Lessons #387 and 388
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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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Description of Institution of the Lord’s Supper (1 Cor 11:23-25)
23 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.”
It is usually the case that when we do not have solid grounding about any subject, we will not be able to have a grasp of its application to other areas of related subject matter or we will not be able to understand advanced topics related to that subject area. Take for example, engineering students do not begin immediately they enter engineering school to design objects in their various disciplines. They take various courses that prepare them to be ready to learn how to design. Take another example, a medical student who enters a medical school wanting to become a surgeon does not immediately begin to do operations without going through series of elementary courses that prepare such a person to learn how to operate on patients. This truth of being grounded in the basic of a subject matter is applicable in the spiritual life. Thus, the human author of Hebrews recognized that it is necessary that one understands basic doctrines of the Christian faith before such a person could advance to higher doctrinal truths that enable advancement in the spiritual life. It is for this reason that he referenced the necessity of coming back to the fundamental doctrines of the Christian faith if God permitted him to do so as we read in Hebrews 6:1–3:
1Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, 2 instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. 3 And God permitting, we will do so.
The elementary teachings the human author mentioned are the fundamental doctrines of the Christian faith although he assumed the recipients have been taught these but that there was need for a periodic review of the doctrines. Anyway, what we are saying is that if a person does not have a firm grasp of the basis for a particular doctrine of the Christian faith the individual would not grasp its application in various areas of life.
Apostle Paul had made previous references to the Lord’s Supper in this epistle to the Corinthians. As he discoursed the subject of idolatry, he referenced the Lord’s Supper by mentioning the two elements used in its celebration as we read in1 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.
He referenced the Lord’s Supper as he discoursed the abuse or the failure of some in the church of Corinth regarding the fellowship meal that preceded the Lord’s Supper in 1 Corinthians 11:20:
When you come together, it is not the Lord’s Supper you eat.
In both references, the apostle assumed, correctly, that the Corinthians knew about the Lord’s Supper since they practiced it. However, he realized that maybe the Corinthians had forgotten the fundamental truth about the Lord’s Supper or that some of them do not recognize its origin hence their sloppy attitude towards it. To ensure that the Corinthians are properly grounded regarding the doctrine of the Lord’s Supper, the apostle proceeded to deal with it in more details. So, he first described the origin of the celebration in verses 23 to 25 and then he gave doctrinal exposition on the subject in verses 26 to 34. Understanding both areas of the doctrine of the Lord’s Supper should cause the Corinthians and so all believers to approach the celebration of the Lord’s Supper correctly. We begin with the apostle’s teaching on the origin or the institution of the celebration of the Lord’s Supper.
It is often the case in the apostle’s epistles that what he addresses result from failure among the recipients of his epistles. For example, there have been several doctrinal matters the apostle had dealt with in this epistle because of the failures of the Corinthians. He had dealt with the doctrine of marriage and sexual relationships in it because of the failure that were occurring among the Corinthians. He had dealt with doctrine of believer’s freedom in dealing with other believers because some in Corinth had misunderstood it and so were not caring for the weakness of those who do not have the same level of spiritual maturity that they attained. In the preceding section of this eleventh chapter, the apostle dealt with the misconduct of some in Corinth during the fellowship meal that precedes the Lord’s Supper as that was the practice of the early church. As we stated previously, it is probably because of what the apostle addressed in the previous section and in verses 33 and 34 of our present chapter that led to separate the Lord’s Supper from the fellowship meal or the love feast. That aside, it is the failure of some in Corinth regarding the fellowship meal that preceded the Lord’s Supper that caused the apostle to criticize them and to give them as we may say a history lesson regarding the origin of the Lord’s Supper. We say this because verse 23 begins with the word for that is translated from 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 or explanation regarding the apostle’s history lesson about the institution of the Lord’s Supper. His explanation is intended to convey to the Corinthians the reason they should not do anything that devalues the Lord’s Supper is because of its history.
The history lesson the apostle gave in the passage we are about to consider regarding the institution of the Lord’s Supper focused on two major issues, the source as well as timing of its institution and the two elements involved in its celebration. Thus, the message the apostle wants to convey to the Corinthians and the universal church of Christ is this: You should understand that the Lord’s Supper was instituted by the Lord Jesus that involves two elements in its celebration, with significances.
