1 Corinthians 11:29 Commentary and Bible Study

The King James Version says that he ‘eateth and drinketh damnation to himself.’ The Greek is not as strong as that. The word is ‘judgement’; he eats and drinks judgement to himself. We are Christians, we are not going to be damned, but we may be judged, disciplined, even to the point of being taken out of this world, and thereby deprived of the opportunity to serve the Lord further. ‘Not discerning the Lord's body.’ The Greek is not distinguishing. Discerning is a perfectly good translation, but the sense is: not distinguishing the Lord’s body from a love feast. If all we have in mind is filling our stomachs, then we cannot be reverently and carefully reflecting on the full meaning of these symbols, and that is something that God takes very seriously. This is the only ordinance that continues throughout the Christian life, and it focuses on the precious nature of the gift that God has given to his people. God has given us minds to think and how can we not use them in this most special of occasions?We must never come unfeelingly, without heart, without thought, without repentance, and if we do, there is the warning. Don't you know, says the apostle, some Christians are sickly and many ‘sleep’; they have died. They have been taken away to glory, you might say prematurely, because they would not examine themselves and they would not let the Lord’s Supper melt them, and they would not let the Lord’s Supper bring them in recommitment to Christ. Because of the scandal of the Lord’s Supper in Corinth, the Lord was exercising his secret discipline. Please don't think that that is the explanation for all illness, because the New Testament constantly tells us that we have to suffer many sicknesses and disabilities to try our faith and to refine us. We are all sick at some time, and sometimes for long periods, and it is God’s way of reminding us of the fall and the curse, because believers are not exempt from the effects of the fall. Some people are called to sickness and to display the grace of God. But sometimes we may be weak – and nobody can judge us; we will only know for ourselves – sometimes we may be in a weakened state, because we have not heeded the discipline of the Lord and he is pricking our conscience about our omissions and our insincerity or the things we do. And sometimes you may be very sick. But just sometimes, it could be a punishment for insincerity, particularly at the Lord's Table. The Lord’s Supper is our great privilege, an ordinance of such wonder and depth and fullness. There are some people who have so consistently refused to examine their hearts and respond to their consciences and the calls of the word of God, that God has called them home; to glory, yes, but rather than see them discredit him any longer on earth. That can happen to a Christian.