Koinonia
by Walter Giddings
Note from Pastor Elmore: We believe that the Lord's Supper is a confirmation of the new covenant. It replaced the commandment given to Israel to eat the Passover Lamb, and instead, "eat" and "drink" of the soon to die and be resurrected Jesus Christ. It was Jesus who was what the Passover Lamb had looked forward to, and once He came and died for them, it was no longer necessary for Israel to kill and eat the unblemished Lamb. The death of Jesus set up the rejoining of the divorced House of Israel with the House of Judah which was the main theme of the "gospel of the kingdom."
March 20, 2022
Scripture Reading John 6:55 “... My flesh is meat indeed and my blood is drink indeed.”
Greetings kindred and fellow sheep. We are on a first name basis. My name is Walter. The usual Rules apply. I am not your teacher. Jesus Christ, the Master, is your Teacher. My job in God’s Classroom is Pedagogue, whose office is to lead the disciples to the Real Teacher. Who on God’s Green Earth would say his flesh is food and his blood is drink? Does this sound like the victim’s last words before the next cannibal dinner party?!
How many within the sound of my voice believe the above quotation is from The Scriptures? How many believe this quotation is not from The Scriptures?The quotation is from The Scriptures. It is incomplete.
John 6:55 For my flesh is meat indeed and my blood is drink indeed.
The first word “for” got left off. “For” translates the Koine Greek word gar G1063 from the New Testament, a primary particle, assigning a reason.
How could someone’s flesh being food, and blood being drink, be an assignable reason for anything?! Cannibal is a compound word composed of Cain and Baal. Does that tell us something? Baal worship?
Who spoke these words? How do we know? Did Jesus speak these words?
John 6:51-52
51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.
52 The Jews therefore [quarreled] among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat?
Does Verse 52 mean that we are not the only ones to strive over the meaning of this teaching, this doctrine? What is our next step? What do we do? If we review who we are, will that show us? The members of the Body, Christ’s Body, the Church, make no claim to be scholars. Some might say God Forbid!! I join you in that. We are not scholars, but we are disciples. What does it mean to be a disciple?
To answer that let us ask ourselves another question. What other English word resembles the word disciple? If we are Jesus’ Disciples, have we agreed to let Him discipline us? What discipline has The Master given unto us by which we can “study” and “search the Scriptures” to understand with the heart this Doctrine of eating his flesh and drinking his blood? Our “study” and “search” is in the Library of God. Its present form in the latter days of course is the 66 books of the Authorized Version 1611, ordered published by a direct lineal descendant of David, King James, which, since 2011, has been with us for over 400 years. Is this prima facie evidence of a miraculous and divine preservation of the oldest Literature in Adam?!
What discipline has our Master provided unto us for the “study” and “search [of] the Scriptures”? What library have we ever entered into that has no set of rules posted for its use? Is our discipline for the “study” and “search [of] the Scriptures” the Laws of Bible Study? Is our discipline the rules for the use of God’s Library? Is one of the most basic Laws “Thy Word is Truth”? Does Jesus equate The Truth to Himself? Does the Word of God reveal the Jesus of the Bible?
If we apply this basic Law of Bible Study, “Thy Word is Truth”, we have Blessed Assurance. “Thy Word is Truth” assures us that “For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed” is just as true as “Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them [false gods including Baal]: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God.” [Deuteronomy 5:9, Ten Commandments].
John 6:53-58
53 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.
54 Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.
55 For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.
56 He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.
57 As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me.
58 This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live forever.
Verse 59 tells us he taught this doctrine in the Capernaum synagogue.
What was the immediate reaction to Jesus’s Preaching? How popular was the Doctrine of “eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood” among the multitude of Jesus’ followers?
John 6:60-61
60 Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it?
61 When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, Doth this offend you?
“This is an hard saying; who can hear it?” What was the loss to the Ministry? Should Jesus have apologized for being politically incorrect, excuse himself to the multitude for a poor choice of words, and revamp his explanation of the Doctrine? Since we know Jesus did no such thing, shall we review the consequences? To many of us who know the significance of Numbers in Scripture, John 6:66, (666), means something to us. It is 6 that cannot attain to 7!
John 6:66-69
66 From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more
67 Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away?
“The twelve”! Where did everybody else go?! Did He feed the 5000? The 4000? Was the Fame of Him because He had multitudes of followers in Galilee? Does Jesus even sound like he is sorry? Who is left? Only the Apostles? Ignorant fishermen, a customs collector, and one traitorous thief, the Levite in the Priesthood?
