“HOUSES TO EAT AND DRINK IN”

Hugo McCord

When Paul asked, “Do you not have houses to eat and drink in?,” and said, “If anyone is hungry, let him eat at home” (1 Corinthians 11:22, 24), in no wise was he teaching that it is sinful to have the Lord’s Supper and a meal in the same room or building. He was making it plain that the Lord’s Supper and the meal must not be together. He was not teaching that the meeting place to partake of the Lord’s Supper is sacred:

The Most High does not dwell in house made with hands, as the prophet said, “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me?” says the Lord (Acts 7:47-48). God, who made the world and everything in it, who is the lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made with hands (Acts 17:24).

At Troas the church met in an “upper room” of some building on “the third story” (Acts 20:8-9). On “the first day of the week” (which began at sundown on Saturday night), “when the disciples came together to break bread” (Acts 20:7), they (first) broke bread, and (second) they had an early morning breakfast together, and (third) they had a good visit (Acts 20:11), all in the same room. Thus paul’s own practise shows that he did not think that having the Lord’s Supper and a meal in the same building is sinful.

The New Testament church met in the homes (“houses to eat and drink in”) of Aquila and Priscila (1 Corinthians 16:19; Romans 16:5), of Philemon (v. 2), and of Nympha (Colossians 4:15).

If it is sinful to eat in the meeting place, a drinking fountain would be sinful too.

In Caruthersville, MO., in 1923 there was no New Testament church. On the first Sunday after my baptism, my first observance of the Lord’s Supper was with two families in the home of a widow, sister Hunt. Sister Hunt, after her breakfast, had removed the breakfast dishes from the table, and replaced them with unleavened break and grape juice, waiting for us to come. Her meal was entirely separate from the Lord’s Supper, but one table in one room of one house was used.

But if Christians today, misunderstanding Paul, still object to having meals, “love feasts” (agapai, Jude 12), in the same place that the Lord’s Supper is observed, then for them it would be sinful, for

The one who doubts is condemned if he eats, because he lacks conviction; and everything that is not of conviction is sin (Romans 14:23).

Moreover, it is sinful to have church trouble about this matter. The law of brotherly kindness says:

Let not the one who eats look down on the one who does not eat; and let not him who does not eat condemn the one who eats, for God has welcomed him (Romans 14:3).

3-8-99