Regarding Heresy in the Church

 

Regarding Heresy in the Church

 

1 Corinthians 11:13-14: "Judge for yourselves. Is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered? Does not nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a disgrace to him?"

 

This implies that in the church, if a man prayed with long hair like a woman, and a woman prayed without covering her head, it would be considered strange—even from an instinctive perspective—in that era. Paul invokes these historical circumstances and human nature to explain the relationship between men and women within Christ.

 

He argues that covering the head or having long hair symbolizes the Mediator who covers sin. Through a metaphor of real life, Paul explains that all humans are spirits who have sinned in the Kingdom of God, and that salvation is impossible without the mediation of Christ.

 

He asserts that while there may be many debates regarding men and women in the church, arguing without understanding what has happened in the Kingdom of God is meaningless. He claims that such customs do not exist in the church. He asserts that Paul merely intended to explain by introducing examples such as covering the head or growing hair. The believers in the Corinthian church were unable to hold gatherings regularly. However, it is pointed out that even when they did gather, it was not beneficial to one another. This was because the practice of placing head coverings on men and women caused discomfort among them, as they failed to understand the true meaning of the practice.

 

A rift had formed among a few individuals who considered themselves to have strong faith. For instance, a rift arises between elders and pastors in the church because the pastor acts like a king. Since Jesus Christ is the head of the church, the argument is that it is heresy because the pastor acts like a king.

 

The point is that only by defining a pastor acting like a king as heresy will someone attempt to declare it heresy if such an incident occurs within the church in the future. The first thing that can be called heresy in the church is a pastor acting like a king.

 

Paul speaks of a second heresy: that improperly observing the Lord's Supper constitutes heresy. He points out that an improper Lord's Supper can stem from an improper love feast. This is because they are unable to partake in the Lord's Supper together when they gather. Eating together signifies becoming one. It was customary for believers to bring food to share during meals. However, some people ate the food first. Later, it was discovered that there was a shortage of food, leaving some believers unable to eat. This resulted in the breaking of the unity of Christians.

 

Mainly the wealthy committed such acts frequently. Paul goes so far as to call this a disdain for the church of God, connecting it to the Lord's Supper. The Lord's Supper is a remembrance of the Kingdom of God. It implies that if there is no unity among the saints, union with Christ cannot be achieved either.

 

1 Corinthians 11:23-24: "For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you: that on the night He was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took bread, and after giving thanks, broke it and said, 'This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me (Anamnesin).'" Anamnesin (ἀνάμνησιν) means "to remember from above." The Lord's Supper is a remembrance of the Kingdom of God. The Lord's Supper signifies union with Christ.

 

The Lord's death and the New Covenant are related. The breaking of bread and eating together signifies union with the body of Jesus, who died on the cross and resurrected; pouring and drinking the cup signifies redemption through the blood shed by Jesus and drinking the eternal living water from heaven.

 

Redemption implies buying a slave with a blood price. It means becoming a person free from sin. Why did Jesus Christ die on the cross? The reason was that the angels who had sinned and been deceived by Satan in the Kingdom of God had rebelled against God, left the Kingdom, and were imprisoned here; therefore, God predestined Christ to save them.

 

Thus, it means that Christ died on the cross, and those sinners who repent and are united with the Christ of the cross are considered dead to God. Sinners, too, die to sin with Christ and receive forgiveness from God for the sin of rebelling against Him out of a desire to become like Him. Thus, through the atonement of His blood, they are freed from sin and become free bodies. Participating in the Holy Communion without understanding this meaning results in eating and drinking sin.

 

Those who participate in Holy Communion must realize that they were once those who had turned away from God, and they must verify whether they have become those who have died with Christ. Holy Communion is a ritual to remember being united with Jesus Christ, who died on the cross and resurrected. Therefore, the instruction is to examine whether one who truly participates in Holy Communion is one who has been born again of water and the Spirit, and one who has been freed from sin.

 

Sin is the greed to become like God. While people in the church consider violating God's command not to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil as sin, the sin is the greed to become like God. Therefore, if a believer still lives in greed and puts themselves forward, they cannot be considered sinless. If one participates in Holy Communion without freeing oneself from sin, they are eating and drinking sin; if the church leader does not clearly explain this, that church becomes a heresy.

 

The Bible tells us that believers must carefully examine themselves before participating in Holy Communion. It states that if believers do not look after one another, they will be disciplined by the Lord. It implies that there are those who have already died, and that if believers had looked after one another, they would not have been disciplined. Strictly speaking, the Lord's Supper is not performed to inflict punishment, but is a ritual to reaffirm what God has promised to the born-again believer. Therefore, those who have not escaped the problem of sin are not born again, and thus are beings who are inevitably subject to judgment.

 

Just as Paul confirms the oneness of believers in Christ through the Lord's Supper, he speaks of becoming one in Christ through the Agape Feast as well. The important thing is to become one in Christ. To become one in Christ is to become one with Jesus Christ, who died on the cross and resurrected. Becoming one means believing in being united with Jesus. Today, people realize the oneness regarding the death on the cross, but they do not regarding the resurrection. This is because they think of the resurrection as a process that will be accomplished after death in the future. The resurrection is eternal life that is taking place in the present.