Eating & Drinking in the Assembly?

Recently the following question was submitted via our 2025 Surveys: “Eating/Drinking in Bible Study – OK to bring drinks but not food?”

Underlying Question:

Can we eat or drink individually when we assemble for worship and Bible study?

Key Passages: 1 Cor. 11.18-22, 33-34

“when you come together as a church” (v.18)

“When you come together, it is not the Lord’s supper that you eat. For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal. One goes hungry, another gets drunk. What! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I commend you in this? No, I will not.” (v.20-22)

Baffling Brotherly Behavior

In 1 Corinthians 11, the specific issue is a failure to properly partake of the Lord’s Supper as an act of corporate worship. Instead, the meal had “become associated with a common meal, usually referred to by most commentators as a Love Feast” (Willis, pg. 321). This meal was being consumed to satisfy one’s appetite, not as an act of worship to Jesus Christ. The Corinthians’ malignment of the Lord’s Supper caused them to “despise the church of God” (look down upon or disrespect the church) and humiliate their poorer brethren who came to worship empty-handed (and probably hungry themselves). “The public assembly was not designed as an occasion to satisfy one’s hunger; it was an occasion to offer worship to Almighty God. The Corinthians had distorted the divine nature of the church” (Willis pg. 323)

Later, in v.33-34, we see Paul’s positive teaching on this matter: “So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another— if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home—so that when you come together it will not be for judgment. About the other things I will give directions when I come.” Paul’s solution was simple: When you gather to partake of the Lord’s Supper, do so corporately, not as individuals or as individual families. Sharing in the Supper was essential. If you need/desire to eat to satisfy your hunger, do so at home. This would serve a couple of purposes. First, it would avoid despising the assembly by corrupting its purpose (worship) via a common meal. Second, it would avoid the division into social classes (rich/poor) which occurred when the wealthy “goes ahead with his own meal” (v.17) while the poor have nothing to eat.

To be sure, this text addresses the unbiblical notion that we should consume a common meal together as a part of worship services or turning the Lord’s Supper into something akin to a potluck, but there are also principles here that help us sort out whether individual eating/drinking can be done during our assemblies.

Purpose is Paramount

What is the PURPOSE for our assembling together, and does individual eating/drinking distract, inhibit, or disturb the fulfillment of our purpose? The Corinthians demonstrate that deviations from our purpose in worship constitute despising “the church of God,” a most serious offense. The Lord’s church is tasked with four specific purposes: proclaiming the gospel of Christ (1 Tim. 3.14-15); gathering to worship and glorify God (Acts 2.42; 20.7-8); teaching/edifying fellow Christians (1 Cor. 14.26); and caring for fellow Christians in need (Acts 2.44-45; 11.27-30). In their corruption of the Supper, the Corinthians had lost their focus and abandoned their purpose of worship. We must ensure that we do not repeat this specific mistake, nor others in the same category.

When we gather for worship, WORSHIP must remain our focus. As we sing, pray, study, contribute, and partake of the Supper, those activities must be in the forefront of our minds and our actions during services should correspond to these activities. Likewise, Bible study is an occasion for… (You guessed it) Bible study. Paul wrote in 1 Cor. 14.15 that he would pray and sing not only with his spirit, but with his mind also, meaning with his faculties engaged & focused on the occasion at hand! When considering whether we can individually eat/drink in the assembly, we must remember that if by doing so our minds become disengaged from our PURPOSE (or if it serves to disengage the minds of others), we are guilty of creating a stumbling block.

At this point it is important to remember the role of expedients. Expedients, such as song books, seats, even the building in which we gather, allow us to carry out God’s divinely ordained PURPOSE for our assemblies. We can include our restroom facilities and water fountains in this category, as these facilitate our being together in one place. We ALL enter and remain in the building during services, but we do not all go to the restroom or water fountain together (although some Sundays this can seem to be the case). We use these as needed, according to our personal discretion, and these assist us in fulfilling our PURPOSE for assembling. Each of us carry and use expedient items while at services according to individual discretion: Kleenex, notebooks, pens/pencils, etc. When it comes to individual eating/drinking during services, we must allow space for one another to decide for themselves if doing so is expedient to the fulfillment of our PURPOSE.

Practically speaking, we know that eating and drinking occurs often during assemblies without sin, ranging from the preacher taking a drink of water during a sermon to mothers feeding small children, not to mention the innumerable candies, cough drops, etc. that are consumed on any given Sunday or Wednesday. How can we in good conscience and biblical honesty condemn a brother or sister simply for bringing their drink into services?

