You're listening to Clear View Today with Dr. Abadan Shah, a daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm Ryan Hill. I'm John Galantis. Happy weekend, Clearview Today, listeners.
Welcome, welcome, welcome to the studio and welcome to our host, Dr. Abadan Shah, who's a PhD in New Testament textual criticism, professor at Carolina University author, full-time pastor, and the host of today's show. Dr. Shah, so good to have you here in the studio again. It's good to be here.
Good to see you. Good to see you. You know, we've been talking a lot about the host, the host at the banquet, right? The host of the podcast, the post of the radio show. There's a lot of pressure that comes with hosting, but, you know, you always seem to make it look easy.
Oh, I don't know about that. You guys are the ones who really are doing everybody here at the staff. And of course, you guys are. Phenomenal, especially John, who kind of masterminds this show.
Well, I appreciate you. Absolutely, absolutely. Symposiarc. Hey, I would love to. What a cool title.
That's a good title. Let's do that title. Let's do that. Let's get name tags. Xenos Symposiarch.
I would love it. I'm okay with that. Yours could be like listening. Archi Trichlonos. I love it.
Architricklinos. Wow. Yeah, because you know, in John chapter if I can find that passage here. Sure, sure. In John chapter two, when it talks about the You know, the wedding at Cana of Galilee, and it says that the head of the feast, the master of the feast, came to Jesus and he said, That was it.
You just passed it. Passed it right here.
Okay, where is it at? Right in the middle of the paragraph. John 2, I can't read it. Architricklinos. Architricklinos.
It means you're the head of the three-couch dining room. All right. I'll take that.
So the Xenos. Put that on a name tag. What the Xenos? What was mine? The Zenposi arc?
Arky Tricklinos. I like that. Let's see what's going on. What does David get? David would be, let's see, the...
Was there like a court jester or something like that? No, I'm just joking. No. No. I was just joking.
I don't know. I don't know. He could be the guy that holds the bowl that you fling the wine at. Oh, okay. I don't know what that person would be called.
Hey, symposium, is that an academic term like nowadays? Yeah, it is. But symposium really met, like, okay, we talked about the Dapnon was the... food eating time of the banquet, the first couple of hours. Then there is the libation, then follows the symposium.
Sim is together. Poseon is drinking.
So you drink together. Got it. Symposium.
Okay.
So, yeah, that's what it means. Very cool. I love it. So you are the guy who supervises the drinking together. Make sure, hey, ain't nobody getting drunk in here.
Nobody's drinking an unmixed. None of that's happening.
Well, you do allow the unmixed after the libations are done.
Okay.
No, you do allow the mixed after the libations. Libations first. And we have the libation has to be unmixed. Right. But if it's someone like trying to sneak in some unmixed liquor, man, you got to go.
Yeah, you can't do that. You cannot do that.
Well, by the way, just to clarify to our listening, viewing audience, we don't believe in drinking. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Go back and listen to the past several episodes. Yeah, you need to, yeah. If you're if you're listening today for the first time, you are coming in on the in like deep in an inside joke.
You got to go back and listen to the other episodes. Our verse of the day today is coming from 1 Corinthians chapter 11, verse 17.
Now, in giving these instructions, I do not praise you since you come together not for the better, but for the worse. One of the funniest TikToks I ever saw, Dr. Sha, I think I sent it to you one time, was Steve from Blues Clues. You remember the letter? Oh, yeah.
The mail. He just got a letter. Wonder who it's from? He opens it up and someone superimposed a manuscript, the letter to the 1 Corinthians. And the way Steve looks up at the camera, he's like, oh, and the music just gets really sinister.
Ominous. Paul. Was a little fed up with these Corinthians. Yes. He called them a foolish Corinthians.
He had this love-hate relationship with the Corinthians. It was a relationship of turmoil. It was rough. And and so You know, in the book of Romans, you hear him mention in Romans 16:23, I believe he talks about Gaius. Gaius was his host.
And the host of the whole church. And the big question is: Paul, you're writing this letter to the Romans. Where are you?
