Lessons #385 and 386
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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!
We have now come to our last consideration of this section of 1 Corinthians 11:17-22. We stated that its message is: Think of other believers as you take your portion of food during fellowship meals of believers. We stated at the beginning of the section that 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 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. Consequently, 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 food one takes during the fellowship meals of believers. This assertion led 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. The spirit that characterized the Lord’s Supper we indicated is one that avoids selfishness.
The subject of selfishness was certainly the concern of Apostle Paul in what he wrote in verse 22. In effect, the apostle was concerned that selfishness was, in part, responsible for some believers in Corinth going hungry and others being drunk prior to the Lord’s Supper. This concern is reflected in our message that a believer should think of the portion of food the person takes during the fellowship meals as that will ensure that everyone gets something to eat so no one goes home hungry as such. A believer may be one that eats great quantities of food at one sitting but when that believer is in fellowship meal, the individual should curtail that practice to ensure everyone has at least gotten a little portion of food. We are saying that the fellowship meal should not be seen as a place where one eats the same quantity of food as the individual eats at home unless, of course, there is excess of food when everyone has had something to eat. The point we are stressing is one that the Holy Spirit did through the apostle to the Corinthians and so to the universal church of Christ. To the Corinthians they were to recognize that fellowship meals that lead up to the Lord’s Supper is not like having a dinner party in a person’s house. The two are different because of their purposes. Ordinary dinner party may be a way of showing off one’s wealth but fellowship meals that precede the Lord’s Supper is for showing the unity of believers in Christ.
Where in the passage we are studying that the apostle made the point that a believer should not eat the same quantity of food in the fellowship meal as the individual does at home unless there is excess food left? Someone may ask. The answer is that it is in the first rhetorical question of the apostle given in 1 Corinthians 11:22 Don’t you have homes to eat and drink in?
The translation of the NIV and a few other English versions hide or did not translate what I consider the key to recognizing that the rhetorical question the apostle used is one that is intended to make the point that believers should take small portions of food during the fellowship meals to ensure that everyone has something to eat before going for seconds. This key is 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.” Thus, the LEB began 1 Corinthians 11:22 with the word “for” indicating that the Greek conjunction is used as marker of cause or reason which is indeed correct since that is the general usage under which the apostle used the Greek conjunction in our verse. Specifically, the Greek conjunction when used with a question, as it is used in the verse we are considering, may be left untranslated although the word may be translated with “what! or why!” as reflected in some of our English versions such as the ESV and the NASB. To further reveal the function of the Greek conjunction as a marker of cause or reason, it could be translated “for what reason?” If this meaning is used, it enables us to explore what reason the apostle was referring to as he asked the rhetorical questions that follow. You see, the apostle ended verse 21 with the sentence One remains hungry, another gets drunk. So, the apostle was then asking why this should happen. In other words, what is the reason some go hungry while others get drunk. One of the reasons for this situation is that some took too much food or had more wine than they should so that there was not enough food left for others to eat or enough wine left for them to drink. This would have been avoided if those present were sensitive to the needs of others and so mindful of the portion of food and beverage available they took. Although we are focusing on portions of food one takes but we should not forget that the point the Holy Spirit through the apostle wants us to get is that of being sensitive to others. It is lack of sensitivity to the needs of others that causes us to be self-centered or selfish.
