1 Corinthians 11:31 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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1 Corinthians 11:31

Comments

Some think this is about unconverted people being allowed into the Lord’s Supper. They think this is Paul’s warning that they will be judged if they come, but that is a misunderstanding. They should not be allowed to come if they are not converted, but there is no special punishment for them. This is a warning for believers who are no repenting of sin.How do we know this is speaking about believers and not about unbelievers? Because of the nature of the judgment that follows, and the reason why it is given. Those who are judged, even to the extent of losing their lives, are, in spite of this judgment, with the Lord. Many sleep – even having life taken away by the Lord because they were a menace and would not repent. This is a term which is never used of unbelievers when they die. These are God’s people whom he has called home early. They have received such a firm discipline in order that they will not be condemned with the world. Exactly how this works for someone whose life is ended, we are not told, but it will certainly have the effect that God intends it to have, and he has not abandoned them as his children. They have gone to be with him, but how sad to have to be removed. So passage is not about letting in unbelievers. Yes we should not help them to deceive themselves. It is about Christians: troubles may be a discipline of the Lord. God doesn’t discipline a phoney Christian, somebody who has never been converted. We read that in Hebrews 12. God only disciplines his own dear children. Maybe an unconverted person, who thinks he or she is a Christian, comes to the Lord’s Supper, and dreams away the time. O there will be no discipline for you, because you are not actually saved. But if you are a Christian it matters to God.

Application

What a blessing we derive from thanksgiving, from taking afresh the core of the Lord’s Supper, and from remembering him. May God bless us as his child at every Lord’s Supper service. It is for us, to the rest of our journey.

It is a great consolation to know that if we would judge ourselves we would not have to be subject to the Lord’s judgment. We must be tough with ourselves and scrupulously honest, and we must not spare ourselves both in searching out sin within and in putting it to death. Every imagination of the praise of men, every feeling of superiority, every unreal evaluation of self, every inclination to self-confidence must be destroyed as soon as it puts its head above ground. As we do so, God sees what we are doing and approves our informed and frank assessment of ourselves, and he will count that a sufficient correction to our bad conduct, to remove the necessity for him to have to judge us. Paul’s exhortation is based on the fact that it is much less painful for us to judge ourselves than for the Lord to have to judge us. But he will judge us for sins we have failed to deal with ourselves.

The world says all such negative thinking should be banished in the interests of self-esteem, but Scripture tells us that this is to our great good.

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1 Corinthians 11:31 Commentary and Bible Study