"For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep." (1 Cor. 11:30)

I was reading through First Corinthians today, just seeing what the Lord would show me. When I got to chapter 11, I saw something in a different way. I hope it helps your life.


Does God cause believers to be sickly and weak, and even dead, because they don't 'examine' their sins at the Lord's Supper? I have heard it preached that, "If you don't judge yourself, God will judge you! He will chasten you with weakness, sickness, and even death!"

Okay, death isn't really chastening, since you can't properly respond to death in this life, but you get the idea: You judge your hidden sins, or GOD WILL GET YOU!

And thus, the Lord's Supper became a time of fearful introspection where we focused upon OURSELVES rather than on Jesus.

I have also heard it said that it was not our sins that we were to judge, but rather our manner of taking the Lord's Supper. Some folks weren't eating at home first; they were coming to the Lord's Supper, and treating it like a free meal. They were indulging a little bit too much at the 'potluck', if you know what I mean. These believers, so light-hearted about such a serious matter, would be judged by God if they didn't repent.

But I don't buy it. I've been made the righteousness of God in Christ. I've been purged from my old sins. My conscience has been sprinkled from dead works to serve the living God. I am sanctified, holy, and a partaker of the divine nature.


What about this interpretation:

23For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread:

24And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.

25After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, this cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.

26For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come.

27Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. The "whosoever" in the Corinthian church would have included the saved AND THE LOST. Paul gives these people the Gospel in chapter 15! "Unworthily" therefore means that they are partaking of the symbolic bread and wine WITHOUT HAVING PARTAKEN of the actual body and blood of Jesus. They are still at enmity with God, and "guilty" of the Lord's body. They are 'professors' and not 'possessors.'

28But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. Examination then is not an introspective focus on the sins of the believer, but a call to the UNBELIEVER to "examine" whether or not he is truly born again. If he is saved, and has partaken of the ACTUAL body and blood of Christ, then, of course, there is nothing restraining him from partaking of this SYMBOLIC bread and wine.

29For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. If an unbeliever partakes of the Lord's Supper, he is actually drinking to his own damnation! He doesn't realize that he is SYMBOLICALLY partaking of the Saviour whom he has never accepted. He will be without excuse at the final judgment for he certainly has heard the Gospel as presented in the Lord's Supper.

30For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. Because of this, Paul says, there are some folks coming to the church who aren't healed. Some have even died. Rather than implying that believers are sick because of unconfessed sin in their lives (Which is a fallacy since ALL our sins have already been forgiven in Christ; they don't exist anymore!), this verse is saying that the unbeliever is sick because he isn't saved! He can't partake of the benefits of the New Covenant, because he is not part of it!

31For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. This is therefore not a judging of sins, which have ALL been judged at the Cross for the believer, but rather a judging of the heart. I judged myself as a sinner in December of 1985, and called out to God to save me. Because of this, I will NEVER again be judged on the matter of my eternal salvation; I have been made the righteousness of God in Christ. The "we" in this verse includes everybody.

32But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world. Here, "we" refers to believers. When "we" Christians are judged by God, it results in "chastening" not in "damnation." When a crooked sapling is tied to a stake, it has been 'judged' to be 'not straight'; therefore it is 'chastened' or tied to a stake. This chastening has the sapling's best future interest at heart, and is based in love. We are chastened, but we are not "condemned with the world." The word "condemned" is the same as "damnation." Damnation is a judicial punishment with a view toward past sins. This is NOT how the believer is judged.

33Wherefore, my brethren, when ye come together to eat, tarry one for another.

34And if any man hunger, let him eat at home; that ye come not together unto condemnation. And the rest will I set in order when I come. Because the Gospel is so clearly presented at the Lord's Supper, don't just rush through it. Give the unbeliever time to respond. You don't want to rush through it and have somebody 'eat and drink unto damnation', do you?


Can you see how fear is removed for the Believer? Do you see how the focus is removed from self? In it's place is left the simple command to 'remember the Lord til he comes.' Voila! The Lord's Supper becomes a time of REJOICING, and focusing on the Saviour. It is a time of remembering the finished work of Christ. It edifies. It encourages.


After realizing this, I searched through a bunch of old commentaries (and new ones) on the internet, and was surprised that nobody agreed with me. Then I looked at Andrew Wommack's site, and, lo and behold, he saw it exactly the same way. You can read his commentary here.