1 Corinthians 11:23-26: do this in remembrance of me

c. 386–397 · John Chrysostom, Homilies on First Corinthians 27.6

“For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye proclaim the Lord’s death till He come.” For as Christ in regard to the bread and the cup said, “Do this in remembrance of Me,” revealing to us the cause of the giving of the Mystery, and besides what else He said, declaring this to be a sufficient cause to ground our religious fear upon:—(for when thou considerest what thy Master hath suffered for thee, thou wilt the better deny thyself:)—so also Paul saith here: “as often as ye eat ye do proclaim His death.” And this is that Supper. Then intimating that it abides unto the end, he saith, “till He come.”

c. 386–397 · John Chrysostom, Homilies on First Corinthians 27.5

For even to-day also it is He who doeth all, and delivereth it even as then. And not on this account only doth he remind us of that night, but that he may also in another way bring us to compunction. For as we particularly remember those words which we hear last from those who are departing; and to their heirs if they should venture to transgress their commands, when we would put them to shame we say, “Consider that this was the last word that your father uttered to you, and until the evening when he was just about to breathe his last he kept repeating these injunctions:” just so Paul, purposing hence also to make his argument full of awfulness; “Remember,” saith he, “that this was the last mysterious rite He gave unto you, and in that night on which He was about to be slain for us, He commanded these things, and having delivered to us that Supper after that He added nothing further.” Next also he proceeds to recount the very things that were done, saying, “He took bread, and, when He had given thanks, He brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is My Body, which is broken for you.”

1760 · John Owen, Sacramental Discourses a.3

Recognition is a calling over or a commemoration of the death of Christ. “This do,” says he, “in remembrance of me.” That which respects our profession is a representation and declaration of the Lord’s death. Verse 26, “As often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show” — ye declare, ye manifest — “the Lord’s death till he come.” These are the two immediate great ends of this ordinance:— a recognition of the death of Christ, which respects our faith and love; and a representation of it, which respects our profession.

1692 · Thomas Watson, The Ten Commandments 4.5

In what manner are we to remember the Lord’s death in the sacrament? It is not only an historical remembrance of Christ’s death and passion. Judas remembered his death and betrayed him; and Pilate remembered his death and crucified him: but our remembering his death in the sacrament must be, [1] A mournful remembrance. We should not be able to look on Christ crucified with dry eyes.

c. 1714 · Simon Browne, Commentary on 1 Corinthians 11.23-34

We declare his death to be our life, the spring of all our comforts and hopes. And we glory in such a declaration; we show forth his death, and spread it before God, as our accepted sacrifice and ransom. We set it in view of our own faith, for our own comfort and quickening; and we own before the world, by this very service, that we are the disciples of Christ, who trust in him alone for salvation and acceptance with God.

c. 1714 · Simon Browne, Commentary on 1 Corinthians 11.23-34

] That it must be perpetual. It is to be celebrated till the Lord shall come; till he shall come the second time, without sin, for the salvation of those that believe, and to judge the world. This is our warrant for keeping this feast. It was our Lord's will that we should thus celebrate the memorials of his death and passion, till he come in his own glory, and the Father's glory, with his holy angels, and put an end to the present state of things, and his own mediatorial administration, by passing the final sentence. Note, The Lord's supper is not a temporary, but a standing and perpetual ordinance.

1754 · John Wesley, Explanatory Notes on 1 Corinthians 11.24

This is my body, which is broken for you - That is, this broken bread is the sign of my body, which is even now to be pierced and wounded for your iniquities. Take then, and eat of, this bread, in an humble, thankful, obediential remembrance of my dying love; of the extremity of my sufferings on your behalf, of the blessings I have thereby procured for you, and of the obligations to love and duty which I have by all this laid upon you.

1834 · Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible: 1 Corinthians 11.25

In remembrance of me - This expresses the whole design of the ordinance. It is a simple memorial, or remembrancer; designed to recall in a striking and impressive manner the memory of the Redeemer. It does this by a tender appeal to the senses - by the exhibition of the broken bread, and by the wine. The Saviour knew how prone people would be to forget him, and he, therefore, appointed this ordinance as a means by which his memory should be kept up in the world. The ordinance is rightly observed when it recalls the memory of the Saviour; and when its observance is the means of producing a deep, and lively, and vivid impression on the mind, of his death for sin.

