06/05/2022 – Day 098 – 1 Corinthians 11 – 12 / “Proprietary in Worship” / “The Lord’s Supper” / “Spiritual Gifts”
Sorry, once again, I’m catching up from that week that the blog was down for me.
I am going to use John Gill commenatary but those will show up as links. My footnote referenence – (*): Wiliam H. Barclay – The Letters to the Corinthians” ISBN # 0-664-21308-1
“Chapters 11 to 14 are amongst the most difficult in the whole epistle for a modern person in the western wrold to understand; but they are also among the most interesting, for they deal with the problems which had arisen in the Corinthian church in connection with public worship. In them we see the infant Church struggling with the problem of offering a fitting and a seemly worship to God. It will make the section easier to follow if we set out at the beginning the various parts of which it is composed.
(i) 11: 2-11: 16 deals with the problem of whether or not women should worship with the heads uncovered.
(ii) 11: 17-11: 23 deals with problems which have arisen in connection with the Agape or Love Feast, the weekly common meal which the Christian congregation held.
(iii) 11: 24- 11-34 deals with the correct observance of the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper.
(iv) Chapter 12 discusses the problem of welding into one harmonious whole those who possess all kinds of different gifts. It is here that we have the great picture of the Church as the Body of Christ, and of each member as a limb in that body.
(v) – Chapter 13 is the great hymn of love which shows men themost excellent way.
(vi) 14: 1- 14: 23 deals with the problem of speaking with tongues.
(vii) 14:24 – 14:33 insists on the necessity of orderliness in public worship and seeks to bring under necessary discipline the overflowing enthusiasm of a newly born Church.
(viii) 14:24 – 14:36 discusses the place of women in the public worship of God in the Church of Corinth.
Ok, I’ll turn to John Gill for an explanation on (i):
https://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/gills-exposition-of-the-bible/1-corinthians-11-7.html
On (ii), Barclay clarifies where I was a little confused: He notes that in general , the culture of the time was more social than our world today. So, the Love Feast was a “pot luck” sharing.
“But in the the Church at Corinth things had gone sadly worng with the Love F3east. In the Church there was rich and poor; there wre those who could bring plenty , and there were slaves who could bring hardly anything at all. In fact for many a poor slave the Love Feast must have been the only decent meal in the whole week. But in Corinth, the art of sharing had got lost. The rich did no share their foot but ate it in little exclusive groups by themselves, hurrying through it in case they had to share, while the poor had next to nothing. The result was that the meal at which the social differences between members of the Church should have been obliterated only succeeded in aggravating these same differences, Unhesitantly and unsparingly Paul rebukes this.” (* – pg 101)
(iii – The Lord’s Supper) – “The broken bread of the Sacrament does stand for the body of Christ; but it does more. To him who takes it into his hands and upon his lips with faith and love, it is a means not only of memory but of living contact with Jesus Christ, To an unbeliever it would be nothing; to a lover of Christ it is the way to his presence. Such an awesome significance calls for a reverential respect for the mystery of the sacrament.” (*A – pg. # 104) The fear of the Lord should preclude someone from disrespecing the Lord’s sacrament
(Iv – One body in Christ) – “Paul begins by saying that all special gifts (chrismata) come from God and it is his belief that they must, therefore, be used in God’s service…
It is of the greatest interest to examine the list of special gifts of which Paul gives, because from it we learn much about the character and work of the early Church. He begins with two things which sound very like each other — the word of wisdom and the word of knowledge. The Greek word we have translated wisdom is sophia. It is defined by Clement of Alexandria as ‘the knowledge of things human and divine and of their causes.’ Aristotle described it as ‘striving after the best ends and using the best means.’ This is the highest kind of wisdom; it comes not so much from thoughts as from communion with God.
Knowledge — The Greek word is gnosis — is a much more practical thing. It is the knowledge which knows what to do in any given situation. It is the practical application to human life and affairs of sophia. The two things are necessary — the wisdom which knows by communion with God the deep things of God, and the knowledge which, in the daily life of the world and the Church, can put that wisdom into practice.
Next on the list comes faith. Paul means more than what we might call ordinary faith. It is the faith which really produces results. It is not just the intellectual conviction that a thing is true; it is the passionate belief in a thing which makes a man spend all he has on it. It is the faith which steels the will and nerves the sinew of a man into action.
‘O God, when the heart is warmest, And the head is clearest, Give me to act; To turn the purposes Thou Formest. Into fact!”
It is the faith wich turns the vision into deeds.
” (*A – pgs 108 – 109)
Soli Deo Gloria!