TSW ~ E.W. King: Manners at the Lord’s Table

Monday, April 20, 2020

Manners at the Lord’s Table

Apostle Paul

Manners at the Lord’s Table

By Eric William King

When the church comes together ready to partake the Lord’s Supper people should be quiet. It is a time of inner reflection. It is a time of sober repentance and recognizing the literal presence of our Lord.

There should be no chatter, no talking or thinking out loud. In the ancient city of Corinth they got out of hand in their keeping the Lord’s Supper. Corinth’s misuse of the Lord’s Supper needed correcting. Some of those who came together to break bread and drink wine in Jesus' name were leaving the house of God in a drunken stupor.

Apostle Paul chastises the offenders:

“When you meet together, it is not the Lord’s supper that you eat. For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal, and one is hungry and another is drunk. What! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in?” (1^st Corinthians 11:20-22)

Another great problem they were having was not properly recognizing the literal, bodily presence of our Lord when partaking;

^“For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves.” (1^st Corinthians 11:29)

To take the Lord’s Supper wrongly is to sin against the “body and blood” of Christ. (1^st Corinthians 11:27) There is no idiomatic explanation of this verse; there is no reference any place in the Bible that would explain this verse in a symbolic manner. Thus, when we use the 2^nd Law of hermeneutics (of the Seven Ancient Antiochene Rules of Interpretation) we are forced to take this verse literally. The Bible is to be taken literally when the context (both “near” and “far”) demands it.

Also, Jesus Christ is forever connected to His humanity. Christ’s human nature after the resurrection has been exalted above every other created person or thing and he did not get rid of His human nature but keeps it into eternity. He has two natures but only Himself, one person existing within the two. This means when He says; “Take eat this IS my body.” He is sharing the fact that He became one of us. He shares in our humanity at the Lord’s Table.

So the next time that you drink from the cup of salvation, remember these things. The Lord’s Supper is an affirmation of the incarnation of God. Every time we take it we are confessing that “The word became flesh and dwelt among us.” (John 1:14)

May you truly be blessed at your next communion.

Resting in the finished work of Jesus Christ our Lord,

Eric William King (April 20^th 2020)

Also read; "The Body and the Blood"