1834 · Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible: 1 Corinthians 11.26

Ye do show the Lord's death - You set forth, or exhibit in an impressive manner, the fact that he was put to death; you exhibit the emblems of his broken body and shed blood, and your belief of the fact that he died. This shows that the ordinance was to be so far public as to be a proper showing forth of their belief in the death of the Saviour.

1850 · Henry Edward Manning, Sermons, Volume 4 12

“Ye do shew;” that is, shew forth and exhibit, as St. Paul said to the Galatians, “before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you.” And not only so; not only before men, but before God, exhibited in the sight of heaven.

1871 · A. R. Fausset, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on 1 Corinthians 11.26

show—announce publicly. The Greek does not mean to dramatically represent, but "ye publicly profess each of you, the Lord has died FOR ME" [Wahl]. This word, as "is" in Christ's institution (1Co 11:24, 25), implies not literal presence, but a vivid realization, by faith, of Christ in the Lord's Supper, as a living person, not a mere abstract dogma, "bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh" (Eph 5:30; compare Ge 2:23); and ourselves "members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones," "our sinful bodies made clean by His body (once for all offered), and our souls washed through His most precious blood" [Church of England Prayer Book]. "Show," or "announce," is an expression applicable to new things; compare "show" as to the Passover (Ex 13:8). So the Lord's death ought always to be fresh in our memory; compare in heaven, Re 5:6. That the Lord's Supper is in remembrance of Him, implies that He is bodily absent, though spiritually present, for we cannot be said to commemorate one absent. The fact that we not only show the Lord's death in the supper, but eat and drink the pledges of it, could only be understood by the Jews, accustomed to such feasts after propitiatory sacrifices, as implying our personal appropriation therein of the benefits of that death.

1871 · A. R. Fausset, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on 1 Corinthians 11.23

night—the time fixed for the Passover (Ex 12:6): though the time for the Lord's Supper is not fixed. betrayed—With the traitor at the table, and death present before His eyes, He left this ordinance as His last gift to us, to commemorate His death. Though about to receive such an injury from man, He gave this pledge of His amazing love to man.

1889 · Marcus Dods, The Expositor's Bible: The First Epistle to the Corinthians Chapter XVII. Abuse of the Lord's Supper

The brief narrative of this first institution which Paul here inserts gives prominence to the truth that the Sacrament was intended primarily as a memorial or remembrance of the Saviour. Nothing could be simpler or more human than our Lord's appointment of this Sacrament. Lifting the material of the Supper before Him, He bids His disciples make the simple act of eating and drinking the occasion of remembering Him. As the friend who is setting out on a long absence or is passing for ever from earth puts into our hands his portrait or something he has used, or worn, or prized, and is pleased to think that we shall treasure it for his sake, so did Christ on the eve of His death secure this one thing: that His disciples should have a memento by which to remember Him. And as the dying gift of a friend becomes sacred to us as his own person, and we cannot bear to see it handed about by unsympathetic hands and remarked upon by those who have not the same loving reverence as ourselves, and as when we gaze at his portrait, or when we use the very pen or pencil worn smooth by his fingers, we recall the many happy times we spent together and the bright and inspiring words that fell from his lips, so does this Sacrament seem sacred to us as Christ's own person, and by means of it grateful memories of all He was and did throng into the mind.

1893 · Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Spurgeon's Sermons, Volume 39 (1893) 2307

You notice, too, that these emblems are separate. If I were to take the bread and crumble it into the cup, and then pass it to you that you might drink of that curious mixture, you would not celebrate the Lord's death at all! It would not be possible, for it is the body with the blood separated from it that sets forth death! While the blood is in the veins, you have life, but when the blood is drawn away from the body, which is set forth to you in the pure white bread and in the red juice of the grape, then you have the picture of death—and in that way you show Christ's sufferings and death in the celebration of this Supper.

1905 · Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Spurgeon's Sermons, Volume 51 (1905) 2942

We here declare that we believe in Substitution—that Christ died, "the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God." And that He, "His own Self bore our sins in His own body on the tree." That is the teaching of this Supper, that Christ's death was a painful death and a death on behalf of others. This Supper also shows that we believe the death of Christ to be acceptable to God.

