Learning to discern the body

Have you ever felt that you didn’t fit in? Perhaps at work, at school, in your family, or at church? Or maybe the feeling of being unfairly excluded?

Communion has a great deal to do with reinforcing belonging together in the church (i.e., sharing in the body of Christ) and preventing attitudes of exclusion and discrimination.

The key verse often used during communion in evangelical churches is 1 Cor. 11:27-30: “So anyone who eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner is guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. That is why you should examine yourself before eating the bread and drinking the cup. For if you eat the bread or drink the cup without discerning the body of Christ, you are eating and drinking God’s judgment upon yourself. That is why many of you are weak and sick and some have even died” (TNIV).

Paul is writing to a Christian community torn apart by various divisions with some considering themselves superior to others (i.e. discrimination): e.g., more wise, more spiritually gifted, more anointed, more socially acceptable, more economically successful, etc. Rather than practicing authentic communion, some of the rich Corinthians’ used the Lord’s Supper as a basis to exercise their privileges and segregate the poor in the process: “So then, when you come together, it is not the Lord’s
Supper you eat, for when you are eating, some of you go ahead with your own private suppers. As a result, one person remains hungry and another gets drunk. Don’t you have homes to eat
and drink in?” (11:20-22 TNIV)

Listen to his sarcasm and indignation: “But, of course, there must be divisions among you so that you who have God’s approval will be recognized…do you really want to disgrace God’s church and shame the poor?...I have no praise for this!” – (11:19-22 NLT).

Paul’s instruction to correct to this situation involved the Corinthians examining themselves before participating in communion. But what were they to examine? How were they to “discern the body?” What is a worthy manner to eat this bread and drink this cup?

Paul goes to great lengths to remind the Corinthians that the basis of their unity is not their social status (a worldly perspective), but rather, their belonging together in the body of Christ. Their divisions betray this fact. This was their failure to discern the body.

There have been several suggested applications of examining one’s self before taking communion including unconfessed sin, spiritual apathy, moral purity, whether or not you are saved, and even if you are in any conflict with another believer. These are all fine to question but they are not at the center of what Paul teaches here, which is attitudes and actions of discrimination. The former suggestions are good to examine, biblically speaking, but they are off-centered to the teaching of this passage.

Another interpretation I’ve heard to discerning the body teaches that communion is a means to receiving physical healing (see here), therefore failing to discern this is why “many of you are weak and sick and some have even died.” This is more than an off-centered teaching; it is erroneous.

Here’s a figure that depicts the various suggestions for examining one’s self:

 

The examination Paul teaches here is about discriminating any other members of the body of Christ (in this case, the poor). John Kirkley captures the central idea of examining yourself before taking communion: “The only requirement for reception of this Holy Sacrament is a willingness to be united with the body of Christ, a willingness to refuse participation in the dynamic of exclusion that makes our salvation dependent upon someone else’s condemnation.”

References:

John Kirkley, “Discerning the Body: A Maundy Thursday Homily” Retrieved from http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~lcrew/dojustice/j337.html