(1 Cor. 11:17-34.)

Having fenced off in the previous chapters what is inconsistent with the Lord's house, the apostle now comes to the consideration of the assembly itself; and, first, what gathers it. The order here is very simple and beautiful. We have, first of all (ch. 11:17-31):Christ in the exhibition of His love for us in the sacrifice of His death as that which draws us together. This is what our eyes are first fixed upon. This is where communion is found with one another.

Then, in chapter 12, we turn to look at those who are in this way gathered. They are members of Christ, the body of Christ; and we learn what is implied in this, not only that which makes them one, but the diversity which exists in this unity, which is implied in the body as an organism. Then we have, in the 13th chapter, the spirit which practically animates the body of Christ, the spirit of love, which is the spirit of ministry-a ministry which the body implies, for the members are members one of another, and exist not merely for themselves, but for the whole. We are then competent to look at the exercise of the gifts as come together in actual assembly. This is in the 14th chapter, and we see how the spirit of love orders everything, and produces that which is true spiritual order according to God. This closes this part of the epistle.

Now, in chapter 11, we have, in the first place, the center of communion, Christ Himself-not looked at as a living Person, as many would expect, although He is in the midst. We are gathered together to His Name. That implies His absence rather than His presence, but it is the expression of what we know of Him as the absent One. It is this apprehension of Him that gathers us, and we see at once that it is not a living, but a dead Christ that is before us. That is the very point of it. We are brought to look back upon the hole of the pit from which we are digged, and to realize our indebtedness to this blessed One whom we remember. Important it is that we should realize this fact, that it is a dead Christ and not a living One we remember. It is the destruction of ritualism, in this respect, to its very center -the body of Christ which some speak of as indeed received in the Lord's supper. What body do they think of-a living or a dead body? Do they really think that they actually receive the dead body of Christ in the Lord's supper? The living body is out of the question. It is a dream which is not found in any text of Scripture. A dead body they do not think of, and yet if it be any participation that we have here, it is in the dead body, not in the living one.

The apostle begins here with a reference once more to their divisions-that in coming together they came not for the better, but for the worse; it makes apparent-as coming near to God in fact does-their true condition. Their sects declared themselves in making separate parties in that which they owned to be the one body of Christ, even going so far as each to take before others his own upper; it was manifest that he made it his own and not the supper of the Church as a whole, and one was hungry and another was even drinking to excess.

The "agape" or love feast, which existed very early in the Church, was the continuation of this paschal supper, which, though it did not really belong to the supper of the Lord ("the breaking of bread"), yet was supposed to make it all the more exactly according to the institution. Thus there was in connection with the supper the taking of a meal, which gave the opportunity that we see here the Corinthians availed themselves of for license. The preliminary feast was in fact, crowding out the Lord's supper altogether, and they were going on as if in entire forgetfulness of it. That is evidently what the apostle is saying here. He reproves them by asking, have they not houses for eating and drinking in, or were they putting to shame the poor who had not, and despising the assembly of God which embraces them all?

Then he calls them back to the institution of the supper as the Lord had given it. It is striking that he had received this of the Lord Himself. As the distinct minister of the Church, it was not simply what he found already existing, as in the case of baptism. Christ had not sent him specially to baptize, although he did baptize as others did; but the Lord's supper has a different place altogether. As that in which the unity of the body of Christ was manifested, he must have a special revelation concerning it. Thus he speaks of the special way and circumstances, so touching as they were, in which the Lord had instituted this gathering feast; it was on the night on which He was delivered up, in which there was the treachery of one of His own, one of those specially gathered around Himself, who had walked in company with Him, beholding the manifestation of divine love and power in Him.

It was upon such a night as this, and in the midst of the shadow which was thus coming upon His soul, that He had taken the bread, giving thanks, and broken it, and said:"This is my body, which is for you; ["broken" is not in the original] this do in remembrance of Me." Simplicity itself all this is; how completely opposite, again, to all that ritualism has connected with it! In like manner also, after supper He took the cup, saying:"This cup is the new covenant in my blood. This do ye, as often as ye drink it, in remembrance of Me." The apostle adds, as this interpretation of it:"For as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye declare the Lord's death until He come."

