“27 Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks the Lord’s cup in a manner unworthy of the Lord will be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. 28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread, and drink of the cup. 29 For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, if he doesn’t discern the Lord’s body. 30 For this cause many among you are weak and sickly, and not a few sleep. 31 For if we discerned ourselves, we wouldn’t be judged. 32 But when we are judged, we are punished by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world.” (1Cor 11:27-32)

We move into an ominous sounding section. I’ve been in many settings where parts of this were read before the Lord’s Supper, and I had the feeling that the reader was trying to scare the audience a bit. Who wants to be guilty of the body and blood? Who wants to eat and drink judgment? Who wants to get sick and die?

So what does Paul want us to do? Many see in these verses a call for silent, individual contemplation. Sit and examine yourself, thinking about the sins you’ve committed. Discern the body (and the blood, they suppose). Think about Jesus’ sacrifice. Be sad, somber or at least still. Fight off all temptations to smile and by all means don’t interact with anyone else.

I do think that one aspect of the Lord’s Supper is the remembrance of what Jesus has done. But Paul here is especially calling them to something else. We need to keep in mind that one of the overriding themes of 1 Corinthians is unity. We need to remember that Paul begins this section by accusing them of ruining the Lord’s Supper by not waiting for one another and ends this section by offering the simple corrective of “Wait.” I’ve already suggested that the unworthy manner of which Paul speaks is the taking of the Lord’s Supper without considering others. What about the rest of this?

One of the key phrases is “discerning the body.” Is this the body of Jesus, like in the preceding verse? Or is this the body of believers, like in Chapter 10 and Chapter 12 of this same verse? I’ve heard lots of debate on this, but I think the answer is right here in this passage. I’ve used the World English Bible in the quotation above partly because they do a good job of consistently translating the verb “discern.” Most versions translate diakrino as “discern” in verse 29, then use a different word in verse 31, like “judge” or “examine.” It seems to me that we should notice this structure in Paul’s writing:
verse 29 – If we don’t diakrino the body, we drink judgment.
(verse 30 – parenthetical statement)
verse 31 – If we diakrino ourselves, we won’t be judged. (judgment in 29 comes from the verb judged in 31)
Verse 29 says what will happen if we don’t do this action, verse 31 tells us what will happen if we do. What changes is the object of the action. In verse 29, it is “the body.” In verse 31, it is “ourselves.” It seems to me that the two are parallel, therefore we can understand that when Paul says “the body,” he means the body of believers, that is, us. What he’s telling them here is that the Lord’s Supper is a fellowship meal. It can only have “verticality” when it has “horizontality.” When we ignore the fellowship aspect, when we are not even aware of what is going on with our brothers, we are not taking the Lord’s Supper. We are merely putting ourselves in a situation to be judged. [I think it’s unfortunate, in light of verse 32, that some versions speak of eating and drinking condemnation when they translate verse 29; the judgment we receive is to help us avoid condemnation, not experience it.]

The Corinthians needed to understand the significance of the Lord’s Supper and needed to remember Jesus’ sacrifice. But their biggest need was discernment, being able to recognize the body of Christ that is the fellowship of believers. They needed to see that taking the Lord’s Supper is not an individual event; it is a corporate meal. It is an act of the body, as a body.