Jeff,<\/p>\n
This morning after services one of our members explained that when he discusses\u00a0I Corinthians 11:17-34\u00a0with liberal brethren who claim that the church is authorized to have common meals in a kitchen or fellowship hall, he argues the following:<\/p>\n
Instead of the Corinthians coming together in one place to observe the “Lord’s Supper” they were bringing in meals (e.g. potluck), dividing off into cliques and eating ahead of others, shaming the poor who had nothing. The food that they were bringing had nothing to do with the Lord’s Supper, it was simply for feasting, partying, etc.<\/p>\n
Is his argument correct?<\/p>\n\t
It doesn’t work since Paul tells them to eat at home. “So then, my brethren, 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 arrange when I come<\/em>” (I Corinthian 11:33-34). If the problem was cliques and shaming the poor, he would have them deal with it while together. Eating at home would not solve those problems.<\/p>\n Since the meal was not to solve hunger, there was no common meal.<\/p>\n “Therefore when you meet together, 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. What! 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<\/em>” (I Corinthians 11:20-22).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Verse 20 makes it clear that it is the Lord’s Supper under discussion; thus, “supper” in verse 21 is still the Lord’s Supper. The problem was they were not eating it together (as discussed in\u00a0I Corinthians 10:16-17). Thus, one is “hungry” (has not partaken) and another is “drunk” (not in the sense of intoxication, but having satisfied his thirst). By mixing both eating and drinking terms, Paul covered both aspects of the Lord’s Supper — the bread and the fruit of the vine.<\/p>\n Paul’s point is if someone is too hungry to wait for his brethren, then he should eat at home. The church is gathered to eat the Lord’s Supper. To not do it with proper reverence is to despise the church and shame those who were unable to partake because nothing was left. “For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep. 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. So then, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one another<\/em>” (I Corinthians 11:30-33).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: Jeff, This morning after services one of our members explained that when he discusses\u00a0I Corinthians 11:17-34\u00a0with liberal brethren who claim that the church is authorized to have common meals in a kitchen or fellowship hall, he argues the following: Instead of the Corinthians coming together in one place to observe the “Lord’s Supper” they…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[151,593,146],"class_list":["post-5720","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-eating-in-the-building","tag-fellowship-hall","tag-lords-supper"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":53214,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/were-the-corinthians-having-a-potluck-instead-of-partaking-in-the-lords-supper\/","url_meta":{"origin":5720,"position":0},"title":"Were the Corinthians having a potluck instead of partaking in the Lord’s Supper?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 22, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Jeff, This morning after services one of our members explained that when he discusses I Corinthians 11:17-34 with liberal brethren who claim that the church is authorized to have common meals in a kitchen or fellowship hall, he argues the following: Instead of the Corinthians coming together in one\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5718,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-i-corinthian-1133-allow-fellowship-meals-at-the-church-building\/","url_meta":{"origin":5720,"position":1},"title":"Does I Corinthian 11:33 allow fellowship meals at the church building?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 11, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Dear Brother in Christ, \u00a0 I read your answer to Why is eating in the building an issue?\u00a0concerning eating in the building and have a few questions. \u00a0 First, you quote I Corinthians 11:17-22 where Paul is remonstrating the Corinthians for leaving some hungry and for some getting drunk\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":734,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-a-hall-used-by-a-church-for-worship-also-be-rented-for-a-potluck-by-members\/","url_meta":{"origin":5720,"position":2},"title":"Can a hall used by a church for worship also be rented for a potluck by members?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 11, 2003","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Our congregation meets in a rented hall. Would it be wrong to make use of the facilities available for a potluck gathering? I understand that the church doesn't have authority to own a kitchen, but I was wondering why we couldn't rent the facility where we happen to meet\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2331,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-original-lords-supper-was-observed-at-night-and-it-wasnt-on-sunday\/","url_meta":{"origin":5720,"position":3},"title":"The original Lord’s Supper was observed at night and it wasn’t on Sunday","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 23, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: The original Lord's Supper was observed at\u00a0nighttime (Matthew 26:31), and it was not\u00a0observed on the first day of the week (Sunday), The practice of breaking bread was done on a\u00a0daily\u00a0basis from house to house, not on a weekly basis as in the churches of Christ. You find this information\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16766,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-dont-think-god-is-against-a-fellowship-that-can-supply-nutrition-to-visitors\/","url_meta":{"origin":5720,"position":4},"title":"I don’t think God is against a fellowship that can supply nutrition to visitors","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 4, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: If your church has no kitchen etc, then how do you share communion together?\u00a0 Do you take everything home to wash? Did not Jesus share communion with the apostles? I do not think that God is against a fellowship that can supply nutrition to visitors. I find it strange\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":29791,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/abuse-of-the-lords-supper\/","url_meta":{"origin":5720,"position":5},"title":"Abuse of the Lord\u2019s Supper","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 8, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Leslie Diestelkamp It is quite obvious that many Christians who may be quite devoted in other ways, do indeed \"miss the mark\" with regard to the Lord's Supper. Consider the following: The attitude and practice of some brethren indicate that they expect forgiveness of their sins of the past\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5720","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5720"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5720\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}