1907 · Augustus Hopkins Strong, Systematic Theology Chapter II. The Ordinances Of The Church

As the Passover commemorated the deliverance of Israel from Egypt, and as the Fourth of July commemorates our birth as a nation, so the Lord's Supper commemorates the birth of the church in Christ's death and resurrection. As a mother might bid her children meet over her grave and commemorate her, so Christ bids his people meet and remember him. But subjective remembrance is not its only aim. It is public proclamation also.

1910 · Alexander Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture: 1 Corinthians 11.24

Not only so, but in the simple primitive form of the Lord’s Supper there is contained a reference to the past, the present and the future. It covers all time as well as all revelation and all Christian experience. For the past, as the text shows us, it is a memorial of one Person, and one fact in that Person’s life. For the present, it is the symbol of the Christian life, as that great sixth chapter in John’s gospel sets forth; and for the future, it is a prophecy, as our Lord Himself said on that night in the upper chamber, ‘Till I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom,’ and as the Apostle in this context says, ‘Till He come.’

1910 · Alexander Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture: 1 Corinthians 11.24

No reasonable doubt can exist, then, that within a very few years of our Lord’s death, the whole body of Christian people believed that Jesus Christ Himself appointed the Lord’s Supper. I do not stay to dwell upon the value of a rite contemporaneous with the fact which it commemorates, and continuously lasting throughout the ages, as a witness of the historical veracity of the alleged fact; but I want to fix upon this thought, that Jesus Christ, who cared very little for rites, who came to establish a religion singularly independent of any outward form, did establish two rites, one of them to be done once in a Christian lifetime, one of them to be repeated with indefinite frequency, and, as it appears, at first repeated daily by the early believers. The reason why these two, and only these two, external ordinances were appointed by Jesus Christ was, that, taken together, they cover the whole ground of revealed fact, and they also cover the whole ground of Christian experience. There is no room for any other rites, because these two, the rite of initiation, which is baptism, and the rite of commemoration, which is the Lord’s Supper, say everything about Christianity as a revelation, and about Christianity as a living experience.

249–258 · Cyprian of Carthage, Letters (Epistulae) 9.2

Also the blessed apostle has said, “Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of devils; ye cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table and of the table of devils.” He who withholds these words from our brethren deceives them, wretched that they are; so that they who truly repenting might satisfy God, both as the Father and as merciful, with their prayers and works, are seduced more deeply to perish; and they who might raise themselves up fall the more deeply. For although in smaller sins sinners may do penance for a set time, and according to the rules of discipline come to public confession, and by imposition of the hand of the bishop and clergy receive the right of communion: now with their time still unfulfilled, while persecution is still raging, while the peace of the Church itself is not yet restored, they are admitted to communion, and their name is presented; and while the penitence is not yet performed, confession is not yet made, the hands of the bishop and clergy are not yet laid upon them, the eucharist is given to them; although it is written, “Whosoever shall eat the bread and drink the cup of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.”

c. 386–397 · John Chrysostom, Homilies on First Corinthians 27.7

Is it not so, that at such times, immediately after Communion, drunkenness succeeds and contempt of the poor? And having partaken of the Blood, when it were a time for thee to fast and watch, thou givest thyself up to wine and revelling. And yet if thou hast by chance made thy morning meal on any thing good, thou keepest thyself lest by any other unsavory viand thou spoil the taste of the former: and now that thou hast been feasting on the Spirit thou bringest in a satanical luxury. Consider, when the Apostles partook of that holy Supper, what they did: did they not betake themselves to prayers and singing of hymns? to sacred vigils? to that long work of teaching, so full of all self-denial?

c. 406–421 · Augustine of Hippo, Tractates on the Gospel of John (In Iohannis Evangelium Tractatus CXXIV) 62.1

Bear in mind the meaning of the Scripture, “Whosoever shall eat the bread or drink the cup of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.” And when the apostle said this, he was dealing with those who were taking the body of the Lord, like any other food, in an undiscerning and careless spirit. If, then, he is thus taken to task who does not discern, that is, does not distinguish from the other kinds of food, the body of the Lord, what condemnation must be his, who in the guise of a friend comes as an enemy to His table!

