1 Corinthians 10:17

For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(17) For we being many are one bread.—Better, For it is one bread, and we, the many, are one body, for we all take a portion of that one bread. This verse explains how “the breaking” of the bread was the significant act which expressed sacramentally the communion of the body of Christ. There is one bread, it is broken into many pieces, and as we all (though each receives only a fragment) partake of the one bread which unbroken consisted of these pieces, we though many individuals are one body, even the Body of Christ with whom, as well as with each other, we have communion in that act.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

10:15-22 Did not the joining in the Lord's supper show a profession of faith in Christ crucified, and of adoring gratitude to him for his salvation ? Christians, by this ordinance, and the faith therein professed, were united as the grains of wheat in one loaf of bread, or as the members in the human body, seeing they were all united to Christ, and had fellowship with him and one another. This is confirmed from the Jewish worship and customs in sacrifice. The apostle applies this to feasting with idolaters. Eating food as part of a heathen sacrifice, was worshipping the idol to whom it was made, and having fellowship or communion with it; just as he who eats the Lord's supper, is accounted to partake in the Christian sacrifice, or as they who ate the Jewish sacrifices partook of what was offered on their altar. It was denying Christianity; for communion with Christ, and communion with devils, could never be had at once. If Christians venture into places, and join in sacrifices to the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life, they will provoke God.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

For we - We Christians. "Being many." Greek "The many" (οἱ πολλοί hoi polloi). This idea is not, as our translation would seem to indicate, that Christians were numerous, but that "all" (for οἱ πολλοί hoi polloi is here evidently used in the sense of παντες pantes, "all") were united, and constituted one society.

Are one bread - One loaf; one cake. That is, we are united, or are one. There is evident allusion here to the fact that the loaf or cake was composed of many separate grains of wheat, or portions of flour united in one; or, that as one loaf was broken and partaken by all, it was implied that they were all one. We are all one society; united as one, and for the same object. Our partaking of the same bread is an emblem of the fact that we are one. In almost all nations the act of eating together has been regarded as a symbol of unity or friendship.

And one body - One society; united together.

For we are all partakers ... - And we thus show publicly that we are united, and belong to the same great family. The argument is, that if we partake of the feasts in honor of idols with their worshippers, we shall thus show that we are a part of their society.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

17. one bread—rather, "loaf." One loaf alone seems to have been used in each celebration.

and one body—Omit "and"; "one loaf [that is], one body." "We, the many (namely, believers assembled; so the Greek), are one bread (by our partaking of the same loaf, which becomes assimilated to the substance of all our bodies; and so we become), one body" (with Christ, and so with one another).

we … all—Greek, "the whole of us."

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Believers, though many, yet are one body, and declare themselves to be one body mystical, by their fellowship together in the ordinance of the Lord’s supper; as the bread they there eat is one bread, though it be made up of many grains of corn, which come into the composition of that loaf or piece of bread which is so broken, distributed, and eaten; and the wine they drink is one cup, one body of wine, though it be made up of many particular grapes. And they declare themselves to be one body, by their joint partaking of that one bread. Some have from hence fetched an argument to prove the unlawfulness of communicating with scandalous sinners at the Lord’s table, because we declare ourselves one body with those that communicate: but whether it will (if examined) be cogent enough, I doubt; for one body signifieth no more than one church, and that not invisible, but visible. So as we only declare ourselves to be fellow members of the visible church with those with whom we partake in that ordinance, and the visible church may consist of persons that are bad mixed with the good. So as though, undoubtedly, scandalously wicked persons ought to be excluded from the holy table, yea, and no unbeliever hath a right to it; yet it may reasonably be doubted, whether those that partake with unbelievers, do by it own themselves to be unbelievers; they only own themselves members of that church wherein there are some unbelievers. But the scope of the apostle is from hence to argue, that by a parity of reason, those that communicated with an idolatrous assembly in their sacrifices, declared themselves by that action to be one body with those idolaters.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

