ate his own food, for example. The apostle’s criticism makes better sense if some members ate their food so that the poor among them, for example, had nothing to eat. For this reason, we contend that the Greek word translated “each” in 1 Corinthians 11:21 be understood to have the meaning of “some of you.” This being the case, the apostle’s criticism is not directed to all the members but a select individuals or groups in the local church in Corinth, probably the more affluent among them. Our interpretation is supported by at least two English versions. The 2011 edition of the NIV instead of the reading of the 1984 edition for as you eat, each of you goes ahead without waiting for anybody else reads for when you are eating, some of you go ahead with your own private suppers. The NLT also reads For some of you hurry to eat your own meal without sharing with others. Anyway, it is our interpretation that the criticism of the apostle given in 1 Corinthians 11:21 is directed to some individuals in the house churches that meet for fellowship meal that ends with the Lord’s Supper. This point we have focused on should remind you that when a pastor or a teacher of the word of God rebukes a congregation for some failure, that does not necessarily mean that everyone is guilty. Of course, be careful not to be too quick to exclude yourself and say “he is talking about this or that person.”
Be that as it may, it is our assertion that the apostle criticized some in the house churches in Corinth for selfishness when they met to eat fellowship meal that precedes the Lord’s Supper. The reason we describe the apostle’s criticism as being concerned with selfishness is because of the sentence of 1 Corinthians 11:21 each of you goes ahead without waiting for anybody else. Literally, the Greek reads each one takes before his own supper in the eating.
The expression “goes ahead” in the NIV is translated from a Greek word (prolambanō) that may mean to do something that involves some element of unexpected time factor and so means “to do something before the usual time, to anticipate something.” Thus, the word is used with the meaning of doing something beforehand in the rebuke of the Lord Jesus of those who criticized the woman who anointed Him with oil prior to His death on the cross as we read in Mark 14:8:
She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial.
The sentence She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial is literally she has anticipated to anoint my body. The word may mean to ascertain something by surprise hence means “to detect, overtake, surprise.” It is this second meaning that is meant in the instruction of the Holy Spirit through Apostle Paul regarding the restoration ministry believers should be involved in although the NIV translated our Greek word with the meaning “caught” as we read in Galatians 6:1:
Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted.
In our passage of 1 Corinthians 11:21, the word has the sense of “to take before another, to anticipate another in doing anything.” The implication is that some ate food before others despite that some commentators take the word to mean “to devour” or “to consume.” This later meaning does not seem to be what the apostle had in mind because verse 33 od 1 Corinthians 11 implies that some ate before others did.
All the same, the thing that takes place before another is the eating of the supper as in the literal translation of the first sentence of 1 Corinthians 11:21 each one takes before his own supper in the eating. The translators of the NIV were quite interpretative in their translation since the expression “without waiting for anybody else” is translated from a Greek word (deipnon) that is used for everyday meal so may mean “dinner, supper” or a formal meal with guests hence may mean “feast, dinner.” It is with the meaning “banquet” that the word is used in the warning of our Lord Jesus regarding teachers of the law in Luke 20:46:
“Beware of the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and love to be greeted in the marketplaces and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets.
It is in the sense of religious celebration that the word is used to describe the last Passover meal the Lord Jesus had with His disciples as stated in John 13:4:
so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist.
In our passage of 1 Corinthians 11:21, the word is used in the sense of a fellowship meal that takes place prior to the Lord’s Supper.
In any case, the situation that the apostle criticized was that some went ahead to eat the food they brought before others could join them. Such conduct means that those involved were only thinking of themselves without any concern for their fellow believers. Such a conduct is the classical definition of selfishness. Selfishness does not result in anything that would glorify the Lord since selfishness is a sin as we have already noted. Thus, the selfishness of some of the members of the house churches in Corinth who ate before others were ready to do so, led to two results the apostle gave in the passage we are considering. Our use of the word “results” in describing what the apostle wrote following the charge of selfishness on the part of some of the Corinthians is because of a Greek conjunction (kai) that is not translated in verse 21 of the NIV and many of our English versions but translated “and” in a handful of our English versions. The Greek conjunction is often translated “and” in our English versions. However, it has several other usages. For example, it may be used to introduce a result that comes from what precedes and so may be translated “and then, and so.” It may be used to emphasize a fact as surprising or unexpected or noteworthy with the meaning “and yet” or “and in spite of that” or “nevertheless.” It may be used to mark an explanation so that what follows explains what goes before it, leading to the translation “that is, namely, and so.” In our passage of 1 Corinthians 11:21, it is used to introduce result of the selfishness of those in the houses churches who ate without waiting for their fellow believers. Thus, it should be translated in such a way to indicate result. Some of our English versions reflected this interpretation. For example, the 2011 edition of the NIV and the NLT began the second sentence of verse 21 with the phrase “as a result” while the TEV began with the phrase “so that.” Regardless of which word or phrase that is used to translate our Greek conjunction, the important fact is that the apostle used it to introduce the result of selfishness on the part of some of the believers in the house churches in Corinth that have come together for fellowship meal and eventually the Lord’s Supper.
