TRADITION - D - Examination

We've all heard it. The pastor stands at the front of the congregation and says that we're going to take a minute to make sure we are right with God before we partake of the elements of the communion table; the bread and the wine. I suspect that this tradition is based upon two passages of scripture; 1st Corinthians 11:28; "But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup." and Matthew 5:24; "Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift."

By blending these two passages, a tradition has been established that we need to examine ourselves to see if there is anything amiss in our lives, and not partake of communion until we have rectified the situation. Typically, it is thought and taught that this can be done by going over our lives since the last time we confessed such things to God, and getting all 'confessed up' so that we are worthy to partake of the bread and wine.

The first order of business for me here is to show that Matthew 5:48 has nothing to do with what we are doing at the communion table. We are not bringing any gift to the altar when we participate in the communion service. None of the disciples brought gifts to Yeshua that night in the upper room. What happened that night had nothing to do with gifts brought to the altar.

We do not need to be "reconciled to our brother" before we can worthily partake of the bread and wine. Inclusion of Matthew 5:24 in any further discussion concerning the table of the Lord is hereby suspended on the grounds that it has nothing to do with the subject at hand. Let me now discuss the other passage; 1st Corinthians 11:28. Here's what it says;

"But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup."

Those who advocate the moment of silence tradition typically teach that we need to examine ourselves and see if there is anything out of order. The words that are often repeated would go something like; 'Let us examine ourselves to see if there is any unconfessed sin in our lives, so that we can confess it to God before we partake.'

Isn't that what you've heard said from the pulpit. It strikes me as odd that scripture records no such thing being done at the last supper. Shouldn't the disciples have taken a minute to search their consciences looking for unconfessed sin?

We should examine ourselves. That's exactly what verse 28 says. What are we to look for in this examination? Is it possible that scripture might be used to interpret scripture in this case? Let's look and see. There is another passage, written by Paul, to the Corinthians, and it speaks of examining ourselves. We can use another passage of scripture, written to the same people, written by the same man, about the same subject, to make our interpretation. Here it is.

"Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?" (2nd Corinthians 13:5)

So, this is the examination we are to make. We are supposed to look closely at ourselves to see if we are "in the faith". Paul didn't tell the believers to see if there was unconfessed sin in their lives before the partake of the bread and wine. He told people to examine themselves, so as to not partake if they weren't believers. Partaking is supposed to be reserved for believers, people who have trusted Christ for salvation.

And now, it is once more time for a lesson in our spoken language. Today, class, we are going to talk about adverbs. Adverbs, adjectives, verbs, pronouns and such are all called parts of speech. An adverb always modifies a verb or another adverb, and answers questions about the verb like; How? When? Where? and Why? Adverbs are often words that end with the letters 'ly'. Some examples of adverbs might be; quietly, quickly and fervently. It's not that all adverbs end with 'ly' but that if a word ends in 'ly' we should look to see if it modifies the verb or another adverb, because it probably does. An example or two might be in order.

The little boy piled his clothes neatly at the foot of the bed. The verb is 'piled', and the word 'neatly' is an adverb modifying the verb 'piled' by describing how the piling of the clothes was done. The piling was done neatly. Another example?

The lock was fastened securely. The lock is the subject of this sentence. The verb is was fastened. The word securely is an adverb modifying the verb, and telling us how it was fastened.

So, adverbs modify the verbs and other adverbs.
Adjectives, on the other hand, modify nouns and other adjectives.
Adjectives answer the questions; Which? How many? and What kind of? An example?

The stout lad slapped the counter and demanded attention.
The adjective here is the word 'stout' and it tells us 'what kind of' lad we are talking about. The word 'lad' is a noun, and it is the subject of this sentence.

Put simply, it's like this; Adverbs modify the action taking place, and Adjectives modify the actor in the sentence. And, now we're ready to take a look at another verse; 1st Corinthians 11:27.

"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."

I was going to say 'for years', but instead I'm going to say; for centuries Christian men and women have been taught that they must be worthy to partake of the bread and wine, and that tradition is still active today. It is based on a misunderstanding of the English language as much as anything else. This verse doesn't say that people should be worthy to partake. It says that they must partake worthily.

Did you pick up on the adverb; unworthily? Do we know what it means? Maybe and maybe not. Which word in verse 27 does 'unworthily' modify? It is an adverb so it will be modifying either the verb of the sentence or another adverb in the verse. Unworthily modifies the compound verb in this sentence; eat/drink. The verse says that no one should eat/drink unworthily.

Unworthily is speaking of the eating and the drinking, not about the subject of the sentence; Whosoever. It is talking about how the eating and drinking should be done. It is not talking about the one doing the eating and drinking. We are not being told to be worthy in order to eat and drink. We are being told to do the eating and drinking in a worthy manner. Among others, the NIV, the NASB and the New KJV all say exactly that.

Partaking in an worthy manner means to be thinking about (discerning) the body of our Lord. His broken body, torn flesh and spilled blood are to be the subject of our thoughts during communion. That's the whole point of partaking of bread and of wine. That's why substituting water instead of wine is wrong. The liquid is supposed to look like blood so that we remember the blood that His blood was spilled. The torn bread that Jesus used was representative of his torn skin from his flogging and from the puncture wounds He would receive that night. I think we miss A LOT of the image when we use the CATHOLIC compressed wafer-type stuff.

Thinking about our sins in connection with communion service is a sacrilege. GOD NO LONGER SEES YOUR SINS OR MINE ONCE WE ARE BELIEVERS. Quit bringing them up. Concentrate on what He did at the cross. Use the torn bread and the wine to help you FOCUS.

We are not worthy. We are made worthy by the blood of the Lamb. We don't need to be trying to recall our sins of the past week during communion. We need to be thinking of what he did for us, and how he did it with the sacrifice of his body and blood.