For we being many, are one bread and one body,.... The several members of the church of Christ; particular believers are indeed many, considered in themselves, in their own persons; yet by virtue of their union to Christ, which is manifested by their communion with him, they are one bread with him, the bread of life, and one body with his, signified by the bread; they are of one and the same mass and lump, they are incorporated together, they are flesh of his flesh, and one spirit with him: or they are one bread and body among themselves; as bread consists of many grains of corn which have been ground and kneaded together, and make up one loaf; and as the members of an human body are many, and make up one body; so believers, though they are many, yet are one body, of which Christ is the head; one in union with him and one another, and one in their communion together at the Lord's table; and so the Syriac, Arabic, and Ethiopic versions read, "as therefore the bread is one, so we all are one body"; having communion with Christ and one another:

for we are all partakers of that one bread; in the supper, which is all of the same nature and kind, and is a symbol of the body of Christ, and our fellowship with him and each other. The application designed is this, that as believers, by partaking of the same bread, appear to be the same body, and of the same mass and lump with one another; so such as eat things sacrificed unto idols, appear to be of the same mass and lump with Heathen idolaters: Dr. Lightfoot has very pertinently produced some passages out of Maimonides, concerning mixing, associating, or communion of neighbours in courts on sabbath eves, that so they may enter into each other's houses on the sabbath day, for the illustration of this passage; of which mixing the Jews have a whole treatise in their Misna and Talmud, which they call Erubin; and of which they say (h).

"but how is this mixture or association? it is thus, they mix together, , "in one food", which they prepare on the eve of the sabbath; and it is as if they should say, for we are all mixed together, and have all one food; nor does anyone of us divide the right from his neighbour--they do not mix in courts, but "with a whole loaf" only; though the mass or lump baked may be the quantity of a "seah", yet if it is broken, they do not associate with it; but if it is whole, though it be but the value of a farthing, they mix with it--how do they mix or associate together in the courts? they collect , "one whole cake", out of every house, and put all in one vessel, in one of the houses of the court--and the whole association being gathered together, blesses the Lord--and eats:''

upon which the above learned writer observes, that if it were customary among the Israelites, to join together in one political or economical body, by the eating of many loaves collected from this, and that, and the other man; we are much more associated together into one body, by eating one and the same bread, appointed us by our Saviour.

(h) Maimon. Hilch. Erubin, c. 1. sect. 6, 8, 16.

Geneva Study Bible

For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

1 Corinthians 10:17 confirms the statement that the bread is a communion of the body of Christ. For it is one bread; one body are we, the many, i.e. for through one bread being eaten in the Supper, we Christians, although as individuals we are many, form together one (ethical) body. This union into one body through participation in the one bread could not take place unless this bread were κοινωνία of the body of Christ, which is just that which produces the one body—that which constitutes the many into this unity. The proof advances ab effectu (which participating in the one bread in and of itself could not have) ad causam (which can only lie in this, that this bread is the communion of Christ’s body). The argument[1665] does not imply a logical conversion (as Rodatz objects); but either the effect or the cause might be posited from the Christian consciousness as premiss, according as the case required. See a similar process of reasoning ab effectu ad causam in 1 Corinthians 12:12. Comp also Luke 7:47. According to this, ὅτι is just the since, because (for), so common in argument, and there is no need whatever to substitute γάρ for it (Hofmann’s objection); ἐστί is to be supplied after εἷς ἄρτος; and the two clauses are placed side by side asyndetically so as to make the passage “alacrior et nervosior” (Dissen, a[1667] Pind. Exc. II. p. 276), and, in particular, to bring out with more emphasis the idea of unity (εἷς … ἕν) (comp Acts 25:12). The οἱ γὰρ πάντες κ.τ.λ[1669] which follows leaves us no room to doubt how the asyndeton should logically be filled up (and therefore also); for this last clause of the verse excludes the possibility of our assuming a mere relation of comparison (as there is one bread, so are we one body; comp Heydenreich, de Wette, Osiander, Neander, al[1671]). The ΟἹ ΓᾺΡ ΠΆΝΤΕς, too, forbids our supplying ἘΣΜΈΝ after ἌΡΤΟς (Zwingli, Piscator, Mosheim, Stolz, Schrader, comp Ewald); for these words indicate the presence of another conception, inasmuch as, repeating the idea conveyed in ΕἿς ἌΡΤΟς, they thereby show that that ΕἿς ἌΡΤΟς was said of literal bread. This holds against Olshausen also, who discovers here the church as being “the bread of life for the world!” Other expositors take ὅτι (comp 1 Corinthians 12:15 f.; Galatians 4:6) as introducing a protasis, and ἛΝ Σ. Κ.Τ.Λ[1674] as being the apodosis: “because it is one bread, therefore are we, the many, one body” (Flatt, Rückert, Kahnis, Maier, Hofmann, following the Vulgate, Castalio, Calvin, Beza, Bengel, al[1675] [1676]). In that case either we should have a further exposition about the bread (Hofmann), no sign of which, however, follows; or else this whole thought would be purely parenthetical, a practical conclusion being drawn in passing from what had just been stated. But how remote from the connection would such a side-thought be! And would not Paul have required to interpose an οὖν, or some such word, after the ὅτι, in order to avoid misunderstanding? Interpreters would not have betaken themselves to a device so foreign to the scope of the passage, had they not too hastily assumed that 1 Corinthians 10:17 contained no explanation at all of what preceded it (Rückert). Rodatz agrees with the rest in rendering: “because there is one bread, therefore are we, the many, one body,” but makes this not a subordinate thought brought in by the way, but an essentially new point in the argument; he does this, however, by supplying after ἓν σῶμα, “with Christ the Head” (comp also van Hengel, Annot. p. 167 f.), and finding the progress of the thought in the words supplied. But in this way the very point on which all turned would be left to be filled in, which is quite unwarrantable; Paul would have needed to write ἓν σῶμα αὐτοῦ τῆς κεφαλῆς, or something to that effect, in order to be understood.

