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10250 North Freeway @ West Road
Houston, Texas 77037
Tel: (281) 447-8484
KEEPING HOUSE FOR
THE LORD
Written by H. Frank Fort
This material is copyrighted and may not be copied or reproduced without the express written permission of the Berean Baptist Church.
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House for the Lord,
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LESSON
#14
"The
Lord's Supper" No. 3
"We being many are one bread and one body: for
we are all partakers of that one bread" 1 Cor. 10:17.
In this part of our study, we wish to point out the
identity of the "many”, the "all" of the text. Who are they? Do
they represent all the children of God, or do they represent all the members of
"the Church of God…at Corinth"?
"One body". Let us determine the meaning of
this expression in scripture. The religious world is divided in its
understanding of the term. Some believe that "the body of Christ" is
made up of all the children of God in the world, that is, if you are a child of
God, you are a member of "the body" in virtue of that fact. Thus they
teach that the Lord's table, though locally participated in, is open and
unrestricted to all those who claim to be the children of God, regardless of
their religious affiliation, local or otherwise. Due to limited space we do not
propose to go into the various theories concerning "the body" of
Christ, but rather limit our study to "the consideration of those features
which identify it with "the Church" as a local institution. If the
"one body" and "the Church" are identical, and local, and
that church invites anyone not locally affiliated with it to "break
broad"; the symbolism of our text is destroyed, for it reads, "we
being many are one bread and one body". If any, other than the
"we" partake of the ''one bread", then someone has slipped in not
recognized by the text.
When Paul wrote this epistle he addressed it to
"the church of God which is at Corinth" 1 Cor. 1:2. The words "which is at Corinth", prove the
limitation of the Church addressed locally. The words that follow, which are
urged in objection to this fact, in reality serve to confirm it. They are
"with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord,
both theirs and ours" 1 Cor. 1:2.
Notice, it does not read, "with each in every place…both his and
ours", but "all in every place…both theirs". What is the
difference? Just this, The "Church of God at Corinth" worshipped as
such "when gathered together" 1
Cor. 5:4, not when scattered all over Corinth. The truth, which enabled
God's people to "speak the same thing…be perfectly joined together in the
same mind and in the same judgment" 1
Cor. 1:10, at Corinth, was also the truth that governed "all…in every
place". That is, "the Churches of Galatia" Gal.
1:2. "The saints which are at Ephesus" Eph.
1:1, who constituted "the Church" Eph. 1:22 there, "all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at
Philippi, with the bishop and deacons" Phil. 1:1, "the saints…at Colosse" Col. 1:2, "the Church of the Thessalonians", 1
Thess. 1:1, were governed by the same truth that governed "the Church
of God at Corinth". "Every place”, as "Ephesus, Colosse,
Philippi, Thessalonica", etc., is what Paul has referred to in 1
Cor.1:2, and the "all…in every place", is simply the
"saints…with the bishop and deacons", as in Phil.
1:1.
Now let us consider
“the church …at Corinth”, in connection with the word “place”
·
"All…that
in every place". This means no more than "everywhere in every
Church", 1 Cor. 4:17
·
"Everywhere"
being equal to the "every place" of 1 Cor. 1:2, and,
·
"Every
church" being equal to the "all" of 1 Cor. 1:2.
Notice Paul says, "be ye followers of
me" 1 Cor. 4:16, and to this end
he said, "I sent unto you Timothy, who is my beloved son and faithful in
the Lord, who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways which be in Christ
" 1 Cor. 4:17. The Apostle had taught Timothy "how thou oughtest to
behave thyself in the house of God, which is the Church of the living God" 1
Tim. 3:15. But notice, "the house…the Church" here is the same
as "the Church of God"
1
Tim. 3: 5
which has "deacons" 1 Tim. 3:12.
"In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
when ye are gathered together…put away from among yourselves" 1 Cor. 5:4,13). Imagine an, "invisible body" trying to
obey this commandment. Notice Paul is calling for judgment against "the
leaven”…malice and wickedness" 1
Cor. 5:7,8, but to whom does he address the commandment? "The
Church" 1 Cor. 6:4. He had said,
"Do not ye judge them that are within? 1 Cor. 5:12. The judgment was to result in putting "away from
among yourselves" 1 Cor. 5:13.
This was simply carrying out the will of God as revealed in Matt.