So we can know. where Gaius is from, because apparently he was hosting the whole church.
So where is this? Is this Ephesus? Is it uh Um Thessalonica? Is it Philippi? Where are we talking about?
Right. Well, we're talking about Corinth. And the reason we can say that with such confidence is because of two reasons. One is this Erastus was, you know, Paul says. That in in this say the Corinthians, he talks about being in Jerusalem very soon.
And he is in Corinth at the time. And then a book of Acts. It talks about Paul being in Corinth for three months before he heads towards Syria, towards Jerusalem. Based on that kind of a deductive reasoning, we realize that. Paul was in Corinth when he wrote that letter to the Romans.
This is how scholars have to work. He was in Corinth. When he was writing the letter to the Romans. Got it. So when he says, Gaius, my host, he's talking about the host in Corinth.
He's hosting Paul. He's like taking care of Paul while Paul's in Corinth. Corinth. Got you, got it. And the host of the whole church, that whole church is a church in Corinth.
Mm-hmm.
So the church is meeting in Gaius' house or his quarters or coming together for these agape feasts. Which were followed by first the meal, and it was followed by the Lord's Supper.
So that's where, like, they would gather in those Roman banquet halls with the tricliniums and stuff for the people. For the agape feasts. Gotcha. Definitely. Is the agape feast the Passover, or is it different?
No, it's just a feast that the early church would do where they would eat a meal, and then at the end of that meal, there would be the Passover. Gotcha. Okay, okay. But there's another thing I want to mention very quickly, and this may be of some interest to those who want to study the Bible on a deeper level. Mm-hmm.
In Corinth. there is an inscription found which is nearer to the theatre. in Corinth, and that inscription talks about Erastus Building this pavement because he received the position of Adelaide, which is the city manager. And Erastus was the treasurer of the city. Wow.
Paul says in chapter 16 of Romans that Erastus was a treasurer. You've seen that inscription. Yes. How many times have you been to Corinth? Twice.
Twice. Gotcha. Wow. And in about a month, I'll be there for the third time. Wow.
That'll be awesome. Yeah. Each time I go, I try to see some different parts of it that I haven't seen before.
So I always look forward to that. Yeah. There's a documentary coming out pretty soon that you did that we produced. It's taken a long time to edit it because it's the first, like, we actually had someone ask about us doing long-form content. I should have mentioned this yesterday when that person wrote in, but we're putting a documentary together of your travels through Greece.
Yeah. Where you were on that trip, I believe. Yeah. Yeah, that was an incredible trip to see. I mean, I remember Corinth and seeing those places.
And you could almost like, if you squint your eyes, you can almost see Paul and other people walking around these streets and where these buildings were actually built up. The tenth shop is there. It was fun because when I was editing it, you know, you went through, you started in Kavala, went to Philippi, then Thessalonica, and basically followed Paul's missionary journey, but you knew it got real when he got to Corinth. Like it was really cool the way it got edited where. You were like, Paul had one more stop after Athens, and then the music just gets really boom, and like you see the isthmus come out that canal.
You know, oh, yeah, this is where Paul had to write to when it was whooping time.
Well, it was it. Relationships were of turmoil because the Corinthians were a strange bunch. On one hand, they loved Paul, but then they said things and did things that were so mean and hateful to Paul.
So Here we find that inscription is so putting two and two together, we know that. Um Erastus was from Corinth. If you go back to the same verse where it mentions Gaius being the host for Paul and the host of the whole church, you know, we just kind of compared a few things based on where was Paul when he wrote the letter to the Romans. He was in Corinth. But in that same statement It also adds an Erastus who is the city clerk.
City treasurer. Right. So guess what? In Corinth, you have an inscription of a city treasurer, and guess what his name is? Erastus.
So that link together gives us a timeline. Yeah, so Erastus and Gaius were from the same. City, which is Corinth. And you can still see the evidence of that in Corinth. Yeah, so when you connect these dots, you begin to see.