To ensure the Corinthians understood the apostle meant that those who attend the fellowship meal should have been conscious of the portion of food and beverage they took, he posed a rhetorical question that expected an answer that if properly understood would lead to the conclusion that he wanted the Corinthians to realize that the portion one takes in public gathering should be governed by concern for others not for a person to fill the individual’s stomach as the person would otherwise do when at home. The rhetorical question is given next in 1 Corinthians 11:22 Don’t you have homes to eat and drink in? Before I continue with this question, let me state that this question is probably one of the reasons that the fellowship meal that preceded the Lord’s Supper became disconnected with it so that believers’ love feast became an independent fellowship meal from the celebration of the Lord’s Supper. That aside, as we stated previously, this question expects the answer “yes” that is the reason that the NCV rendered it as a sentence You can eat and drink in your own homes! The ISV conveyed the same point that the rhetorical question demands the answer “yes” by using a tag question You have homes in which to eat and drink, don’t you? In any event, the apostle indicates that the Corinthians have homes to eat and drink as much as they wanted. By making this statement, the apostle meant to convey that when believers meet for fellowship meals that preceded the Lord’s Supper, they should not be thinking of filling up their stomach as they would if they ate in their houses but to be concerned that everyone has something to eat as such a meal is different from one that one partakes at home. This being the case, we are correct in stating the message as believers being careful in the portion of food they take to ensure that everyone in the meeting place has something to eat even if that means that a person is not filled up as the individual would in the person’s house. We are saying that the rhetorical question is intended to convey that you should curtail your appetite during the fellowship meals to ensure that every person present has had something to eat. This statement is in keeping with the advice given when one sits to eat with a ruler or an important individual, as we read in Proverbs 23:1–3:
1 When you sit to dine with a ruler, note well what is before you, 2and put a knife to your throat
if you are given to gluttony. 3 Do not crave his delicacies, for that food is deceptive.
The advice of verse 2 put a knife to your throat if you are given to gluttony means that you should restrain yourself if you are a person with big appetite when you are invited to eat with someone important or a ruler. As we have stated, this advice is one that a believer who attends a fellowship meal should adhere. You should be moderate in the portion of food you take until it is clear to you that everyone has at least gotten something to eat. If you are not filled up or have not satisfied your appetite, then you wait until you go home. This is because the purpose of fellowship meal is for believers to share with each other what they have both materially and spiritually. Thus, the apostle in his rhetorical question also wants believers to recognize that fellowship meals that precede the Lord’s Supper is not like an ordinary meal one takes at home. Even if the house used for the fellowship meal belonged to one of the members of the local church, the person should still not think of the person’s house as the individual would do normally since when believers gather to worship, whatever space they use has become holy in the sense of being devoted to the Lord. By the way, although we have been laboring about the portion one takes, there is an important spiritual issue that is involved, which is, avoidance of selfishness or positively being sensitive to other believers’ needs as we interact with each other. With this comment we have finished our exposition of the second assertion 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. So, we come to the third assertion of this passage and its resultant responsibilities.
The third assertion of the passage we are considering is that there are actions a believer should avoid especially during the fellowship meals of believers. This assertion leads to the fourth and fifth responsibilities a believer must carry out to ensure that the overall message of this section is carried out which again is: Think of other believers as you take your portion of food during fellowship meals of believers.
A fourth responsibility that you have as a believer regarding the message of this section is to ensure that you do nothing that could be interpreted to mean that you are looking down on the church of Christ with contempt. This responsibility is derived from the first part of the second rhetorical question of 1 Corinthians 11:22 Or do you despise the church of God…? This first part of the second rhetorical question, according to the NIV, although a negative expression is intended to enhance the point of the apostle regarding being concerned about other believers during the fellowship meal that should be evident in controlling one’s appetite until everyone has at least gotten something to eat. In effect, we are saying that this first part of the second rhetorical question is intended to cause a believer to recognize further the impact of the action of failure to be sensitive to others during the fellowship meal. Our reason for saying that the first part of the second rhetorical question is intended to enhance the apostle’s point to the Corinthians regarding being sensitive to other believers during the fellowship meal is because of the word “or” that begins the first part of the second rhetorical question. The word “or” is translated from a Greek particle (ē) that depending on how it is accented may be considered as either a marker of alternative with the meaning “or” or it may be considered an adverb that serves as a marker of affirmation with the meaning “truly, assuredly, certainly.” Because the apostle followed the first rhetorical question by a second, the particle is used to introduce a second question that may be viewed either as being parallel to the first question or supplements it. The context suggests that the apostle used it to supplement his point in the first question.