18:15‑20. The "yourselves" of 1
Cor. 5:13, being "the Church", 1
Cor. 6:4 "'gathered together" 1
Cor. 5:4. "That wicked person" 1
Cor. 5:13 was delivered by that body "unto Satan for the destruction of
the flesh" 1 Cor. 5:5. Thus
"the punishment…was inflicted of many" 2 Cor. 2:6. The authority to "judge them that are within" 1
Cor. 5:12, that is, "Judge…in the Church" 1
Cor. 6:4, could only be exercised "When ye are gathered together" 1
Cor. 5:4. This can be true only of a local congregation, where, if "one
member suffer, all the members suffer with it, or if one member be honored, all
the members rejoice with it" 1 Cor.
12:26.
Joy is inseparable from fellowship. John wrote
the children of God to the end "ye also may have fellowship with us…that
your joy may be full" 1 Jn. 1:3,4.
He said, "our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son" vs.
3. The emotion antithetical to joy is "sorrow"; thus Paul exhorted
"the Church…at Corinth" to consider the reaction of the party
"punished" by the loss of fellowship, to that loss, and in view of
"sorrow" to "forgive him and comfort him", 2
Cor. 2:7. The sorrow, of course, is that which "worketh
repentance"
2
Cor. 7:10,
and "if he repent, forgive him" Luke
17:3; thus, "whatsoever ye (the Church, vs.
17) shall loose on earth, shall be loosed in heaven" Matt. 18:18.
When he was "bound" by the Church
because of "malice…and wickedness", he was delivered "unto
Satan for the destruction of the flesh"
1
Cor. 5:5,
and found helpless before the "adversary the devil", which "walketh
about seeking whom he may devour" 1
Pet. 5:8. Why was he helpless? Because Satan can only be resisted by God's
people, "steadfast in the faith"
1
Pet. 5:9.
Thus only, can a child of God "Resist the devil, and he will flee from
you" James 4:7. They who do not
obey the commandment to "Submit yourselves therefore to God", James
4:7, and are "bound" by "the Church" cannot, in that
bondage, "resist Satan" but rather, "are taken captive by him at
his will" 2 Tim. 2:26. What are the means by which "they may recover
themselves out of the snare of the devil" 2 Tim. 2:26? The answer is "Repentance to the acknowledging of
the Truth" 2 Tim. 2:25.
"Godly sorrow worketh repentance" 2 Cor. 7:10. Thus Peter said to Simon, "Repent of this thy
wickedness and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven
thee Acts 8:22.
·
He was
"in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity" Acts
8:23.
·
He had
"neither part nor lot in this matter" Acts 8:21 that of "the Holy Ghost" being given through
apostles "hands" Acts 8:18.
·
Repentance
was required to "the acknowledging of the truth" in order to
"recover himself out of the snare of Satan" 2 Tim. 2:25,26.
Let it be noticed that prior to the completion
of the word of God, the apostles exercised judgment sometimes violently.
Consider 1 Cor. 4:21, Acts 5:5‑11,
Acts 13:10,11. Sometimes God dealt in judgment directly. Acts
12:23 Acts 19:13‑17. But
the punishment the Church inflicts is limited to the realm of fellowship, then
God binds, and Satan devours.
"Ye come together…ye come together in the
Church…ye come
together…into
one place" 1 Cor. 11:17,18,20.
Notice the words "one place". This was just one example of "every
place", 1 Cor. 1:2 and
"everywhere"
1
Cor 4:17.
The language cannot be misunderstood. In this "one place" in Corinth,
"them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus" 1
Cor. 1:2, "and were baptized" Acts
18:8, some by Paul, 1 Cor.
1:14‑16, some by others, but "all baptized into one body", 1
Cor. 12:13, "come together…into one place", and when this
assembling had been accomplished, it was "in the Church". To this
Church thus assembled, Paul said, "Now I praise you brethren that ye
remember me in all things, and keep the ordinances as I delivered them to
you" 1 Cor. 11:2. Were we have "the Church" referred to in this
epistle, not some invisible organism but one, the members of which could and did
"come together in the Church…into one place". 'Wherever" or
"in every place", a like people, with "the ordinances"
assembled there was a "Church of God", which we shall show is
"the body of Christ". A local Church is not a part of "the
body", it is "the body of Christ", in that place, carrying out
the will of "the Head" of "the body". Nowhere in God's word
is a Church called a part of "the body". Both terms refer to the same
institution. They are identical in number, nature, responsibility, and
extension. If it is a Church, it is "the body of Christ". No one
belongs to the "body of Christ" who does not belong to "the
Church of God".
Prepared by:
H. Frank Fort,
Minister Berean Baptist Church
Houston, TX.
"It Does Make a Difference What You Believe"