Discerning the Body: A Call to Reverence at the Lord's Table

by A Mac

Scripture focus: 1 Corinthians 11:27 to 32

Introduction

Few passages in the New Testament are as sobering for the Christian as Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 11:27 to 32. In these verses, Paul warns the church in Corinth that to take part in the Lord’s Supper without discerning the body brings judgment. His words are not vague. He explains that weakness, illness, and even death had come upon some of the Corinthians because they approached the Lord’s Table in a careless and irreverent manner. For many modern Christians, this passage is difficult to accept because it challenges shallow views of God’s holiness, discipline, and love. Yet, it is precisely because of God’s love that He disciplines His children.

This article explores the meaning of discerning the body, the nature of the judgment Paul describes, how this aligns with God’s love and forgiveness, and how believers today must apply this truth with reverence and joy.

The Context of Paul’s Warning

The Corinthian church faced many problems. Division, immorality, lawsuits, spiritual pride, and confusion about worship all plagued this young community. When Paul turns his attention to the Lord’s Supper, he addresses a specific issue.

In 1 Corinthians 11:20 to 22, Paul rebukes the Corinthians because their communion gatherings had lost their sacred character. Instead of remembering the Lord’s death with humility, they were eating and drinking selfishly. Some ate to the point of fullness while others went hungry. Some even became drunk at the very table meant to honor Christ. The poor were shamed while the wealthy flaunted their abundance. They had turned the Lord’s Supper into an ordinary feast and stripped it of its holy significance.

Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. 1 Corinthians 11:27

To mishandle the bread and cup is to mishandle the very symbols of Christ’s sacrifice.

What It Means to Discern the Body

The phrase not discerning the body has generated discussion among theologians, but Scripture points us in the right direction.

Discerning Christ’s Physical Body

The bread and the cup represent the body and blood of Jesus Christ given for us on the cross, as in Luke 22:19 to 20. To fail to discern the body is to fail to treat these elements as holy symbols of the greatest act of love in history. To eat and drink casually, as though it were any other meal, is to mock the sacrifice of Christ.

Paul explains in 1 Corinthians 10:16 that the bread we break is a participation in the body of Christ. When we take communion, we join spiritually with the reality of Christ’s body given for us. Not discerning the body dishonors that reality.

Discerning the Body of Believers

Paul also refers to the church as the body of Christ, as in 1 Corinthians 10:17 and 12:12 to 27. Communion unites us with Christ and with one another. To treat others with selfishness, pride, or disregard during the Lord’s Supper is to fail to recognize the church as Christ’s body.

In Corinth, the rich were humiliating the poor. Unity was broken. Love was absent. To truly discern the body is to see Christ’s sacrifice and to honor the unity and holiness of the people who are one body in Him.

Both Meanings Together

The most faithful reading of this passage combines both interpretations. To discern the body is to approach the Lord’s Supper with reverence for Christ’s sacrifice and with recognition of the unity and holiness of the body of believers. To fail in either regard is to invite judgment.

What Judgment Comes From Not Discerning the Body

Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 11:30, That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. This is not figurative. Paul attributes real physical consequences to the Corinthians’ irreverence.

Weakness

Some were experiencing ongoing weakness, a draining of physical vitality. This may include spiritual weakness, but Paul’s emphasis is on real consequences in the body.

Illness

Others were afflicted with sickness. These illnesses were not random but were allowed by God as discipline. As with Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5:1 to 11, God disciplined those who dishonored His holiness.

Death

Paul is clear. Some had fallen asleep, a biblical phrase for the death of believers. God had taken them out of this world as an act of judgment. This was not condemnation to hell but physical death as divine discipline. The holiness of God and the seriousness of communion are in view. The bread and cup represent the body and blood of Christ. To treat them casually or selfishly is a serious offense.

Paul’s warning is consistent with the Old Testament. In 1 Corinthians 10:1 to 13, he recalls how the Israelites, though delivered from Egypt, died in the wilderness because of idolatry, grumbling, and sin. He writes that these things took place as examples so that we would not desire evil as they did.

Just as God judged His people in the wilderness, so He judges His church when they dishonor Him. The God of the Old Testament is the same God of the New. His love and grace do not cancel His holiness and justice. They work together perfectly.

Does This Mean God Withdraws His Love

Some struggle with this passage because it may seem to conflict with God’s love, grace, and forgiveness. How can a loving Father bring sickness or death to His children The answer is in 1 Corinthians 11:32. When we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned with the world.

Discipline, Not Condemnation

The judgment described here is not eternal condemnation. Believers who fail in this way are not cast into hell. They remain forgiven in Christ. God’s discipline is meant to correct, purify, and protect from greater condemnation.

The Love of a Father

Hebrews 12:5 to 11 teaches that the Lord disciplines those He loves. Discipline may be painful, but it proves that we are His children. A father who does not discipline does not love. Even when illness or death is involved, discipline is an act of mercy. It turns us from sin and keeps us from being condemned with the world.

Temporal, Not Eternal

Sickness and death in this life are temporary. Eternal life is secure for those in Christ. Temporal judgment underscores the holiness of God but does not negate His forgiveness.

Practical Application for Modern Believers

Approach the Lord’s Table with Reverence

Communion is not a casual ritual. It is a sacred remembrance of Christ’s sacrifice. Before taking the bread and cup, believers should examine themselves, as in 1 Corinthians 11:28. This does not require perfection. It does require repentance, humility, and reverence.

Confess and Repent of Sin

Communion is a time to search the heart. If we harbor unconfessed sin, bitterness, or rebellion, we must bring it to the Lord in repentance before partaking. To take the Lord’s Supper while clinging to sin is to fail to discern the body.

Recognize the Unity of the Church

Communion is not only about me and Jesus. It is about the body of Christ together. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 10:17 that because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread. If we are divided, selfish, or unloving toward other believers, we cannot rightly celebrate communion. We must reconcile, forgive, and love one another.

Teach the Holiness of Communion

Churches should resist the temptation to trivialize the Lord’s Supper. It is not a snack, not a performance, and not a ritual to rush. Pastors and leaders should teach its meaning and call believers to approach with awe and joy.

Balance Sobriety with Joy

Paul’s warning is serious, but communion is also a celebration. It is a proclamation of Christ’s death until He comes, as in 1 Corinthians 11:26. It is a meal of victory, hope, and thanksgiving. Hold both seriousness and joy together. Reverence does not cancel joy, and joy does not cancel reverence.

Conclusion

The Corinthians faced God’s discipline because they failed to discern the body. Their weakness, illness, and death remind us that God takes His holiness seriously. Yet Paul assures us that this discipline is not condemnation but correction from a loving Father.

For believers today, the lesson is clear. Approach the Lord’s Table with reverence for Christ’s sacrifice and recognition of the unity of His body, the church. Examine yourself, repent of sin, reconcile with others, and partake with joy and gratitude.

Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 1 Corinthians 11:28

Suggested citation: Anthony MacPherson, Discerning the Body: A Call to Reverence at the Lord's Table. 1 Corinthians 11:27 to 32.

Last updated: August 31, 2025

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