The explanation of the apostle regarding the history lesson about the institution of the Lord’s Supper begins with him being emphatic of how he came to the knowledge of this history. For he stated in 1 Corinthians 11:23 I received from the Lord. This is an emphatic statement because the apostle introduced a personal pronoun “I” that is not necessary since Greek verb forms contain in it the person speaking, that is, whether it is the first, second or third person that is involved. Thus, when an additional personal pronoun is used, the purpose is for emphasis. Hence, the apostle emphasized that he learned the information he gave in this section from the Lord.
The word “receive” is translated from a Greek verb (paralambanō) that may mean “to take with or along” as in the advice given to Apostle Paul by the elders in Jerusalem to help quell the charge of the Jews against him that he was teaching the Jews who lived among the Gentiles to abandon Mosaic Law as we read in Acts 21:24:
Take these men, join in their purification rites and pay their expenses, so that they can have their heads shaved. Then everybody will know there is no truth in these reports about you, but that you yourself are living in obedience to the law.
The word may mean “to accept” as Apostle Paul used it to describe the gospel message that the Galatians had accepted from him that should be the standard of comparing whatever anyone preaches in the name of the gospel of Jesus Christ in Galatians 1:9:
As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!
The word may mean “to receive” a task or an assignment such as the ministry as it is used in the instruction of the apostle to Archippus as stated in Colossians 4:17:
Tell Archippus: “See to it that you complete the work you have received in the Lord.”
But when something is to be received in the mind, such as instruction it could mean “to learn” or “to instruct” as Apostle Paul used it for the teaching he conveyed to the Thessalonians as we read in 1 Thessalonians 4:1:
Finally, brothers, we instructed you how to live in order to please God, as in fact you are living. Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more.
The sentence we instructed you how to live is literally you have received from us how it is necessary for you to live. The standard Greek English lexicon (BDAG) suggested that the Greek may be translated you have learned from us how you ought to comport yourselves so that the Greek word that means “to receive” has the meaning “to learn.” In our passage of 1 Corinthians 11:23, it is used with the meaning “to receive” of a tradition in the form of authoritative teaching from approved source.
The source of what the apostle wrote to the Corinthians that we will get to shortly is the Lord Jesus because of the phrase of 1 Corinthians 11:23 from the Lord. The word “Lord” refers to Jesus Christ. First, it is because when the apostle used the word “Lord” and he is not quoting from OT Scripture, he usually means Jesus Christ. Second, the context of what the apostle wrote in the section we are studying gives no other possible interpretation other than the apostle referred to Jesus Christ as his source.
The idea of source is due to the word “from” that is translated from a Greek preposition (apo) that certainly means “from.” It could mean source from which something is perceived or learned as it is used by Apostle Paul to remind the Colossians that they learned truth from Epaphras, as we read in Colossians 1:7:
You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf.
The meaning “from” may indicate the originator of an action denoted by an associated verb. For example, it is used to convey that the Jewish authorities that tried Jesus Christ heard directly from Him regarding His identity as the Son of God according to Luke 22:71:
Then they said, “Why do we need any more testimony? We have heard it from his own lips.”
In our passage, the Greek preposition is used in the sense that Jesus Christ is the source of the information Apostle Paul wrote.
The question, of course, is how to interpret the phrase of 1 Corinthians 11:23 from the Lord. In other words, how did the apostle receive the information he referenced in the section we are considering? Two answers have been given by interpreters. A first answer is that the apostle received it indirectly from the Lord by being taught by other people what the Lord had taught them. A support for this position is that the word “from” is translated not from a Greek preposition (para) that the apostle often used for direct communication as in his direct communication to the Thessalonians in 1 Thessalonians 2:13:
And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is at work in you who believe.
Another passage that is used to support that the apostle did not use his normal Greek preposition that means “from” in a direct communication is 2 Thessalonians 3:6:
In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers, to keep away from every brother who is idle and does not live according to the teaching you received from us.
Granting that a different Greek preposition is used in these two passages and two others (Galatians 1:12, 1 Thessalonians 4:1) cited by those with this view, but because there is at least one passage (Colossians 1:7 we cited previously) where the Greek preposition used in 1 Corinthians 11:23 is used for direct communication from a teacher to recipients of the communication as that between Epaphras and the Colossians as the apostle indicated, the argument based on the apostle’s use of a different Greek preposition from the Greek preposition he used to indicate direct communication is not a strong one.