And of course, in Timothy, in the pastorals, Paul mentions Erastus being left in Corinth.
So, I mean, it seals the case that Erastus and hence Gaius were also from Corinth. Right. So, which means that Paul was in Corinth when he wrote the letter to the Romans. That's right. That's right.
So, now, kind of backing up here and talking about. This triclinium and how the banquet would progress from the Daipan to the symposium. And then Um they would sort of Drink wine which is mixed. And spend some time listening to poetry, or some philosopher will get up and talk, or um.
Someone would play the flute. There were times that some of the philosophers, when they would meet together, they would say, Please send the flute girl away. That's all. Honestly, there'll be their inscriptions we find that says, send the flute girl. That's pretty funny.
I forgot who tried to say that. It's like when we go to lunch, there's a restaurant we love to go to and talk, but we can't talk because the music is just so loud. It's like, all right. Just go away. We're going to discuss now.
Yeah, this actually said that. That's really funny. That's funny. Enough with the flute girl. I wish we could still do that because a lot of times we'll go to restaurants and be like, would they lower the music?
Like, let's not even ask. They're not going to do it. Yeah. So but now, how does that uh impact our understanding of the Lord's Supper because the Jewish people when it came to the symposium part, they did not pour libation to any of the gods and goddesses. They did not pour libation to Caesar because there was an arrangement made between the Jewish people and the Roman emperors, which was We know how your convictions are.
But we also know that you are very loyal to the Roman Empire. We also know how much you contribute to the Roman Empire.
So, we're not going to require you to do something that will just be odd and awkward and make your life difficult because we know where you stand.
So, a couple episodes ago, you mentioned that one of the criteria for having these banquets was that you had to swear allegiance to Caesar. That's correct. They exempted the Jewish people from having Caesar. They did. They made an arrangement with them, which was very unique because they didn't allow that for anybody else.
In fact, nobody else really asked for it. Egyptians, Syrians. They just sort of went along. They were like Babylonians. They were like, Yeah, we're fine.
We will here we go to Caesar. But Jewish people were the only ones who said we cannot do that in good conscience. But you know, we are Romans. You know that we will always fight for you, we will always finance you, we will do whatever you need. We are Romans.
Is this just something our traditions we cannot help? Yeah. And so the Romans said, Okay, That's fine. If this is going to cause trouble. It's a formality.
We know your hearts are with us.
So they made an exception for the Jewish people.
So when they would celebrate the symposium, this was let's say it was a Passover feast, a banquet, they would just do the Passover at the point. Wow. No pouring libations to God's goddesses, Caesars, none of that. Christians were considered to be an offshoot of the Jewish people. In fact, the first Christians were all bona fide Jewish people.
So also exempt? Also exempt. And so they did not have to do it either. But here's what they did. The Christians did not just do Passover.
Yeah. They did the Lord's Supper. We don't celebrate Passover. We celebrate the Lord's Supper. Good point.
Different than just a Passover. Do you want to take just for 30 seconds just to explain that difference? Sure. I mean, Passover, there are different bitter herbs and some other things that they will talk about, the bread, this, and the cup, that, and all of that. They will have other things.
But Jesus Focused only on two things: the breaking of the bread, which represents his body broken for us, and the drinking from the cup, which is the new covenant in his blood. That's a significant point, right? Because there are still Christians who would argue, well, Jesus observed the Passover. Yeah, he did, but he gave it a whole new meaning. Because, yeah, because he introduced new things.
Yeah. So there are Christians today who observe Passover, but mostly. If you consider yourself a Christian, you would observe the Lord's Supper and not Passover. Right. And then there are some Jewish background Christians, Messianic Jewish people, who will keep the Passover, but they have a different understanding.
Means those bitter herbs are not just about. our suffering under Pharaoh, which is true, which was i in and the tears and all, you know, the salt water. Uh but this is also about our sin and all of that.
So it has a a deeper meaning for them. And I think that's fine if they want to do that. But we are really required to do those bread and the cup. Other things have a lot of meaning, but for the right people. And yes, as Christians who are from Gentile background, which is a lot of us here, we can also enjoy that Passover but with a twist.
