The passage specifically addresses the celebration of the Lord's Supper by the assembled church. The Corinthian church had several problems in connection with this celebration, which are addressed in the text. The problems included divisions (18) that involved selfishness and overindulgence by some (21) leading to humiliation of some members (perhaps the poorer members, 22). The problems could be resolved by recalling the purpose and meaning of the ceremony (23-26), re-examing one's personal motives and attitude (27-32) and showing more consideration for each other (33-34).

Although Paul mentions neither day nor time for the church meeting in this specific passage, there is a repeated reference to the timing as "when you come together as a church" or "when you meet together" (17, 18, 20, 33, 34). In fact, in Corinthians Paul made numerous references to the time when the church meets together "as a church." In the matter of church discipline, correcting an egregious sin in chapter 5, it is "when you are assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus" (5:4; see Matthew 18:20). In chapter 11 it is "when you come together as a church... when you come together to eat..." (11:18, 33). Then in chapter 14 it is "so that the church (assembled disciples) may be edified" (14:5, 12, 19), "if the whole church comes together..." (14:23) and "When you come together... for the strengthening of the church" (14:26) and what is done "in the church" which is the assembly, not the location (14:28, 33-34-35). Finally in chapter 16, in reference to "the collection for God's people", just like the Galatian churches (again, the assembled groups of people, not locations or buildings), collections should be made "on the first day of every week" (16:1-2). The Galatian churches were doing this, the Corinthian church should do the same. It is evident that the Corinthian church met together "as a church" with some frequency to meet the ordinary needs of edification and teaching, encouragement and instruction. It is also evident that the time of their regular coming together "as a church" was a time when the Lord's Supper was celebrated and orderly instruction, singing, etc. (chapter 14) was engaged in by "the church". Doing the Lord's Supper in a piecemeal way was depicted as harmful. The frequency of the church meeting was apparently weekly, on the first day of the week, since that is consistent with the idea of frequency and regularity implied throughout the book, and consistent with the instruction in 16:1-3, and also consistent with other scriptures, including Acts 20:7.

Note in chapter 11 the coming together is specifically and purposefully connected with the remembrance of the Lord's death (11:33 - "when you come together to eat", 11:18 - "when you come together as a church"). This is consistent with Acts 20:7, "on the first day of the week we came together to break bread." The timing of the Lord's Supper in 1 Corinthians 11 is not left open to taste or desire, it is not infrequent, it was a regular event when the believers came together "as a church". This seems to be in reference to a specific, planned and agreed upon (weekly) meeting, consistently pictured as occurring on the first day of every week, the day of Jesus' resurrection, the "Lord's Day." (The term Lord's Day incidentally has survived in common language from Latin in the Romance languages, such as Spanish - El Domingo.)

In terms of frequency, some have looked at the word "whenever" (NIV) in 1 Corinthians 11:26 and taken the word as an open endorsement to take the Lord's Supper "whenever you want to". That is not the sense of the phrase Paul used. The phrase is in other versions rendered "as often as", and the indication is not a random frequency, or choosing group by group or person by person how often to do so (and hence how often to meet together as a church). Indeed, as Paul later says in 14:33, God is not a God of disorder, but of peace. He wants this to be done voluntarily, acknowledging our need of Jesus, but that doesn't mean it is unguided. Perhaps the word "whenever" in the NIV is an unfortunate choice of English words, though we do use the word in the sense of "everytime". Paul in 11:26 uses the same phrase (in Greek) as he attributes to Jesus in 11:25, and most English versions use the phrase "as often as" to convey the sense. It is not to say "however often you may choose" but rather there is an indication of frequency and of repetition. As Baptist Greek scholar A.T. Robertson put it, for the Greek expression, "Usual construction for general temporal clause of repetition" (from Robertson's Word Pictures in the New Testament). Paul is emphasizing both the importance and the frequency of the observance in these verses, definitely not saying "just do it whenever you'd like to" or "whatever feels right to you."

Again, there is strong recurring emphasis in 1 Corinthians on the regular time when the church meets together "as a church." That is the time when the Lord's Supper was already being observed (albeit with flaws that needed to be corrected), that is the time when brethren were sharing messages of encouragement, and songs, and prayers, and that is the time when the church in Corinth needed to establish a custom of taking up a regular weekly collection.

Perhaps a whole other article should be devoted to the need for weekly gatherings of the whole church, and other meetings of some or all members. The church should make every effort to establish a time, on the first day of the week, the Lord's Day, when everyone (all members) can regularly come together for the purposes of eating the Lord's Supper as a body and building up (edifying) the whole body of believers. The church may schedule other meetings involving some, many, or all members, but should have a regularly planned and known time for the whole church together to do these essential things, the things the early disciples devoted themselves to (Acts 2:42). It would seem to be impossible for other gatherings (such as small groups or family groups) to accomplish what is described in 1 Corinthians 11 when the whole church comes together, but encouragement and fellowship and instruction in the word of God are certainly possible in other meetings during the week, large or small. Hebrews 11:25-26 directs believers, in the context of a severe warning against falling away, 24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. 25 Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another-and all the more as you see the Day approaching. NIV There was a regular pattern and expectation of meeting (assembling) together, and Christians should be scrupulous about it. Meanwhile, there is also a need besides the planned pattern of gathering weekly to encourage each other with great frequency, and so we are also enjoined to encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. Heb 3:13 NIV The churches often schedule other meetings during the week (or second sessions on Sunday) with a view toward encouraging one another, but this command also indicates a need to be in frequent contact with each other to affirm Christian principles in our lives besides the organized meetings, one on one or a few at a time. There is good reason and Biblical precedent for meetings during the week that may include less than the whole church, but still every reason to plan and support a regular weekly meeting on the first day of each week when the church meets together, as complete a body as possible, to "show the Lord's death until he comes" and build up the body of believers.