Brother Rushmore: Do you think in 1 Corinthians 11:33,34 where it states that they “tarried” (waited) until ALL were assembled before they partook of the Supper, that it CANNOT be done until all of the congregation is gathered together? If it is true that they did, where do we get the authority to offer it at two different times, i.e., once in the morning service and then again, in the evening service? Is the tarrying being done for the Lord’s Supper or for the common meal? In Him, Rea Buttermore
The Corinthian church erred, among other things, regarding fellowship meals and observance of the Lord’s Supper. The apostle Paul addressed these two errors in 1 Corinthians 11:17-34. They couldn’t even eat together correctly and they also corrupted the Lord’s Supper.
Specifically, the Corinthians intermingled eating a common meal with the spiritual feast of the Lord’s commemorative Supper. In the process, more well to do Christians ate of the corrupted meal they had devised to the exclusion of participation by Christians less well to do. The apostle proceeded to (1) separate the common meal from the spiritual feast and (2) restore the spiritual feast.
The assembly of the church for worship is described in verses 17-18, 20, 33-34 with the phrase “come together.” Nowhere in the context does it state that they all had to be assembled before they partook of the Lord’s Supper, which supposition fueled the question of the validity of offering the Lord’s Supper at a second worship assembly on the Lord’s Day. If a congregation could never observe the Lord’s Supper unless all members of that congregation assembled, doubtless few if any congregations could ever partake of the Lord’s Supper, because probably few if any occasions would occur where every member of a local congregation were present on the same day at the same service. Every time someone was sick and could not attend or on vacation or at work when the local congregation assembled, no one would be able to observe the Lord’s Supper. In addition to the fact that the passage does not teach that a congregation must “tarry” or wait until every member is present to observe the communion, the absurdity of the logical conclusion to which this thought compels one to go is further evidence against such an interpretation.
First Corinthians 11:33 pertains to the Lord’s Supper, whereas the following verse pertains to the common meal. Instead of teaching that a congregation must wait for all members of that congregation to be present before it observes the Lord’s Supper, the passage teaches that those who are assembled are to partake of the Lord’s Supper at the same time (as opposed to the manner in which the corrupted activity formerly was practiced at Corinth in that the wealthier ate and the less fortunate did not eat). Hence, nothing is taught in the passages respecting the number of times a congregation may assemble on the Lord’s Day or the number of times a congregation may present the Lord’s Supper for observance in those worship assemblies. We know from Acts 20:7 that the Lord’s Supper is to be observed on the first day of the week. Beyond that, we have no further inspired directives regarding the frequency of observing the Lord’s Supper. We have authority to observe the Lord’s Supper each first day of the week, and are not authorized to legislate beyond that. That is, we lack sufficient biblical information to either require or disallow providing the opportunity for observance of the communion in an additional worship assembly on the Lord’s Day.
