We continue our study of First and Second Corinthians. In 1 Corinthians 10 Paul is taking up the subject of the table of the Lord and the conduct which should characterize those who are invited to eat at it.
He stresses very strongly that believers who partake of the cup and bread at the Lord’s table express communion (fellowship) with the blood and the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. He also reminded them that there were many in Israel who partook of the blessings of deliverance from Egypt and Jehovah’s wonderful care of them in the wilderness, yet who died in that wilderness, for there was no reality of faith in Jehovah in their hearts.
He plainly shows that if the Corinthians were to partake of the table of the Lord, they could not at the same time show communion with wickedness. Such actions would call forth a display of the Lord’s jealous care of His table. Those who are invited to sit at His table are invited there by virtue of His shed blood. In partaking of the loaf, believers express the fellowship and oneness of His body. Partaking of the cup and the loaf shows fellowship with the table, which is the Lord’s. As mentioned, this requires separation from evil. The table of the Lord is how believers express fellowship with the Lord and with each other.
1. Paul teaches that the cup on the Lord’s table is an expression of the Lord Jesus’ blood shed at the cross. What did the Lord Jesus teach His disciples that the cup meant? Luke 22:___
2. Those who partake of the Lord’s table are to be “holy.” Why?
1 Peter 1:___
3. Those who partake of the loaf at the Lord’s table give expression to His body. Paul told the Ephesians that each believer supplies something to His body. What? Ephesians 4:___
4. One of the commands that Paul gives the Thessalonians shows that the conduct of believers affects the table of the Lord. What did he say?
1 Thessalonians 5:___
5. Paul refers to “one” loaf and cup and “one” Lord’s table in 1 Corinthians 10. What instructions concerning unity found in Ephesians are given to believers in order that we might walk worthy of the name by which we are called? Ephesians 4:___