But that's not what we do. On a typical Sunday morning, the work is done. The new wine, the new covenant has been established.
So we're looking backwards, whereas I would suppose. Jewish people observing the Passover are looking forward in hope. Yeah, they're looking for that hope that one day the Messiah will come. Understanding it in a different light based on what Christ has done for us now. And we look at it as Jesus did it all in remembrance of him, not just in his memory.
Yeah. Means remembering what he did.
So, in some ways, in some ways, Passover and the Lord's Supper, in some ways, are opposites. In some ways, you could say that. Because I'm talking about the hardcore Jewish Passover, yeah. Because in some ways, in that way, they're like, We're still looking for the hope. But if you're observing that without observing the Lord's Supper, then you're essentially saying, I'm looking forward to that hope too, even though it's already come.
Yeah, I've celebrated Passover with Messianic Jewish people, and it's not the typical Jewish Passover because they will talk about the Messiah having come and the fulfillment in him and Christ and all that. It has a deeper meaning. Yeah. So. Going back to the communion conversation, now Christians would, instead of pouring libation or whatever, to the gods and goddesses or or to Caesar or like their Jewish predecessors to talk about the Passover on that night when we left Egypt.
Now they would talk about the night when Jesus was assembled in the upper room with his disciples. That's what they would talk about. Wow. And that was. The conversation that was the focus instead of some dance or some flute or some game.
Gotcha. This is what they did. And so I'm thinking now. That the Corinthians at some point lost sight of that. Oh, hugely lost sight.
In fact, for the next few moments, I want us to see the reason we talk so much about Gaius being from Corinth and Paul was in Corinth when he wrote to the Romans and all that, and that's how we know the name of the host of the whole church is because. It's significant because, to me, it's significant because this was the man who saw these shenanigans. This is the man who wrote. Shenanigans is probably the best word for them. This is the man who wrote to Paul and said, Hey, Paul, I think these Corinthians need a little bit of whooping.
Yeah, I would say so. I would say so. Paul, you know, you stay with me. You're welcome anytime. I'm just telling you, I'm tired of these people coming to my home.
Isn't that funny? But isn't it funny how you can find continuity in the Bible instead of just like anybody else would have read Gaius, my host, Erastus. They would have walked right over those names and tried to get to the good stuff. Whereas those names are really the continuity that bridges 1 Corinthians and Romans together. And recently we kind of, on our show, we stop and talk about these things is to enhance your understanding of the Bible.
That's right. To help you know the deep meanings so that your faith will be more grounded. That's right. So let's go to Ro uh 1 Corinthians 11 and I want to read from verse 17. Paul says now in giving these instructions Talking to the Corinthians, I do not praise you since you come together not for the better, but for the worse.
Come on. Romans came together to the banquets, and in the process, they felt better. They learned, they grew, they made connections. Paul says. You come together and it's usually downhill.
You're worse when you leave than when you got there. And you were already pretty bad when you got there. Yeah, I didn't start in a good place either.
Well, first of all, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you. And in part, I believe it. Who do you think is telling him that? I bet it's Gaius. Yeah, I'm sure.
I'm sure. Paul, they come. This group stands over here. That group stands over there. And they're factions too.
They're factions. I mean, like they're having their own little secret meeting. They're whispering. Yeah. Yeah.
And it's, Paul, it's a horrible attitude. I haven't seen that attitude in our Roman banquets. Mm. That's wild. That's wild.
You hate to get a letter like that. Yeah. Therefore, verse 20: Therefore, when you come together in one place, it is not to eat the Lord's Supper. The goal was to come not just to eat. A meal which is the deep noun, which you would, 'cause the gap feasts, you would eat.
But the real focus was after this feast, we get to do the Lord's Supper. It's a prelude to the real thing. Yeah. For in eating, each one takes his own supper ahead of others, and one is hungry, another is drunk. Come on, getting drunk at the Lord's Supper.
