17 Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all share the one loaf.
17 For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread.
17 Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.
17 Because there is one loaf, our many-ness becomes one-ness - Christ doesn't become fragmented in us. Rather, we become unified in him. We don't reduce Christ to what we are; he raises us to what he is.
17 For we, though many, are one bread and one body; for we all partake of that one bread.
17 And though we are many, we all eat from one loaf of bread, showing that we are one body.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on 1 Corinthians 10:17
Commentary on 1 Corinthians 10:15-22
(Read 1 Corinthians 10:15-22)
Did not the joining in the Lord's supper show a profession of faith in Christ crucified, and of adoring gratitude to him for his salvation ? Christians, by this ordinance, and the faith therein professed, were united as the grains of wheat in one loaf of bread, or as the members in the human body, seeing they were all united to Christ, and had fellowship with him and one another. This is confirmed from the Jewish worship and customs in sacrifice. The apostle applies this to feasting with idolaters. Eating food as part of a heathen sacrifice, was worshipping the idol to whom it was made, and having fellowship or communion with it; just as he who eats the Lord's supper, is accounted to partake in the Christian sacrifice, or as they who ate the Jewish sacrifices partook of what was offered on their altar. It was denying Christianity; for communion with Christ, and communion with devils, could never be had at once. If Christians venture into places, and join in sacrifices to the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life, they will provoke God.