The supplement to what the apostle said about being sensitive to others regarding the portion one takes during the fellowship meal is that insensitivity to other believers would be understood as acting wrongly towards the church of God as in the expression of the first part of the second rhetorical question of 1 Corinthians 11:22 Or do you despise the church of God…? What is it the apostle intended to say in this expression? To answer this question, let us first understand what the apostle means in the use of “despise.”
The word “despise” is translated from a Greek word (kataphroneō) that may mean to look down on someone or something with contempt or aversion, with implication that one considers the object of little value. Hence, the word may mean “to treat with contempt” as the word is used by Apostle Paul in his question to those who are hypocritical, in that they teach one thing and do another, if they think lightly of God because He does not punish them immediately since He is very kind to them as we read in Romans 2:4:
Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you toward repentance?
The word may mean “to look down on” as it is used in the encouragement of the Holy Spirit through Apostle Paul to Timothy not to allow those in the local church, he was pastoring, to look down on him as we read in 1 Timothy 4:12:
Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.
The word may mean “to despise” as Apostle Peter used it to describe those who will be met with God’s punishment as those that show no respect for God’s authority in that they do not obey His word as we read in 2 Peter 2:10:
This is especially true of those who follow the corrupt desire of the sinful nature and despise authority. Bold and arrogant, these men are not afraid to slander celestial beings.
The word may mean to consider something not important enough to be an object of concern when evaluated against something else and so means “to care nothing for, disregard, be unafraid of.” This is the sense the word is used to indicate that Jesus Christ was not afraid or concerned with the shame of the cross when He died for our sins although the NIV used the meaning “to scorn” to translate our Greek word in Hebrews 12:2:
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
The verbal phrase of the NIV scorning its shame is rendered in the NET and a handful of English versions as disregarding its shame. This translation better describes what the human author wanted to convey regarding the attitude of Jesus Christ as He went to the cross to die for our sins. In our passage of 1 Corinthians 11:22, the Greek word has the sense of “to despise,” that is, to look down on with contempt or “to treat with disinterest.”
The object of looking down or treating with disinterest by a believer who is insensitive to some members of the house churches during their fellowship meal regarding their going hungry is given in the phrase of 1 Corinthians 11:22 the church of God. To understand what is meant in this phrase we should understand the word “church.” It is translated from a Greek word (ekklēsia) that we have considered in detail in a past study, but I will review 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 at Athens, 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 used the word “church,” but the NKJV used the word “congregation.” The word in the sense of referring to people with shared belief is used predominantly in the Scripture in six different ways.
First, it is used in the Septuagint relating to the word “Lord” to describe the assembly of the people of God, that is, Israel, as it is used in the Greek translation of the Septuagint of Deuteronomy 23:2:
No one born of a forbidden marriage nor any of his descendants may enter the assembly of the LORD, even down to the tenth generation.
The phrase the assembly of the LORD refers to the Lord’s people or the people of God. That aside, the word “assembly” is translated from a Hebrew word (qāhāl) that is a general word for assembly, but it is this word that is translated in the Septuagint with the Greek word that is given the meaning “church.” Even without the use of the word “Lord,” the Greek word used in the Septuagint refers to the congregation of believers in OT, as it is used by the psalmist in Septuagint of Psalm 22:22:
I will declare your name to my brothers; in the congregation I will praise you.
Second, it is used to describe God’s people, whether in heaven or on earth, who have believed or who will believe in Christ, whose names are recorded in heaven. Jesus used the word to describe a community of believers that will exist after His death on the cross, as we read in Matthew 18:17:
If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector.
