Physical Weakness, Illness and Death in 1 Corinthians 11.30: Deprivation and Overconsumption in Pauline and Early Christianity

2019 ◽  
Vol 65 (4) ◽  
pp. 572-588
Author(s):  
David J. Downs
Keyword(s):  
Physical Interpretation ◽  
Early Christianity ◽  
Lord's Supper ◽  
The Body ◽  
1 Corinthians ◽  
Community Of Christ ◽  
Christ Followers ◽  
Physical Weakness

In 1 Cor 11.17–34, Paul attempts to correct the practice of a communal meal in Corinth. He notes that consumption of this meal without discernment of ‘the body’ has had disastrous consequences within the community of Christ-followers: ‘For this reason, many among you are weak and sick, and quite a few are dying’ (11.30). This essay offers a physical interpretation of 1 Cor 11.30, contending that Paul presents the bodies of both the ‘have-nots’ and those who shame them as suffering because of the practice of the Lord's Supper, the former from dietary deprivation and the latter from overconsumption.

The Lord’s Supper? When eating and dining become determinative in 1 Corinthians 11:17–34

2020 ◽  
Vol 117 (4) ◽  
pp. 560-565
Author(s):  
David A. Steinbrenner
Keyword(s):  
Socioeconomic Status ◽  
Lord's Supper ◽  
The Body ◽  
Body Of Christ ◽  
1 Corinthians ◽  
Death Of Jesus ◽  
Physical Consequences ◽  
The Church

In 1 Cor 11:17–34, Paul admonishes the church in Corinth for celebrating the Lord’s Supper in a way that maintains and perpetuates inequitable treatment based on socioeconomic status. His concern is that such practices harm the church’s witness and create a disunity that tears the body of Christ apart and connects the church to liability for the death of Jesus himself. In Paul’s argument, food and dining do not function merely symbolically or metaphorically, but serve to actualize either unity in the body of Christ or division that leads to physical consequences of judgment from God. Paul grounds his argument in the logic of the tradition of the Lord’s Supper as it was handed down to him.

scholarly journals Life and Death in the Body of Christ

Lumen et Vita ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric Studt, S.J.
Keyword(s):  
Lord's Supper ◽  
The Body ◽  
Eternal Life ◽  
Body Of Christ ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
1 Corinthians ◽  
Material Body ◽  
Life And Death ◽  
Actual Material

Focusing on 1 Corinthians, I argue for a literal reading of Paul’s understanding of life and death in the body of Christ. Recent research carried out by Dale Martin and Troels Engberg-Pedersen has uncovered a Stoic notion of pneuma in Paul’s writings. That is to say, Paul understood pneuma as a material substance that allows for life, perception, and knowledge. Paul believed that human beings are born with a fleshly pneuma, but God’s pneuma is given at baptism. Those possessing God’s pneuma literally see a different reality and are materially bound to other believers. Since for Paul the risen Christ is a pneumatic body, believers are also materially bound to Christ to form a single pneumatic body, the body of Christ. The body of Christ is not a metaphor, but an actual material body that is made up of God’s pneuma. Ultimately, to have a share in God’s pneuma means eternal life with the risen Christ and existence apart from God’s pneuma means death. This paper treats 1 Cor. 11:17-34 as a case study. In this pericope Paul warns that the body of the Lord acts as a poison, causing sickness and death, to those who participate unworthily in the Lord’s supper. “Unworthiness” here refers to the factionalism that was plaguing the Corinthian community. Paul believed that the Corinthians were literally killing the body of Christ—as well themselves individually—by tearing apart the corporate pneumatic body of believers through factionalism. In short, for Paul factionalism means death. 

