Examination before Communion: “Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.” I Corinthians 11:27-28. Before making a few comments on the passage before us, it may be helpful to pause and consider a line of thought that comes to mind as I think about the rest of the verse. It’s always been interesting to me how differently brethren speak about this ordinance. This is just a simple observation, nothing more, but I can’t help but notice how even the language we use seems to shape the way we think about it.
In particular, the expressions we commonly use: “the Lord’s supper,” “communion,” or “the breaking of bread,” may affect the way we approach it. Each carries its own emphasis. The expression “the Lord’s supper,” in particular, has a distinct emphasis. It does not draw our attention primarily to an event we must faithfully reenact, but to a table that the Lord Himself has prepared. It is His table, not ours. Not a table we prepare ourselves for by attaining some suitable condition, but one that speaks of His provision for those who have none. Isaiah 55:1. The language is simple, but the implication is searching. Are we coming as those trying to make ourselves ready, or as those who have found that we are not ready at all, and never can be? Matthew 5:3. Because if it is truly His table, then everything set upon it must testify, not to what we bring, but to what Christ has already secured.
As I considered this passage and glanced through several commentaries, I couldn’t help but notice how similar they all sounded, each emphasizing the work of examining ourselves concerning our state, stirring up repentance, and engaging in some form of careful self-preparation before coming to the table. Hoping to find a more distinctly gospel-centered view, I turned to John Gill, but his extended remarks, though containing some truth, seemed to obscure the passage more than clarify it, and in the end followed much the same line.
Here is a taste. Gill says: “The bread and cup are called the bread and cup of the Lord; because ate and drank in remembrance of him, being symbols of his body and of his blood, though not they themselves; these may be eaten and drank unworthily, when they are eaten and drank by unworthy persons, in an unworthy manner, and to unworthy ends and purposes. The Lord’s supper may be taken unworthily, when it is partook of by unworthy persons.”
What immediately stands out is his repeated use of the phrase “unworthy persons.” But that raises an obvious question: when did any of us become worthy? When did this category of “worthy persons” ever come into existence? Scripture shuts us all up under sin. Galatians 3:22. If any are received at all, it is not because they are worthy, but because Christ is. And if the table belongs to the Lord, and everything set upon it testifies to what He has done for those who have none of their own, then the idea of “worthy persons” seems entirely out of place. The whole testimony of the gospel is that there are no such people.
He then attempts to bail himself out, by describing these now as, what he calls, “unregenerate persons, for they have no spiritual life in them, and therefore cannot eat and drink in a spiritual sense; they have no spiritual light, and therefore cannot discern the Lord’s body.” OK, nice distinction; but then he suddenly relapses and goes on to say: “Yet they have not true repentance, neither do they bring forth fruits meet for it, and so as they are improper subjects of baptism, they are unworthy of the Lord’s table.”
What is striking is how the entire matter is drawn back to repentance, fruits, and the character of one’s faith as grounds of fitness. This shifts everything back to man. In this way, the table is no longer bearing witness to Christ, but becomes, in effect, a test of what we can find within ourselves, a measure of personal qualification or spiritual attainment. The focus is no longer on what is set before us in the bread and the cup, but on what we can discern within ourselves, and that is a very different thing altogether.
And the same line of reasoning appears again, for he then goes on to say: “Indeed, no man is in himself worthy of such an ordinance, none but those whom Christ has made so by the implantation of his grace, and the imputation of his righteousness.” Again, a mixed testimony? Gill says, “none but those whom Christ has made so by the implantation of his grace.” But why speak this way at all? When did anything within us, implanted or otherwise, become the ground of worthiness? The gospel never directs us to look there. It directs us to Christ. The introduction of inward grace as a qualifying factor, however well intended, brings the whole matter back to man. It turns the table into something approached on the basis of what we have received, rather than what Christ has accomplished. And once that shift is made, even in a small way, the whole is affected. Ecclesiastes 10:1. At that point, I’ll be honest, I stopped reading. Gill, as is often the case, continues at great length, but as I skimmed through it nothing that followed seemed to change the direction already set.
