1 Corinthians 11:21

King James Version (KJV)

For in eating every one taketh before other his own supper: and one is hungry, and another is drunken.

Adam Clarke
Bible Commentary

Every one taketh before - his own supper - They had a grand feast, though the different sects kept in parties by themselves; but all took as ample a supper as they could provide, (each bringing his own provisions with him), before they took what was called the Lord's Supper. See on 1 Corinthians 11:17; (note).

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Albert Barnes
Notes on the Whole Bible

For in eating - When you eat, having professedly come together to observe this ordinance. In order to understand this, it seems necessary to suppose that they had in some way made the Lord‘s supper either connected with a common feast, or that they regarded it as a mere common festival to be observed in a way similar to the festivals among the Greeks. Many have supposed that this was done by making the observance of the supper follow a festival, or what were afterward called “love feasts” ἀγάπαι agapai- “Agapae”). Many have supposed that that custom was derived from the fact that the Saviour instituted the supper after a festival, a feast in which he had been engaged with his disciples, and that thence the early Christians derived the custom of observing such a festival, or common meal, before they celebrated the Lord‘s Supper. But it may be observed, that the passover was not a mere preliminary festival, or feast.

It had no resemblance to the so called love feasts. It was itself a religious ordinance; a direct appointment of God; and was never regarded as designed to be preliminary to the observance of the Lord‘s Supper, but was always understood as designed to be superseded by that. Besides, I know not that there is the slightest evidence, as has been often supposed, that the observance of the Lord‘s Supper was preceded, in the times of the apostles, by such a festival as a love feast. There is no evidence in the passage before us; nor is any adduced from any other part of the New Testament. To my mind it seems altogether improbable that the disorders in Corinth would assume this form - that they would first observe a common feast, and then the Lord‘s Supper in the regular manner. The statement before us leads to the belief that all was irregular and improper; that they had entirely mistaken the nature of the ordinance, and had converted it into an occasion of ordinary festivity, and even intemperance; that they had come to regard it as a feast in honor of the Saviour on some such principles as they observed feasts in honor of idols, and that they observed it in some such manner; and that all that was supposed to make it unlike those festivals was, that it was in honor of Jesus rather than an idol, and was to be observed with some reference to his authority and name.

Everyone taketh before other his own supper - That is, each one is regardless of the needs of the others; instead of making even a meal in common, and when all could partake together, each one ate by himself, and ate that which he had himself brought. They had not only erred, therefore, by misunderstanding altogether the nature of the Lord‘s supper, and by supposing that it was a common festival like those which they had been accustomed to celebrate; but they had also entirely departed from the idea that it was a festival to be partaken of in common, and at a common table. It had become a scene where every man ate by himself; and where the very idea that there was anything like a “common” celebration, or a celebration “together,” was abandoned. There is allusion here, doubtless, to what was a custom among the Greeks, that when a festival was celebrated, or a feast made, it was common for each person to provide, and carry a part of the things necessary for the entertainment. These were usually placed in common, and were partaken of alike by all the company. Thus, Xenophon (Mem. lib. 3:cap. xiv.) says of Socrates, that he was much offended with the Athenians for their conduct at their common suppers, where some prepared for themselves in a delicate and sumptuous manner, while others were poorly provided for. Socrates endeavored, he adds, to shame them out of this indecent custom by offering his provisions to all the company.

And one is hungry - Is deprived of food. It is all monopolized by others.

And another is drunken - The word used here ( μεθύω methuō) means properly to become inebriated, or intoxicated; and there is no reason for understanding it here in any other sense. There can be no doubt that the apostle meant to say, that they ate and drank to excess; and that their professed celebration of the Lord‘s Supper became a mere revel. It may seem remarkable that such scenes should ever have occurred in a Christian church, or that there could have been such an entire perversion of the nature and design of the Lord‘s Supper. But we are to remember the following things:

(1) These persons had recently been pagans, and were grossly ignorant of the nature of true religion when the gospel was first preached among them.

(2) they had been accustomed to such revels in honor of idols under their former modes of worship, and it is the less surprising that they transferred their views to Christianity.

(3) when they had once so far misunderstood the nature of Christianity as to suppose the Lord‘s Supper to be like the feasts which they had formerly celebrated, all the rest followed as a matter of course. The festival would be observed in the same manner as the festivals in honor of idolaters; and similar scenes of gluttony and intemperance would naturally follow.

(4) we are to bear in mind, also, that they do not seem to have been favored with pious, wise, and prudent teachers.