The reason we stated that Jesus viewed the church as a community of future believers is that the preceding two verses speak of one brother or two more brothers who are believers that are involved with settling of a matter of wronging another, as we read in Matthew 18:15–16:
15 “If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. 16 But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’
Since the instruction of the Lord is to take the matter to the church if no resolution is achieved with two or three brothers, then it must be that church is viewed as the larger community of believers that is future from the time Jesus declared the words of Matthew 18:17. That aside, the word “church” is used to refer to God’s people with focus on Christians on this planet as that is the sense the word is used in Hebrews 12:23:
to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect,
The phrase church of the firstborn of Hebrews 12:23 is a reference to all God’s people but with focus on believers in Christ since the cross. Of course, there are those who interpret it as a reference to all believers living or dead or a reference to Old Testament believers. This notwithstanding, it is because there is a clear reference to believers in heaven in this passage that we are convinced that the phrase church of the firstborn refers to all believers who are still on this planet, that is, believers in the universal church of God that are still on this planet. The class of believers the author mentioned in Hebrews 12:23 to the spirits of righteous men made perfect is clearly a reference to believers already in heaven that will certainly include OT believers.
Third, our Greek word translated “church” is used to designate the totality of believers in Christ, living and meeting in a specific locality or larger geographical area, but not necessarily limited to one meeting place. Thus, it is used to describe the believers of the early church in Jerusalem, as we read in Acts 8:1:
And Saul was there, giving approval to his death. On that day a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria.
The church here, no doubt, refers to believers in Christ since we are informed that except for the apostles, the rest of the church was scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. Only people, not a building, as some use the word church, can be scattered to different locations. There is the indication that believers met at different houses, as implied in Acts 8:3:
But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off men and women and put them in prison.
Fourth, our Greek word translated “church” is used to designate the gathering of believers for discussion of matters of concern to the community of believers or for worship. Hence, believers who gathered in Jerusalem to deal with the concern of Apostles Paul and Barnabas about the relationship of Gentile believers to the Law that gave the guided directives to Gentile believers, were described as the church in Acts 15:22:
Then the apostles and elders, with the whole church, decided to choose some of their own men and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They chose Judas (called Barsabbas) and Silas, two men who were leaders among the brothers.
It is in this same sense that Apostle Paul described the gathering of the believers in Corinth for worship that involves the celebration of the Lord’s Supper 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.
Fifth, our Greek word translated “church” is used to designate the global community of believers or the whole body of those who have believed in Christ regardless of where they are located. This is often referred to as “the universal church.” It is in this sense that the word is used by Apostle Paul in Ephesians 1:22:
And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church,
Christ is the head of the church not only in the sense of a local assembly of believers, but in the sense of the assembly of believers everywhere and at all times.
Sixth, our Greek word translated “church” is used to designate believers as an assembly that belongs to God or to Christ or to both. It is used to describe the assembly of believers that belong to Christ in Romans 16:16:
Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ send greetings.
It is used to describe the assembly of believers who belong to God in 1 Corinthians 11:16:
If anyone wants to be contentious about this, we have no other practice—nor do the churches of God.
We have examined the various ways the Greek word translated “church” is used in the NT, so the question is in what sense did the apostle use it in 1 Corinthians 11:22? It is used in the sense of the assembly of those who have believed in Jesus Christ for their eternal salvation. Thus, the sentence of 1 Corinthians 11:22 you despise the church of God means disrespecting the assembly of believers in Christ or treating them with disinterest. The implication is that a believer guilty of this has indeed shown lack of respect for God whose church is assembled in the name of Jesus Christ. It cannot be a good thing not to respect God. A person cannot claim to respect or love God while the individual shows no respect or hates those who are believers in Christ. So, if during the fellowship meal a person looks down on other believers as evident in not caring whether they have something to eat so as not to go home hungry, that person has shown utter contempt to the Lord, something no believer should ever do. There is another way a person despises the church of Christ in nothing showing respect for it, it is if a person refuses to join the fellowship meals of believers. Such a person not only breaks the unity of believers but has shown that the individual is not interested in being part of the body of Christ to which the person belongs. Anyway, a fourth responsibility that you have as a believer regarding the message of this section is to ensure that you do nothing that could be interpreted to mean that you are looking down on the church of Christ with contempt. In effect, you should not act towards any member of the local church in a way that implies that you do not care about them as that is tantamount to not caring about the Lord of the church, the Lord Jesus. This brings us to the fifth responsibility.