A first result of the selfishness of those who would not wait for others to come before they began to eat is that some believers go hungry as in the next sentence of 1 Corinthians 11:21 One remains hungry. The Greek of this clause contains a Greek particle (men) that generally is for stating that a fact is so. When used as a marker of linkage in a discourse, it may be translated “and, so” but often it is left untranslated as done here in most of our English versions. It may be used as a marker of emphasis with the meaning “indeed.” When our Greek particle is used with another clause that involves the use of a Greek particle (de) that is often translated “but” in our English versions as used in the Greek of verse 21 that we are considering, the Greek structure could be translated something like “to be sure … but,” “on the one hand … on the other hand” to emphasize a contrast. However, in verse 21 we are considering, the structure does not emphasize a contrast, but distinguishes the thought present in the present sentence One remains hungry we are covering with the next sentence of verse 21 another gets drunk that we will consider at the appropriate time. Some of our English versions such as the NCV and the CEV seemed to capture the sense of the Greek structure by using the word “while.” This notwithstanding, the expression “remains hungry” is translated from a Greek word (peinaō) that literally means to feel the pangs of lack of food, that is, “to be hungry” as it is used to describe the state of the Lord Jesus after fasting for forty days as stated in Matthew 4:2:
After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.
Figuratively, the word may mean to have a strong desire to attain some goal, so means “to desire strongly, to hunger for something” as it is used to describe those the Lord Jesus stated would be blessed as those who hunger or strongly desire righteousness according to Matthew 5:6:
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
In our passage of 1 Corinthians 11:21, it is used in a literal sense of feeling the pangs of lack of food.
The apostle in the Greek used a present tense so the implication is either that the apostle stated a fact of what happens in the fellowship meals without being concerned about its progression or the apostle meant to convey that what he stated occurred repeatedly whenever the Corinthians met for this special occasion of celebrating the Lord’s Supper. Considering the fact believers met regularly for fellowship meals and for the celebration of the Lord’s Supper, it is more likely that the apostle stated what occurred at a repeated interval. Thus, he was not merely speaking of something that happened maybe once and stopped but what kept on taking place in that some members of the house churches would go hungry during such meals.
That some members of the house churches went home hungry or without having anything to eat could be explained in at least three ways. It is possible that those who go hungry came late in that by the time they arrived all the food was gone. This, of course, will imply the second situation which is that those who came late were poor that they could not afford to bring any food to be shared with others. Being in such a destitute condition, they trusted that some of the wealthy members would provide enough food that would benefit them but to their dismay there was not enough food left for them although they were late. If there was plenty of food to begin with, it is likely that even if they came late, they would still have something to eat. Another explanation of the reason some of the members of the house churches would go hungry is that many were insensitive to the size of the people in the gathering so they heaped their plates with lot of food so that by the time some of the others got to the food that was brought there would be no food left. What I have described is not trivial as some of you may think. In other words, someone may say, what is wrong with heaping a person’s plate with food in such a situation? The thing that is wrong is that such reveals a spiritual flaw in a person’s soul. It means that a person is not sensitive to others, or the person is self-centered, so the person is only thinking of self instead of others, which is the essence of selfishness. I am not saying that a believer should not take moderate quantity of food but to take so much when it is not certain that the food would be enough for everyone is what would be wrong. A person who thinks of others would usually take a moderate portion of food and wait to see if everyone has at least got something to eat and then the person could go for seconds. The point I am stressing is simply that even the quantity of food on a person’s plate in a public gathering may signify that an individual is self-centered or selfish so that the person does not think of others. Anyway, we are not certain of the situation that was true in Corinth but what we know with certainty is that some members of the house churches went home hungry. This should not have occurred if all believers in the congregation were quite sensitive to others. If a person thinks only of self even when it comes to food, that is an indication that the person is selfish or self-centered. This kind of conduct where one is insensitive to the needs of others is unbecoming of a believer since selfishness is a sin that believers should avoid. Those who do as they please without considering the impact of their actions on others are indeed selfish. They are a law to themselves in that they do what they think is good for them without concern of the impact of their actions on others. In any event, the first result of the selfishness of some members of the house churches in Corinth is that some members of the house churches go hungry during the fellowship meals of believers that preceded the Lord’s Supper. This kind of conduct means that those who are involved in it have created a problem for their fellow believers during the Lord’s Supper. For it is likely that those who are hungry may become resentful of those who ate too much without being concerned about them thus those who go hungry would not be in the right spiritual condition to participate in the Lord’s Supper.
