11:17,18
The second half of the chapter deals with the Lord’s Supper. Paul does not have a high opinion of them at all with regard to how they regard the Lord’s Supper, and how they practise it. Indeed, he says that their meetings do more harm than good!. The first issue that he raises is that of divisions. The Lord’s Supper should be a demonstration of unity, not division. In Eph 2:11-22 Paul shows how through the cross the wall of hostility between Jews and Gentiles has been done away with. The cross, and therefore the Lord’s Supper, is the great equaliser. All of us have sinned against God, and in Christ all who believe are forgiven and freely accepted by God. “and to some extent I believe it”. Paul had received reports of what was going on at the Lord’s Supper in Corinth, and thought that there was plausibility to the reports.
11:19
“No doubt there have to be differences among you to show which of you has God’s approval.” We can either take this verse at face value, or treat it as being an ironic statement. The commentaries I have read, including Schreiner, take it at face value. I think it is far more likely to be a statement tinged with irony. Let’s take the face value approach first. If this is the case, then what were the differences? Were they secondary issues? If so the Lord’s Supper is not the place to be settling them, or proving that one group is better than the other. If they were primary issues, then they would be addressed more directly. I favour the ironic view. If we look at what has gone before, some of the Corinthians were keen on proving that one group was better than the other (e.g. those who follow Paul, or Peter, or Apollos, 1 Cor 1:12).
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