A fifth responsibility that you have as a believer regarding the message of this section that is related to the fourth is to ensure that you do not act in a way to put a fellow believer to shame during the fellowship meal that precedes the Lord’s Supper. This responsibility is derived from the second expression of the second rhetorical question of 1 Corinthians 11:22 and humiliate those who have nothing? Our reason for stating that the fifth responsibility is related to the fourth is because the conjunction “and” used in the second expression is translated from a Greek conjunction (kai) that while the meaning “and” is possible but the apostle probably used it either to elaborate on what it means to despise, that is, treat the church of God with contempt or it is used to give the result of treating the church of God with contempt. It is probably the case that both interpretations are intended in that the expression we are considering explains and gives the result of the action of treating the church of God with contempt.
Treating the church of God with contempt is evident in how a believer treats other believers either during the fellowship meal or its avoidance altogether. Thus, the action that is to be avoided is given in the word humiliate. This word is translated from a Greek word (kataischynō) that may mean “to put to shame” as it is used in Apostle Paul’s quotation of OT Scripture in support of the state of the person who believes in Christ in Romans 10:11:
As the Scripture says, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”
The word may mean “to disappoint” as it is used by Apostle Paul to describe what hope never produces in Romans 5:5:
And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.
In our passage of 1 Corinthians 11:22, the word is used in the sense of “to put to shame,” that is, to humiliate or fail to respect someone. By the way, you should be aware that there is the suggestion that humiliating a person is an active expression of contempt for that individual.
Our asserting that the Greek word translated “humiliate” in the NIV of the verse we are considering has the sense of “to put to shame” leads us to consider further the subject of shame. The word “shame” is related to the word “embarrassment” so that our Greek word was translated “embarrass” by the translators of the NIV in describing what Apostle Paul would not want to happen after he had boasted about the Corinthians to Titus as we read in 2 Corinthians 7:14:
I had boasted to him about you, and you have not embarrassed me. But just as everything we said to you was true, so our boasting about you to Titus has proved to be true as well.
Anyway, the word “shame” and “embarrassment” are related as one may determine by consulting a good English dictionary. The Dictionary of Bible Themes defines “shame” as “An uncomfortable feeling of guilt and humiliation, usually arising from sin or failure” while it defines “embarrassment” as “A state of discomfort and shame, caused by a sense of guilt over something that has been said or done.” Our focus is on “shame” although both shame and embarrassment may cause a person to behave badly or to get involved in further sin.
We should emphasize that legitimate shame should be a result of sin or failure on the part of a person. You see, there are situations in life that ancient people or even today in some cultures feel a sense of shame. For example, being childless was a reason a woman felt ashamed, but that shame is removed by having a child as Rachel testified in Genesis 30:23:
She became pregnant and gave birth to a son and said, “God has taken away my disgrace.”
The shame caused by childlessness was also evident in the NT time as we learn from the declaration of Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist, when she became pregnant as we may learn from Luke 1:25:
“The Lord has done this for me,” she said. “In these days he has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people.”
Based on the definition of “shame” that we have adopted, it does not seem proper to me that a person should feel shame for a situation a person has nothing to do to bring it about, such as childlessness unless, of course, a person has something to do with it through sinful conduct of sexual immorality that results in being childness.
It is our assertion that sin or failure is a legitimate reason for having a sense of shame. The sin that should bring a sense of shame to us could be our sin or that of others related to us. Thus, the priest, Ezra, was ashamed because of the sin of Israel as we read in Ezra 9:6:
and prayed: “O my God, I am too ashamed and disgraced to lift up my face to you, my God, because our sins are higher than our heads and our guilt has reached to the heavens.
