March 12th, 2003
I got to thinking about your comments a little more in your document and I just wanted to ask about one thing. I agree with you that the Lord’s Supper is corporate action. I am a little curious, however, do you believe that 1 Corinthians 11:23-34 is discussing corporate action? Seems to me that this would hurt rather than help your case to say that it is. If it is, then you have a VERY similar situation to Galatians 6:1-10.
Verse 26 of 1 Corinthians 11 is instruction given to the church. Whereas verse 28 is instruction given to individuals (let a man examine, etc.). My position on this is consistent because it takes individuals in order for the church to act corporately. So the instruction to the individuals should be taken in light of the corporate action. However, how could you argue from 1 Corinthians 11:23-34 that the instruction is corporate since individuals are addressed. Seems to me that if I took your position in regard to Galatians 6:1-10, that I could just as easily argue that 1 Corinthians 11:23-34 is not talking about corporate action, but individual action. I know that you don’t believe that and I know that you would not argue for that, but it makes my case for Galatians 6:1-10 being corporate action more compelling because 1 Corinthians 11:23-34 is a parallel in regard to the language Paul uses regarding individual action within the context of a corporate action.
In other words, if 1 Corinthians 11:23-34 is instruction to the church regarding corporate action, yet, individuals are also given certain things to observe within that context, then why couldn’t the same be true of Galatians 6:1-10, i.e. it is instruction given to the church regarding corporate action, yet individuals are also given certain things to observe within that context?