Tool Beta
The Ancient World Behind the Text
Pick a passage anywhere in the New Testament. See the customs and ideas a first reader knew without being told.
1 Corinthians 11:17-34, The Lord's Supper in a rich man's house
Paul rebukes the church because at the Lord's Supper some go hungry while others eat their fill and get drunk, retells the tradition of the Last Supper, and tells them to wait for one another.
1 Corinthians 11:17-34, in every translation this tool compares.
Paul rebukes the church because its shared meal has become a scene of division, with some eating their fill and even getting drunk while poorer members go hungry. He repeats the tradition of Jesus' last meal with his followers, the bread and cup that proclaim his death until he returns. Eating carelessly, without recognizing the body, brings judgment, so they must wait for one another and satisfy their hunger at home.
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- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/reclining-at-table\/","n":"Reclining at table","s":"At banquets men lay on couches, propped on the left elbow, and where you lay showed your rank.","r":""}
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- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/passover-pilgrims\/","n":"Passover and the pilgrim crowds","s":"The spring festival that retold God's rescue of Israel from Egypt. Jerusalem filled with pilgrims, and hopes of freedom ran high.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/eating-together\/","n":"Eating together","s":"Sharing a table made a bond of friendship, so who you ate with told everyone whose side you were on.","r":""}
At Corinthian banquets rank decided the couch and the quality of food and wine, and slighted guests complained (the cultural backgrounds article Banquets in Corinth). Churches met in the larger homes of the wealthy few, where a dining room held nine to twelve on couches and an atrium perhaps forty (the article); Keener explains that patrons often seated their own class in the dining room and served the others in the atrium with poorer food and wine. With no landed nobility, Corinth had an aristocracy of wealth, and the poor were despised or ignored (Carson, Moo and Morris). The cultural backgrounds notes give two readings: laborers and slaves came late from work, or hosts and elite guests ate their own better food apart. Bailey takes the first: "The idle rich had arrived early and eaten all the available fare", and Wright and Bird agree. The Corinthians seem to have treated the supper as a Greek festive banquet rather than as a Passover, an intimate family meal that celebrated redemption (Keener and his notes; the article). The Passover bread was the bread of affliction, and Passover looked ahead to a future redemption (Keener and his notes).
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, introduction to 1 Corinthians 11:17-34, and on 11:21-22, 11:23 and 11:24-25
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on 1 Corinthians 11:21, 11:23 and 11:24, and article Banquets in Corinth
- Kenneth E. Bailey, Paul Through Mediterranean Eyes, section 4.2
- N. T. Wright and Michael F. Bird, The New Testament in Its World, ch. 7, The Greco-Roman Context of the Early Church
- D. A. Carson, Douglas J. Moo and Leon Morris, An Introduction to the New Testament, ch. 9, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Destination