No atmosphere of mystery surrounds this. It is simply the memorial of a death to which we as Christians owe our all-the death of the One whom it has made our Lord forever. In contrast with all this, think of what ritualism has made of it! It is striking, also, that the thing for which he is reproving the Corinthians, is for not discerning the Lord's body. It was the very opportunity to show what this discernment of the Lord's body would be. He takes no trouble to define it. He does not in the least suppose that there is any mystery about it, in the sense in which men speak of it. That which he speaks of is bread and the cup. These are the memorials of the Lord in His death. The bread is His body, more strictly Himself, as one may say. The cup is His blood, the remembrance not so much of Himself as of His work. The body and the blood are separate. It is, again, a dead Christ that we remember. We surely remember also that He is risen from the dead, and we know, by faith, that He is present with us; but all this, while it gives additional gladness to the celebration, in no wise forms part of the celebration itself.

The Person of the Lord, as already said, appears more distinctly in the bread which we break. It is this One, the Man Christ Jesus, whom we remember. This implies no forgetfulness of what He was, of course; it is in fact the One who was here in the world in that life and death of His which were for us, which give us all our knowledge of Him as He lives now before God. All our apprehension of Him belongs to this manifestation of divine love and glory in Him who was upon earth among us. He is gone out of it, but He is the same Christ who was here, and He is coming again to receive us to Himself. We look back in the ordinance to His death. We look forward to His coming again.

The cup is here said to be the new covenant in His blood. It is the memorial of a life given up for us, and which, as given up, in its sacrificial character is the foundation of the new covenant of grace in which we stand. The Lord adds again in this case:"Do this in remembrance of Me." That is its distinctive character, a remembrance. A remembrance is not of something existing at the present moment, but of something in the past. It is all our joy to know that this death that we celebrate is actually past, and that it can never take place again. To talk of an unbloody offering, as men do in their mass, is only to destroy the whole reality of what is expressed here. The bread is the communion of the body of Christ. The cup is the communion of the blood of Christ. It is the expression of our fellowship in it, which is the very thing which the common remembrance implies. The bread and the wine would be nothing to us except we saw in them the body and the blood of the Lord.

How thankful we may be for the simplicity that we find in all this scripture! But there is, none the less, in the celebration of the Lord's supper, a solemnity which the apostle warns us of. They could not eat this bread or drink of the cup of the Lord in a light manner without being guilty in respect to the body and blood of the Lord. Here it is distinctly the "Lord" who is spoken of, that we may realize the character of the slight here given. We cannot bring sin into the presence of that which we celebrate as having put it away from us. If we come to celebrate the Lord's death without self-judgment, we destroy the holy character of that which is the most impressive proof of the holiness of God that could be given. It is impossible that sin and the knowledge of the Lord can go on together.

But he would not frighten us away from the table of the Lord. He does not say, "Let a man judge himself and refrain from eating," but, "Let a man examine (or judge) himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup." It is true that " he that eateth and drinketh" does so in judgment to himself if he discerneth not the body. That is the whole point. It is evident that the Corinthians were making a mere common meal of that which was intended to be the constant reminder of a love which has nowhere else any equivalent, and were reaping the fruits of this laxity. There were, he says, many weak and sickly among them, and a good many had fallen asleep. Thus the judgment of the Lord was necessarily upon them; not because they were not His own; rather because they were; for, as the apostle says, "When we are judged" in this way, "we are chastened of the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world." He distinguishes between this present judgment and the judgment to come. But this present judgment is a most serious thing. It is the infliction of a love which, because it is holy, must inflict what is pain to inflict. We force the Lord to judge us in this way when we do not judge ourselves. God must of necessity exhibit His holiness with regard to the sins of His people. Whatever the work of Christ has done for us, it can never be allowed to be used for unholy purposes. These were the main points of what he had to say to them."The rest," he says, "will I set in order when I come."F. W. G. in "Num. Bible."
A "FAITH CURE" AND ITS SEQUEL