οἱ πολλοί] correlative to the ἓν σῶμα (comp 1 Corinthians 10:15; 1 Corinthians 10:19): the many, who are fellow-participants in the Lord’s Supper, the Christian multitude. The very same, viewed, however, in the aspect of their collective aggregate, not, as here, of their multitudinousness, are οἱ πάντες, the whole; comp Romans 5:15; Romans 5:18. The unity of bread is not to be understood numerically (Grotius, who, from that point of view, lays stress upon its size), but qualitatively, as one and the same bread of the Supper. The thought of the bread having become a unity out of many separate grains of corn is foreign to the connection, although insisted on by many expositors, such as Chrysostom, Augustine, Erasmus, Calovius, al[1680]

ἐκ τοῦ ἑνὸς ἄρτου μετέχ. is interpreted by some as if there were no ἐκ: “since we are all partakers of one bread” (Luther). This is contrary to the linguistic usage, for μετέχειν is joined with the genitive (1 Corinthians 10:21; 1 Corinthians 9:12) or accusative (Bernhardy, p. 149), but never with ἐκ; and the assumption that Paul, in using ἐκ, was thinking of the verb ἐσθίειν (1 Corinthians 11:28), is altogether arbitrary. The linguistically correct rendering is: for we all have a share from the one bread, so that in analysing the passage we have to supply, according to a well-known usage (Buttmann, neut. Gr. p. 138 [E. T. 158]), the indefinite indication of a part, τί or τινός, before ἐκ τοῦ ἑνὸς ἄρτου. Hofmann, too, gives the correct partitive sense to the expression. The article before ἑνός points back to what has been already said.

[1665] Comp. Bengel: “Probat poculum et panem esse communionem. Nam panis per se non facit, ut vescentes sint unum corpus, sed panis id facit quatenus est communio,” etc.

[1667] d refers to the note of the commentator or editor named on the particular passage.

[1669] .τ.λ. καὶ τὰ λοιπά.

[1671] l. and others; and other passages; and other editions.

[1674] .τ.λ. καὶ τὰ λοιπά.

[1675] l. and others; and other passages; and other editions.

[1676] Rückert, however, has since assented (Abendm. p. 229 ff.) to the modifications proposed by Rodatz, of which mention is presently to be made.

[1680] l. and others; and other passages; and other editions.

Expositor's Greek Testament

1 Corinthians 10:17 unfolds the assertion virtually contained in the question just asked: “Seeing that (ὅτι) there is one bread, we, the many, are one body”; so Vg[1511], “Quoniam unus panis, unum corpus multi sumus,” Cv[1512], Bz[1513], Bg[1514], Hf[1515], Bt[1516], Hn[1517], Gd[1518], El[1519], R.V. marg.; cf. the mutually supporting unities of Ephesians 4:4 ff. The saying is aphoristic: One bread makes one body (Hn[1520])—a maxim of hospitality (equally true of “the cup”) that applies to all associations cemented by a common feast. “The bread” suggests the further, kindred idea of a common nourishment sustaining an identical life, the loaf on the table symbolising the ἀληθινὸς ἄρτος of John 6, which feeds the Church in every limb (1 Corinthians 12:13).—“For (γὰρ of explanation) we all partake from (partitive ἐκ, cf. 1 Corinthians 9:7) the one bread”; eating from the common loaf attests and seals the union of the participants in Christ.

