Commentary - 1 Corinthians 11:17-34

Bird's-eye view

In this potent section of his letter, the apostle Paul addresses a profound disorder at the very heart of the Corinthian church's worship: their chaotic and divisive celebration of the Lord's Supper. What should have been the pinnacle of their unity in Christ had become an occasion for demonstrating their social divisions, arrogance, and gluttony. Paul delivers a sharp rebuke, not praising them in the least, because their coming together was actually making them spiritually worse, not better. To correct this abuse, he does not innovate but rather calls them back to the original standard. He recounts the institution of the Supper as he received it directly from the Lord Jesus. This meal is a proclamation of the Lord's death, a participation in the new covenant, and a remembrance of Christ. Consequently, to partake in a manner that dishonors the unity of the church is to commit a sin against the very body and blood of the Lord. This is no trivial matter; Paul connects their sacrilege directly to divine judgment manifesting as weakness, sickness, and even death within the congregation. The passage concludes with practical instructions to restore order and reverence to this central act of Christian worship.

The core issue is a failure to "judge the body rightly." The Corinthians were treating a sacred, communal, covenant meal as a private, secular potluck. The rich humiliated the poor, and the fellowship was fractured. Paul's remedy is twofold: first, a return to the solemn theology of the Table, and second, a practical application of that theology in the form of waiting for one another and treating each other as members of one body. This passage stands as a permanent warning against trivializing the sacraments and a powerful call for the church to display its supernatural unity when it gathers at the Table of the Lord.

Outline

Context In 1 Corinthians

This passage is situated in a larger section of the epistle (chapters 11-14) where Paul is correcting various disorders in the public worship of the Corinthian church. He has just addressed the issue of head coverings and submission (11:2-16) and will move on to the proper use of spiritual gifts (chapters 12 and 14). The abuse of the Lord's Supper is therefore one of several symptoms of a deeper Corinthian disease: a spirit of pride, spiritual arrogance, and a failure to live out the gospel in loving unity. Their theological errors were bearing fruit in liturgical chaos. The divisions he condemns here at the Table are the very same divisions he confronted in the opening chapters of the letter, where they were dividing over loyalty to various Christian leaders. Now, those same factions are manifesting in the most sacred gathering of the church, proving that their problem was not just intellectual but deeply practical and spiritual.

Key Issues

The Table of the Lord

The Lord's Supper is not an optional add-on to the Christian life; it is the family meal of the covenant people of God. It is where our identity is reaffirmed, our sins are confessed, our faith is nourished, and our unity is displayed. But for the Corinthians, it had become a disaster. They had taken the most unifying ordinance given to the Church and turned it into an engine of division. Paul's response is not to suggest they stop celebrating it, but to call them back to what it actually is. He has to re-teach them the basics, grounding the practice in the words of the Lord Jesus Himself on the night He was betrayed. The Table is a place of immense blessing, but because it is holy, it is also a place of danger. It is a covenant renewal ceremony, and to come to it flippantly, with contempt for God's people, is to invite the curses of the covenant, not the blessings.

Verse by Verse Commentary

17-18 But in giving this instruction, I do not praise you, because you come together not for the better but for the worse. For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that divisions exist among you, and in part I believe it.

Paul shifts gears abruptly. After offering some praise in verse 2, he now delivers a stinging rebuke. His instruction here comes with no commendation. Their corporate worship was spiritually counterproductive; it was doing them active harm. The first problem he tackles is the presence of divisions (schismata). These are not mere differences of opinion but actual splits and cliques within the congregation. Paul has heard reports of this, and he says he believes it "in part," which likely means he knows the report is substantially true, even if some details might be exaggerated. The fact that their divisions were most apparent "when you come together as a church" shows how deep the problem was. The very event that should have displayed their unity was instead showcasing their disunity.

19 For there must also be factions among you, so that those who are approved may become evident among you.

This is a remarkable statement of God's sovereignty over the sins of the church. Paul moves from divisions (schismata) to factions (haireseis), which suggests more hardened, opinion-based parties. He says these things "must" exist. This is not because God delights in sin, but because He uses these situations for a divine purpose: to reveal the true character of His people. In the midst of turmoil and division, the genuinely faithful, "those who are approved" (dokimoi), are made manifest. Like a refiner's fire, the conflict reveals who is made of gold and who is made of dross. It is a severe mercy.

20-21 Therefore when you meet together in the same place, it is not to eat the Lord’s Supper, for in your eating each one takes his own supper first, and one is hungry and another is drunk.

Paul makes a shocking claim: despite their intention, what they are doing is not, in fact, the Lord's Supper. They have the elements, they have the people, but the spirit of the event is so contrary to its meaning that it has ceased to be what it is called. The problem was that the Supper was likely part of a larger communal meal, often called an Agape or Love Feast. But instead of a shared meal, it had become a chaotic free-for-all. The wealthier members would arrive, bring their own ample food and wine, and begin eating without waiting for the poorer members, who were likely slaves or laborers and would arrive later. The result was a scene of gross inequality: some went hungry while others were getting drunk. This behavior was a complete negation of the Supper's meaning.

22 For do you not have houses in which to eat and drink? Or do you despise the church of God and shame those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? In this I will not praise you.

