The Lord’s Supper
1 Corinthians 11 King James Version (KJV)
17 Now in this that I declare unto you I praise you not, that ye come together not for the better, but for the worse.
18 For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you; and I partly believe it.
19 For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you.
20 When ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord’s supper.
21 For in eating every one taketh before other his own supper: and one is hungry, and another is drunken.
22 What? have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? or despise ye the church of God, and shame them that have not? what shall I say to you? shall I praise you in this? I praise you not.
23 For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread:
24 And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.
25 After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, this cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.
26 For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come.
27 Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.
28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.
29 For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.
30 For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.
31 For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.
32 But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.
33 Wherefore, my brethren, when ye come together to eat, tarry one for another.
34 And if any man hunger, let him eat at home; that ye come not together unto condemnation. And the rest will I set in order when I come.
Examining the versus…
After taking communion – breaking bread and drinking juice/wine – at home and commencing in a bible study of the passage about the Lord’s supper with my Mom, our eyes were opened to a verse we’ve overlooked in the past.
The particular verse in examination was 1 Corinthians 11:20 that reads: “When ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord’s supper.”
This instantly caught my attention because within context of the passage, the one place that they were coming together in was within the church… This completely caught me off guard because having taken many open communion’s within the church amongst hundreds of other people in the past, I wondered why would this may be the case? And if this is what this passage is stating, then why are churches participating in open communion’s within churches across the globe?
I chewed on this passage several times and with a back and forth brainstorm of this passage, I recalled a video I watched about a year ago in a YouTube video by Daphne Madyara called DO NOT EAT WITH THE ENEMY (warning) – Wisdom Wednesdays.
This video goes over the passage 1 Kings 13 about a “Man of God” who was righteous and follow God’s commandments and was instructed on his journey to not eat with anyone along his trip.
He comes across a man who lies to him (a sin revealed right there in the passage), stating that the angels told him that the Man of God should come and eat with him. So the Man of God, was led astray and deceived by this man (or the “spirit” within that man that was causing him to sin by lying) he came encounter with on the road.
This disobedient action was later judged with punishment for disobeying the commandment he was given and the Man of God was killed by a lion on his journey to return home after having communed or ate with the deceitful man.
So how does this tie back to 1 Corinthians 11:17 you ask?
Well we must remember that
Yahusha (I will be using his set apart Hebrew name throughout, but we also know him as Jesus Christ) was sinless we know that he fulfilled and kept the Torah perfectly (the teachings and commandments of Yahuah – God’s set apart Hebrew name). So, let’s think back to the Passover where Yahusha was communing with his disciples at the last supper. Yahusha knew already that one of his disciples would betray him, that man would come to be Judas. When Hasatan put it into his heart to the sin of betrayal (the sin of not loving your brother as thyself) he was unclean and uncircumcised in his heart.
So as far as we know, the disciples were in a “training in righteousness” while Yahusha walked among them and taught them in Yah’s Truth in effect purifying and sanctifying their hearts and circumsising them in heart. Knowing this, let’s shift our perspective to a different view let’s think of the sin that Judas had in his heart in the form of a long cord. That cord is attached by multiple strings that root a stem that goes all the way back to the very first sin that Hasatan put into Eve’s heart to sin by taking the forbidden fruit.
You picturing that? Every sin is connected to that 1 string or cord that ties all man back to Adam and Eve, from the very beginning.
Now with that perspective in mind let’s think about our precious savior and his perfect vine. His fresh and perfect vine is connected directly to the Father. It’s pure and perfect and he is perfect just as our Father is perfect (Matthew 5:48).
As Yahusha sat in communion with the disciples, including the one who had already sinned against him in heart, it is as though our perfect and precious Messiah, by communing (eating with) with his enemy, he took hold spiritually to that sin cord so that his purity could grasp it but not be tainted by it so that he could take all sin when he died on the cross. He then completely defeated sin and death when Yah’s power of Grace resurrected him from Sheol (the grave).
He’s the only one that could do this, because as we see from 1 Kings 13 a story of communing with a sinful enemy, the Man of God died because of the sin of another man who he broke bread with. That other man’s sin essentially latched on to him like a leach pulling him down.
Going back to our original passage that was written after the resurrection of our Messiah, we’re told in effect that we’re not to come together in a setting as large as a church, especially if you’re unaware of how your fellow church goers live behind closed doors, is one a drunkard? You don’t know. You also don’t know if they’ve truly gone through the sanctifying work and crucifying of the fleshly desires to cleanse their hearts and set them selfs apart for Yah’s works, not their own. Unless you are with equally yoked brethren who are seeking Yah with ALL their hearts, souls and minds, you don’t know what sins they’re tied to that could essentially “energetically” attach to you.