A second answer is that the apostle received his information directly from the Lord Jesus. It is this interpretation that I believe to be intended by the apostle. In effect, the apostle indicated that the Lord Jesus is the direct source of his information although what he wrote was information that the apostles of Jesus Christ heard directly from Him. We are saying that the apostle in the phrase from the Lord did not mean that he received what he wrote here from any other apostle but that he received directly from the Lord by revelation. An important support for this position is that the Apostle added a statement of remembrance involved in the celebration of the Lord’s Supper that was not given in the accounts of Mathew and Mark but found in Luke that was considered one who wrote his gospel to reflect the perspective of Apostle Paul. Anyhow, the apostle made the kind of claim of receiving information directly from the Lord Jesus as the apostles who were eyewitnesses made. For example, consider the claim of Apostle John in the introduction of his first epistle regarding the message he wrote in his epistle, as recorded in 1 John 1:5:
This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.
Anyway, Apostle Paul implied that what he wrote in the section of 1 Corinthians 11:23-25 that we are considering is by revelation. This is not the only place the apostle claimed to have received his information directly from the Lord Jesus. He assured the Galatians that the gospel he preached was not something any human taught him but what he received by revelation from the Lord Jesus Christ as indicated in Galatians 1:12:
I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.
By the way, as we cited previously, this is one of the verses those who hold to the first interpretation cite since the word “from” in this verse is from a different Greek preposition than the one the apostle used in 1 Corinthians 11:23. That aside, the apostle informed the Ephesians that the secret teaching of the equality of believers in Christ that he referred as “mystery” was given to him by revelation from the Holy Spirit as we may gather from Ephesians 3:3–8:
3 that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly. 4 In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, 5 which was not made known to men in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets. 6 This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.7 I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of his power. 8 Although I am less than the least of all God’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,
Thus, it should not be difficult to accept that when the apostle wrote in 1 Corinthians 11:23 I received from the Lord that he meant he received direct communication from the Lord Jesus. As we stated previously, the apostle was emphatic in this sentence. Again, the reason is that he wanted to convey to the Corinthians that what he was about to state was not something received second hand but from the Lord Jesus directly. You see, if the apostle had received what he wrote here from others, it is possible that the reliability of the information may be questioned in the sense that someone may say, how can we be sure that the apostle had not added or twitted that information to suit his purpose. However, by receiving the information directly from the Lord Jesus, the apostle was not in a position to alter anything to remain faithful to his source, the Lord Jesus.
The apostle did not tell us when he received the information that he was about to describe. He used an aorist tense in the Greek for the word “received” to indicate that what he stated is a fact, so he was not concerned with providing the time he received the information. Although we cannot be certain when the apostle received the information that he described in the passage we are studying, it is very likely that it occurred during the time he went to Arabia following his conversion to meditate about what it all means as he stated in Galatians 1:17:
nor did I go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was, but I went immediately into Arabia and later returned to Damascus.
Since the apostle did not consult the other apostles in Jerusalem before he went to Arabia, he would not have known what he wrote in the passage we are studying from them. Furthermore, it was at least three years after his conversion that he contacted them as he stated also in Galatians 1:18:
Then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to get acquainted with Peter and stayed with him fifteen days.
This notwithstanding, the point we are stressing is that the apostle probably received the information he wrote in the passage we are studying during the time he was in Arabia soon after he was converted.
The information Apostle Paul received from the Lord is introduced in the clause of 1 Corinthians 11:23 what I also passed on to you. The word “what” refers to the information the apostle was about to state. The word “passed” is translated from a Greek verb (paradidōmi) that may mean “to betray” as it is used in Jesus’ statement regarding the arrangements to hand Him over to the Jewish religious authorities as recorded in Matthew 20:18:
“We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death
The word may mean “to hand down” as in the charge trumped against Stephen as we read in Acts 6:14:
For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs Moses handed down to us.”
The word may mean “to commit” as it is used to describe the action of church in Antioch when they sent Paul and Barnabas on a missionary trip as we read in Acts 14:26:
From Attalia they sailed back to Antioch, where they had been committed to the grace of God for the work they had now completed.
The word may mean “to entrust” as Apostle Paul used it to describe obedience of the Roman believers regarding the teaching they received as stated in Romans 6:17:
But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted.