Proverbs tells us that sin brings shame/disgrace to people as we read in Proverbs 14:34:
Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.
It is because sin should cause one to be ashamed that the Holy Spirit through Apostle Paul conveys the fact that for believers, sinful conduct of the past if repeated as believers would bring shame as implied in Romans 6:20–21:
20 When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. 21 What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death!
The point is that sin should be a legitimate reason for feeling a sense of shame and not something that a person experiences that the individual has not caused to exist.
Why should sin cause shame? It is first because shame could be a deterrent to sin. If sin brings shame, then one becomes more conscious of sin in that the person would want to avoid what will bring shame. No one likes to be put in a position of feeling shame. This we can derive from the psalmist’s prayer to the Lord to ensure that he is not put to shame by his enemies as we read in Psalm 25:2:
in you I trust, O my God. Do not let me be put to shame, nor let my enemies triumph over me.
We are saying that shame could be a deterrent to sin. A person who lives in obedience to God’s word should have no feeling of shame. It is for this reason that the psalmist prayed for the Lord to enable him to be obedient to God’s word as that is a way to escape shame as we may gather from Psalm 119:80:
May my heart be blameless toward your decrees, that I may not be put to shame.
The point is that shame should serve as a deterrent to sin. The reason we have brazen sinful conduct in this country and many other countries of the world is because of loss of sense of shame. Note what the psalmist stated in Psalm 12:8:
The wicked freely strut about when what is vile is honored among men.
When there is a general loss of sense of shame then the moral compass of the nation becomes misdirected. This lack of sense of shame that we experience today is not new since God through His ancient prophet conveyed that truth as recorded in Jeremiah 6:15:
Are they ashamed of their loathsome conduct? No, they have no shame at all; they do not even know how to blush. So they will fall among the fallen; they will be brought down when I punish them,” says the LORD.
Anyway, shame should be a deterrent to sin although the fear of God or love for Him should be the ultimate reason to strive to avoid sin. Another reason sin should cause shame is that if there is shame then there would be a genuine repentance towards sin. This reason is implied in what the Holy Spirit stated through Apostle Paul about the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 7:9–11:
9 yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us. 10 Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. 11 See what this godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what concern, what readiness to see justice done. At every point you have proved yourselves to be innocent in this matter.
It is because shame should lead to repentance that the Holy Spirit wants believers to avoid fellow believers who live sinful lives as implied in 2 Thessalonians 3:14:
If anyone does not obey our instruction in this letter, take special note of him. Do not associate with him, in order that he may feel ashamed.
Because of these reasons we have given, shame due to sin serves us well.
In any case, understanding that we should be ashamed only because of sinful conduct should cause us not to be easily embarrassed by people’s conduct towards us. For example, if people try to shame you for doing what is right, you should not have a sense of shame. No wonder Apostle Paul could say that he is not ashamed of preaching the gospel as we read in Romans 1:16:
I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.
Our assertion that you should only be ashamed of sin if understood would mean that what people say to you that could cause shame or cause embarrassment should not if there is no sin involved on your part. If this truth was understood in Corinth, some of those in Corinth during the fellowship meal might not have felt humiliated. The reason they are being put to shame is that they are poor as implied in the clause of 1 Corinthians 11:22 those who have nothing. Literally, the Greek reads the ones not having. The literal reading indicates the apostle did not specify what those who were put to shame did not have. Thus, some take those described as those not having houses. That’s possible but unlikely. It is more likely that the literal phrase is equivalent to the expression “the have-nots,” people who have few material things. The context suggests that the individuals in view had no food or brought no food to the fellowship meal. This would probably be because they were poor that they could not afford to bring any food. If a person is poor that is not necessarily a reason to be ashamed unless, of course, such poverty is due to failure on the part of an individual. There are several reasons a person could be poor. Poverty could be due to laziness or idleness on a part of an individual as we read in Proverbs 6:10–11:
10A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest— 11and poverty will come on you like a bandit and scarcity like an armed man.
