Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment. When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world. (1 Corinthians 11:27-32)

To understand what it means to sin against the body and blood of the Lord, we need to grasp the nature of the Lord’s Supper.

Various human traditions have said that even if the bread and wine are not the actual body and blood of Jesus, there is at least a “real” or “spiritual” presence associated with the items. What this means has never been stated in terms that are intelligible and defensible. The doctrine is nonsense, and represents an incomplete break from the abomination of Catholicism.

There is no biblical indication that the body, blood, or presence of Jesus is associated with the elements of bread and wine in any literal, or physical, or spiritual, or mystical, or any special sense. And there is no indication that to participate in the Lord’s Supper is to “feed” on Christ.

John 6 refers to feeding on Christ’s flesh and blood, but there no reference is made to the Lord’s Supper, and there are reasons to exclude the Lord’s Supper from its context. First, Jesus was addressing people who would not have understood a reference to an ordinance that he had not yet instituted. Second, he was talking about salvation. It is impossible that, to attain salvation, Jesus required participation in an ordinance that he had not yet instituted. And in fact, the biblical teaching is that a person attains salvation before he participates in the Lord’s Supper, and not that he attains salvation because he participates in it. Third, the context stresses hearing and believing his words, so that the eating of his flesh and the drinking of his blood are best understood as metaphors for faith and for the acceptance of his doctrines.

With John 6 out of the way, we restate the fact that there is no biblical indication that the Lord’s Supper is for one to “feed” on Christ for spiritual nourishment. Rather, all the other passages that refer to the topic, including our text from 1 Corinthians 11, represent the Lord’s Supper as a memorial for the sacrifice that Jesus made to save us and the elements as mere symbols of his body and blood.

When an item is a clear and known symbol for a person, to insult the symbol is to insult the person. Suppose someone calls out the name of Jesus and utters blasphemy against him. No distinct physical element is involved, but he has sinned in that he has verbally insulted the Lord. Now suppose someone writes the name of Jesus on a piece of paper, and then he throws it on the floor and spits on it. The piece of paper is not associated with the presence of Jesus in any special sense, and writing and spitting are in themselves not sinful acts. But this person has committed blasphemy against the Lord as if he has verbally insulted him because he has made the piece of paper into a symbol for Jesus and then insulted it.

Although the bread and wine are mere symbols, and nothing more than symbols, they are nevertheless symbols of the body and blood of Jesus Christ. Therefore, when someone disrespects these symbols, especially knowing that they are symbols of the Lord, he insults the body and blood of the Lord, just as if he verbally blasphemes. The Corinthians had shown disrespect for the body and blood of the Lord in that they would become disorderly and drunk when they were supposed to come together and remember Jesus Christ. They had sinned against the body and blood of the Lord.

As a result, Paul said, many of them were weak, sick, and even dead. This was not the natural or passive consequence of their behavior, but the active and deliberate judgment from God. Paul did not say that Satan inflicted this upon them or that God merely removed his protection from them. He said that if we would judge ourselves, then God would not judge us. When we judge ourselves, we are not passive, and we do not merely remove protection from ourselves. We confront, criticize, and correct ourselves. We make ourselves change so that we would think and behave in a different way.

If we refuse to do this, then God would do it, and this is something active and deliberate that he does: “When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined.” Thus many of the Corinthians were weak, sick, and dead, because God made them weak, sick, and dead. And God did not do it only to some of them, but many of them. Thus here is the apostolic teaching: God would make people sick and even kill them because they disrespect Jesus Christ.

Their sin was not necessarily bound to the elements of the Lord’s Supper, since there are many other ways that people could insult the body and blood of Jesus. There are many other ways that people could incite the Lord to anger and invite judgment on themselves. We ought to restore this perspective in teaching and practicing the Christian faith. God is in the church and in the world. He is ever watching and weighing, and although he is patient, we cannot expect him to delay judgment forever. If we do not judge ourselves, he will discipline us. This is why many of our people are weak, sick, and dead.