Reflections on 1 Corinthians 11:17
“In the following directives I have no praise for you, for your meetings do more harm than good.” (1 Corinthians 11:17, NIV)
“Because your meetings create a toxic environment which causes damage and does not heal injuries, I am not going to sugarcoat the following prescription.” (The Remedy)
Paul comes right to the point. Their coming together was hurtful to the body of believers. The energy, love, and emotional currents of their meetings were not uplifting, ennobling, or even loving. There was no care being expressed for each other, and God was not being honored by their coming together to celebrate His great Love for them. Paul’s words of reproof were as kind as he could make them.
How It Should Be
When we meet with fellow believers, there is an expectation of acceptance, of being with those who share the journey you are on. Each one, in their own way and with the talents they have, is doing their part to show the Love of Christ to those within their sphere of influence. The opposition they come up against daily wears on the emotional reserves. Coming together means being with friends you can speak freely around, with no need to guard your words. Each member is there to catch up with and encourage the others. The flow of positive love and energy makes the room a place of warmth, a refreshing environment to just come and sit down, to feel the refreshing from above and from each other.
This is how it should be, but instead, the baby church had developed a toxic environment, which was causing more harm than good. The children there had not yet learned to play well together. Paul had already told them they were still infants in Christ, ready only for milk (1 Corinthians 3:1–2). The ABCs of Love still needed to be taught.
Love Is Learned
Love, loving, caring for others: this is not something we do naturally from birth. It is not innate. It must be learned, and it cannot be book learning. It can only be learned by experiencing it yourself.
We naturally move toward a love that feeds and supports the self. His Love meets that need and draws us to Himself. “We love because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19). Maturity comes with growth and acceptance of the love we have experienced; the mature are those who have been trained by practice (Hebrews 5:13–14). Once this has occurred, you are free to choose to give that love to others.
Emotional, spiritual, or physical babies are incapable of showing selfless love. They have yet to understand what it is, or that life beyond their own little self exists. Those new to Christ must come to know His wide open, all-encompassing Love before they have the ability to show it to others. So it is no surprise that the baby church in Corinth lacked the emotional maturity to create a loving, warm environment. The entire congregation was first generation, and newly into the truth at that. There were no mentors to set the spirit of the meeting, and Paul had his hands full trying to mentor from a distance.
Someone Has to Say It
This verse is just stating the facts. Paul is letting them know that what is happening among them is not the way it should be. How can we know something is not right if no one says it, if no one shows us a better way?
Human nature is self-focused from birth. We learn to love because there is a presence in our small, unfocused little life meeting all our needs, keeping us warm, fed, and safe. All we have to do is express, in the only way we can, usually loudly and with utmost urgency, that something is not as it should be. Suddenly loving hands lift us up from our wet, hungry, messy existence, change us, make us warm and dry again, feed our little belly, and touch us with the warmth and loving energy that says, “I love you, you are safe with me.” Our world is perfect again.
Growing past this stage of life is necessary to be able to give love to others freely. We have freely received; now we are able to freely give (Matthew 10:8). Paul had to support them, show them the Love of Christ, and protect them from themselves until they matured enough to walk alone.
