Introduction

The Eucharist is a touchstone of unity in the life of the Church, and because the Roman and Eastern churches bar faithful Christians from the Table, I cannot in good conscience be part of their traditions. I once again find that I am too Catholic to be Catholic.

Received Directly From Christ

When we read St. Paul’s instructions to the Corinthians on how to properly celebrate the Lord’s Supper, he says this:

“For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you:” (1 Corinthians 11:23)

Notice Paul says he received from the Lord that which he also delivered to the Corinthians. He didn’t receive it from the other disciples. He received this directly from the Lord. And so this indicates that Paul had interactions with the risen Christ, where Jesus taught him the importance of this rite. This likely was when he spent three years in Damascus after his conversion.

In his letter to the Galatians he says this:

“But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went to Arabia, and returned again to Damascus. Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter. (Galatians 1:15-18)

Paul then turns around and delivers what he received from the Lord to the Corinthians. I bring this up, because not only do we have this institution in the Gospels, but the institution of this rite was important enough for the risen Christ to instruct Paul in this to give to the churches. And when Paul instructs the Corinthians how to properly celebrate this mystery, he is not concerned primarily with how the Corinthians understand the metaphysics of the bread and wine. He is not concerned at all with whether or not the Corinthians are submitted to the bishop of Rome. He is not concerned with smells and bells and ceremonial minutiae. He is concerned primarily with the unity of the Church. The Body of Christ as the Church coming together as one, and everyone partaking who is not under discipline is the main thrust of his argument in 1 Corinthians 11.

Conduct At The Lord’s Supper

St. Paul says, “Now in giving these instructions I do not praise you, since you come together not for the better but for the worse.” (1 Corinthians 11:17) The Lord’s Supper is supposed to be a blessing. But Paul says when they are coming together it is not a blessing. They are worse off. How so? St. Paul continues, “For first of all, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you, and in part I believe it.” (1 Corinthians 11:18) There are divisions. This is bad. There shouldn’t be divisions. “For there must also be factions among you, that those who are approved may be recognized among you.” (1 Corinthians 11:19) Heresies and divisions, while bad, also manifest those who are approved. He continues, “Therefore when you come together in one place, it is not to eat the Lord’s Supper. For in eating, each one takes his own supper ahead of others; and one is hungry and another is drunk. What! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and shame those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you in this? I do not praise you. (1 Corinthians 11:20-22) Things are so disordered that Paul removes the name of the Lord Supper entirely from what they’re doing. Now perhaps this is just a strong way of saying they are doing the Lord’s Supper improperly, but taken literally we could say that those who have divisions among themselves don’t even have a valid Lord’s Supper. In any case, what does he describe as the issue? Some are eating the supper before others, some don’t eat at all. Others are overindulging and getting drunk. There is not equality in who is approaching the table. Some are deprived. Others are greedy. He suggests that if you’re hungry you need to eat in your home. The Lord’s Supper is not the place to do this.

He then instructs them on the words of institution by Christ and he then writes:

“Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world.

Therefore, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one another. But if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, lest you come together for judgment. And the rest I will set in order when I come.” (1 Corinthians 11:27-34)

So, how has St. Paul described the Corinthians eating the bread and drinking the wine in an unworthy manner? He describes the unworthy reception as divisive, as factious. Some eat and drink while others don’t. They aren’t examining themselves properly. Examining oneself has to do with external behavior of love and unity, not with introspection as is so often taught. If one looks at the lexical range of “examine” which is δοκιμάζω in Greek and its cognates, it is never in reference to looking into one’s own being or introspection. It has to do proving oneself in some observable way. When Paul says let a man examine himself, he is saying let a man prove himself by correcting his behavior. A cognate of the same word is used earlier when he says there must be factions so that those who are approved (δόκιμοι) may be recognized. People who are approved are not being properly recognized. They are not being recognized as being part of the body because they are being left out of the rite.

And so the Corinthians must correct themselves by discerning the Lord’s body properly, which means discerning who is part of the body, and therefore permitting all who are part of the body to partake of the Lord’s Supper. Discerning the body, in this context, does not mean discerning the metaphysics of the bread. It means discerning the unity of the church, which is the Lord’s body. They must judge rightly who is in and who is out. Who can come to the table and who shouldn’t come to the table. They must judge for themselves. And there is a two-fold way of judging the Lord’s body, excommunication and communication. The Corinthians were ritually excommunicating certain members for wrong reasons. And so they were judged for it. Some of them were becoming weak and sick because they weren’t judging properly. And so this emphasis on unity is a matter of life and death. It deals with the health of the church. And wrong judgment on the part of the Church will incur proper judgment from God. And so St. Paul is saying it is necessary to get judgments right, and to be unified and democratic when coming to the Lord’s table.

St. Paul emphasizes unity in the preceding chapter when he says, “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? 17 For we, though many, are one bread and one body; for we all partake of that one bread.” (1 Corinthians 10:16-17)

The Great Tradition

St. Paul’s emphasis for unity is all over the place in his epistles.

To the Ephesians he writes, “I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism;  one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.” (Ephesians 4:1-6)

In Galatians we read that St. Paul confronts and corrects St. Peter for withdrawing table fellowship from the Gentiles. He says it was a matter of the gospel.

St. Paul is concerned with the unity among Christians, just as our Lord was.

Jesus’ High Priestly prayer: “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.” (John 17:20-23)

The Church being one affects whether the world will believe us, whether the world will believe that the Father and the Son are one. It affects our witness to the world. We must dwell together in unity because the Father and Son dwell together in unity. We must love each other as the Father and Son love each other.

This strong concern for unity is seen in the early fathers who also connect it to the Lord’s Supper.

In the Didache we read, “And concerning the broken Bread: “We give thee thanks, our Father, for the life and knowledge which thou didst make known to us through Jesus thy Child. To thee be glory for ever. As this broken bread was scattered upon the mountains, but was brought together and became one, so let thy Church be gathered together from the ends of the earth into thy kingdom, for thine is the glory and the power through Jesus Christ for ever.” (Didache, IX)

Ignatius says tot he Philadelphians: “Take heed, then, to have but one Eucharist. For there is one flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ, and one cup to [show forth ] the unity of His blood; one altar; as there is one bishop, along with the presbytery and deacons, my fellow-servants…” (Ignatius to the Philadelphians ch. 4)

St Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, says: “The sacrifices of the Lord themselves highlight the unanimity of Christians strengthened by solid, indivisible charity. For when the Lord calls the bread formed of the union of many grains his body, and when he calls the wine pressed from many clusters of grapes and poured together his blood, in the same way he indicates our flock formed of a multitude united together” (Ep. ad Magnum, 6)

Lasty the great St. Augustine says of the Lord’s Supper: “O sacrament of devotion! O sign of unity! O bond of charity!”. St Augustine’s exclamation in his commentary on the Gospel of John (In Joannis Evangelium, 26, 13) 

Conclusion

That Rome and The East doesn’t discern the Body correctly isn’t unique to them. I think this is a problem that Lutherans have by barring other faithful Christians from the Lord’s Supper. It’s a problem that almost all Western Christians have, not just Baptists, have in barring children from the Lord’s Supper. We are not examining our selves properly when we don’t discern that other faithful Christians and our own infants and children are part of the Lord’s Body.