So then, 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. Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup. For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves. 1 Corinthians 11:27-29
Last time I asked the question, “Should we expect to feel a certain way when we ‘take communion’? Is there something wrong with us if we don’t have some kind of spiritual ‘high’?”
My answer was No - as long as your heart is humble and sincere and you genuinely mean business (so to speak) with God, that’s what matters. Nothing wrong with warm feelings, of course; but God looks for trusting obedience first and foremost.
But I said I wanted to tackle two questions, so here’s the second: Should it trouble us if non-Christians take communion?
When I was a teenage convert, over 50 years ago, the church I belonged to had the practice of separating “communion” from “the main service”. You would go to church as usual and share in the regular service, but on “communion Sundays” that service would finish and you only “stayed to communion” if you chose to do so. The assumption was that any people who were not yet Christians would quietly leave, while the believers would share in the bread and wine.
For all I know, there are still churches where some such system operates, but in my circles it has long since died out and communion is integrated into the main service. And quite right too, I would say!
The problem with this, of course (if indeed it is a problem), is that anybody and everybody might take communion. So what about people who have never professed faith in Jesus, never been baptised, are not members of the church? Is it right that they should take part in an act which Jesus clearly intended for his followers?
The passage quoted by those who felt strongly about this was the one I put at the top: 1 Corinthians 11:28-29, and especially verse 29, where Paul warns: “For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves.” In those far off days we still used the King James Version of the Bible, which made those words even more solemn, and actually quite alarming: “For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body.” It was that word “damnation” that did it, I think. Were non-Christians who took communion really eternally damned as a result of doing so? It genuinely worried me.
But I came to see that it needn’t have, and I hope I can explain why.
The people who quoted those words from Paul were fine Christians and completely sincere; but they were in fact misusing scripture. They failed to see that the people Paul was troubled about were not non-Christians at all, but Christians.
1 Corinthians 11 has a lot to say about communion, but - and this is the point - it has absolutely nothing to do with the question of non-Christians partaking. No! The problem is Christian people who were abusing the Lord’s Table by, in effect, turning it into a bun-fight.
Just look back at verses 20-22. It appears that some church members were arriving early and helping themselves to all the food and drink - even to the point of getting drunk (verse 21). Amazing, perhaps, but apparently true. (Remember that, in the early church, communion was a proper meal, not simply the token meal we expect today.)
No wonder Paul is shocked and angry. These are the people who are guilty of eating the bread and drinking the wine “in an unworthy manner”; these are the people guilty of failing to “discern the body of Christ”. Yes, Christians!
So Paul tells them in no uncertain terms that they are fooling themselves if they seriously imagine they are really sharing in communion. No, he says, it isn’t the Lord’s Supper you are eating at all (verse 20)! You think you are coming to receive a blessing from God - but no, in reality you are inviting his judgment on you (verse 29)!
The precise meaning of those expressions - “in an unworthy manner”, “discerning the body of Christ”, and “drinking judgment” on themselves - is open to different interpretations. But that doesn’t matter for the moment; all that matters is that they are expressions directed not at non-Christians but at Christians. We need to get that clear in our minds.
So... should we simply not worry when we see unbelievers taking communion? Is it a matter of complete indifference?
No, I’m not saying that. But instead of looking around for any non-Christians who might happen to be there, perhaps it wouldn’t be a bad idea to look first at ourselves - could I be guilty of taking part in communion in such a way as to “eat and drink judgment on myself”?
I’ve run out of space again! - so I’m afraid I must ask you to come back a third time. Please be patient with me!
Lord God, teach me never to treat holy things - and not only the Lord’s Supper - in an unworthy way, but always with seriousness and respect. Amen.
Last time I asked the question, “Should we expect to feel a certain way when we ‘take communion’? Is there something wrong with us if we don’t have some kind of spiritual ‘high’?”
My answer was No - as long as your heart is humble and sincere and you genuinely mean business (so to speak) with God, that’s what matters. Nothing wrong with warm feelings, of course; but God looks for trusting obedience first and foremost.
But I said I wanted to tackle two questions, so here’s the second: Should it trouble us if non-Christians take communion?
When I was a teenage convert, over 50 years ago, the church I belonged to had the practice of separating “communion” from “the main service”. You would go to church as usual and share in the regular service, but on “communion Sundays” that service would finish and you only “stayed to communion” if you chose to do so. The assumption was that any people who were not yet Christians would quietly leave, while the believers would share in the bread and wine.
For all I know, there are still churches where some such system operates, but in my circles it has long since died out and communion is integrated into the main service. And quite right too, I would say!
The problem with this, of course (if indeed it is a problem), is that anybody and everybody might take communion. So what about people who have never professed faith in Jesus, never been baptised, are not members of the church? Is it right that they should take part in an act which Jesus clearly intended for his followers?
The passage quoted by those who felt strongly about this was the one I put at the top: 1 Corinthians 11:28-29, and especially verse 29, where Paul warns: “For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves.” In those far off days we still used the King James Version of the Bible, which made those words even more solemn, and actually quite alarming: “For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body.” It was that word “damnation” that did it, I think. Were non-Christians who took communion really eternally damned as a result of doing so? It genuinely worried me.
But I came to see that it needn’t have, and I hope I can explain why.
The people who quoted those words from Paul were fine Christians and completely sincere; but they were in fact misusing scripture. They failed to see that the people Paul was troubled about were not non-Christians at all, but Christians.
1 Corinthians 11 has a lot to say about communion, but - and this is the point - it has absolutely nothing to do with the question of non-Christians partaking. No! The problem is Christian people who were abusing the Lord’s Table by, in effect, turning it into a bun-fight.
Just look back at verses 20-22. It appears that some church members were arriving early and helping themselves to all the food and drink - even to the point of getting drunk (verse 21). Amazing, perhaps, but apparently true. (Remember that, in the early church, communion was a proper meal, not simply the token meal we expect today.)
No wonder Paul is shocked and angry. These are the people who are guilty of eating the bread and drinking the wine “in an unworthy manner”; these are the people guilty of failing to “discern the body of Christ”. Yes, Christians!
So Paul tells them in no uncertain terms that they are fooling themselves if they seriously imagine they are really sharing in communion. No, he says, it isn’t the Lord’s Supper you are eating at all (verse 20)! You think you are coming to receive a blessing from God - but no, in reality you are inviting his judgment on you (verse 29)!
The precise meaning of those expressions - “in an unworthy manner”, “discerning the body of Christ”, and “drinking judgment” on themselves - is open to different interpretations. But that doesn’t matter for the moment; all that matters is that they are expressions directed not at non-Christians but at Christians. We need to get that clear in our minds.
So... should we simply not worry when we see unbelievers taking communion? Is it a matter of complete indifference?
No, I’m not saying that. But instead of looking around for any non-Christians who might happen to be there, perhaps it wouldn’t be a bad idea to look first at ourselves - could I be guilty of taking part in communion in such a way as to “eat and drink judgment on myself”?
I’ve run out of space again! - so I’m afraid I must ask you to come back a third time. Please be patient with me!
Lord God, teach me never to treat holy things - and not only the Lord’s Supper - in an unworthy way, but always with seriousness and respect. Amen.
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