<p>11:29<em> For he that eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself, if he does not discern the body of the Lord- </em>The invitation to <em>discern</em> the Lord&rsquo;s body at the memorial meeting uses the same word occurs in v.28: &ldquo;let a man <em>examine </em>himself&quot;. It&rsquo;s too bad that the translations mask this connection. We are to examine / discern the Lord&rsquo;s body, and to do the same to ourselves. The two are inextricably related. Meditation upon and analysis of <em>His</em> body will lead to <em>self</em> examination and discernment. In this lies the answer to the frequent question: &lsquo;What should we examine at the breaking of bread? Our own sins, or the facts of the crucifixion / resurrection?&rsquo;. If we think about the latter, we will inevitably be led to think of the former. In the Corinthian context, the body of Christ is to be understood as the ecclesia. 1 Cor. 12 is full of this figure. The need to discern the Lord&rsquo;s body at the breaking of bread means that we must go beyond reflection upon His physical body. We must recognise / discern His ecclesia too. The immediate context of 1 Cor. 11 is of unbrotherly behaviour at the memorial meeting. If we fail to recognise / appreciate / discern the Lord&rsquo;s physical body, we will fail to recognise His brethren. And if we do this, we have made ourselves guilty of His body and blood, we have crucified Him again. This is why I plead with those who use the breaking of bread as a weapon for division within the Lord&rsquo;s body to think again. The body which we must discern at the breaking of bread evidently has some reference to the ecclesia. We thereby place ourselves in a dangerous position by refusing to share the emblems with others in the body, and disfellowshipping those who do so.</p><p>Paul's reasoning in 1 Cor. 10-12 seems to be specifically in the context of the memorial meeting. The issue he addresses is that of disunity at the Lord's table- different groups were excluding others. It is in this context that he urges believers to &quot;discern the Lord's body&quot; (1 Cor. 11:29)- and the Lord's body he has previously defined as referring to the believers within that one body. For in 1 Cor. 10:17 he stresses that all who have been baptized into the body of God's people &quot;being many are one loaf, and one body&quot;. There's only ultimately one loaf, as there's only one Christ. All within that one body are partaking of the same loaf whenever they &quot;break bread&quot;, and therefore division between them is not possible in God's sight. &quot;The bread which we break, is it not the <em>koinonia</em>, the sharing in fellowship, of the body of Christ?&quot; (1 Cor. 10:16). By breaking bread we show our unity not only with Him personally, but with all others who are in His one body. To refuse to break bread with other believers- which is what was happening in Corinth- is therefore stating that effectively they are outside of the one body. And yet if in fact they <em>are</em> within the body of Christ, then it's actually those who are refusing them the emblems who are thereby declaring <em>themselves</em> not to be part of Christ.</p><p>Our attitude to the cross <em>and all that is meant by it </em>is the summation of our spirituality. I normally dislike using alternative textual readings to make a point, but there is an alternative reading of 1 Cor. 11:29 which makes this point so clearly: &ldquo;He who eats and drinks &lsquo;unworthily&rsquo; isn&rsquo;t in many manuscripts, eats and drinks discernment judgment to Himself. Not discerning the Lord&rsquo;s body is the reason many of you are weak and sickly&quot;. The Corinthians were not discerning the difference between the Lord&rsquo;s body and a piece of bread, for they were eating the bread as part of a self-indulgent social meal, rather than discerning Him.</p><p>The command to <em>examine </em>ourselves uses the same word as in 3:13 concerning the way our works will be <em>tried </em>with fire by the judgment process of the last day. If members of an ecclesia break bread unworthily, they &ldquo;come together unto condemnation&quot; (11:34). Yet we must judge ourselves at these meetings, to the extent of truly realising we deserve condemnation (1 Cor. 11:31). We must examine ourselves and conclude that at the end of the day we are &ldquo;unprofitable servants&quot; (Lk. 18:10), i.e. worthy of condemnation (the same phrase is used about the rejected, Mt. 25:30). This is after the pattern of the brethren at the first breaking of bread asking &ldquo;Is it I?&quot; in response to the Lord&rsquo;s statement that one of them would betray Him (Mt. 26:22). They didn&rsquo;t immediately assume they wouldn&rsquo;t do. And so we have a telling paradox: those who condemn themselves at the memorial meeting will not be condemned. Those who are sure they won&rsquo;t be condemned, taking the emblems with self-assurance, come together unto condemnation. Job knew this when he said that if he justifies himself, he will be condemned out of his own mouth (Job 9:20- he understood the idea of self-condemnation and judgment now). Isaiah also foresaw this, when he besought men (in the present tense): &ldquo;Enter <em>into the rock</em>, and hide thee in the dust, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty&quot;, and then goes on to say that in the day of God&rsquo;s final judgment, &ldquo;the rejected shall go <em>into </em>the holes of <em>the rock</em>... for <em>fear of the Lord and for the glory of His majesty</em> when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth&quot; (Is. 2:10,11,19-21). We must find a true, self-condemning humility now, unless it will be forced upon us at the judgment.</p><p>Judging / examining ourselves is made parallel with discerning the Lord's body: as if discerning His body on the cross inevitably results in self-examination, and vice versa (1 Cor. 11:28,29). We must <em>discern</em> the Lord's body, and thereby <em>examine</em> ourselves (these are the same words in the Greek text). Yet the Lord&rsquo;s body in the Corinthian context is the ecclesia, the body of Jesus. To discern ourelves is to discern the Lord&rsquo;s body (1 Cor. 11:29,30 RV). By discerning our brethren for who they are, treating them as brethren, perceiving our own part in the body of Jesus, our salvation is guaranteed. For this is love, in its most fundamental essence.</p><p>If we examine / judge / condemn ourselves now in our self-examination, God will not have to do this to us at the day of judgment. If we cast away our own bodies now, the Lord will not need to cast us away in rejection (Mt. 5:30). There is a powerful logic here. If we pronounce ourselves uncondemned, we condemn ourselves (Tit. 3:11); if we condemn ourselves now, we will be uncondemned ultimately. This is why the Greek word translated &quot;examine&quot; (1 Cor. 11:29) is also that translated &quot;approve&quot; in 11:19 (and also 1 Cor. 16:3; 2 Cor. 13:7; 2 Tim. 2:15). By condemning ourselves we in a sense approve ourselves. Our self-examination should result in us realising our unworthiness, seeing ourselves from God's viewpoint. There is therefore a parallel made between our own judgment of ourselves at the memorial meeting, and the final judgment- where we will be condemned, yet saved by grace (James 2:12; 3:1). If we don't attain this level of self-knowledge now, we will be taught it by being condemned at the judgment. This makes the logic of serious, real self-examination so vital; either we do it in earnest, and realise our own condemnation, or if we <em>don't</em> do it, we'll be condemned at the judgment. Yet as with so much in our spiritual experience, what is so evidently logical is so hard to translate into reality. The process of judgment will essentially be for our benefit, not the Lord's. <em>Then</em> the foolish virgins realise that they didn't have enough oil / spirituality; whilst the wise already knew this (Mt. 25:13). As a foretaste of the day of judgment, we must &quot;examine&quot; ourselves, especially at the breaking of bread (1 Cor. 11:28). The same word is used in 1 Cor. 3:13 concerning how the process of the judgment seat will be like a fire which <em>tries</em> us.</p>