Now, before you light the torches and grab the pitchforks, there is more to consider. In the previous example of restroom usage, parents understand better than most that the personal expediency of the restroom can be abused. My own children taught me this important lesson. The frequency of restroom trips, the duration of restroom trips, and the choice as to whether one should sing loudly in the restroom are all examples of how this personal expediency can become a distraction to the rest of the assembly and inhibit us while attempting to fulfill our purpose. In like fashion, the individual decision to eat/drink MUST consider the likelihood of disturbing others (and yourself) during services. One must in wisdom be able to distinguish between the “Lifesaver” candy and the bacon-wrapped turkey leg. Both qualify as “food”, but one can be consumed without disturbing others to facilitate our PURPOSE, while the other is rightly consigned to the state fair and/or Thanksgiving dinner, not worship services. We must be above forbidding the freedoms of others in the name of “caution”, as well as throwing out Wisdom in the pursuit of personal liberties. We must be better than both of these.

Since Scripture says nothing about an individual eating/drinking within a church building, there is no basis for categorically condemning an individual who consumes food and drink in church buildings. This is an entirely different question from whether churches should provide facilities for the PURPOSE of eating and drinking, such as kitchens, fellowship halls, etc., the answer to which is “Absolutely not.” The difference between an individual’s drink and the church-funded coffee bar is plain (and the subject for a different article). Merely eating or drinking in the assembly (as in the case of a cough drop or a beverage) typically does not constitute taking in a “common meal,” as in 1 Cor. 11, nor does the consumption of these fall under the purview of “If anyone is hungry, let him eat at home” (1 Cor. 11.34). Paul’s point in 1 Corinthians 11 is plain: The PURPOSE of our assembly, and specifically of the Lord’s Supper, is not to slake our hunger/thirst, but to “proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes” (vv.26). Someone who shows up to Bible study or worship services with a meal clearly has misunderstood the PURPOSE for their presence, and should be corrected in love.

Wisdom and discretion MUST be utilized here. Is it distracting to consume a “Lifesaver” or some other small candy during services? Probably not. (Although it does matter how long it takes to open it, am I right?) Would it be distracting to bring a charcuterie board & start eating it during services on Sunday morning? Almost certainly. Would it be distracting to crack open a can of Sprite during Bible study? Probably. Is it distracting to bring in a cup of water or coffee and discreetly sip it during the sermon? “Probably not” is my personal judgment, and you may or may not share that judgment. (Some of my sermons can cause one to believe coffee is an absolute necessity!) One can consume water from a small bottle, the water fountain, or a 55-gallon drum during assemblies, but only two of these limit distraction while the third invites it.

We must make sure that we are not holding one another to standards that are not warranted from scripture. I have balked at the presence of a paper coffee cup in an assembly, and thought nothing about the “Lifesavers” in my own pocket, my use of the water fountain, nor my own children being fed (or quieted) with small snacks. Who am I to judge that the cough drop is more needful (or more scriptural) than the drink? Brethren, whatever judgment we make for ourselves, let us make sure we are consistent and considerate of one another. To be sure, our PURPOSE for being here is not eating and drinking, but these can be done wisely in such a way as to not inhibit the fulfillment of our PURPOSE: Glorifying and honoring God in thoughtful, devoted worship and study. Let us take care that, in any case, our use of an expedient does not cause us to profane the worship of the Most High!

Consideration of Others is Essential

We MUST also think of one another. The Corinthians demonstrated that eating/drinking could serve to stratify us as brethren, separating those who can easily afford food/drink from those who struggle to do so. Even if we have not devolved to the point of allowing communion to become a common meal, we can easily forget that not everyone can afford to bring food/drink into the assembly. What if we admitted that a brother having a drink in the assembly isn’t a sin per se, but then we began judging one another based on whether we brought coffee from Starbucks, McDonalds, or our own homes? Would God hold us guiltless for treating one another with more or less respect based on this? Certainly not! “My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory” (James 2.1). This example may seem far-fetched, but brethren have separated themselves for reasons just as unbiblical and ridiculous as this in the past. We can stumble just as quickly by abusing freedoms as we can by corrupting commandments!

Additionally, we must not fail to consider the strengths and weaknesses of others in our individual decision to eat/drink in the assembly. In Rom. 14 & 1 Cor. 8 Paul states clearly that regarding matters of personal judgment that we are not to “despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him” (Romans 14.3). Furthermore, we must be those willing to “bear with the failings of the weak” (15.1) and ensure that we do not place obstacles before them. For instance, if I choose to bring my drink into Bible study, and I learn later that this disturbs my brother’s conscience, I must respect his decision and seek to avoid causing him to violate his conscience. Likewise, the brother must not lord his personal judgment over myself or others who have decided differently than he on the matter. We must be willing to give up personal freedoms if it ensures the spiritual state of our brethren before God.

Drink or no drink, God must receive the honor and thanks, no matter our judgment. Paul put it this regarding meat offered to idols, but it also applies here: “The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God. For none of us live to himself, and none of us dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.”

(Rom. 14.6b-8 ESV)

References: Mike Willis, “1 Corinthians”, Truth Commentaries