Biblion Bible Commentary
Read the introduction to 1 Corinthians · About this commentary
One Bread, One Body
1 Corinthians 10:14-17
14 Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. · WEB
The Lord's table is a real sharing, and the single loaf is the reason a divided church is a contradiction of what it eats.
Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. I speak as to wise men. Judge what I say 1 Corinthians 10:14–15.
The instruction is flee, as with immorality 1 Corinthians 6:18. And then a courtesy that is also a challenge: judge what I say. He submits the argument to their assessment — the same congregation he had asked whether there was one wise man among them 1 Corinthians 6:5 is now addressed as capable of weighing an argument, if it will.
The cup of blessing which we bless, isn't it a sharing of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, isn't it a sharing of the body of Christ? 1 Corinthians 10:16.
Two questions expecting yes, and the word behind sharing is the one usually rendered fellowship — a participation, a having-in-common. This is the premise the whole argument about idol food rests on: eating at a table is not a neutral act of consumption but an act of association, and Paul establishes it first at the table the Corinthians revere before applying it to the one they were visiting 1 Corinthians 10:21.
What the sentence claims is a genuine sharing in Christ, and what it does not do is explain the mechanism. The English translations divide over how much weight the word will carry, and the letter itself does not press further than sharing — the emphasis falls on who is joined to whom, not on what happens to the elements.
Because there is one loaf of bread, we, who are many, are one body; for we all partake of the one loaf of bread 1 Corinthians 10:17.
And here the argument turns unexpectedly horizontal. From one loaf Paul derives not a doctrine about the bread but a fact about the eaters: we, who are many, are one body. The unity is not produced by agreement or by organization; it follows from a shared meal, in the same way that eating from one loaf is a single act performed by many hands.
The consequence is severe for this church. A congregation with parties 1 Corinthians 1:12, lawsuits 1 Corinthians 6:6, and a supper at which the rich ate ahead of the poor 1 Corinthians 11:21 was performing, week by week, a rite whose meaning contradicted its practice. That is why the same word body will do the work in the next chapter and the next again 1 Corinthians 11:29 1 Corinthians 12:27 — the loaf, the church, and the crucified body of Christ are held together, and failing to see the connection is what Paul calls not discerning.
held with reason What this mark means