34 And if any man hunger, let him eat at home; that ye come not together unto condemnation.
Do you see what that says? That ye come not together unto condemnation. That means whatever sin has that man in the state of judgement that is manifesting as hunger, lest ye not be partakers in it by sharing sup together…
18 For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you; and I partly believe it.
What are these divisions? It’s safe to say unrepented sin that still has a foot hold on the hearts of some within the church. We are to come together as one mind and if one is sanctified and another is still battling the yoke of the bondage of sin then this can be a snare.
17 Now in this that I declare unto you I praise you not, that ye come together not for the better, but for the worse.
Why does he say this? because they’re mind is not one in Truth and they are divided by sins… Which is why they are coming together not for the better as it intended but for the worse because of their sins and faith.
As we grow more in His word we begin to see His precious and perfect work begins to take place within us and our hearts. We have many scriptures that confirm the fruits of the spirit’s work within us and one of the BIGGEST one’s that many Christians sadly reject due to newer poor doctrinal teachings is the keeping of his commandments or law. We are to keep His commandments and his teachings (Torah), not by our power because as we see in the Old Testament that was not possible prior to our Messiah. It is him who begins a perfect work within us that transforms us to do the things we see within the verses below:
John 14:15 If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.
John 14:21 “Whoever has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me.”
John 14:23 “Jesus replied, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make Our home with him.”
1 John 15:10 “If you keep My commandments, you will remain in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and remain in His love.”
1 John 5:3 “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome,” – Not sure why many seem to think his laws are burdensome… they are what set us FREE from sin because it’s his work within us that stops us from sinning and even gives us an aversion to sin, so that we hate the things he hates and love the things he loves. Psalm 5:5 “You hate all who do wrong”. Hosea 9:15 “Every evil of theirs is in Gilgal; there I began to hate them. Because of the wickedness of their deeds I will drive them out of my house. I will love them no more;” – He will drive them out from under his shelter or abode. The only way to experience the freedom from the bondage of sin, not the law as it’s been misunderstood, is believe and walk in His Way, not our own. Need proof of this? Ezekiel 36:27 “And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgements and do them.” – His Ruach Ha’kodesh (Holy Sprit) also known as GRACE helps us to establish and fulfill walking in his law.
Hebrews 10:16 “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;”
Ezeikiel 36:26 “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you and heart of flesh.” – Taking out the old sinful nature and putting in his spirit within us giving us a righteous nature.
John 15:5 “I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in men, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.” – This is a wonderful example of his Grace working within us to fulfill His will. How does Yahusha tell us we abide (remain) in him? John 15:10 “If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.”
Why is it that we could be so rebellious to over look the many times it is asked of us to keep the commandments of Yahusha and our Father? Unfortunately, because many are not truly seeking Him, they are just taking teachings here and there from “mega churches” and “pastors” who some, end up coming out having committed or done ungodly things further tarnishing our precious Father’s truth and leading many astray. If our brothers and sisters would crucify their flesh and push away the doctrine that tickles their ears and makes them feel “good” they would in time, realize what TRUTH really is and the immense joy and freedom comes with our Father and His Son’s precious Truth.
17 Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law [Torah] or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them. 18 For I tell you truly, until heaven and earth pass away, not a single jot, not a stroke of a pen, will disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.
This verse has been so twisted unfortunately to give forth to the “saved” by Grace doctrine, which errorlessly gives people a license to sin because once they’ve been saved they are always saved. Many are being led astray from the Truth and the Way and the true meaning of what Yahusha came here to do, which most certainly was not to abolish the law or do away with them (he came to complete the law of sacrifice not the entire teaching of the Torah) because of this misguided Wolf doctrine. And the apostles KNEW this would be something that would come about by bad doctrine and teaching which is why they warned about this:
Romans 3:31
Do we, then, nullify the Law by this faith? Certainly not! Instead, we uphold the Law.
Versus that out of my entire life going to church since I was a child I can’t say I recall seeing until I began my own SEEKING of the Father and HIS TRUTH, not mans.
Why is there so many Luke warm Christians where we don’t see the fruits of the spirit giving birth to FRESH fruits of Godly righteousness? Because they’re being FED the FRUIT of the WRONG TREE.
Our life on this earth is a lesson and training in righteousness. We’re given free will to choose which Tree we want to partake in. The tree of unrighteousness (worldly and fleshly desires) or the tree of righteousness (God’s Way – His STRAIGHT AND NARROW path).
In another journal entry I will dive deeper into the TRUTH of grace and the freedom of salvation which has also been misunderstood and misrepresented.