The word may mean “to pass on to another what one knows, of oral or written tradition” with various nuances. Thus, the word means “to pass down” as Apostle Paul used it to describe the gospel message he passed on to the Corinthians, according to 1 Corinthians 15:3:
For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
This meaning of “to pass down” is also used to describe the commands of the Lord as Apostle Peter conveyed in warning believers about apostasy or departure from the truth and a return to a life of sin in 2 Peter 2:21:
It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them.
In our passage of 1 Corinthians 11:23, the word is used in the sense of “to pass on to another what one knows, of oral or written tradition” hence the apostle handed to the Corinthians an authoritative teaching regarding the tradition of the Lord’s Supper.
The apostle referenced something that occurred in the past in the sentence I also passed on to you. This is because the word “passed” is translated from an aorist tense in the Greek. The use of such a tense is not merely to state what is factual but to convey that what the apostle referenced is something that happened in the past. In effect, the apostle passed on to them the tradition of the Lord’s Supper. He certainly did this during his missionary work with them since the apostle spent some time in Corinth not only evangelizing but teaching those who were saved during his ministry after the Lord encouraged him to do so as we read in Acts 18:9–11:
9 One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision: “Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent. 10 For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city.” 11 So Paul stayed for a year and a half, teaching them the word of God.
Although we do not have any direct instruction from the Scripture regarding the frequency of the celebration of the Lord’s Supper, it would be difficult to imagine the apostle went that long without celebrating the Lord’s Supper with fellow believers. Thus, we contend that it was during his mission work in Corinth that he passed to them the tradition regarding the Lord’s Supper.
Be that as it may, Apostle Paul began his narrative of the institution of the Lord’ Supper by indicating that it was directly from the Lord Jesus so that he began with the phrase of 1 Corinthians 11:23 The Lord Jesus. This phrase is a favorite of the apostle in describing Jesus Christ since he used it more than any of the human authors of our NT epistles. The phrase as it stands without the addition of the word “Christ” is primarily found in Acts and the epistles of Apostle Paul. The phrase without the word “Christ” to describe Jesus appears only twice in the gospels. The first is in a passage that is considered as not being in the original, used to describe Jesus after His resurrection, that is, in Mark 16:19:
After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up into heaven and he sat at the right hand of God.
The second appearance of the phrase the Lord Jesus in the gospel was also after His resurrection as we read in Luke 24:3:
but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.
The next usage of the phrase the Lord Jesus is in Luke’s second book, that is, in Acts, as he reported Peter’s speech to the disciples of Jesus Christ regarding the replacement of Judas Iscariot as recorded in Acts 1:21:
Therefore it is necessary to choose one of the men who have been with us the whole time the Lord Jesus went in and out among us,
Stephen used the phrase the Lord Jesus to describe the One to whom he addressed his prayer before his death as we read in Acts 7:59:
While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”
Outside of the usage of the phrase the Lord Jesus in Acts and in the epistles of Apostle Paul, it occurs three other times in the rest of the NT in concluding portions of the book in which it appears. The human author of Hebrews used it in his benediction as we read in Hebrews 13:20:
May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep,
Apostle John used it twice in response to the message he received about the second coming of Jesus and in his benediction in Revelation 22:20–21:
20 He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.”
Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. 21 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people. Amen.
Apart from these usages we have cited outside of the Gospels and Acts, the phrase the Lord Jesus, as we have stated previously, is primarily found in the epistles of Apostle Paul.
Apostle Paul used the phrase the Lord Jesus several times because to him, it is imperative to emphasize the importance of Jesus Christ in our salvation. This we can see in his gospel preaching where he kept drawing attention to his hearers of the necessity of faith in Him for eternal salvation. Thus, when he mentioned his preaching activities to Jews and Gentiles, he conveyed that his focus was on their believing in the Lord Jesus as we read in Acts 20:21:
I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus.
The relationship between the word “Lord” and “Jesus” was seared in his mind following the appearance of Jesus to him on his way to Damascus to persecute Christians and identifying Himself as Jesus, the Lord of Christians, as we read Acts 9:5:
“Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked. “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied.
When Paul or Saul used the word “Lord” at this point of his encounter with Jesus Christ, he used it either as a title of respect with the meaning “sir” or he used it to recognize that he was before a heavenly being. However, shortly after this encounter, he came to realize that Jesus Christ is God because when Ananias came to him, he used the phrase the Lord Jesus to convey to him that the One who appeared to him was God and central to man’s salvation and relationship with God as we read in Acts 9:17:
Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”
Thus, it is after the meeting with Ananias who used the phrase the Lord Jesus that the apostle would have been firmly convinced that Jesus is supreme God not merely a heavenly being since there are many supernatural beings in heaven that are not the supreme God as the apostle had also conveyed to the Corinthians in the eighth chapter of this epistle we are studying.
