Bible Bit: One Body, Many Members. (1 Corinthians 11:17-34)
Most of my Bible Bits are the product of personal meditation on the Word, but a few like this one are spawned by conversation with other believers I know or engagement with other Christian traditions. In this case, a dear brother was seriously considering the Lutheran tradition. While I greatly respect the Lutherans, I have some serious problems with their theology as it has been communicated to me, not least on the question of closed communion (a more exclusive view of how to handle the Lord's Supper, contrasted with open communion views that would allow all professing Christians to participate). As I understand it, most Lutherans do not allow Christians who do not hold to the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist to participate in the ordinance (or sacrament, if you prefer).
Now, it would take me a long time to explain the various views of the nature of the sacraments, from memorial to spiritual presence to real presence all the way to transubstantiation. I cannot say that I have fully understood them all, either. However, I am confident that whatever view a professing, (small "o") orthodox Christian has of their nature, that view should not exclude them from the Lord's Supper.
But why would a group of believers want to exclude another group from the Supper? I do not believe that it is out of vindictiveness or pettiness that Lutherans and others who read today's passage similarly have done this, but out of a serious misreading of a single verse in the passage, which I will bold for the reader's convenience.
1 Corinthians 11:17-34
But in the following instructions I do not commend you, because when you come together it is not for the better but for the worse. For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you. And I believe it in part, for there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized. When you come together, it is not the Lord's supper that you eat. For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal. One goes hungry, another gets drunk. What! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I commend you in this? No, I will not.
For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.
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. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.
So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another— if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home—so that when you come together it will not be for judgment. About the other things I will give directions when I come.
Lutherans (perhaps not all Lutherans, I do not know for certain) take the highlighted passage (verse 29) to refer to a failure to discern the mystical bodily presence of Christ in the bread and wine. The penalty for the failure is severe, as the passage says in the next verse:
That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died.
So, the Lutheran may sensibly view the exclusion of brothers who don't hold this view of the body as a beneficent safeguarding of other genuine believers who have woefully failed to understand the bodily immanence of Jesus in ordinance. If the Lutheran is right, he is protecting those who do not hold to the real presence from committing an error not too dissimilar to the lethal error of Uzzah in Samuel 6:3-8, treating as common that which is holy.
But is he right?
In this Bible Bit, I will give a textual argument that the body being referenced in verse 29 is the Body of Christ, by which is meant the body corporate of believers, not the body mystical of the Son of God.
Clue 1: The Corporate Body
First, the book of 1 Corinthians has already established precedent for discussing the Body of Christ as referring to both the bread and wine and the community of believers in close proximity in Chapter 10.
1 Corinthians 10:16-17
The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.
The cup is connected to the blood, the bread to the body, and the bread and body to the corporate body.
Clue 2: The Missing Blood
Second, the failure of discernment in 11:29 is:
...without discerning the body...
...only.
If the failure is a failure to discern the mystical bodily presence it would actual be an equal failure to discern both the body and the blood. Yet, in eating and drinking (both elements) they are only failing to discern the body. How can this be?
Simply, Paul isn't talking about the same body (though it is certainly a related body!).
Clue 3: Problem and Solution
Third, the judgement is explained. While "eats and drinks judgement on himself" may seem cryptic, an explanation is actually very forthcoming in the passage. Here is Paul's opening condemnation:
1 Corinthians 11:17-22
But in the following instructions I do not commend you, because when you come together it is not for the better but for the worse. For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you. And I believe it in part, for there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized. When you come together, it is not the Lord's supper that you eat. For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal. One goes hungry, another gets drunk. What! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I commend you in this? No, I will not.
Now look again at the last verses in the passage, and look at the word judgement, which I will bold for convenience:
For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.
So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another— if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home—so that when you come together it will not be for judgment. About the other things I will give directions when I come.
The solution to avoid getting judged at the end of the chapter has nothing to do with the Corinthians' comprehension of or respect for the metaphysics of the Supper, but rather a more considerate attentiveness to their table-fellows and their own appetites!
Summing Up
How does this all fit together?
1 Corinthians 11:27-29
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. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself.
The first time the body is mentioned above, the meaning of body has to do with Christ's person and work. It is the primary body in view in the ordinance, as highlighted in the words of institution:
1 Corinthians 11:23-26
For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.
However, that is not the sense of the second use of the word body in 27-29, for the following reasons:
- Clear precedent for the distinction comes from the previous chapter (10:16-17). Christ's body (person) and Christ's body (corporate).
- The failure of the Corinthians is a failure to discern the body, not the body and the blood.
- The solution to avoid judgement is entirely about the corporate body, not the mystical body.
Why then is the guilt for the Body and the Blood? Because the context of the profaning is the Supper! The Corinthians are profaning the Supper by their treatment of the Body of Christ, His Church!
The sad irony for the Lutherans and others who withhold the Supper from professing Christians using this passage is that the whole point of this passage is how we include the saints in the ordinance. I know they are not doing so recklessly, but the outcome is very similar.
In the end, I hope that this explanation is encouraging - you are called into unity with the rest of God's people, not to exclude them over difficult doctrinal tests. I love my Lutheran brothers and desire to see them built up in Christ always, and hope this will be received as freeing, not condemning by any of them who read this. Let's press on for Christ's kingdom together!
If you don't know the Jesus who invites you to his wedding feast, come and be clothed in His righteousness! It's the only garment that will do. He will give you a new heart, an unfading hope, and a forever family that He will transform from the messy bunch that is the Church we see today into immortal splendors that will forever reflect the majesty of the God Who made everything good.
In Christ,
Various