There were false teachers; and there were those who prided themselves on their wisdom, and who were self-confident, and who doubtless endeavored to model the Christian institutions according to their own views; and they thus brought them, as far as they could, to a conformity with pagan customs and idolatrous rites, We may remark here:

(1) We are not to expect perfection at once among a people recently converted from paganism.

(2) we see how prone people are to abuse even the most holy rites of religion, and hence, how corrupt is human nature.

(3) we see that even Christians, recently converted, need constant guidance and superintendence; and that if left to themselves they soon, like others, fall into gross and scandalous offences.

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Matthew Henry
Concise Bible Commentary

The apostle rebukes the disorders in their partaking of the Lord's supper. The ordinances of Christ, if they do not make us better, will be apt to make us worse. If the use of them does not mend, it will harden. Upon coming together, they fell into divisions, schisms. Christians may separate from each other's communion, yet be charitable one towards another; they may continue in the same communion, yet be uncharitable. This last is schism, rather than the former. There is a careless and irregular eating of the Lord's supper, which adds to guilt. Many rich Corinthians seem to have acted very wrong at the Lord's table, or at the love-feasts, which took place at the same time as the supper. The rich despised the poor, and ate and drank up the provisions they brought, before the poor were allowed to partake; thus some wanted, while others had more than enough. What should have been a bond of mutual love and affection, was made an instrument of discord and disunion. We should be careful that nothing in our behaviour at the Lord's table, appears to make light of that sacred institution. The Lord's supper is not now made an occasion for gluttony or revelling, but is it not often made the support of self-righteous pride, or a cloak for hypocrisy? Let us never rest in the outward forms of worship; but look to our hearts.

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SDA Bible Commentary (limited)
Volume 1-7

21. Own supper. Owing to the divisions and factions that had developed within the church at Corinth, the spirit of love and brotherly fellowship that characterizes all true followers of Jesus had to some extent disappeared. This unfortunate condition was revealed at the celebration of the feast that was supposed to be the Lord’s Supper, by each participant bringing his own food and eating it himself, without any thought of sharing it with others. The rich had an abundance to eat, and the poor often had nothing. The supper that had been instituted to commemorate the supreme demonstration of love thus became a mere private feast, a proceeding without meaning or significance, which each one might as well have performed at home. This brought the sacred ordinance of the Lord’s Supper into disrepute. The schisms in the church were largely responsible for this state of affairs, and it is possible that members of different parties ate separately because of their pride, refusing to humble themselves by fellowship around the Lord’s table.

Hungry. The poor believer, trusting in the charity of his more fortunate brethren, came to the feast believing that his need would be provided, but he was disappointed by the selfishness and unchristian pride of the rich.

Drunken. Gr. methu?, “to be intoxicated.” This word refers definitely to inordinate use of intoxicants to the point of loss of self-control. Paul intimates that the Corinthians ate and drank to excess at these feasts, and as a result their professed celebration of the Lord’s Supper became merely a farcical rite.

It may be considered surprising that Christians who lived in apostolic days, and who had been taught by Paul himself, should so pervert the nature and purpose of the Lord’s Supper as to turn it into a copy of their former heathen entertainments. It must be remembered that the Corinthians had only recently abandoned heathenism. They had been accustomed to engaging in excessive feasting in honor of false gods, and it would be comparatively easy for them to imagine that the Lord’s Supper could be celebrated in a similar manner. The divisions and party strife that marred their spiritual experience would cloud their vision and make it easier for them to corrupt the observance of the ordinance. This experience of the Corinthian believers shows that new Christians need careful and prolonged instruction and wise, sympathetic leadership and supervision until they are firmly rooted in the fundamental truths of the gospel. Compromise with non-Christian beliefs and practices always results in departure from the purity and simplicity of the gospel (see Deut. 7:1-4; 18:9-14; 2 Cor. 6:14-17).

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SDA Bible Commentary (limited)
Volume 1-7

Drunken. Gr. methuÃ…Â, “to be intoxicated.” This word refers definitely to inordinate use of intoxicants to the point of loss of self-control. Paul intimates that the Corinthians ate and drank to excess at these feasts, and as a result their professed celebration of the Lord’s Supper became merely a farcical rite.

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Ellen G. White
SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 6 (EGW), 1090

4. See EGW on Acts 15:11. 6BC 1090.1

12. See EGW on 1 Kings 11:1-4; Matthew 26:31-35. 6BC 1090.2

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