While someone's sitting outside hungry. Yeah, in the atrium, right? People would gather in the atrium, and I think they must have taken turns because they could only maybe fit. Twelve, fourteen people, maybe more. I don't know how big Gaius's triclinium was.
Mm-hmm.
And so let's say he's allowing 16 people at a time, 444. Right? Four for four. We have a whole lot of people out there. There's about 300 of them coming and they come at different times.
You know, we we think people back then were just like cavemen. That's not true. Right. They knew how to organize, they knew how to set times.
So we have 16 going into 400. You do the math. I mean, this is going to be a long evening.
So we're going to keep this moving, keep this moving. And so people would get there. Recline Start eating. And then get into the Lord's Supper part. And ask for more wine.
You'd be like, I actually, I'm kind of comfortable. Yeah. I don't think that quite, I didn't have enough remembrance. I need to take it one more time. Yeah, this, I mean, why are we coming here if we're not, we cannot stop and recline?
Yeah, it's not a banquet like it's supposed to be. Yeah, just mail me the just mail me the wine if you want me to do it at home.
Now I'll come here because I want to enjoy it. And I want to, I want to mean something. But there are people outside. I know, but I'm just going to give it up. The whole family standing waiting to hear you have your turn.
Put it in the cup. I'm here. I take a picture. Can you turn around and at least look at that? No, because I don't like to look at poor people.
In this exchange, we're taking more time. I'll just pour up my neck on the table.
So, this is sort of what went on. That's what Paul says. One went away.
So, a family just leaves, a couple just left. An individual, you know, he's a soldier. He has to go work at the prison or whatever. The guy inside is like, well, if they're leaving, I'll just take their spot. I'll just stay a little bit.
Oh, no, they're gone anyways. It's okay. It's okay. What would you have done if you were Paul? If you were Paul and you got that letter saying this is what's happening in your church, I would be very embarrassed.
You know, very embarrassed. I know this isn't the picture of the Lord's Supper that the Corinthians were doing, but in my mind, the way I make sense of this is that there's a person at the communion table that we have set up, and they're just pounding grape juice. You know why? Just sitting in line, like, I'm waiting on my turn. You know what?
This guy's like 17 little cups of grape juice in. I don't know why. I always picture that guy, the proud feet guy at Bilbo Baggins' wedding that's just propped up with his feet right dead in the camera angle. And he's just got his pipe and he goes, proud feet. I don't know why.
Every time I think of this, I always think of that.
Someone kicked up with their feet back.
So relaxed and comfortable while everyone else was very well fed. I always think of that shot. I mean, it's sad, but that was the early church. Yeah. Especially the one in Corinth.
And then Paul goes on to say here: this is very powerful. He says, What did Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Do do you really think we're coming here because of the dip non?
Okay.
Or the symposium? No. Or do you despise the church of God and shame those who have nothing? Come home, man. You don't want Paul to talk to you like that.
So you're looking down on people, just like James talks about, you know, your brother comes in and you say, sit down here. Instead of letting him recline on the table with you, people often picture this as if it's happening in a church, like a pew. Yeah, yeah. It's not a pew. It's around a triclinium.
And they're telling him, sit down right there. You go right there. Sit down. Come on, man. You're reclining.
You're making me sit by your feet. That's what is happening. Yeah, that's a shameful position. Right. And then he says, What shall I say to you?
Shall I praise you in this? I do not praise you. And then he launches into what we often hear read during the Lord's Supper. Ryan, you want to read that for us? This is 1 Corinthians 11 and verse 23.
For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which he was betrayed took bread. And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, Take, eat. This is my body which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me. In the same manner, he also took the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood.
This do as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. It's funny because you read that, and Dr. Xiao, you read that yourself, and many pastors I know, read that right before communion. Usually, the music's playing, it's very somber. To know that that's one verse away from one of the worst scoldings in the whole Bible.
Why don't you read it for us? Because starting in verse 26, let's keep going. For often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till he comes. Therefore, whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup.