c. 407 · Augustine of Hippo, Ten Homilies on the First Epistle of John (In Epistulam Iohannis ad Parthos Tractatus X) 7.6

To receive the sacrament of the body and blood of the Lord is possible even for a bad man: for of such it is said, “He that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh judgment to himself.” To have the name of Christ is possible even for a bad man; i.e. even a bad man can be called a Christian: as they of whom it is said, “They polluted the name of their God.” I say, to have all these sacraments is possible even for a bad man; but to have charity, and to be a bad man, is not possible.

1265–1273 · Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica III, q. 80, a. 4, co.

I answer that, In this sacrament, as in the others, that which is a sacrament is a sign of the reality of the sacrament. Now there is a twofold reality of this sacrament, as stated above (Q[73], A[6]): one which is signified and contained, namely, Christ Himself; while the other is signified but not contained, namely, Christ's mystical body, which is the fellowship of the saints. Therefore, whoever receives this sacrament, expresses thereby that he is made one with Christ, and incorporated in His members; and this is done by living faith, which no one has who is in mortal sin. And therefore it is manifest that whoever receives this sacrament while in mortal sin, is guilty of lying to this sacrament, and consequently of sacrilege, because he profanes the sacrament: and therefore he sins mortally.

1546 · John Calvin, Commentary on 1 Corinthians, part 1 (chapters 1-14) 11.27

I shall not occupy much time in proving this statement. Now in what way could the man who is altogether destitute of a living faith and repentance, having nothing of the Spirit of Christ, receive Christ himself? Nay more, as he is entirely under the influence of Satan and sin, how will he be capable of receiving Christ? While, therefore, I acknowledge that there are some who receive Christ truly in the Supper, and yet at the same time unworthily, as is the case with many weak persons, yet I do not admit, that those who bring with them a mere historical faith, without a lively feeling of repentance and faith, receive anything but the sign. For I cannot endure to maim Christ, and I shudder at the absurdity of affirming that he gives himself to be eaten by the wicked in a lifeless state, as it were.

1566 · Heinrich Bullinger, The Second Helvetic Confession 21

But as for him that without faith comes to this Holy Table of the Lord, he is made partaker of the outward sacrament only; but the matter of the sacrament, from whence comes life unto salvation, he receives not at all; and such men do unworthily eat of the Lord’s Table. ‘Now they who do unworthily eat of the Lord’s bread and drink of the Lord’s cup, they are guilty of the body and blood of the Lord, and they eat and drink it to their judgment’ (1 Corinthians 11:26-29). For when they do not approach with true faith, they do despite unto the death of Christ, and therefore eat and drink condemnation to themselves. We do not, therefore, so join the body of the Lord and his blood with the bread and wine, as though we thought that the bread is the body of Christ, more than after a sacramental manner; or that the body of Christ does lie hid corporeally under the bread, so that it ought to be worshiped under the form of bread; or yet that whosoever he be who receives the sign, receives also the thing itself. The body of Christ is in the heavens, at the right hand of his Father; and therefore our hearts are to be lifted up on high, and not to be fixed on the bread, neither is the Lord to be worshiped in the bread.

1647 · Westminster Assembly, The Westminster Confession of Faith 29.8

Although ignorant and wicked men receive the outward elements in this sacrament; yet, they receive not the thing signified thereby; but, by their unworthy coming thereunto, are guilty of the body and blood of the Lord, to their own damnation. Wherefore, all ignorant and ungodly persons, as they are unfit to enjoy communion with him, so are they unworthy of the Lord’s table; and cannot, without great sin against Christ, while they remain such, partake of these holy mysteries, or be admitted thereunto.

1834 · Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible: 1 Corinthians 11.20

"Though you come together professedly to worship God, and to partake of the Lord's Supper, yet this cannot be the real design which you have in view. It cannot be that such practices as are allowed among you can be a part of the celebration of that supper, or consistent with it. Your greediness 1Co 11:21; your intemperance 1Co 11:21; your partaking of the food separately and not in common, cannot be a celebration of the Lord's Supper. Whatever, therefore, you may profess to be engaged in, yet really and truly you are not celebrating the Lord's Supper."

