Matthew Henry Commentary 1 Corinthians 11:17-22

"But in giving you this charge, I praise you not, that ye come together not for the better but for the worse. For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that divisions exist among you; and I partly believe it. For there must be also factions among you, that they that are approved may be made manifest among you. When therefore ye assemble yourselves together, it is not possible to eat the Lord`s supper: for in your eating each one taketh before [other] his own supper; and one is hungry, and another is drunken. What, have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? or despise ye the church of God, and put them to shame that have not? What shall I say to you? shall I praise you? In this I praise you not." — 1 Corinthians 11:17-22 (ASV)

The apostle rebukes the disorders in their partaking of the Lord's Supper. The ordinances of Christ, if they do not make us better, are likely to make us worse. If using them does not improve us, it will harden us. When they came together, they fell into divisions, schisms. Christians may separate from each other's communion yet be charitable toward one another; they may continue in the same communion yet be uncharitable.

This latter is schism, rather than the former. There is a careless and irregular eating of the Lord's Supper, which adds to guilt. Many rich Corinthians seem to have acted very wrongly at the Lord's Table, or at the love-feasts, which took place at the same time as the Supper. The rich despised the poor and ate and drank all the provisions they brought before the poor were allowed to partake; thus some were in need, while others had more than enough.

What should have been a bond of mutual love and affection, was made an instrument of discord and disunion. We should be careful that nothing in our behavior at the Lord's Table appears to make light of that sacred institution. The Lord's Supper is not now made an occasion for gluttony or reveling, but is it not often made the support of self-righteous pride, or a cloak for hypocrisy?

Let us never rest in the outward forms of worship, but look to our hearts.