One Spirit to Drink

In first Corinthians Paul has to straighten the corinthians out on some very significant problems with their doctrine. He goes through proper worship. Then Paul talks about the Lord's Supper in chapter 11, what is appropriate and what is inappropriate. He reminds them of Jesus' words when He took the bread and the cup. He talks about judgement and remembrance. Then he talks about spiritual gifts and how all of us who are in Christ Jesus are a part of one body. chapters 12 verse 13 he says something very interesting. “For we are all baptized by One Spirit into One Body [church] – whether Jew or Greek, slave or free – and we were all given the One Spirit to drink. “We are all given the One Spirit to drink.” I've over looked this verse dozens of times. I've read it and said to myself, “Yeah, one spirit, one body, got it.” But I hadn't looked at the “One spirit to drink” part. So this sent me looking through commentaries and essays. I ended up reading a bunch of greek words which I have no clue about and some really big english words which I had no clue about so I sat down with a dictionary. Here is the gist of it. When we are baptized we are given the One Spirit. The Holy Spirit to dwell within us. We are marked as clean. Our sins are washed away. We call this justification. Made just-as-if- i'de never sinned. It's a one time thing. As believers we are suppose to continually grow to become more like Christ. To be set apart for a holy purpose. That is why God gives us gifts through his holy spirit to build up the church. We call this “Sanctification” to be set apart for a holy purpose. Let me summarize one theologian I read. The Lord's Supper is more than just remembering the body and blood of Jesus Christ's death and resurrection. This is a spiritual meal. It is a key component of our salvation. Where baptism is a one time thing, the Lords Supper is repeated again and again. All of the church takes communion at the same time, it reaffirms our salvation in Christ Jesus and reaffirms our unity as a body. Partaking in the Lord's Supper makes the church share in the Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead. That's why Paul made such a big deal about eating in an appropriate manner. This is more than a remembrance. This is all of us joined spiritually as one body. We can't see it or touch it or even explain a lot of what the spirit does, but what one of us does in the spirit seems to have implications for all of us. Just like in baptism, there is so much more happening spiritually that we can't yet know or understand, That is why Jesus kept things simple when he explained them. But what is important is that we are to eat this meal on a regular basis. That it has spirit rewards and consequences. That we need this meal to continue our sanctification process. You know I'm still young. As a a human I'm only 34 years old. I'm done growing up, I'll just grow out now. As a believer I'm only 21 years old. There is still so much I have to learn. Visiting different churches lately and participating in their different styles of communion has help remind me of these two facts. I have a lot to learn and every group of believers that gather for communion are all united as on body in Christ Jesus. This is one thing I do that helps on a regular basis, getting together with the One Body, joined by the One Spirit, sharing in the One Meal.