A second result of the selfishness of those who would not wait for others to come before they began to eat during the fellowship meals that preceded the Lord’s Supper is that such believers compound their sin of selfishness with another sin of drunkenness as stated in the last sentence of 1 Corinthians 11:21 another gets drunk. We should be careful to recognize that the apostle was not condemning the use of wine in the meals that preceded the Lord’s Supper but the sin of drunkenness that results from selfish conduct. I make this point because there are those who are eager to wrestle a sentence in the Scripture out of its context or even the entire context of the Scripture to justify what they want either to condemn or support. The apostle never taught that drinking wine is a sin. This is clear from the instruction he gave to Timothy concerning the medicinal benefit of wine in 1 Timothy 5:23:
Stop drinking only water, and use a little wine because of your stomach and your frequent illnesses.
There is no doubt that the Lord Jesus, being of Jewish descent, drank wine as part of the celebration of the Passover. In the NT times, certain features concerning the celebration of the Passover have been added that were not part of the original Passover celebration in Egypt. For example, there is the practice of the use of four cups of wine at different intervals during the celebration. The wine was probably mixed with water and heated. The first cup of wine was poured out for everyone to drink after a benediction. A second cup was poured out during which the son would ask the father the meaning of the celebration and the father will explain its significance as being involved with deliverance from slavery in Egypt in accordance with Exodus 12:26-27:
26 And when your children ask you, 'What does this ceremony mean to you?' 27 then tell them, 'It is the Passover sacrifice to the LORD, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt and spared our homes when he struck down the Egyptians.'" Then the people bowed down and worshiped.
During this period of the celebration, the first part of the Hallel consisting of Psalms 113 and 114 were recited. Then a third cup of wine was poured out and the grace after meals was recited. On pouring the fourth cup, the remaining portion of the Hallel, that is, Psalm 115 to 118, was finished followed by the blessing of the song then the meal ended. Thus, we contend that the Lord Jesus Himself drank wine while on this earth that is described as “fruit of the vine” in Luke 22:17–18:
17 After taking the cup, he gave thanks and said, “Take this and divide it among you. 18 For I tell you I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”
The point of the information we gave about the Passover celebration is that wine was part of the celebration and so Jesus Christ certainly drank wine. If He did not drink wine when He was invited to people’s house for a dinner party, the Jews would not have accused Him of being a drunkard as we read in Matthew 11:18–19:
18 For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ 19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and “sinners.”’ But wisdom is proved right by her actions.”
Anyway, there is nothing sinful about using wine during meals as some do but the sin associated with wine is that of drunkenness.
Drunkenness as a sin results from drinking too much wine. Thus, the situation in Corinth was because those who would not wait for others before eating the ordinary meal that preceded the Lord’s Supper were selfish, they consumed more than they should and so they became inebriated. In that condition they could not celebrate the Lord’s Supper in the spirit of such celebration. A person cannot be drunk and be filled of the Holy Spirit. This truth is conveyed by the fact that drunkenness is a manifestation of the control of the sinful nature as we read in Galatians 5:19–21:
19 The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
The control of the Holy Spirit implies that one’s mind is clear and not affected by loss of thought or control of oneself, something that is contrary to being drunk. It is probably in part because being drunk affects one’s mind or judgment that the Lord forbade the priests from drinking wine before attending to their duties in the tabernacle since they need not to be impaired in their minds as that would affect following the detailed instructions of what they should do in the Tent of Meeting as we read in Leviticus 10:9:
“You and your sons are not to drink wine or other fermented drink whenever you go into the Tent of Meeting, or you will die. This is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come.
