Verse 23
What Paul taught here came ultimately from the Lord Jesus Himself. This reminder stresses the importance of this revelation.
"The verbs ’received’ and ’passed on,’ which occur again in combination in 1 Corinthians 15:3, are technical terms from Paul’s Jewish heritage for the transmission of religious instruction. His present concern is to establish that the tradition about the Supper they had received from him came from Jesus himself: ’I received [it] from the Lord.’" [Note: Fee, The First . . ., p. 548.]
The terminology used here does not require us to understand that the Lord Jesus communicated this information to Paul personally. Paul’s wording suggests that he may have been repeating exactly what others had taught him. This is not a verbatim quotation from one of the Gospel accounts. [Note: See David Lincicum, "Paul and the Testimonia: Quo Vademus?" Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 51:2 (June 2008):297-308.]
Paul described the night Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper as the night in which He was betrayed. This draws attention to the Savior’s great love for His own. The Lord was graciously providing for His disciples when one of them was plotting to do away with Him.
Be the first to react on this!
