23For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me." 25In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me." 26For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.
27Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. 28A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. 29For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself. 30That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. 31But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment. 32When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.
33So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for each other. 34If anyone is hungry, he should eat at home, so that when you meet together it may not result in judgment.
And when I come I will give further directions.
Dig Deeper
One of the policies that I always kept as a basketball coach was to expect the players to discipline themselves. There was a very clear expectation of what kind of people they would be if they were going to be on our team and it was clearly understood that they should hold themselves to that standard. In fact, if players did break certain team expectations, I expected the players themselves to bring judgment on the violators. If they refused or failed to do so in a proper manner, then I would have to step in and bring judgment. When all was said and done, their willingness or lack of willingness to institute self-discipline and judgment was a demonstration of their understanding of the team concept. If they truly understood the value of the team concept we were building then they would revere the team enough to not allow detrimental behaviors or attitudes.
This is something of what Paul is saying here concerning the Lord’s Supper. The Corinthians need to understand who they are and what exactly the Lord’s Supper is. If they don’t use it as an opportunity to examine and judge themselves properly, then they will face the judgment of the Lord Himself. If they refuse to deal with these divisions and attitudes during the Lord’s Supper then that was, in itself, a demonstration that they really did not understand or value the concept of the body of Christ.
The first thing that we have to realize is the seriousness with which Paul viewed the Lord’s Supper. There are two important things that color Paul’s investment of importance in the Lord’s Supper. The first is the very thing Paul declares in verse 26. Whenever Christians partake of the Lord’s Supper they proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. When he writes this he is not referring to the Communion message, nor is he saying that the Lord’s Supper is a great opportunity to preach. What Paul believes is that the Christian community taking part in the Lord’s Supper is actually announcing Christ’s death in and through the communion itself. The meal is not just a memory inducement, it is the action of the body of Christ being brought together into the Messiah’s death and declaring to the world that there is a different way to live. This announcement of Jesus’ death is a wonderful announcement for a world enslaved to sin, but it is also extremely subversive. The announcement of Jesus’ death is also a declaration that all of the rulers and authorities in this world are mere pretenders to the throne. It is the announcement of the kingdom of God, the announcement that life and resurrection are available to all those that would enter into the life of Christ.
The second thing Paul believes about communion is that, when it is taken, the Lord Himself is actually present. It is the point in time when the past of Jesus’ death meets the future of His imminent return. The Lord’s Supper is a time when all of history, past, present, and future converge. As surely as the power of the Cross is present, it also brings the future to bear. Just as the Israelites were able to eat of the fruit of the promised land while they were still in the desert, the communion is a meal of the age to come. It doesn’t just point to the age to come, although it does do that. Just as the Israelites were truly eating the fruit of the promised land, but were not there, so do we eat the Lord’s Supper, becoming the body of Christ, the people of the ‘age to come’ in the present age.
All of what Paul believes about and will say concerning the Lord’s Supper comes from the traditions that have been transmitted to him. What Paul does not state clearly is how he received this particular tradition. The language he uses is ambiguous and could refer to the fact that he received the tradition orally through the types of eyewitnesses such as Luke describes in Luke 1:2. In this case, his point in verse 23 would be that the tradition was passed down straight from the Lord through these sources. It is also possible, however, that Paul is referring to a direct revelation from Christ of the sort which he describes in Galatians 1:12.
With Paul’s understanding of the Lord’s Supper in mind, his words concerning judgment become a bit clearer. First, we should say that Paul is addressing Christians and should not be applied to a non-Christian who takes part in the Lord’s Supper without really understanding what they are doing. This is meal that acts and announces to the world that those partaking in it are actually becoming the body of Christ, united in His death and being raised to His life. This is another allusion to baptism, the moment when we reach into the future and pull down our judgment in the present. Thus, Christians face the Lord’s judgment in the present age, which manifests itself as being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world. The Christian should either examine and judge themselves, making themselves available to the Lord’s discipline in the present or risk the scrutiny and judgment of the Lord himself when he returns. Trust me, we would rather be part of the body of Christ and face His discipline and training now rather than facing His judgment when He returns. In fact, Paul believes that this is so serious and that all of life is so interlocking, that disregarding the Lord’s discipline could result in his disciplining them by allowing them to get sick and even die (Paul is not at all arguing that all sicknesses are a result of sin, he merely opens this as a possibility in some cases, no doubt alluding to situations like Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5.
When they were dividing the body of Christ by their actions, they were denying in action the very thing that they were claiming to be by partaking in the Lord’s Supper. To have a communion meal while dividing the body of Christ would be like having a wedding ceremony for a divorce proceeding. It just doesn’t make sense.
Finally, Paul brings his point back to his original criticism. When they come together they should wait until everyone is there and then ensure that everyone is treated as an honored guest. They should not put social custom ahead of the very meaning of the meal and so, nullify the very point of the Lord’s Supper, endangering themselves of incurring God’s judgment rather than His discipline. Paul’s final words, promising further instruction on this issue, reminds us that the Bible, although absolutely authoritative, does not cover every possible situation. It is up to us to responsibly think through other areas of church life and practice and apply the principles of the bible in a discerning manner.
Devotional Thought
Do you have the same high view of the Lord’s Supper as Paul did? Do you see it as a time when the past of the Cross and the future of the ‘age to come’ actually converge in the present? Each time you take communion, remind yourself that you are eating of the food of the ‘age to come’, and at the same time, taking part in the powerful act of being joined together as the body of the Messiah.
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