1 Corinthians 11:20-21

1 Corinthians 11:20-21 resume with emphasis the circumstantial clause of 1 Corinthians 11:18 and draw out, by οὖν, the disastrous issue of the σχίσματα : they produce a visible separation at the common meal of the Church, destroying the reality of the Lord's Supper. Ch. 1 Corinthians 1:12; 1 Corinthians 3:3 f., 1 Corinthians 4:6, showed that the Cor [1697] divisions were of a partisan character, and 1 Corinthians 1:19 that intellectual differences entered into them (cf. 1 Corinthians 8:1-7); but distinctions of wealth contributed to the same effect. The two latter influences conspired, the richer and more cultivated Cor [1698] Christians leaning to a self-indulgence which they justified on the ground of enlightenment; the αἱρέσεις sloped down toward κραιράλη καὶ μέθη. ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτό, “to the same (spot)”. οὐκ ἔστιν κ. τ. λ. can hardly mean, “it is not to eat the Lord's Supper” (so Al [1699] and others) for the Cor [1700] intended this, but by unworthy behaviour (1 Corinthians 11:26 f.) neutralised their purpose: P. says either “it (sc. your feast) is not an eating of the Lord's Supper” (A.V., Bz [1701], Est., D.W [1702], Bt [1703], Hn [1704], EL [1705], Gd [1706] : “ce n'est pas là manger, etc.”); or, “it is not (possible) to eat the Lord's Supper” (R.V., Bg [1707], Mr [1708], Hf [1709], Ed [1710], Ev [1711]) such eating is out of the question. 1 Corinthians 11:21 bears out the last interpretation, since it.describes a state of things not merely nullifying but repugnant to any true κυριακὸν δεῖπνον; οὐκ ἔστιν carries this strong sense, negativing the idea as well as fact, in Hebrews 9:5, and often in cl [1712] Gr [1713] The adj [1714] κυριακὸν (= τοῦ Κυρίου) stands in emphatic contrast with ἴδιον, the termination - κὸς signifying kind or nature : “It is impossible to eat a supper of the Lord, for each man is in haste to get (προλαμβάνει prœoccupat, Bz [1715]) his own supper when he eats,” or “during the meal” (Ev [1716]; ἐν τῷ φαγεῖν, in edendo, Bz [1717]; not ad manducandum, as in Vg [1718]). Instead of waiting for one another (1 Corinthians 11:33), the Cor [1719], as they entered the assemblyroom bringing their provisions, sat down at once to consume each his own supply, like private diners at a restaurant; προ - suggests, in view of 1 Corinthians 11:22, that the rich even hurried to do this, so as to avoid sharing with slaves and low people at a common dish (1 Corinthians 11:22). The κυρ. δεῖπνον was a kind of club-supper, with which the evening meeting of the Church commenced (18 a, 20 a), taking place at least once a week on the Lord's Day (cf. Acts 20:7 ff.). This Church-supper, afterwards called the Agapé (see Dict. of Christian Antiq. s.v.; also Ed [1720] ad loc [1721]) was analogous to the συσσίτια and ἔρανοι held by the guilds and friendly societies then rife amongst the Greeks. Originating as a kind of enlarged family meal in the Church of Jerus. (Acts 2:46), the practice of the common supper accorded so well with social custom that it was universal amongst Christians in the first century (see Weizsäcker's Apost. Age, vol. ii., pp. 279 286). Gradually the Eucharist was separated from the Agapé for greater decorum, and the latter degenerated and became extinct; here they are one, as in the Last Supper itself. The table was provisioned at Cor [1722] not from a general fund (as was usual in the ἔρανοι or collegia), but by each guest bringing his contribution in kind, a practice not uncommon in private parties, which had the disadvantage of accentuating social differences. While the poor brought little or nothing to the feast and might be ashamed to show his fare, the rich man exhibited a loaded basket out of which he could feed to repletion. All κοινωνία was destroyed; such vulgarity would have disgraced a heathen guild-feast. The Lord, the common Host, was forgotten at His table. ὅς μὲν πεινᾷ sc. the poor man, whose small store was insufficient, or who arriving late (for his time was not his own) found the table cleared (cf. προλαμβάνει). ὃς δὲ μεθύει, “but another is drunk!” or in the lighter sense suggested by πεινῷ, plus satis bibit (Gr [1723], Hn [1724]), “drinks to the full” (cf. John 2:10); the scene of sensual greed and pride might well culminate in drunkenness. Of all imaginable schisms the most shocking: hunger and intoxication side by side, at what is supposed to be the Table of the Lord! This is indeed “meeting for the worse”. For the demonstr. use of the rel [1725] pron [1726] with μὲν and δέ, see Wr [1727], p. 130.

[1697] Corinth, Corinthian or Corinthians.

[1698] Corinth, Corinthian or Corinthians.

[1699] Alford's Greek Testament.

[1700] Corinth, Corinthian or Corinthians.

[1701] Beza's Nov. Testamentum: Interpretatio et Annotationes (Cantab., 1642).

[1702].W. De Wette's Handbuch z. N. T.

[1703] J. A. Beet's St. Paul's Epp. to the Corinthians (1882).

[1704] C. F. G. Heinrici's Erklärung der Korintherbriefe (1880), or 1 Korinther in Meyer's krit.-exegetisches Kommentar (1896).

[1705] C. J. Ellicott's St. Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians.

[1706] F. Godet's Commentaire sur la prem. Ép. aux Corinthiens (Eng. Trans.).

[1707] Bengel's Gnomon Novi Testamenti.

[1708] Meyer's Critical and Exegetical Commentary (Eng. Trans.).

[1709] J. C. K. von Hofmann's Die heilige Schrift N.T. untersucht, ii. 2 (2te Auflage, 1874).

[1710] T. C. Edwards' Commentary on the First Ep. to the Corinthians. 2

[1711] T. S. Evans in Speaker's Commentary.

[1712] classical.

[1713] Greek, or Grotius' Annotationes in N.T.

[1714] adjective.

[1715] Beza's Nov. Testamentum: Interpretatio et Annotationes (Cantab., 1642).

[1716] T. S. Evans in Speaker's Commentary.

[1717] Beza's Nov. Testamentum: Interpretatio et Annotationes (Cantab., 1642).

[1718] Latin Vulgate Translation.

[1719] Corinth, Corinthian or Corinthians.

[1720] T. C. Edwards' Commentary on the First Ep. to the Corinthians. 2

[1721] ad locum, on this passage.

[1722] Corinth, Corinthian or Corinthians.

[1723] Greek, or Grotius' Annotationes in N.T.

[1724] C. F. G. Heinrici's Erklärung der Korintherbriefe (1880), or 1 Korinther in Meyer's krit.-exegetisches Kommentar (1896).

[1725] relative pronoun.

[1726]ron. pronoun.

[1727] Winer-Moulton's Grammar of N.T. Greek (8th ed., 1877).