In any event, it is our point that it is the sin of selfishness on the part of some in Corinth that would not wait for others before eating the meals that preceded the Lord’s Supper that led to the sin of drunkenness among them.
In any case, we have indicated that the criticism of the Corinthians regarding the fellowship meals that led to the Lord’s Supper may be summarize with the word “selfishness.” We considered two results of selfishness that are: Some of the believers in Corinth, especially the poor went hungry while the more affluent among them became drunk and certainly overfed. We have also stated that selfishness is part of our sinful nature, so to speak. Consequently, we need to explore what we should do to avoid selfishness as believers, especially as we interact with each other during our fellowship meals. Anyway, let me suggest ways we can avoid selfishness. When faced with situations that may cause you to be selfish, you should direct your thoughts to the word of God that tells you it is sinful to be selfish and follow that up with prayer. You will be doing something similar to the petition of the psalmist regarding selfish gain as we read in Psalm 119:36:
Turn my heart toward your statutes and not toward selfish gain.
When the psalmist prayed Turn my heart toward your statutes he was petitioning God to cause him to be focused or single minded with respect to the word of God described with the word “statutes.” His concern is that the Lord should cause him to be truly devoted to His word. This petition of the psalmist is one that recognizes that because of our sinful nature we do not take pleasure in the word of God. Our human nature is opposed to truth of God’s word. It is a petition that recognized that only God gives the right inclination to Him. Therefore, the psalmist’s prayer is really for the Lord to take away from him any obstacle that will keep him from focusing on His word so you should pray that the Lord will enable you not to ignore His word that forbids selfishness. The other aspect of the psalmist’s prayer concerns selfish gain as in the phrase and not toward selfish gain. The psalmist’s prayer is for the Lord to turn his attention away from being consumed with material things, especially, material things obtained in illegal manner or through violence. It is as we become engrossed in material things that we have the tendency to become selfish. So, as you apply the word of God you should petition Him to enable you avoid occupation with material things that will lead to selfishness.
Another thing you should do to ensure you do not become selfish is to make concerted effort through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit to reject the dictates of your sinful nature. This requires that you acknowledge that what you use to be as an unbeliever was in a sense put to death when Christ died for you on the cross as we may gather from Romans 6:6:
For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—
The fact that your old self or sinful nature was put to death when Christ died for you on the cross becomes a reality the moment you believed in Him. Therefore, you should conduct yourself in light of the fact that what you used to be as an unbeliever was put to death when Christ died for you. What you use to be is selfish. If that has been put to death when Christ died for you then you should resist any attempt to resurrect it by remaining faithful to the word of God and being under the leadership of the Holy Spirit. Of course, we should recognize that what was done with the sinful nature that is the seat of selfishness was to render it ineffective since the clause so that the body of sin might be done away with should be understood to mean that the sinful nature has been rendered ineffective so that it does not have the overwhelming power of almost compelling the believer to sin. No! Its power has been broken by the death of Christ on the cross. This being the case, you should not give it life or empower it by returning to what you used to be as an unbeliever. Resist its push to resurrect since you have the Holy Spirit to aid you. No wonder we are commanded to resist Satan, that no doubt works by trying to reactivate our sinful nature, with the promise that he will leave us alone momentarily as stated in James 4:7:
Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Thus, if we can resist the devil by standing up against him with the word of God then you can resist selfishness that he promotes; in this way, you will avoid selfishness.
Still another action you should take that would ensure that you would not become selfish is to love your fellow believer as per the command of the Lord Jesus in John 13:34:
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.
Love being a thought-action phenomenon means that you will think of your fellow believer and act accordingly. Consequently, you will be willing to share what you have with your fellow believers and in this way, you will avoid selfishness. Anyhow, what we have suggested as how to resist selfishness boils down to applying the word of God and so remaining under the control of the Holy Spirit. If you apply the word of God, you will remember that Jesus Christ set the example for us in that He did not think of self when He died for our sins as we read in Romans 15:3:
For even Christ did not please himself but, as it is written: “The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.”
All in all, you should strive to avoid selfishness as that impacts how you interact with others especially those of the family of God in Christ that are your brothers and sisters. Avoidance of selfishness is one way to reflect the mind of Jesus Christ which is necessary in the celebration of the Lord’s Supper. Hence, avoidance of selfishness is one way to meet the third responsibility which is to ensure that you have the spirit that characterizes the Lord’s Supper.