1871 · A. R. Fausset, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on 1 Corinthians 11.29

The Lord's body is His literal body appreciated and discerned by the soul in the faithful receiving, and not present in the elements themselves.

1888 · Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, Vol. 7: Modern Christianity, The German Reformation 7.111

The Lord’s Supper was never intended for unbelievers. Paul in speaking of "unworthily" receiving the sacrament (1 Cor. 11:27) does not mean theoretical unbelief, but moral unworthiness, irreverence of spirit and manner.

1892 · Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Spurgeon's Sermons, Volume 38 (1892) 2268

Paul uses an adverb, not an adjective! His words are, "Whoever shall eat this bread and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily"— that is, in an unfit way—to gain something by it, as men used to take what they called, "the sacrament," to get into certain offices, or as some come to the communion table for the sake of the charitable gifts that are for the poor of the Church. This is to eat and drink "unworthily." To come carelessly, to come contemptuously, to say, "I do not care whether I am a Christian or not, but I shall come to the communion"—this is to eat and drink "unworthily." Notice the LY— we are all unworthy of this sacred feast—and if unworthiness could shut us out, who would dare to be here?

1904 · Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Spurgeon's Sermons, Volume 50 (1904) 2865

26, 27. For as often as you eat this bread, and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till He comes. Therefore whoever shall eat this bread and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. He shall be guilty with respect to that body—not with respect to the bread against which he cannot sin—but with respect to that body which is represented by the bread, and with respect to that blood which is represented by the cup.

1904 · Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Spurgeon's Sermons, Volume 50 (1904) 2865

28, 29. But let a man examine himself and so let him eat of the bread, and drink of the cup. For he that eats and drinks unworthily, eats and drinks damnation to himself not discerning the Lord's body.' 'Judgment" or "condemnation" is the word in the original, not, "damnation." That is not a fair translation, neither does it express the Truth of God. He that eats and drinks unworthily condemns himself in so doing—he comes under judgment for that act.

1904 · Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Spurgeon's Sermons, Volume 50 (1904) 2872

My soul, be not content unless, in the bread, you discern the Lord's body for yourself. Do not eat and drink, as the Apostle says, "unworthily, not discerning the Lord's body." Take heed, O my Soul, that you are not satisfied with eating the bread unless, by faith, you realize that the body of Christ was offered up for you—unless your faith can so participate in the merit of that Sacrifice that the eating of the bread becomes to you a lively picture of your participation in the results of Christ's death! Mind, too, that the wine sets forth His blood to you. Brothers and Sisters, these symbols are but as the veil before the Holy of Holies—you must look beyond the symbols to that which is within the veil—or else, of what use are the signs to you?

1559 · John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion 4.1.15

Those who think it sacrilege to partake the Lord’s bread with the wicked, are in this more rigid than Paul. For when he exhorts us to pure and holy communion, he does not require that we should examine others, or that every one should examine the whole church, but that each should examine himself (1 Cor. 11:28, 29). If it were unlawful to communicate with the unworthy, Paul would certainly have ordered us to take heed that there were no individual in the whole body by whose impurity we might be defiled, but now that he only requires each to examine himself, he shows that it does no harm to us though some who are unworthy present themselves along with us. To the same effect he afterwards adds, “He that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself.”

1650 · Jeremy Taylor, The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living 4.10.1

In this affair let no man deceive himself, and against such a time which public authority hath appointed for us to receive the sacrament, weep for his sins by way of solemnity and ceremony, and still retain the affection: but he that comes to this feast must have on the wedding-garment, that is, he must have put on Jesus Christ, and he must have put off the old man with his affections and lusts; and he must be wholly conformed to Christ in the image of his mind. For then we have put on Christ when our souls are clothed with his righteousness, when every faculty of our soul is proportioned and vested according to the pattern of Christ’s life. And therefore a man must not leap from his last night’s surfeit and bath, and then communicate; but when he hath begun the work of God effectually, and made some progress in repentance, and hath walked some stages and periods in the ways of godliness, then let him come to him that is to minister it, and having made known the state of his soul, he is to be admitted; but to receive into an unhallowed soul and body is to receive the dust of the tabernacle in the waters of jealousy; it will make the belly to swell, and the thigh to rot; it will not convey Christ to us, but the devil will enter and dwell there, till with it he returns to his dwelling of torment. Remember always, that after a great sin, or after a habit of sins, a man is not soon made clean; and no unclean thing must come to this feast. It is not the preparation of two or three days that can render a person capable of this banquet; for in this feast, all Christ, and Christ’s passion, and all his graces, the blessings and effects of his sufferings, are conveyed. Nothing can fit us for this but what can unite us to Christ, and obtain of him to present our needs to his heavenly Father: this sacrament can no otherwise be celebrated but upon the same terms on which we may hope for pardon and heaven itself.

