One Loaf

 

DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

ONE LOAF

 

1 Cor 10:14-17

14 Therefore, my dear friends, flee from idolatry. 15 I speak to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say. 16 Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? 17 Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf.

NIV

We are still in this warning about eating food and drink that is sacrificed to idols. Of course, in Corinth there were actual temples to idols and people did make offerings of food those their idols. It is also possible that in much the same way that we give thanks to the Lord for the food on our table, they gave thanks to their idols in much the same manner. Paul is going to go on and talk about participation with the Lord’s Supper and with the supper of idols, that we cannot do both, but we will get to that. It is just that the point he makes here is related to what he says after. However, we should consider this idea of partaking in the body and blood of Jesus. The significance of what Paul is saying is that we should all be one body because we all partake in the one loaf, Christ. Unfortunately, it seems we have divided ourselves up into many and cannot even agree on what kind of loaf we partake in. Sure, we may all talk about Jesus, but it would seem that there are various views of who Jesus is and what it means to be a Christian. At least, whichever view we have, there are many of us with that view and we do gather around the Lord’s Table to partake in some form of communion. Within that context, we who gather around the same table should be one body and not a disjointed one, but a whole-body all working together for the purpose of the Lord. This appears to be happening for the most part in the church. This is a good thing and we have overcome for the most part. We know that in the Corinth church there were some Jews and some gentiles, some richer and some poorer, and a class society existed. So there would have been a natural division which Paul encourages to put aside in the church, that all are one because all partake in the one loaf. It is sad that today, although we may not have a class society, we still have a class society in some form. We also have seen the church spilt itself in two over certain issues. We have also seen members leave a church because of arguments or over hurt feelings, or bad blood, so to speak. The refusal to forgive, pride, arrogance, jealously, and envy have all played their part in causing chasms in the church, among those who should be one because of partaking in the one loaf. It seems the Church in Corinth was having trouble getting along with each other, and it seems not much has changed throughout the years. Will we ever learn that we are one because we partake in one loaf?