68 Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.
“Thou hast the words of ...“ of what?
With what is eating His flesh and drinking His blood directly connected? What is directly connected to eating His flesh and drinking His blood? This is an open book test. What is the answer to our pop quiz? Did Peter say “eternal life”? Did Verses 54 and 58 say eternal life? Did the Apostles desire “eternal life” so eagerly they would find any way they could to “eat his flesh and drink his blood”? When the whole world left, what was it these Apostles believed they would stay with Jesus the Messiah?
69 And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God.
If someone within the sound of my voice or the sight of the text of this message has never had an opportunity to love Jesus, can you love Jesus for not apologizing to those wretched miserable Rebels against God who believe that people, unlike them, are animals that need herded and inoculated?!
Are there only 2 directions in which we enter “Eternity”? Is eternal damnation just as eternal as eternal life?
Isaiah 57:15 For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.
If we are born from above, and are a new creature, is our legal standing in “the high and holy place” eligibility to live again and have “eternal life”? (45:17). If we miss the mark and fail of “eternal life”, does that mean life here was entirely fruit loop?!
Isaiah 45:17 But Israel shall be saved in the LORD with an everlasting salvation: ye shall not be ashamed or confounded world without end.
Back to John 6:53.... Does “no life in you” mean no“eternal life”?
John 6:45: “Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood hath eternal life.” Are we interested in knowing how(!) to eat his flesh and drink his blood? Do we see the Need, our Need, for this Lesson?
Psalms 79:9 Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of thy name: and deliver us, and purge away our sins, for thy name’s sake.
Have we prayed in The Psalms a timely prayer? In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Where in The Scriptures does our “search” find our 1st clue on how to “eat his flesh and drink his blood”? Has that 1st clue already been before our face? In which of the 7 Sacraments of the Church do we eat bread?
John 6:58 ... he that eateth of this bread shall live forever.
How many times do we have to see “eternal life” and “live forever” to know our need to understand with our heart how to eateth his flesh and drinketh his blood? In which Sacrament of the Church do we eat bread?
1 Corinthians 10:16 The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?
Is the drinking from the cup the communion of Christ’s blood? Is the eating of the bread the communion of Christ’s body?
“Communion” is the translation into English of the Koine Greek word G2842, koinonia. One of the other translations of the Koine Greek word Koinonia into English is “fellowship”.
1 Corinthians 1:9 God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.
Does “fellowship” with the Son help us commune with the Father? Do we have a 2nd witness to “fellowship” with the Father?
1 John 1:3 That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.
How major a Doctrine is “fellowship” or “communion” “with the Father”? How far back, or how early on God’s Library shelf do we find the Doctrine of Communion “with the Father”?
Here in Exodus 25 we find our God telling Moses “let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them. According to all that I shew thee, after the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it.” God instructs Moses to take from the offerings of Israel and make an ark of shittim wood and overlay it within and without with gold, cast four rings of gold for the 4 corners thereof, two rings on each side, with staves of shittim wood through the rings to carry it. Further the skilled workers shall make a mercy seat of pure gold, 2 golden cherubim of beaten work with wings to cover the mercy seat, and their faces toward each other and the mercy seat.
Exodus 25:21-22
21 And thou shalt put the mercy seat above upon the ark; and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee.
22 And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel.
Could it be that when we partake of Communion, or The Lord’s Supper, we go into The Holy of Holies in the Spirit, and “commune” with our Heavenly Father?
Hebrews 6:19-20
19 Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil.
20 Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchizedec.
While we partake of the Emblems of Christ’s Suffering for Our Sakes, does The Father touch our Spirits in The Holy of Holies on High? I usually partake of Communion at least once a year, if not more often, at the season of Passover. Several years ago, I began to notice a difference within me after each Lord’s Supper. I say this, not to call attention to myself, but to note that I wondered if anyone else was having this same mysterious experience. They are! Though we understand little of what is happening, do we marvel at it?
When we partake of Communion, according to The Scriptures, what is it that we do show? What do we show as partakers of The Lord’s Supper?
1 Corinthians 11:26 For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come.
Do we “shew the Lord’s death till he come”? Why does God our Father want his family on earth to remember our Lord’s death till He come? Why does the Lord’s Supper comprise the Memorial of His Death? Even Paul the Apostle, the composer of 1 Corinthians seems to say in Romans 5 that the “much more” is The Resurrection.
Romans 5:10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.
