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Selected Verse: 1 Corinthians 11:20 - King James
| Verse |
Translation |
Text |
| 1Co 11:20 |
King James |
When ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's supper. |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
| A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] |
When . . . therefore--Resuming the thread of discourse from Co1 11:18.
this is not to--rather, "there is no such thing as eating the LORD'S Supper"; it is not possible where each is greedily intent only on devouring "HIS OWN supper," and some are excluded altogether, not having been waited for (Co1 11:33), where some are "drunken," while others are "hungry" (Co1 11:21). The love-feast usually preceded the Lord's Supper (as eating the Passover came before the Lord's Supper at the first institution of the latter). It was a club-feast, where each brought his portion, and the rich, extra portions for the poor; from it the bread and wine were taken for the Eucharist; and it was at it that the excesses took place, which made a true celebration of the Lord's Supper during or after it, with true discernment of its solemnity, out of the question. |
| Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
When ye come together therefore ... - When you are assembled as a church, compare Heb 10:25, and see the note on Act 2:1. Christians were constantly in the habit of assembling for public worship. It is probable that at this early period all the Christians in Corinth were accustomed to meet in the same place. The apostle here particularly refers to their "assembling" to observe the ordinance of the Lord's Supper. At that early period it is probable that this was done on every Lord's Day.
This is not ... - Margin, "Ye cannot eat." The meaning of this expression seems to be this. "Though you come together professedly to worship God, and to partake of the Lord's Supper, yet this cannot be the real design which you have in view. It cannot be that such practices as are allowed among you can be a part of the celebration of that supper, or consistent with it. Your greediness Co1 11:21; your intemperance Co1 11:21; your partaking of the food separately and not in common, cannot be a celebration of the Lord's Supper. Whatever, therefore, you may profess to be engaged in, yet really and truly you are not celebrating the Lord's Supper."
The Lord's supper - That which the Lord Jesus instituted to commemorate his death. It is called "the Lord's," because it is his appointment, and is in honor of him; it is called "supper" (δεῖπνον deipnon), because the word denotes the evening repast; it was instituted in the evening; and it is evidently most proper that it should be observed in the after part of the day. With most churches the time is improperly changed to the morning - a custom which has no sanction in the New Testament; and which is a departure from the very idea of a supper. |
| Vincent's Word Studies, by Marvin R. Vincent [1886] |
This is not (οὐκ ἔστιν)
Rev., correctly, it is not possible.
The Lord's Supper (κυριακὸν δεῖπνον)
The emphasis is on Lord's. Δεῖπνον supper, represented the principal meal of the day, answering to the late dinner. The Eucharist proper was originally celebrated as a private expression of devotion, and in connection with a common, daily meal, an agape or love-feast. In the apostolic period it was celebrated daily. The social and festive character of the meal grew largely out of the gentile institution of clubs or fraternities, which served as savings-banks, mutual-help societies, insurance offices, and which expressed and fostered the spirit of good-fellowship by common festive meals, usually in gardens, round an altar of sacrifice. The communion-meal of the first and second centuries exhibited this character in being a feast of contribution, to which each brought his own provision. It also perpetuated the Jewish practice of the college of priests for the temple-service dining at a common table on festivals or Sabbaths, and of the schools of the Pharisees in their ordinary life.
Indications of the blending of the eucharistic celebration with a common meal are found here, Act 2:42; Act 20:7, and more obscurely, Act 27:35. |
| Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
| Therefore - That is, in consequence of those schisms. It is not eating the Lord's supper - That solemn memorial of his death; but quite another thing. |
| Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
| This is not to eat the Lord's Supper - They did not come together to eat the Lord's Supper exclusively, which they should have done, and not have made it a part of an ordinary meal. |
21 For in eating every one taketh before other his own supper: and one is hungry, and another is drunken.
33 Wherefore, my brethren, when ye come together to eat, tarry one for another.
18 For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you; and I partly believe it.
21 For in eating every one taketh before other his own supper: and one is hungry, and another is drunken.
21 For in eating every one taketh before other his own supper: and one is hungry, and another is drunken.
1 And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.
35 And when he had thus spoken, he took bread, and gave thanks to God in presence of them all: and when he had broken it, he began to eat.
7 And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight.
42 And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.