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THE NORTHERN KENTUCKY SEARCHER VOLUME 4, NUMBER 35, AUGUST 29, 2004 WHAT IS A LOVE FEAST? Occasionally, when discussing the work of the church, someone will bring up that idea that the early Christians met together to participate in meals as part of the work of the church. They speak of fellowship meals and for the authority for such, they will mention “love feasts.” “Love feasts” are found in Jude 12. “These men are those who are hidden reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you without fear, caring for themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, doubly dead, uprooted.” Arndt and Gingrich define “love feast” as “a common meal eaten by early Christians in connection with their church services, for the purpose of fostering and expressing brotherly love.” Thayer’s definition is very similar in this context. Of “love feasts” he writes, “feasts expressing and fostering mutual love which used to be held by Christians before the celebration of the Lord’s Supper, and at which the poorer Christians mingled with the wealthier and partook in common with the rest of food provided at the expense of the wealthy.” This all sounds good, but the problem is that in these comments the noted lexicographers have moved from the realm of lexicography and into the realm of commentary. There is not a shred of New Testament evidence that what Arndt and Gingrich and Thayer had to say about “love feasts” ever actually occurred. This illustrates a danger that exists when a person uses a lexicon without really understanding how to use it. One must be able to distinguish what the word actually meant, and any additional comments that the lexicographer might have felt compelled to make. There is no question that the early Christians had close association with one another and spent considerable time with one another. That time included eating together. Acts 2:46-47 tells us, “And day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, praising God, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.” We can clearly see that these Christians shared meals together, eating in the different homes of the brethren. But what about having a common meal “in connection with their church services”, or in connection with the celebration of the Lord’s Supper? Look with me at 1 Corinthians 11:17-22. Paul wrote, “But in giving this instruction, I do not praise you, because you come together not for the better but for the worse. For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that divisions exist among you; and in part, I believe it. For there must also be factions among you, in order that those who are approved may have become evident among you. Therefore when you meet together, it is not to eat the Lord’s Supper, for in your eating each one takes his own supper first; and one is hungry and another is drunk. What! Do you not have houses in which to eat and drink? Or do you despise the church of god, and shame those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? In this I will not praise you.” Paul then went on and explained that in connection with the Lord’s Supper they were to do exactly as Paul had received from the Lord. When they came together to partake of the Lord’s Supper, they were not to break up into little cliques or divisions, but take it together. He wrote in verse 33, “So then, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one another.” That this was not a common meal held in connection with their church services or the partaking of the Lord’s Supper is made clear in verse 34. Paul concluding the thought by writing, “If anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, so that you may not come together for judgment. And the remaining matters I shall arrange when I come.” I believe further examination of Jude 12 proves even more conclusively that there is no evidence that such feasts in connection with their church services or the Lord’s Supper were authorized. We note the phrase in Jude 12, “These men are those who are hidden reefs in your love feasts, when they feast with you without fear…” “When they feast with you” is a translation of a single word that appears only here and in 2 Pet. 2:13. It means, “to entertain sumptuously with, is used in the Passive Voice, denoting to feast sumptuously with, to revel with,…” (Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words). These were simply joyous occasions when brethren came together for entertainment with one another and to revel with one another in an innocent manner. Did they eat together at such times? Absolutely. However, there is no evidence to support, in fact the evidence is to the contrary, that the early Christians ever held authorized feasts in connection with their church services or the Lord’s Supper. Greg Litmer WORDS OF WISDOM FROM A COUNTRY PREACHER (who is not me) Having the church
full of members is like Some folks deal
seem to deal in secondhand
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