The Anabaptist Tradition: Mennonites

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
John D. Rempel
Keyword(s):  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Lord's Supper ◽  
The Body ◽  
Body Of Christ ◽  
1 Corinthians ◽  
Late 19Th Century ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
The Church ◽  
Great Stress

Anabaptism and its descendant movement, Mennonitism, came into being through the illegal baptism of believers upon confession of faith. Anabaptist worship was characterized by form and freedom. It included reading and interpreting the Bible by preachers and other worshipers, practicing baptism, the Lord’s Supper, anointing, and other acts while allowing for immediate promptings by the Holy Spirit, as in 1 Corinthians 14. Routinized worship developed gradually by means of leaders internalizing important turns of phrase as well as writing prayers and publishing prayer books. Some streams of Mennonitism, like the Amish, have laid great stress on following the tradition that emerged. At the same time there arose renewal and missionary movements for whom Spirit-led improvisation was essential for true worship that was accessible to seekers. Beginning in the late 19th century, Mennonite churches arose in the Global South. For them the movement between form and freedom was essential to authentic worship. Singing is the central act of the congregation in all types of Mennonite worship. There is a lean sacramentalism in which the visible church is the body of Christ in history. In the practice of ordinances or sacraments, there has been great concern from the beginning that God’s acts of grace be received by the faith of the believer in order for such acts to be true to their intention. The Lord’s Supper emphasizes encountering both Christ and one’s sisters and brothers in a transformative way. Baptism is entering a covenant with Christ and the church. In addition, anointing, discipline, funerals, marriage and celibacy, parent and child dedication, and ordination are practiced.

Remember as Re-membering: The Eucharist, 1 Corinthians 11:17-34, and Profound Intellectual Disability

2020 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 152-162
Author(s):  
Julie Marie Land
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual Disability ◽  
Intellectual Disabilities ◽  
Lord's Supper ◽  
The Body ◽  
Body Of Christ ◽  
1 Corinthians ◽  
The Social ◽  
Church And Society ◽  
The Church ◽  
The Way

In 1 Cor 11:17-34 Paul reprimands the Corinthians for the way in which they gather for worship, and addresses the Corinthians’ situation with the words of institution. This paper, exploring how the Lord’s Supper is importantly related to discerning the body of Christ and the church’s response to people on the social margins, pursues a question of the contemporary church: are we eating rightly? An examination of 1 Cor 11:17-34 reveals that the Lord’s Supper criticizes developments in society that have come to base the worth of bodies on their ability to meet society’s prized values of achievement, consumption, and production. Bodies that do not meet these aims are positioned as problems. This paper argues that people with profound intellectual disabilities, who often are placed on the social margins of both church and society, have much to teach about what it means to gather and be with one another as the church.

scholarly journals PERSPEKTIF RASUL PAULUS TENTANG BERBAHASA ROH BERDSARKAN 1 KORINTUS 14

2015 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-21
Author(s):  
Sarwono Sarwono
Keyword(s):  
The Body ◽  
Body Of Christ ◽  
1 Corinthians ◽  
Speaking In Tongues ◽  
The Gift ◽  
The Church

The gift of speaking in tongues is a message to the body of Christ which is given in tongues and is not understood by the user. Therefore, it must be followed by an interpretation by the language understood by the congregation. The gift of tongues is usually news of a prophecy for the Lord's church and must be followed by an interpretation. If the gift of tongues is not followed by an interpretation, it cannot build up the church. Therefore, the author will discuss the apostle Paul's perspective on tongues based on 1 Corinthians 14.

The Practice of the Lord’s Supper in 1 Corinthians 11:17–34 as a Socio-Religious Ritual Failure

2018 ◽  
Vol 130 (5) ◽  
pp. 202-214
Author(s):  
Chelcent Fuad
Keyword(s):  
Social Status ◽  
Lord's Supper ◽  
1 Corinthians ◽  
Ritual Performance ◽  
Religious Ritual ◽  
Ritual Theory

This paper attempts to understand the abuses of the Lord’s Supper in the Corinthian church (1 Cor 11:17–34) from the perspective of ritual theory. Analyzing the abuses of the Lord’s Supper by using the types of ritual infelicity as described by Ronald L. Grimes, I argue that the practice of the Lord’s Supper by the Corinthians was a socio-religious ritual failure caused by its participants’ inappropriate manners. These inappropriate manners in the ritual performance were both social and religious, namely the stratification of social status and the defilement of the sacred meal, both of which are the results of the imitation of pagan meal practices.

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