Paul's questions are dripping with righteous sarcasm. If your goal is simply to sate your own hunger and thirst, do that at home. The church gathering is for a higher purpose. Their selfish behavior was not a neutral act; it was an act of contempt for "the church of God" and it was a public humiliation of their poorer brothers and sisters. They were importing the world's class distinctions into the one place they were supposed to be obliterated. Paul concludes his rebuke by stating plainly what is already obvious: he cannot and will not praise them for this.

23-24 For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was being betrayed took bread, 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.”

To correct their abuse, Paul takes them back to the foundation. His authority comes not from his own ideas, but from the Lord Himself. This teaching was part of the sacred tradition he "received" and "delivered" to them. He reminds them of the setting: the darkest night in human history, the night of betrayal. In the face of abandonment and impending death, Jesus established this meal of fellowship. He took bread, gave thanks (eucharistēsas), and broke it. The breaking points to the violence of His death. His words, "This is My body," are a declaration of sacramental reality. The bread is a visible sign that communicates the spiritual reality of Christ's sacrifice for us. The command to "do this in remembrance of Me" is not about a vague mental recollection, but a covenantal re-enactment that makes the past event present in its efficacy to the church.

25 In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”

He does the same with the cup. This cup establishes the "new covenant," prophesied by Jeremiah, which is ratified not by the blood of animals, but by the precious blood of Jesus Christ Himself. All the blessings of salvation, forgiveness of sins, and the gift of the Holy Spirit are sealed to us in this new covenant. Every time we drink the cup, we are remembering and participating in the benefits of this blood-sealed covenant.

26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until He comes.

The Supper is not just a private act of devotion; it is a public proclamation. It is a sermon in action. By eating and drinking, we are heralding the central fact of history: the substitutionary death of Jesus Christ. And this proclamation has an eschatological horizon. We do this "until He comes." The Supper bridges the gap between Christ's first and second advents. It looks back to the cross and forward to the consummation of the kingdom. It is a meal of hope, celebrated in the confident expectation of our Lord's final victory.

27 Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord.

Here is the solemn warning that flows from the dignity of the institution. Because the meal is what it is, to treat it with contempt is a grave sin. To partake in an "unworthy manner" does not mean that a person must be sinlessly perfect to come to the Table. If that were the case, no one could come. We are all unworthy partakers. The issue is the manner of participation. The Corinthians' manner was unworthy because it was divisive, selfish, and unloving. To do this is to become "guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord." It is to align oneself with those who crucified Him, to trample on the very sacrifice the meal represents.

28-29 But a man must test himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly.

The antidote to unworthy participation is not abstention, but self-examination. A believer must "test" himself. This examination leads to eating and drinking, not to staying away. What is the test? The next verse tells us. The danger is eating and drinking judgment on oneself by failing to "judge the body rightly" or "discern the body." Given the context of the divisions and contempt for the poor, "the body" here must primarily refer to the corporate body of Christ, the church. They were failing to recognize the sacred unity of the people of God. They did not see Christ in their impoverished brother. Of course, this is tied to discerning the sacramental body in the bread, but the primary failure was horizontal. You cannot claim to honor Christ's body in the sacrament while you despise His body in the pew next to you.

30 For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep.

The consequences are not merely spiritual; they are physical. Paul states as a matter of fact that their sacramental sin has resulted in God's temporal judgment. Sickness and even death (sleep being a Christian euphemism for the death of a believer) were present in the Corinthian church as a direct result of this abuse. The Lord's Table is a focal point of God's covenant dealings with His people. To approach it with a profane attitude is to invite not blessing, but the covenant curse.

31-32 But if we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord so that we will not be condemned along with the world.

Paul clarifies the nature of this judgment. It is fatherly discipline, not final condemnation. If we would examine and correct ourselves, we would avert this divine discipline. But when we fail to do so, the Lord steps in as a loving Father to chasten us. This severe mercy, even if it leads to physical death, serves a gracious purpose: to prevent us from being "condemned along with the world." God disciplines His children in this life to ensure they are not lost in the next.

33-34 So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another. If anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, so that you will not come together for judgment. The remaining matters I will direct when I come.

The conclusion is eminently practical. The solution to their profound theological error is simple, loving courtesy. "Wait for one another." Treat the meal as a true fellowship. And if ravenous hunger is your problem, solve it at home. The purpose of the gathering is spiritual communion, not gluttony. By following this simple rule, they can ensure that their gathering is for blessing and not for judgment. Paul leaves other, unspecified matters to be sorted out when he can be with them in person.

Application

The Corinthian error is not as far from us as we might like to think. We may not have the same class distinctions manifesting in a potluck-gone-wrong, but do we not have our own divisions? Do we not come to the Table with bitterness against a brother, with pride in our hearts, or with a flippant disregard for the solemnity of the occasion? Paul's warning still stands. To treat the Supper as a mere ritual, to go through the motions while our hearts are far from God and our relationships with our brethren are fractured, is to invite the discipline of the Lord.

The solution is also the same. We must examine ourselves. This means we must confess our sins. We must ask ourselves if we are discerning the body. Do we see the church, with all its flaws, as the precious body of Christ? Are we pursuing peace and unity? Are we looking out for the interests of others? And we must look to Christ. The Supper is not about our worthiness, but His. It is a grace-filled meal for repentant sinners. We come because we are hungry, not because we are full. We come to proclaim His death, the only remedy for our sins and divisions. When we come in this way, with humble and repentant faith, the Table is not a place of judgment, but a place of profound grace, nourishment, and sweet communion with our Lord and with His people.