Before launching into 1 Corinthians 11, we need to get a feel for the main purpose of 1 Corinthians. The vast majority of the letters in the New Testament, if not all of them, are occasional, that is, there was a specific something that caused the letter to be written. Something prompted the authors to write.

In Corinthians, we have a pretty good idea of what led Paul to write. First off, some men had arrived from Corinth (1 Cor. 16:17), seemingly bringing information from the church there. Paul speaks of receiving reports on what is going on (1 Cor. 1:11; 5:1) and throughout the letter speaks knowingly of the church’s situation. In addition, some in the church had apparently written to Paul asking questions about different issues (1 Cor. 7:1) and Paul responds to each question, often with a corrective.

Therefore it’s appropriate to talk about 1 Corinthians as having different “occasions,” different situations that Paul is responding to. In fact, Paul touches on no fewer than eleven different topics, sometimes going to great length to discuss the topic (chapters 8-10 on food offered to idols, chapters 12-14 on spiritual gifts). It would be oversimplifying to try to mention one theme as the theme of 1 Corinthians.

Being overly simplistic, however, I’ll give it a shot anyway. In ancient times, letters often included a prayer or appeal near the beginning of the letter which expressed the main purpose for writing. I think we find just such an appeal in 1 Corinthians 1:10: “I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment.” An underlying theme throughout the book is the lack of unity. This lack of unity was caused by spiritual immaturity and expressed itself in numerous ways, including division at the time of eating the Lord’s Supper (1 Cor. 11:17-22). As we study Paul’s instructions on the Lord’s Supper, we need to keep in mind that the essential problem being treated is a lack of unity.

Tomorrow we’ll move directly into the pericope we will be studying this week (I just like getting to use that word): 1 Corinthians 11:17-34. Take some time to read it, and we’ll look over it together tomorrow.