If personal concerns are at the fore when one participates
in the communion table, then attempts taken to determine what it would mean to
take the elements in an unworthy manner, along with an examination of self,
juxtaposed with the irrelevant notion of examining oneself to see if one is in
the faith, then this would most likely devolve into an idea that sins must be
confessed before taking communion so that the participant will then be worthy
to receive the symbols of the body and blood.
Conversely, some would declare that this type of
self-examination is precisely not what is to take place, as it puts the focus
on one’s own self rather than on Jesus, and that Paul is indicating that the
focus must be on Jesus, with the bread and the cup acting as useful symbols
that allow such a focus to be maintained. Therefore, in a strange twist,
it is declared that confession of personal sins in order to become worthy is
that which makes one unworthy, as doing so is nothing more than part and parcel
of an attempt to work towards one’s salvation and is therefore a denial of
grace, which is ultimately taken to be a denial of Jesus.
Beyond that, semantics and
grammar are brought into play, and it is declared that proper understanding is
had when one sees that “unworthy” is not the word that is used, but rather
“unworthily,” which is then what makes all the difference in the world, with a
determination as to whether the word in question is meant to be taken as
modifying the noun or the verb. Now, this is not the place to delve into
whether or not the proper word is the adjective unworthy or the adverb unworthily,
and basing an entire communion methodology upon what is implied by the
differences between the two.
Getting focused on such a thing would seem to miss the point
either way, as determining if one is supposed to be focusing on self and sins
as opposed to Jesus and His sacrifice, may be an unwarranted flight into a
disconnected and individualized spiritualization in the realm of personal
concern and the final destination of one’s eternal soul. This would be
another instance of losing focus on the larger movement of the letter itself
and the kingdom community, of forgetting the environment into which Paul writes
and the concerns that he is raising and addressing within this entire section
that runs as one unit from at least the seventeenth verse through the
thirty-fourth verse, while also failing to consider the fact that there is a
very real and known situation that would be readily identified by Paul’s
intended hearers.
Quite frankly, though the thoughts and actions of individual
persons are in view here, it seems clear, at least based on the way that Paul
has introduced the specific topic of communion as well as what follows (verses
twenty-seven through thirty-four), that it is the actions of this church as a
group---as a body---when they are coming together for what they are erroneously
referring to as the Lord’s Supper (their actions making it an erroneous
application) that is the concern, and the demand is placed upon the reader to
see, hear, and understand the situation in this way.
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