1658 · Congregational Churches (Savoy Assembly), The Savoy Declaration of the Congregational Churches 30.8

All ignorant and ungodly persons, as they are unfit to enjoy communion with Christ, so are they unworthy of the Lord’s table, and cannot without great sin against him, while they remain such, partake of these holy mysteries, or be admitted thereunto; yea, whosoever shall receive unworthily, are guilty of the body and blood of the Lord, eating and drinking judgment to themselves.

1760 · John Owen, Sacramental Discourses a.6

Examination also concerns faith; and that in general and in particular. In general:— Is not my heart hypocritical? or do I really do what in this ordinance I profess? which is, placing all my faith and hope in Jesus Christ, for life, mercy, salvation, and for peace with God. And in particular:— Do I stir up and act faith to meet Christ in this ordinance?

1823 · Robert South, Sermons Preached Upon Several Occasions, Volume 2 20

Secondly, When a man has, by such a close and rigorous examination of himself, found out the accursed thing, and discovered his sin; the next thing in order must be, to work up his heart to the utmost hatred of it, and the bitterest sorrow and remorse for it. For self-examination having first presented it to the thoughts, these naturally transmit and hand it over to the passions. And this introduces the next ingredient of our sacramental preparations, to wit, repentance. Which arduous work I will suppose not now to begin, but to be renewed; and that with special reference to sins not repented of before; and yet more especially to those new scores which we still run ourselves upon, since the last preceding sacrament. Which method, faithfully and constantly observed, must needs have an admirable and mighty effect upon the conscience, and keep a man from breaking, or running behindhand in his spiritual estate, which, without frequent accountings, he will hardly be able to prevent.

1830 · Philaret of Moscow, The Longer Catechism of the Orthodox, Catholic, Eastern Church 1.341

What is required individually of every one who desires to approach the Sacrament of the Communion? To examine his conscience before God, and to cleanse it from sin by penitence; for doing which he has helps in fasting and prayer. Let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup; for he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's Body.

1834 · Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible: 1 Corinthians 11.28

But let a man examine himself - Let him search and see if he have the proper qualifications - if he has knowledge to discern the Lord's body (note, 1Co 11:29); if he has true repentance for his sins; true faith in the Lord Jesus; and a sincere desire to live the life of a Christian, and to be like the Son of God, and be saved by the merits of his blood. Let him examine himself, and see whether he have the right feelings of a communicant, and can approach the table in a proper manner.

1871 · A. R. Fausset, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on 1 Corinthians 11.28

examine—Greek, "prove" or "test" his own state of mind in respect to Christ's death, and his capability of "discerning the Lord's body" (1Co 11:29, 31). Not auricular confession to a priest, but self-examination is necessary. so—after due self-examination. of … of—In 1Co 11:27, where the receiving was unworthily, the expression was, "eat this bread, drink … cup" without "of." Here the "of" implies due circumspection in communicating [Bengel]. let him eat—His self-examination is not in order that he may stay away, but that he may eat, that is, communicate.

1906 · Hannah Whitall Smith, The God of All Comfort 10

The other passage reads: “Wherefore, whosoever shall eat this bread and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup.” Paul was here writing of the abuses of greediness and drunkenness which had crept in at the celebration of the Lord’s Supper; and, in this exhortation to examine themselves, he was simply urging them to see to it that they did none of these things, but partook of this religious feast in a decent and orderly manner. In neither of these passages is there any hint of that morbid searching out of one’s emotions and experiences that is called self-examination in the present day.