But setting Gill aside, he is not alone in this way of speaking. What we have seen here is, in substance, the same line of thought found in nearly all who comment on this passage. Which brings us back to the text itself, is this truly what Paul has in mind when he speaks of eating and drinking “unworthily”? Is he directing us to examine our fitness, or pointing us to something else altogether? The words themselves are plain: “let a man examine himself.” But what is it that is to be examined? The common assumption is that a man is to examine his worthiness, his repentance, his faith, his condition, his preparation, &c., yet the passage does not say this. It does not direct us to determine whether we are fit to come, but rather how we come, and to whom we come. The examination is meant to bring us into a right consideration of what is set before us. So, the question is not, “am I worthy, but am I coming in a way that answers to what is signified in the bread and the cup?” I Corinthians 11:24-26.
And this comes into clearer focus in the next words: “For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily… not discerning the Lord’s body.” This gives us the key. The examination is not about establishing worthiness, but about discernment. The question is not, what do I find in myself, but, what do I see in what is set before me? What does it mean to discern the Lord’s body? It is not a matter of looking within, but of seeing what is set before us. The bread and the cup are given as a testimony of Christ: His body broken and His blood shed for sinners. To discern is to recognize that testimony, to understand what is being declared. Where this is not seen, the whole matter is reduced to something common, and this is what gives weight to the apostle’s warning. To eat and drink “unworthily” is not to fall short of some inward standard, but to treat lightly what God has set forth concerning His Son. What is holy is handled as though it were common. Hebrews 10:29. (Interestingly, in that passage the word “unholy” literally means common; that is, regarding the blood of the everlasting covenant as something ordinary, with no saving efficacy, nothing truly set apart, but something to be treated lightly, and even trampled underfoot.)
The issue, then, is not personal worthiness, but spiritual recognition, not that something is lacking in the person, but that something is not rightly seen and regarded in what is set before us. Galatians 3:1. And this brings us back to the apostle’s words: “let a man examine himself and so let him eat.” This is not a call to measure our worthiness, but to discern what is set before us; not to turn us back upon ourselves, but to direct us to Christ. The question is not, is there anything in me that makes me fit, but, am I looking to Christ alone as the whole of my salvation?
The table is not set for those who have made themselves ready, but for those who have nothing and find their all in Him. It does not call us to remember our strength, but our need. It sets before us the One who gave Himself for sinners who could never stand before God on their own, declaring that everything we need before God is found in Him. II Corinthians 4:6. It is not man bringing something to the table, but Christ set forth for sinners; and when that is seen, even in much weakness, the gospel becomes precious indeed. MPJ
PostScript #1: There may be some who read these thoughts who are not among any present company of believers where this ordinance is observed and perhaps have not been for many years now. That may lead to some concern or uncertainty, but it does not mean that anything necessary to our standing before God is lacking. Everything set forth in the bread and the cup already belongs to all who are in Christ. The table does not make these things true, it bears witness to what is already true of all who are found in Him. And while the absence of such outward occasions may be mourned, and not without reason, the substance itself is not withheld. It would be dishonest to say there is no sense of loss at times. Hearing others speak of gathering and breaking bread can bring a certain sadness. But even here, the truth stands firm: Christ is not confined to any place, nor is His fullness bound to any outward arrangement of men. What the ordinance signifies remains sure and unchanging, our whole salvation stands in Him alone. MPJ
PostScript#2: There is nothing in the text that confines this to a formal or institutional setting. Paul is speaking of believers gathered together as the church, and that gathering is defined by Christ’s presence, not by location. In the New Testament, this often took place in very simple settings. So even where two or three are gathered in His name, (“there am I in the midst of them,” Matthew 18:20,) even in a home, it’s not difficult to see how such a setting could align with what Paul is describing. In the end, the issue is not where it is done, but what is being recognized, and whether Christ Himself is truly the focus. MPJ