It is our assertion that when the apostle used the phrase the Lord Jesus in 1 Corinthians 11:23 it is a way that he confessed the deity of Christ. To see our point, let us review what we have studied in the past about the word “Lord.” It is translated from a Greek word (kyrios) that may mean “owner” in the sense of one who is in charge by virtue of possession. It is in this sense that the word is used to describe a slave girl that was involved in fortune-telling that Apostle Paul healed, as we read in Acts 16:16:
Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling.
Another meaning of our Greek word refers to one who is in a position of authority and so means “lord, master.” It is in this sense that the word is used to describe the fact that Sarah considered Abraham as being of higher position than she in their marriage relationship, as we may gather from 1 Peter 3:6:
like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham and called him her master. You are her daughters if you do what is right and do not give way to fear.
Still another meaning of our Greek word is as a title of respect hence means “sir”, as it is used in the Philippian jailer’s question to Paul and Silas as we read in Acts 16:30:
He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
The word may be used as a designation for God as that is the sense of the word when Apostle Paul used it to describe God as the creator while he preached the gospel to the Athenians as recorded in Acts 17:24:
“The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands.
The word may refer to an angel as in Acts 10:4:
Cornelius stared at him in fear. “What is it, Lord?” he asked. The angel answered, “Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God.
Our Greek word is used severally in the NT to refer to the Lord Jesus. This is the case when the OT is quoted in such a way that it should be clear that Jesus Christ is meant as we find, for example, in quoting from Prophet Isaiah regarding John the Baptist’s ministry in preparing the way for the ministry of Jesus Christ as we read in Matthew 3:3:
This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah: “A voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’”
Matthew interpreted the word “Lord” in Isaiah 40:3 that he quoted as a reference to Jesus Christ. Apostle Paul used the word “Lord” quite often to refer to Jesus Christ. For example, he used it in describing the spreading of the gospel in such a way that there is no doubt he meant the Lord Jesus Christ as we read in 2 Thessalonians 3:1:
Finally, brothers, pray for us that the message of the Lord may spread rapidly and be honored, just as it was with you.
We know that the Lord in this passage refers to Christ because the Greek indicates that the phrase the message of the Lord may fully be translated the message about the Lord or the message from the Lord. In either case, it is the gospel of Jesus Christ that is in view so that the Lord certainly refers to Jesus Christ. Sometimes, Apostle Paul used the word translated “Lord” in such a way that it leaves us not being certain if he meant Jesus or God in a general sense. This is the way we see him use it when he spoke of punishment for sin as we read in 1 Thessalonians 4:6:
and that in this matter no one should wrong his brother or take advantage of him. The Lord will punish men for all such sins, as we have already told you and warned you.
In our passage of 1 Corinthians 11:23, the apostle used the word “Lord” to indicate that Jesus is the supreme God. This point was necessary because he wanted to convey to the Corinthians that the One who instituted the Lord’s Supper is the God of creation. It is not only that he wanted to focus on the deity of Jesus but also on His humanity so that the phrase the Lord Jesus captures the fact that Jesus is both God and man since the title “Jesus” is the name given to Him by Angel Gabriel to Mary prior to His birth. Thus, the celebration of the Lord’s Supper should be carried out in a manner that recognizes this origin of the celebration as God.
In any event, when the apostle used phrase the Lord Jesus, he was not only conveying that the One who instituted the Lord’s Supper is the God man but also, he conveyed his preoccupation with his Savior. To the apostle, the Lord Jesus is all in all. He recognized that only when a believer realizes this, would such a person show respect to Him in every aspect of the individual’s life. Although it just happened that he was concerned with the institution of the Lord’s Supper but to him the Lord Jesus is the focus of his life. May I ask you; can you agree with the apostle in his perspective of the Lord Jesus? You may say that you agree, but do you really? Are you in love with Jesus Christ so that you think of Him when you wake up and all day? You should answer the question honestly.