“Enemies ... saved by His life.” Is “His life” the Resurrection life? Churchianity is aware of the Resurrection but is entirely ignorant of the death instrument that murdered the Prince of Life. The Serpent’s Spawn goes ballistic over the Resurrection. Even if the Serpent’s Spawn manage to resemble keeping a civil tongue in their blasphemy spewing mouths, their reaction to The Resurrectionis, “Oh c’mon you don’t really believe that old fairy tale, do you?!”
Matthew 28:12-13
12 And when they were assembled with the elders, and had taken counsel, they gave large money unto the soldiers.
13 Saying, Say ye, His disciples came by night, and stole him away while we slept.
What would happen to any soldier who refused to take the bribe? Even today the story procured by bribe is told again in two published books, The Passover Plot and The Jesus Scrolls.
If Paul is saying, Romans 5:10, that the “much more” is the Resurrection, then why, 1 Corinthians 11:26, is he saying that partakers of The Lord’s Supper “do shew the Lord’s death till He come.”? The Law of Hermeneutics, a Law of Bible Study, is our Blessed Assurance that every Scripture is in harmony with every other Scripture. If one Scripture seems to oppose another Scripture in total contradiction, that does not exist in the Mind of God. He does not suffer from a fallen organic brain! We do. That perception could only exist in our fallen minds. Could it be that The Resurrection and Christ’s Reconciling Death are of equal importance? Did being Reconciled to Father God by Jesus’ death make possible being saved by Jesus’ Resurrection Life? Is Jesus the firstborn Son of the Resurrection? Will those who die in Christ rise in the Resurrection as the Fruit of our Kinsman Redeemer, as his brethren?
Do even the instructions for the Service of The Lord’s Supper memorialize his suffering unto death?! In Chapter 11 Paul rebukes the Corinthians for disorders at The Lord’s Supper. To make sure there is no misunderstanding, Paul repeats the simple rules of conduct for the Service of The Lord’s Supper and names the authority from whom he received them.
1 Corinthians 11:23 For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread:
“Which also I delivered unto you”. Why is Paul doing this again? Is he having to review this with the Corinthians? What was the nature of the Corinthian disorders in the Service of The Communion? Did Jesus set the example for the Service of the Lord’s Supper?
1 Corinthians 11:24 And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.
Do sheep have trouble remaining in remembrance? Is our Great Shepherd well aware of our weakness? And has He moved to meet us at our every need, and provided that which meets our need, even the Sacrament of Communion? Does that broken bread remind us he willingly suffered, in our place, every soft tissue injury known to man?
1 Corinthians 11:25 After the same manner also, he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.
“This do ye ... in remembrance of me.” Between the third and sixth hours of the day a parade marched past that almond tree where God in the flesh between 2 thieves hung impaled, in our place, between the visible heaven and the earth, while mockers hurled sharp cutting stones and blasphemous taunts at Him. Did the Blood of Him, the only righteous blood ever shed on earth, flow as little rivers, as the fruit of the vine did, poured into our little cups of remembrance? Did that last of his blood gush from his side like the fruit of the vine poured into the common cup? Has God ever left himself without witness?
Acts 14:17 Nevertheless he left not himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.
The Death Angel! The Death Angel was present at The Passover. The first born sons of Ham and the mixt multitude all died in one night! Not one of the first born sons of Israel died that night because the blood of the Lamb was spread on the side posts and lintel of every door of every Israel household in Goshen. The Death Angel passed over the sons of Israel in bondage. Jesus instituted foot washing and the Lord’s Supper after The Passover meal. The Death Angel at the close of the Passover at sundown moved swiftly in the night throughout The Land of Mizraim, son of Ham. A great cry of brokenness, lamentation and weeping filled all the land of Egypt. Is the Death Angel present also at the Lord’s Supper?
1 Corinthians 11:26-32
26 For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come.
27 Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.
“Guilty of the body and blood of the Lord”. What does that mean? Are we guilty of Christ’s murder? Did Jesus Christ work the works of Salvation? Was Jesus’ Sacrificial Death, His murder, an absolutely necessary and imperative work of our Salvation? If our Salvation is totally dependent on murdering Christ, does that make us all accessories to his murder?! Does Salvation pardon us from being “guilty of the body and blood of the Lord”?
Why does Paul mention being “guilty of the body and blood of the Lord” to the Corinthians? What did they do? verse 28). What should we do to avoid eating and drinking unworthily?
28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.
“So let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.” Does that mean that the invitation to partake of The Lord’s Supper is still both ardent and fervent?! What about the Death Angel?
