1 Corinthians 11:21 Commentary and Bible Study

What was evidently happening in Corinth was that the provided-for people – the middle-class people if you like – were turning up with their food, and they were going early, so that they did not collide with the poor people, or the very many slaves who attended the church in Corinth, who were not well provided for. They didn't want to mix, and they wanted to enjoy their fellowship meal without the people they would have to share it with. So they had eaten fellowship meal by the time others arrived. The love feast, which used to be practised in the early days of the church, had evidently at Corinth – and perhaps elsewhere also – become merged with the Lord’s Supper. That wasn’t according to the pattern that the apostle Paul had given them, and one of the effects of this passage is to tell them to separate any fellowship meal they had from the Lord’s Supper. What was happening was an unworthy scramble. People came to this fellowship meal, which they had combined improperly with the Lord’s Supper, and they came to eat, not to worship. The rich had their spread, and the poor had next to nothing.