[1511] Latin Vulgate Translation.

[1512] Calvin’s In Nov. Testamentum Commentarii.

[1513] Beza’s Nov. Testamentum: Interpretatio et Annotationes (Cantab., 1642).

[1514] Bengel’s Gnomon Novi Testamenti.

[1515] J. C. K. von Hofmann’s Die heilige Schrift N.T. untersucht, ii. 2 (2te Auflage, 1874).

[1516] J. A. Beet’s St. Paul’s Epp. to the Corinthians (1882).

[1517] C. F. G. Heinrici’s Erklärung der Korintherbriefe (1880), or 1 Korinther in Meyer’s krit.-exegetisches Kommentar (1896).

[1518] F. Godet’s Commentaire sur la prem. Ép. aux Corinthiens (Eng. Trans.).

[1519] C. J. Ellicott’s St. Paul’s First Epistle to the Corinthians.

[1520] C. F. G. Heinrici’s Erklärung der Korintherbriefe (1880), or 1 Korinther in Meyer’s krit.-exegetisches Kommentar (1896).

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

17. For we being many are one bread, and one body] “As one loaf is made up of many grains, and one body is composed of many members, so the Church of Christ is joined together of many faithful ones, united in the bonds of charity.” Augustine. So Chrysostom and Theodoret, and our English bishops Andrewes and Hall. Cf. ch. 1 Corinthians 12:12; Galatians 3:28; Ephesians 4:4; Colossians 3:15.

for we are all partakers of that one bread] Literally, for we all partake of the one bread. See St John 6:35-58. As the bread passes into our bodies and becomes a part of each of us, so the Body of Christ, which the bread is the means of conveying, enters into and becomes part of each of us. Calvin reminds us that here St Paul is not dealing so much with our love towards and fellowship with one another, as with our spiritual union with Christ, in order to draw the inference that it is an unendurable sacrilege for Christians to be polluted by communion with idols.

Bengel's Gnomen

1 Corinthians 10:17. Ὅτι, since) He proves, that the cup and the bread are the communion; for the bread by itself does not make them that eat it, become one body; but the bread does so, in so far as it is communion, etc.—εἷς ἄρτος (one bread), viz. there is [and indeed it is such bread as is broken, and carries with it (implies in the participation of it) the communion of the body of Christ.—V. g.]—οἱ πολλοὶ, the many) believers [Eng. Vers. is different, “We being many are one bread and one body”].—ἐκ τοῦ ἑνὸς ἄρτου, of the one bread) and therefore also of the one cup.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 17. - We being many are one bread, and one body. It is easy to see how we are "one body," of which Christ is the Head, and we are the members. This is the metaphor used in 1 Corinthians 12:12, 13 and Romans 12:5. The more difficult expression, "we are one bread," is explained in the next clause. The meaning seems to be - We all partake of the loaf, and thereby become qualitatively, as it were, a part of it, as it of us, even as we all become members of Christ's one body, which that loaf sacramentally represents Some commentators, disliking the harshness of the expression, render it, "Because there is one bread, we being many are one body;" or, "For there is one bread. We being many are one body." But the language and context support the rendering of our version; and the supposed "physiology" is not so modern as to be at all surprising. 1 Corinthians 10:17

Vincent's Word Studies

For (ὅτι)

Better, seeing that. It begins a new sentence which is dependent on the following proposition: Seeing that there is one bread, we who are many are one body. Paul is deducing the mutual communion of believers from the fact of their communion with their common Lord. By each and all receiving a piece of the one loaf, which represents Christ's body, they signify that they are all bound in one spiritual body, united to Christ and therefore to each other. So Rev., in margin. Ignatius says: "Take care to keep one eucharistic feast only; for there is one flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ, and one cup unto unity of His blood;" i.e., that all may be one by partaking of His blood (Philadelphia, 4).

Body

Passing from the literal sense, the Lord's body (1 Corinthians 10:16), to the figurative sense, the body of believers, the Church.

Partake of (ἐκ μετέχομεν)

Or partake from. That which all eat is taken from (ἐκ) the one loaf, and they eat of it mutually, in common, sharing it among them (μετά). So Ignatius: "That ye come together ἕνα ἄρτον κλῶντες breaking one loaf" (Ephesians, 20).