A Contentious Family Dinner in Corinth, Paedocommunion Notes, and the Good Life
Paul’s argument is against those who consciously try to divide by status, race, money, power, or anything.
I’d like to walk through a family fight in a 1st-century town called Corinth. The Apostle Paul dedicates significant space to this event because it exemplifies the kind of behavior that deteriorates a body. It signifies an undoing of the ecclesial function, and Paul condemns it with strong words.
The Corinthian Table
When people come together, there is a happy assumption of unity. Sure, misunderstandings take place. Morning routines can be a bit chaotic in the home with little kids. But a prerequisite for a meal is a united sense of direction and respect. As Proverbs states, Better a dinner of herbs where love is than a feast with hatred. So, you put aside disagreements about the extent of Biden’s cognitive abilities and come together as a family.
This is not happening at the tables in Corinth. Some of the Corinthians with greater resources are feasting on their own food and wine, while the poorer Christians “who have nothing” are going hungry.[1] They are despising a part of the body at a meal that should express our oneness.
The Architecture of Corinthian Homes
In Corinth, the Supper did not happen in a public place but in a private home. This home was most likely owned by someone with a higher social status; perhaps he was converted from a prestigious political office.
In a Corinthian home, which we know from archeological discoveries, the house was divided into a dining room (triclinium), which could accommodate around nine people, and the atrium, which would be a bigger area and accommodate another 30 people. Remember, the early churches were small. There were no megachurches in the first century. The church was being established and growing in homes.
Paul wanted order and decency in these small gatherings. Yet, the host of the gathering, one of the wealthier members of the community, kept his highly influential friends in the dining room, and the members with lesser means stayed in the atrium. It would be quite common for those in the dining room to receive better wine and service than others. It’s very much like a first-class flight where you get extra legroom, drinks, and food, and everyone else gets stale pretzels.
Pliny the Younger describes this in one of his letters when he writes: “The best dishes were set in front of himself (host) and a select few, and cheap scraps of food before the rest of the company.”[2] Paul says in I Corinthians 11, verse 22, that this is not just bad manners; it’s a humiliation of those who have nothing. They are despising this communion by eating their own private food without sharing.
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