29 For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.
Does “damnation” recall the word picture of “wailing and gnashing of teeth”?!
30 For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.
If we fail to begin healing, do we die prematurely? Is that a failure to mature?
31 For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.
32 But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned of the world.
What were the Corinthians doing that so disordered the Service of the Lord’s Supper?
1 Corinthians 11:17 Now in this that I declare unto you. I praise you not, that ye come together not for the better, but for the worse.
“I praise you not.” What on earth is wrong? If the Church assembles for the worse, not the better, how long can it remain the living Body of Christ before it dies?
1 Corinthians 11:20 When ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord’s supper.
Why did Paul tell the Corinthians what they were doing did not constitute the Service of the Lord’s Supper? What were they doing?
1 Corinthians 11:21 For in eating every one taketh before other his own supper: and one is hungry, and another is drunken.
Was Corinth a liberal city? Were the churches carnal? Did Paul’s instructions say we should eat the bread together and drink the Cup together? Why did the Corinthians fail to observe what Paul told them the first time? Were they as much Sheep as we are?
1 Corinthians 11:22 What? have ye not houses to eat in? or despise ye the church of God and shame them that have not? What shall I say to you? shall I praise you in this? I praise you not.
How stiff a rebuke from Paul the Apostle was this? Our custom here is to have a meal in common after Service. The Church purchases the Meal for everyone including guests so we do not “shame them that have not”. And we make sure to give thanks and ask the Blessing before any of the orders are brought. Each of us eats as our order arrives. Does that mean “one taketh before other his own supper”?
Could it be that the Corinthian church confused fellowship dinner with the Service of the Lord’s Supper? Should any local church body do what the Corinthians did? Should any local church body do what Paul praised not?! What did Paul say to conclude his rebuke?
1 Corinthians 11:33-34
33 Wherefore my brethren, when ye come together to eat, tarry one for another.
34 And if any man hunger, let him eat at home; that ye come not together unto condemnation. And the rest will I set in order when I come.
“That ye come not together unto condemnation.” Is “condemnation” the Judgment? What is really at stake here? Could our response to this matter be the difference between Salvation and Damnation? Was the matter of The Order of the Service of The Lord’s Supper so urgent that Paul postponed setting in order other matters? To which Israelite was Passover ever optional?
1 Corinthians 5:7 Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.
“Ye are unleavened.” What does Paul mean we are “unleavened”? Does being “unleavened” mean we are void of sinning like an exercise program? Would that be the result of examining ourselves and judging ourselves before God has to judge us?
To which Israelite is the Lord’s Supper ever optional? Is the Lord’s Supper optional if we do not care about Eternal Life? Does it appear that when to serve The Lord’s Supper on other occasions is the only open and sensible option?
When our Lord Jesus comes, will he find us so doing? At His Second Coming will Jesus find us doing as Paul twice instructed the Corinthian Church? “Till He come”?
Song: When He Cometh
Bibliography
“My flesh is meat indeed and my blood is drink indeed.”
John 6:55 “meat indeed .. drink indeed.”
John 6:51-52 “the bread .. is my flesh.”
John 6:53-58 Responsive Reading.
John 6:60-61 “This is an hard saying.”
John 6:66-67 “disciples went back.”
John 6:68 “thou hast the words of eternal life.”
John 6:69 “we believe.”
Isaiah 57:15 “a contrite and humble spirit.”
Isaiah 45:17 “an everlasting salvation.”
[Back to John 6:53] “no life in you”.
Psalms 79:9 “for thy name’s sake.”
John 6:58 “eateth .. bread.”
1 Corinthians 10:16 “communion of the blood”
“communion of the body”
1 Corinthians 1:9 “the fellowship”
1 John 1:3 “fellowship with the Father and his Son”
Exodus 25:21-22 “commune.”
Hebrews 6:19-20 “within the veil”
1 Corinthians 11:26 “shew his death till He come.”
Romans 5:10 “saved by His life.”
Matthew 28:12-13 “stole Him away.”
[Back to 1 Corinthians 11:23-25] “in remembrance of me.”
Acts 14:17 “left not himself without witness.”
Back to 1 Corinthians 11:26-32 “damnation.”
1 Corinthians 11:17 “come together .. for the worse.”
1 Corinthians 11:20-22 “not to eat the Lord’s Supper.”
1 Corinthians 11:33-34 “come not together unto condemnation.”
1 Corinthians 5:7 “Christ our Passover.”
Song: When He Cometh
