Discerning The Lord’s Body

After outlining the institution of the Lord’s Supper as he hadreceived from the Lord, the Apostle Paul issued a solemn admonition to all whocome to participate in the Supper. He warns:

"Wherefore whosoevershall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall beguilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and solet him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. For he that eateth anddrinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerningthe Lord’s body. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and manysleep" (1Cor 11:27-30).

Several questions immediately come to mind when we consider thisstartling warning of Paul: (1) What does it mean to partake the Lord’s Supper‘unworthily’? Or, in Paul’s other words, what does it mean by "notdiscerning the Lord’s body"? (2) What does it mean to be "guilty ofthe body and blood of the Lord"? Or in other words, what does it mean toeat and drink ‘damnation’ to oneself? (3) What does Paul’s suggestion oftemporal chastisement mean to us today?

Firstly, the word translated ‘unworthily’ (Grk. anaxiôs), can also be rendered‘carelessly.’ Thus, Paul is simply saying that we must not partake of theLord’s Supper as a matter of routine as an ordinary meal or simply as anoutward ritual without considering its significance. To do so is to fail todiscern the Lord’s body. The word ‘discerning’ (v. 29) comes from the Geek diakrinô which means "to separate, todifferentiate, to distinguish or to judge." Thus, anyone who partakes ofthe Lord’s Supper must fully appreciate that when they are partaking the Lord’sSupper, the bread and wine that they are partaking are to be distinguished fromordinary bread and wine which they may take at their ordinary meals. Ordinarybread and wine are for the body. Sacramental bread and wine are for the soul.This is not to say that the bread and wine become anything other than ordinarybread and wine by physical transformation. No, the bread and wine during theSupper are sacramentally united to the body and blood of Christ (see WCF 29.5). Although the bread and wine aremore than merely symbolic of the flesh and blood of Christ, we must not forgetthat they do signify Christ crucified (cf. 1Cor 11:24-26). When you partake ofthe Lord’s Supper, you must therefore warmly believe in your heart that Christsuffered and died for you personally, and then recognise that the breadrepresents His body broken for you and the wine His blood shed for you, inorder that you may spiritually receive and feed upon Christ crucified and allbenefits of His death (WCF 29.6).

Secondly, the word translated ‘guilty’ (Grk. enochos) speaks of liabilityand answerability. Anyone who partakes of the Lord’s Supper unworthily isanswerable to the Lord for sinning against the body and blood of Christ, whichessentially means sinning against Christ Himself. Such a person shall bring‘damnation’ (or ‘judgement,’ Grk. krima as in 1Pet 4:17) upon himself. Butwhy does Paul use such strong language of condemnation here? To answer thisquestion, we must remember that the bread and wine that we partake at theLord’s Supper are no mere ordinary bread and wine, but are sacramentalrepresentatives of the Lord’s body and blood. So intimately are the signsrelated to Christ crucified that the Lord says "This is my body …" (1Cor 11:24; cf. Matt 26:26-28), and Paul speaks of "discerning the Lord’sbody" rather than "discerning the meaning of the bread." Thus,one who eats and drinks unworthily despises the meaning of the bread and wineand therefore despises the Person of Christ and the work of Christ in Hissuffering and death. Let me illustrate. As I was writing this article, in London, BBC News reported that President Clinton was in Gaza to try to help pushforward the Middle-East peace process. The Palestinians were so grateful forhis efforts that many of them were seen waving the American flags happily as hedisembarked from his helicopter. This was quite a strange sight in Palestine because, whenever American flags had been seenin Palestine,before this, they were being burnt in protest! Now, the question we want to askis why do the Palestinians not wave and burn American-made-curtains instead?The answer is obvious. The flag represents America and all that is American,including the President. The curtain represents nothing. So then, ordinarybread and wine represent nothing. You can eat them in any way. But sacramentalbread and wine represent Christ and His work, eating and drinking unworthily isrebellion against Christ.

Thirdly, Paul adds that the judgement against unworthy partakersof the Lord’s Supper has resulted in many in the Corinthian church being weakand sickly, and many others dying—‘sleep’ being an obvious euphemism for ‘die.’What has this to do with us? Now, though we are to understand that sicknessescame into the world as a result of sin, we must not ever be tempted to say thatany particular illness that someone experience is due to a particular sincommitted by him. Indeed, we should not even say that any illness that a personis experiencing is due to sin in that person’s life (unless we have clearevidence, such as when a person contracts AIDS as a result of abominable sexualactivities). When the Lord was asked if the blindness of the man born blind wasthe result of his sin or his parent’s sin (Jn 9:4), His reply was"Neither," adding that it was rather that "the works of Godshould be made manifest in him" (Jn 9:4). Similarly, the Lord taught thedisciples that Lazarus’ illness was "for the glory of God" (Jn 11:4).However, we must not dismiss the possibility that illnesses and prematuredeaths occurring in a community may be due to public sins in the community. TheJews under Moses were warned that they would be cursed for covenantaldisobedience. Among the curses listed were diseases and illnesses (Deut28:21-22). Is it not surprising, therefore, that the Corinthian church shouldexperience an escalation of illnesses and deaths as a result of their sin ofdespising the mediator of the covenant by unworthily participating in theLord’s Supper,— which is a sign and seal of the covenant of grace. Thistemporal chastisement, Paul tells us, is really for the sake of the church thatshe may be awakened out of her complacency and be not eventually condemned withthe rest of the world (1Cor 11:32). So then, let us as a church ensure that theLord’s Supper is properly kept and that …Cont.p. 5 individuals areadmonished regularly to keep the Lord’s Supper worthily. Let us also ensurethat none who show no credible profession of faith in life and testimony beallowed at the Lord’s Table. And yes, should it ever happen that we suddenlyexperience a spade of illnesses and untimely deaths in the church, may we beawakened to re-examine ourselves to see if our laxity in the Lord’s Supper orin any other area may be the reason for the fatherly chastisement (Heb12:5-11), and then let us repent with fasting and prayer.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, let us conclude with a noteon how we are to partake of the Lord’s Supper individually so that we may notonly not incur the Lord’s fatherly displeasure, but derive spiritual benefitsfrom the Supper. Firstly, a worthy participation in the Lord’s Supper involvesour daily Christian life. Discerning the Lord’s body surely includes believingin what Christ has done for us, and if we have a genuine, heartfelt belief, wewill surely echo the words of Paul: "I am crucified with Christ:nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which Inow live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, andgave himself for me" (Gal 2:20). Anyone who regularly lives a scandalousand unchristian life six days of the week and then comes to the Lord’s tableclaiming to have repented is surely making a mockery of the sacrament andincurring judgement on himself. Secondly, heart preparation before partakingthe sacrament is indispensable. How should we prepare ourselves? Let theWestminster Divines answer in the Larger Catechism, question 171, as weconclude: "They that receive the sacrament of the Lord’s supper are,before they come, to prepare themselves thereunto, by examining themselves oftheir being in Christ, of their sins and wants; of the truth and measure oftheir knowledge, faith, repentance; love to God and the brethren, charity toall men, forgiving those that have done them wrong; of their desires afterChrist, and of their new obedience; and by renewing the exercise of thesegraces, by serious meditation, and fervent prayer."

(dated 26 Sep 1999)