Advancing the Trail of the Truth series, this class examines how Paul set the church in order regarding communion and the operation of spiritual gifts, correcting the Corinthian church for approaching the Lord’s Supper carelessly and for allowing tongues to be spoken publicly without interpretation.
Scripture Reference
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, 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. 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. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come.
Key Points: Approaching Sacred Things Rightly
- Paul corrected the Corinthian church for turning the Lord’s Supper into an ordinary meal, reminding them that what he delivered came directly from the Lord and that eating and drinking unworthily brings weakness, sickness, and even death.
- Believers are instructed to examine themselves before communion, discerning the Lord’s body rather than approaching it carelessly, a standard presented as applying to every church age rather than to Corinth alone.
- Paul taught that desiring spiritual gifts is good, but that prophecy is more valuable than tongues in a public setting because it edifies the whole church rather than only the speaker.
- Speaking in tongues without interpretation is compared to a musical instrument that gives no distinct sound or a trumpet that gives an uncertain call, since no one can be edified by what they cannot understand.
- A personal account of an older, well-meaning brother who habitually spoke in tongues without clear purpose is used to illustrate the difference between the genuine, controlled use of a gift and speaking without direction.
- The chapter closes with Paul instructing that everything done in the church be for edification and understood in a known language, rather than for personal display.