Sunday Thinking: Sex and The Eucharist

What follows is something that will pop up from time to time. Think of it as a series on the blog, or if the blog were a house, a certain room where theological books are kept. Theology and biblical studies is a life long interest of mine. The topics in this "room" diverge from those I've posted before, but for the initiated, it should be good craic.

Here are some thoughts on 1 Corinthians 5:1-8.

The text for reference:

It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father’s wife. And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you.

For though absent in body, I am present in spirit; and as if present, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing. When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.

Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump. Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

1 Corinthians 5:1-8

On the surface, Paul’s rhetoric here is confusing. He is talking about festivals and bread making; sacrifice and livestock. The connection of it to sexual ethics is not super clear. However, on analysis, the text is surprisingly rich, challenging even, having broad application to liturgy and piety.

Despite its ambiguities, the text is most clear with respect to purity. One sees it in the central metaphor of leaven. The Church is likened to a loaf of bread. Once leaven is introduced to the dough, it permeates the whole substance. So sexual sin permeates the Church, which Paul understands to be “really…unleavened.” Therefore, sexual sin is a sort of ontological betrayal, a desire to be something other than we are.

Thus, when it comes to sexual impurity, Paul is against it. But to understand this text only in these terms. would be to mar Paul’s argument. It would be to treat him like some kind of prude, hectoring the Corinthians into conservative values.

I think Paul is after something more supernatural. This business about unleavened bread has deep implications when the context is teased out. But to see this clearly a couple ideas must be held together.

1. Paul tells the Corinthians to remove the sexually immoral from among them. There are good reasons to think that he is talking about the official sunday service. Paul says that it is when they are “assembled in the name of the Lord,” or on the Lord’s day, that the sexually immoral man is to be handed over to Satan.

2. The source or power ofthe Corinthians’ unleavened status is Christ’s sacrifice, specifically Christ as the sacrificial lamb.

3. Because Christ is the source or power of their being unleavened, the Corinthians are to “practice the festival” in purity, with “sincerity and truth.” This, combined with the passover images of unleavened bread and a sacrificial lamb, evokes eucharistic imagery, as Christ instituted the Lord’s Supper on passover.

4. Further, regarding Paul’s fusion of eucharistic imagery with passover imagery, Paul’s reference to a festival is instructive. The greek word is heortáz. and is used throughout the LXX to describe liturgical festivals, including passover (Exodus 12:14).

5. Based on the Didache, we know that the eucharist was celebrated on the Lord’s Day in the early Church and was considered a sacrifice. [1] So, there is historical precedent for thinking that Paul is talking about the eucharist here, thinking of it as a sacrifice, and applying that theology to sexual ethics.

In light of this, a paraphrase of Paul’s argument could go as follows. Be sexually pure because Christ is pure. All who gather on the Lord’s Day to partake in the sacrifice of the Eucharist must be without leaven, or without impurity.

This makes sense on many levels. The purification rituals which prepared participants for sacrifice are legion in the old testament. But if this truly is Paul’s argument, then there are further implications to his line of thought.

The Eucharistic bread is Christ’s body, which could make Paul’s words a layered double reference. It is not only Christ who is broken as the lamb. It is the Church who is broken as the unleavened bread. It is not only Christ who is sacrificed, his corporeal body, but it’s the Church who is sacrificed, his mystical body. The bread, after all, must be broken.

This prompts a question: how is it that the mystical body, the church, is sacrificed at The Lord’s Supper? The answer appears to be by righteous suffering, the act of straining for sexual holiness. When we take the Lord’s Supper purely, we offer not only Christ’s sacrifice. We offer our own in Christ.As Paul says, “for Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”

[1] Chapter 14. "ChristianAssembly on the Lord's Day: But every Lord's day gather yourselves together, and break bread, and give thanksgiving after having confessed your transgressions, that your sacrifice may be pure. But let no one that is at variance with his fellow come together with you, until they be reconciled, that your sacrifice may not be profaned. For this is that which was spoken by the Lord: In every place and time offer to me a pure sacrifice; for I am a great King, says the Lord, and my name is wonderful among the nations."