[Church_of_Christ] Re: The essence of worship
Greetings Brian, ED replying
I have no argument with you. All that you wrote is encompassed in the
statement to take the LS in remembrance of Him. To take the supper in
remembrance os him prevents all of the abuses that had been practiced at
Corinth; it was a simple short answer to "unworthily"
--- In Church_of_Christ@
wrote:
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> Ed Said:
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> ED: Paul warned of observing the LS "unworthily" in 1 Cor 11:27. From
context it means to do so without doing it in remembrance of Jesus.
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> Brian's Response:
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> Ed,
> I disagree with your assessment of how the Lord's Supper is done in an
unworthy manner within the contex of the passage.
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> To understand the corrective, you have to understand the problem being
addressed. In this case, Paul tells us what the problem is in verses
18-21 (all scripture references herein refer to 1 Cor. 11). The problem
being addressed is that the assembly does more harm than good. What is
causing that harm? Paul says it is abuse of the Lord's Supper. What is
the abuse of the Lord's Supper? It is a failure to do it as one group
so that the poorer members of the church are humiliated.
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> In verses 23-26, Paul lays the authoritative foundation for his
correction. Paul received instruction from the Lord and he passed it on
to those he converted. He then reminds them of the Last Supper with
Jesus and the apostles. Paul closes with a theological statement that
Christian practice of the Lord's Supper is a proclamation of Christ's
death until he returns.
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> In verses 27-32, Paul describes the consequences of unworthy
participation in the Lord's Supper. He says to do so is a sin against
the body and blood of the Lord and this sin arises from a failure to
examine oneself and a failure to recognize the body of the Lord.
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> Paul closes his discussion in verses 33-34 by commanding them to wait
for one another and he says if you should satisfy your hunger at home.
The command to wait for one another is the corrective to the problem
previously stated in verses 18-21. The material that falls between
verses 18-21 (the problem statement) and 33-34 (the corrective) must be
read in the context of the problem and the corrective. Participating in
the Lord's Supper in an unworthy manner must have something to do with
doing so in a divisive manner that humiliates the poorer members of the
church. Recognizing the body must have something do do with divisions
within the church. The power of the body and blood of Christ within
this context is the elimination of distinctions between Jew/Greek,
Male/Female, Slave/Free..
participation in the Lord's Supper accentuates these distinctions rather
than obscuring them, we are neglecting the work that was done on the
cross with regard to bringing people together.
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> The declaration in verse 27 regarding worthy participation is tied to
the corrective in verse 33 to wait for one another.
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> I believe the recognition of the body of the Lord in verse 29 is much
more a failure to see the spiritual body of Christ enfleshed in the
church that it is a failure to picture Jesus on the cross in the mind's
eye while chewing on a pinch of cracker. To recognize the body of the
Lord is to recognize that Christ on the cross made each disciple and
equal member of his spiritual body regardless of social status and to
honor each person's equal standing within the body of Christ.
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