Metaphysical Bible Interpretation of I Corinthians Chapter 11
Metaphysically Interpreting I Corinthians 11:17-22
11:17But in giving you this charge, I praise you not, that ye come together not for the better but for the worse. 11:18For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that divisions exist among you; and I partly believe it. 11:19For there must be also factions among you, that they that are approved may be made manifest among you. 11:20When therefore ye assemble yourselves together, it is not possible to eat the Lord's supper: 11:21for in your eating each one taketh before other his own supper; and one is hungry, and another is drunken. 11:22What, have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? or despise ye the church of God, and put them to shame that have not? What shall I say to you? shall I praise you? In this I praise you not.
Metaphysically Interpreting I Corinthians 11:23-26
11:23For I received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which he was betrayed took bread; 11:24and when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, This is my body, which is for you: this do in remembrance of me. 11:25In like manner also the cup, after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood: this do, as often as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. 11:26For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink the cup, ye proclaim the Lord's death till he come.
July 20, 1919: I Cor. 11:23-26
How do we best reap the benefit of partaking of spiritual substance and life? We obtain the best results by a daily going into the silence, and in the name of the great God-Demonstrator, Jesus Christ, appropriate and assimilate the substance and life of Spirit.
How does “returning thanks” aid in the process of laying hold of this spiritual food? Thanksgiving and praise cause the Divine Mind to overflow with good towards us, to produce in generous abundance. It also strengthens the gripping power of our minds so we may, with more surety, lay hold the good which is so freely given us.
December 8, 1946: I Cor. 11:20-27
What does bread represent? It represents the “flesh of Christ,” divine substance. It is the outer form of the inner substance.
What is the blood of Jesus Christ a symbol? Of divine life, the quickening element in creation. “The blood is the life.” The Children of Israel were commanded to pour out the blood of animals offered in sacrifice and by no means to drink it. Jesus, on the contrary, said that, unless we ate His flesh and drank His blood, we had no life in us.
What is the significance of His words? That we are to drink, to take within ourselves, the Spirit of life that animated Him, and come into an awareness of eternal life through this Spirit.
What form of thinking is most truly expressive of us? That which involves both the head and the heart. When we think with the head only, we allow our heart to become hardened and compel ourselves to live on externals.
Metaphysically Interpreting I Corinthians 11:27-34
11:27Wherefore whosoever shall eat the bread or drink the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. 11:28But let a man prove himself, and so let him eat of the bread, and drink of the cup.11:29For he that eateth and drinketh, eateth and drinketh judgment unto himself, if he discern not the body. 11:30For this cause many among you are weak and sickly, and not a few sleep. 11:31But if we discerned ourselves, we should not be judged. 11:32But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that
11:33Wherefore, my brethren, when ye come together to eat, wait one for another. 11:34If any man is hungry, let him eat at home; that your coming together be not unto judgment. And the rest will I set in order whensoever I come.
March 10, 1929: I Cor. 11:23-29
What is the true meaning of the Lord's Supper? The Lord's Supper typifies God's covenant with mankind, through His perfect idea, Christ Jesus. This compact was made valid through the eating of the bread and the drinking of the cup.
What does the bread symbolize? The bread symbolizes the body of Jesus Christ, or spiritual substance.
What does the cup represent? The cup of which Jesus drank was the cup of new spiritual life. When man affirms spiritual life, he must be prepared to incorporate that life in soul and in body. This incorporation is not always an easy task, because man's faculties are often inert and indifferent to spiritual ideas.
What will awaken man's faculties to spiritual life? Jesus said: “Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation.” Prayer keeps the mind active along spiritual lines. When one's attention is directed to high ideals, the consciousness becomes so alive with spirituality that error thoughts are cast out and one is not tempted by the sensations of the flesh.
What is the final result of spiritual communion? Through spiritually eating the body of Jesus Christ and spiritually drinking His blood, we appropriate in consciousness the imperishable substances of Spirit, and we drink of the waters of eternal life. When the mind continues in this process it will eventually raise the whole body out of death into life; then man will realize what Jesus meant when He said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my word, he shall never see death.”
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 16, 1934: I Cor. 11:23-34
How did Jesus keep the Passover? Jesus observed the Passover as others did in His day, but He went further and showed how it illustrated the Christ principle of appropriation.
Of what are food and drink, symbols? They are both symbols or appropriation. Bread represents the flesh of Christ, an outer form of the inner substance. Wine represents the life stream, the blood.
What is the blood of Jesus Christ? It is the quickening element in creation.
How did Jesus emphasize His teaching in regard to the Sacrament? Jesus told the Jews that Moses did not give them the true bread from heaven, but God, the eternal life principle, gave them such bread.
In what sense does the doctrine that the blood of Jesus Christ is shed for the remission of sins become understandable? The blood of Jesus Christ (the pure Christ life) takes away thirst for sin, and the world is saved through the absence of desire for sin.
What takes place when we mentally appropriate the body and drink the blood of Jesus Christ? We become conscious of spiritual life and substance as the reality of being, and we are freed from, the limiting thought of our flesh and blood bodies.
How do we appropriate the bread and wine in a practical sense? Through affirmation of the creative word we make this appropriation.
For what does our partaking of the Sacrament prepare us? This act strengthens us to do the work for which we are destined. “My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.”
Why did Jesus ask His disciples to take food and drink in remembrance of Him? Everything that is done for the sake of attaining the Christ consciousness in an outer as well as an inner sense is “in remembrance” of Him, the perfect expression of the Christ idea.
Transcribed by Lloyd Kinder on 11-16-2013
