1. “Come together...for the worse”; “Come together for judgment” (1 Cor. 11:17, 34).
If we do not eat the bread and drink the cup in an approved manner when we come together to break bread, we are guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. This is to come together for the worse, and it brings judgment and condemnation upon ourselves. If we have a divisive element, if we break bread on a sectarian ground, or if we treat the Lord’s supper as a common meal when we break bread, we bring condemnation and judgment upon ourselves and will be disciplined.
2. “Eats and drinks judgment to himself” (1 Cor. 11:29).
If we do not discern whether the bread we break represents the Lord’s physical body given up for His mystical Body, if we do not discern whether the bread represents the entire Body of Christ, the whole church, and if we break bread loosely, we eat and drink condemnation and judgment to ourselves. This will cause us to be condemned and disciplined.
3. “Because of this many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep” (1 Cor. 11:30).
Because the Corinthian believers did not break bread in an approved manner by proving or discerning themselves, they brought discipline onto themselves. This discipline caused many of them to be weak and sick, and a number even died. Since some did not eat the bread and drink the cup in an approved manner, the Lord caused them to become physically weak as a warning. When they disregarded the warning of their physical weakness and continued to be guilty of the Lord’s body and blood, He gave a stronger warning by allowing some to become physically sick. When they disregarded the stronger warning of their physical sickness without proving and discerning themselves, there was a final discipline of death. This is very serious. This should be a warning to all of us. Is it not possible that the weakness, sickness, and even death of many believers is due to their breaking of the bread in a disapproved manner, without proving or discerning themselves and thus being guilty of the Lord’s body and blood? Could it not be that they are eating and drinking judgment, condemnation, and discipline to themselves? May the brothers and sisters who are weak, sick, and even dying seek the Lord’s enlightenment in this matter, receive the Lord’s warning, and be adjusted in their way of breaking bread so that they may be spared the discipline of judgment. May all of us who have received the Lord’s grace prove ourselves and solemnly discern the matter of breaking bread lest we come into judgment and are disciplined by the Lord.
1. “Gave it to the disciples” (Matt. 26:26).
When the Lord established the matter of bread breaking, He gave the bread and cup to His disciples. The disciples, who received the Lord’s salvation and life, belonged to the Lord. Only those who have this kind of relationship with the Lord and who know the Lord as their salvation can remember the Lord and declare His death through the bread and the cup. How can those who have not received the Lord’s salvation, who have not been brought into a life relationship with the Lord in His salvation, remember the Lord? How can those who have not received the redemption accomplished by the Lord’s giving up of His body and shedding of His blood declare His death through the bread and the cup? Those who are not saved cannot and should not break bread. Nominal Christians, who have only been ritually baptized without obtaining the Lord’s life, and false believers, who have only a name but not the reality, cannot and should not break bread. Some think that Judas was present when the Lord established the breaking of bread. This is not so. In the four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and John all tell us that Judas, who betrayed the Lord, left before the Lord established His supper (Matt. 26:17-28; Mark 14:17-24; John 13:2, 21-30). Only Luke is different (22:14-23). This is because Luke’s record is according to the order of morality, but Matthew, Mark, and John are according to the order of history. All the authoritative Bible expositors attest to this. Before the establishment of the breaking of bread, Judas left. How could the Lord require one to remember Him who had not received Him as Savior, who did not have a relationship with Him in His salvation? Therefore, only those who have received the Lord’s salvation, who have the Lord’s life, and who belong to the Lord are able and qualified to break bread in remembrance of the Lord.
2. “All those who believed...breaking bread” (Acts 2:44, 46).
Those who break bread should be those who believe. The believers are those who have received the Lord’s salvation through faith, partake of His life, and belong to Him. Only those who have this kind of faith are able and permitted to break bread.