[Sons to Glory!]

Originally Posted by Evangelical

Rendered "one loaf", the Greek that Paul implies this one loaf brings about a kind of unity between those who partake of it:

1 Cor 10: 16 Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? 17 Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all share the one loaf.


The situation in Corinth as I understand it, was that some believers (rich ones probably), where consuming all the food they had brought and leaving none for the poor. This caused strife and division, factions, between different groups, so the Lord's table was a place of strife not unity. At this point, we can note that they were still one church, the poor or the rich factions did not think about starting their own denominational meeting at this stage. To solve this problem, they could have, and Paul no where sanctions this Paul no where says , "ok, different factions separate, make your own church and have your own Lord's Table in your own way".

1 Cor 11:17-20 17 But in the following instructions I do not commend you, because when you come together it is not for the better but for the worse. 18 For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you. And I believe it in part,[a] 19 for there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized. 20 When you come together, it is not the Lord's supper that you eat.

Here is an interesting thing concerning the oneness, that came from Harry Foster, a close co-worker of T. Austin Sparks for 40 years. Bro Foster gave this at Spark's passing ceremony in 1971:

The Cross is not only painful, it is unifying. Brother Sparks believed and preached that by it the individual believer is not only led into an enlarging personal enjoyment of resurrection life, but also into a true integration into the fellowship of the Church which is Christ's body. He could never think of himself as an isolated Christian, nor of assemblies as isolated groups, but he tried to keep before him the divine purpose of redemption, which is the incorporation of all believers into vital membership of the one body. It has sometimes happened that Christians most anxious to express this oneness have yet contradicted its spirit by being betrayed into an attitude of superiority towards other Christians, so allowing themselves to be wrongly divided from their fellows in Christ. We here have had to confess our own failures in this respect, realizing that our very eagerness to be faithful to the Scriptural revelation of what the Church ought to be may have unintentionally produced something of a separateness among the people of God. If brother Sparks at times tended in this direction, he certainly moved farther and farther away from it as he came nearer to eternity, being growingly careful to show a proper appreciation of all true believers, whatever their connection.

Interesting that Sparks appeared to be saying (via Foster) that the oneness had more to do with the cross taking care of personal and internal divisiveness rather than adhering to something external.

Over and over recently I've been pointed back to the reality of this - all things we think we need to come up with, are actually in Christ (i.e., rather than something I need to get myself worked-up to do). In other words, turning to Him and experiencing His life in us is ALL those things we need - including oneness. It's not some external practice that I think makes sense (even from scripture). This is the New Covenant . . . not the letter, but the power of His indestructible life in and through us.

I think Sparks had it right.