Apostle Paul having focused his attention on the Lord Jesus as the One who instituted the Lord’s Supper proceeded to convey the time when that occurred. It is this that the apostle wrote in the next clause of 1 Corinthians 11:23 on the night he was betrayed. The night the apostle meant was the night of the last celebration of the Passover by Jesus and His disciples as we may gather from the Lord Jesus’ statement recorded in Luke 22:15–16:
15 And he said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. 16 For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God.”
To ensure there would not be any confusion about the night the apostle had in mind, he added the sentence he was betrayed. The word “betrayed” is translated from the same Greek word (paradidōmi) that is translated “passed on “in the NIV in its first usage in 1 Corinthians 11:23. We, of course, indicated that in its first usage the word has the sense of “to pass on to another what one knows, of oral or written tradition” but in this second usage it means “to be turned over,” that is, to deliver a person into the control of someone else, involving either the handing over of a presumably guilty person for punishment by authorities or the handing over of an individual to an enemy who will presumably take undue advantage of the victim. In this case, the Lord Jesus was innocent, but Judas Iscariot turned Him over to the Jewish authorities who were bent on killing Him. By the way, it is not only that the Greek word is used with two different meanings in verse 23 but the apostle used two different tenses probably to make a point. He used the aorist tense in the Greek to indicate that what he passed on to the Corinthians was a fact of an event that occurred in the past but in this second usage the apostle used the imperfect tense. It seemed that by using the imperfect tense he wanted to convey that the betrayal of Jesus had begun with an event that occurred prior to the Lord Jesus eating the last Passover with His disciples although the betrayal was not completed at the time of the supper. In effect, the apostle probably wanted the Corinthians to remember that Judas Iscariot started his betrayal of the Lord Jesus by accepting money from the Jewish authorities as we read in Matthew 26:14–16:
14 Then one of the Twelve—the one called Judas Iscariot—went to the chief priests 15 and asked, “What are you willing to give me if I hand him over to you?” So they counted out for him thirty silver coins. 16 From then on Judas watched for an opportunity to hand him over.
It is possible that the Holy Spirit by wanting the Corinthians to remember the betrayal process, wanted them and all of us to recognize how we are capable of betraying the Lord even prior to the celebration of the Lord’s Supper when we act in selfishness or in self-interest as Judas Iscariot did. So, the apostle not only wanted to remind the Corinthians of the timing of the institution of the Lord’s Supper but of how easy it is to betray our Lord prior to the celebration of the Lord’s Supper. That aside, with the description of the timing of the institution of the Lord’s Supper, the apostle proceeded to deal with the first element used in the celebration of the Lord’s Super.
The first element of the celebration of the Lord’s Supper is bread as introduced by the last verbal phrase of 1 Corinthians 11:23 took bread. The word “took” is translated from a Greek word that may mean to be a receiver of something so means “to receive, get, obtain.” Thus, the word is used for receiving eternal life as indicated in the promise of the Lord Jesus recorded in Mark 10:30:
will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life.
It is a word used for receiving of forgiveness of sins in Acts 10:43:
All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”
Another meaning of the word is to get hold of something by laying hands on or grasping something, directly or indirectly, hence means “to take, take hold of, grasp, take in hand,” as it is used to indicate that Jesus Christ took on the form of a slave for our benefit in Philippians 2:7:
but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
The phrase nature of a servant is more literally nature of a slave. In our passage of 1 Corinthians 11:23, it means “to take,” that is, “to get into one’s hands or take physically.”
The thing the Lord Jesus took is “bread” that is translated from a Greek word (artos) that may mean “food” as any kind of food or nourishment as that is the sense that the word is used by Apostle Paul to indicate he paid for his food as stated in 2 Thessalonians 3:8:
nor did we eat anyone’s food without paying for it. On the contrary, we worked night and day, laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you.
The phase anyone’s food is literally bread from anyone. It is in a figurative sense that the Lord Jesus described Himself as “bread of life” in John 6:35:
Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.
In Jesus Christ’s claim of being the bread of life, He meant that He is the way to eternal life or through whom one receives eternal life. In our passage of 1 Corinthians 11:23, it has the sense of “loaf of bread” that is usually torn apart or cut before eating. There is a question regarding the kind of bread that is to be used in the celebration of the Lord’s Supper. We will deal with this matter in our next study. Let me end with a reminder of the message of this section which is You should understand that the Lord’s Supper was instituted by the Lord Jesus that involves two elements in its celebration, with significances.