First Corinthians 10:21 says, “You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the table of the Lord and of the table of demons.” To drink the cup of the Lord and partake (eat) of the table of the Lord is to identify ourselves with the Lord. To drink the cup of demons and partake of the table of demons is to make ourselves one with demons. Some of the Corinthian believers were doing this very thing through eating sacrifices to idols.
An idol and a sacrifice to an idol are nothing (1 Cor. 10:19; 8:4), but behind them are the demons, who are abominable and hateful to God. The believers who worship God should abstain from identifying themselves with demons and becoming worshippers of demons through eating sacrifices to idols. Since demons are the reality of idols, so eating of sacrifices to idols makes the eaters their fellowshippers, their joint participants. The eaters of sacrifices to idols become not only fellowshippers with demons but also joint participants of demons, making themselves one with demons.
The Lord is a jealous God (Exo. 20:5). Idolatry is utterly abominable and hateful to Him. If we participate in fellowship with demons, making ourselves one with them, we will provoke the Lord to jealousy (1 Cor. 10:22). Hence, we must flee from idolatry (1 Cor. 10:14).
Among the Corinthians was also the failure of eating the bread and drinking the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner and not discerning the Body. First Corinthians 11:27 says, “Whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner shall be guilty of the body and of the blood of the Lord.” This is not to evaluate the significance of the bread and cup of the Lord, which signify His body broken for us and His blood shed for our sins through His death for our redemption. To be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord is for a believer to bring judgment to himself (vv. 29-30).
In verse 29 Paul goes on to say, “For he who is eating and drinking, eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the body.” To eat the bread or drink the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner brings judgment to us. This judgment is not a condemnation but the Lord’s temporary discipline (v. 32).
Not to discern means not to distinguish, separate, discriminate, make a distinction. To fail to discern the Lord’s body is to fail to make a distinction between the bread, which signifies the Lord’s body, and common food. It is to fail to evaluate the significance of the bread we take at the Lord’s supper.
Paul’s thought in using the expression “the body” may include also the mystical Body of Christ (Eph. 4:4) in addition to the physical body of the Lord (1 Cor. 11:24). Therefore, when we participate in the Lord’s table, we must discern whether the bread on the table signifies the one Body of Christ or any division of man, any denomination. In discerning the Body of Christ we should not partake of the bread in any division or with a divisive spirit. Our participation in the Lord’s table must be the unique fellowship of His unique Body without any division either in practice or in spirit.
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