For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord's body.
So the big question is unworthy manner. I mean, we don't have a triclinium here or in our church or in any of those churches out there anymore. We don't eat a deep non, you know, have a big meal. An agape feast and then launch into our version of his symposium.
So, how does that apply?
Well, what does unworthy manner mean, meant for them? It meant for them selfishness. It meant for them Uh arrogance. It meant for them losing the purpose for their gathering.
So many things. It meant Just a Sensual behavior. Like, I care about my stomach and my indulgence. I don't care about anybody else. Apply that to your life today.
How can We be guilty of the same thing that the Corinthians were guilty of. When we are Selfish, self-centered, sensual, when we are concerned more about our status than about other people, all those things. Incriminating. And you bring them into the church with you. You don't check them at the door and then pick them up after Sunday service.
Yeah, it infects, it festers, and it brings disunity. Just like Paul wrote to the Corinthians, it brings disunity in the body of Christ. This may be a topic for another episode. I know we're running out of time, but how do you handle people who say, you know what? I know I'm guilty of those things.
I'm not participating in the Lord's Supper. Yeah, because they read a passage like this, because it says right here in verse 30, this is 1 Corinthians 11:30. For this reason, many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep. And they say, Well, I don't want to get sick because I may have some sin, or my wife and I had some words, or right now I'm kind of angry at the church because the church let me down or something. But then go on to the next verse, which is verse 31.
For, if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. Means you cannot dodge the Lord's table and somehow think that if I don't do that, I may. Keep living and not get sick or die. I'm supposed to appear before a jury today, but. I'm just not going to go.
I won't. Yeah, I just not going to go. If I don't go, I can't be convicted. I can't get in trouble. You can't do that because the judgment is coming.
That's right. So much better to go ahead and deal with that sin in your life and say, Yeah, they gave me reason to be angry, but I choose not to, or they really hurt me. But instead of um Just paying them back. I am not going to do that. I will do my part.
I will forgive. I will show grace. Grace does not mean that, you know, next day you're like out shopping together. Grace, maybe I forgive you. And Thank God.
Work with in your life. I'm going this way. And then it says in verse thirty two, but when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world.
So God does deal with us so that we will not have to be dealt with. On the day of judgment. And then verse thirty three, Ryan, would you want to read it and finish it for us? To verse 34? Absolutely.
Therefore, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one another. But if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, lest you come together for judgment. And the rest I will set in order when I come.
So. That's Paul's word. It's like I will I still have some things to deal with. I will take care of that when I get there. I'll deal with you when I get there.
Imagine putting that letter down. Oh man. He's posting. It's poping time. It's poping time.
It's time for one. But here's a sad reality, and I want to leave our listeners and our viewers with this thought. The early church very soon stopped getting together. The book of Hebrews talks about this, and for various reasons, but they stopped meeting together, they stopped celebrating the Lord's Supper together. Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 25 says, Not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together, as is the manner of some.
So, not all of them, but many of them. And so much the more as you see the day approaching. Means you should be. Getting back and coming together, exhorting one another. That's right, exhorting one another.
That's right. Guys, make sure you join us next time. Same time, same station. We're going to be diving into another great topic here on the Clear View Today show. Thanks again to our sponsors for making today's episode possible.
And don't forget that you can support us by subscribing to the show on iTunes, Spotify, wherever you get your podcast from. And you can also support us financially at Abadanshah.com forward slash give. John, what do you want to leave listeners with today? Definitely want to encourage you to be in church as you are going forward this weekend. Maybe you're taking the Lord's Supper at your church.
Maybe you're just going to remember it in your spirit, but make sure you're worshiping God this weekend. Also, want to remind you that our two-hour live stream is coming up on August the 15th, 7 to 9 p.m. You can call into the show. We're going to have that number available for you guys.
So you can call in and we're going to pray with you live on the air. If there's someone in your life who needs prayer, make sure you let them know to tune in as well. That's right. We love you guys. We'll see you Monday on Clear Week today.