Poverty could be due to sinful life of overindulgent in sensual pleasures as implied in Proverbs 21:17:
He who loves pleasure will become poor; whoever loves wine and oil will never be rich.
Of course, ultimately God is one that brings poverty as we read in 1 Samuel 2:7:
The LORD sends poverty and wealth; he humbles and he exalts.
If a person is poor not because of slothfulness or sinful living, then there is no reason to be ashamed of poverty. Thus, if the poor believers in Corinth during the fellowship meals understood this, they would not have allowed others to put them to shame by accepting their conduct towards them as reason to become ashamed. Anyway, although people should resist feeling humiliated by something that is not sinful, but believers should not do anything that would cause fellow believers, especially during the fellowship meals to feel inferior or worthless before God.
In any case, the apostle having stated that believers in Corinth should not be self-centered and should not humiliate the poor during their fellowship meals that leads to the Lord’s Supper, ends the criticisms he brought against the Corinthians by recapping what he stated in verse 17 of not praising the Corinthians. This recap he did with two more rhetorical questions in verse 22. The first is What should I say to you? This requires a negative answer indicating there is nothing positive the apostle could say to the Corinthians regarding their conduct during their fellowship meals. The second rhetorical is Should I praise you for this? This also demands a negative answer that indicates the apostle could not praise them. To ensure that the Corinthians understood the apostle perceived their conduct during their fellowship meals as not worthy of commendation, he makes a strong statement that the NIV translates Certainly not! Literally, the Greek reads In this I praise (you) not. The demonstrative pronoun this that appears in the Greek as part of the last assertion of the verse but made part of the second rhetorical question in the NIV, is intended to indicate that while the apostle praised the Corinthians at other times, he could not do so with the specific case that involves their fellowship meals that ends in the Lord’s Supper. Recall the apostle had praised the Corinthians for holding to what he taught them as we considered in 1 Corinthians 11:2:
I praise you for remembering me in everything and for holding to the teachings, just as I passed them on to you.
So, it is not like that the apostle had nothing good to say about the Corinthians, but he wanted to ensure they understood that his criticism of them concerns the way they approached their fellowship meals that preceded the Lord’s Supper. The apostle’s statement in literal Greek In this I praise (you) not which is very strong statement in the Greek, enables us to understand that a pastor should commend the congregation in what they do well but criticize them where they are lacking. You see, most of us want to hear praises heaped upon us but not criticisms. That is a wrong attitude. We should be open to praise as well as to criticism since it helps us to improve our spiritual life. Nonetheless, we contend that a pastor should praise the congregation when that is called for but criticize them when that is needed. For example, you have heard me several times commend this congregation for their dedication to studying the word of God and doing everything to avoid rancor. However, I have been criticizing us that we have not attained the kind of relationship with each other that indicates the unity in the body of Christ as we should. In any event, let me end this section of 1 Corinthians 11:17-22 by reminding you the message we have expounded, which is: Think of other believers as you take your portion of food during fellowship meals of believers. Remember that the message is not merely concerned with food as it is to cause us to avoid being self-centered, so we are not insensitive to others. So let me remind you of the fourth and fifth responsibilities we have considered. The fourth responsibility you have as a believer regarding the message of this section is to ensure that you do nothing that could be interpreted to mean that you are looking down on the church of Christ with contempt. In effect, you should not act towards any member of the local church in a way that implies that you do not care about them as that is tantamount to not caring about the Lord of the church, the Lord Jesus. The fifth responsibility that you have as a believer regarding the message of this section that is related to the fourth is to ensure that you do not act in a way to put a fellow believer to shame during the fellowship meal that precedes the Lord’s Supper.
01/28//22