20. “Let a Man Examine Himself” (1 Corinthians 11)
In his letter to the Corinthian ecclesia, the
apostle Paul attempts to set right several difficult local problems — of
which one was the attitude and manner in which the brethren were celebrating the
Lord’s Supper. In stating the divine principles concerning the memorial,
he exhorts us as well.
“Take, eat; this is my body” (11:24).
The words originally spoken by Christ had a two-fold meaning; Paul perceives
this and endeavors to pass it along. The bread represented the literal body of
Christ, and it represented the spiritual “body” also — those
who in sincerity and truth believe and obey Christ’s teachings, which are
the “bread of life”. It is certainly no coincidence that the chapter
concerning the memorial feast is followed by observations and instructions
regarding the many-membered Body consisting of Jews and Gentiles, bond and free,
all given one life through Christ their head (1 Cor. 12).
Brethren in this age, just as their forerunners
in the first century, when assembled for the solemn meal, should listen for the
words of consecration spoken over them, and not just over the literal
body, by the One who walks in the midst of the lampstands: “This is
my body.”
It follows that the ecclesia cannot properly be
the Body of Christ when it is beset by separations, schisms, ill will, and
turmoil (11:18,19). How best can such wrongs be avoided? By bearing in mind, as
Paul continues, that the bread and wine are taken in remembrance of Christ (vv.
24,25). If everything is centered upon him, then troubles of all sorts will
diminish.
And not just in token of Christ’s life, but
especially because of Christ’s death, as the passover lamb without blemish
(John 1:29), is this meal instituted. “For as often as ye eat this bread,
and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come”
(1 Cor. 11:26). The “shewing” is a “setting forth”,
after the order of the Jewish Passover, a solemn proclamation to all who are in
the house, as well as to “the stranger who sojourns with thee”
(Exod. 12:48). It is an intensely personal rite — though it may be
observed as part of a large group: “This is done because of that which the
Lord did unto ME....” (Exod. 13:8).
The personal aspect of the memorial is
intertwined with the corporate, just as in the other rite enjoined upon all
believers — baptism. True, each has its pluralistic qualities. By the one,
a believer enters the Body of Christ; by the other, he regularly reaffirms his
standing there. But each rite is essentially an individual one, as was the
offering of sacrifice at tabernacle or temple — the closest approach by
the single soul to communion and oneness with God, to fellowship of the
sufferings of His Son.
Paul stresses that, if each individual believer
will fully enter into this spirit of the Lord’s Supper, then the schisms
and doubts and disruptions of the Body as a whole will be minimized, perhaps
even eliminated. Those who seek to please themselves, whether by self-indulgence
(as in Corinth) or self-exaltation (remember the Pharisee who prayed in the
temple!), are not truly “looking unto Christ”. What they do, then,
they do unworthily, and “are guilty of the body and blood of the
Lord” (1 Cor. 11:27). In effect, they have said with the rabble before
Pilate’s judgment seat, “We have no king but Caesar, the ‘god
of this world’. This man’s blood be upon us!” In short, any
partaking of the emblems is an unworthy, or vain, pretense if he who eats and
drinks does not always see “Christ crucified” (1:23); that is, if he
does not see the reason for his Lord’s crucifixion, which is... his own
sins. All this is so “that no flesh should glory in his
presence” (v. 29). The memorial meeting is not the time nor the place (is
there ever one?) for one sinner to attempt to criticize the lives of his
brethren.
A contemplation of one’s own sinfulness and
consequent need for redemption is surely sufficient to occupy fully the mind of
the saint at the Lord’s Supper. “Let a man examine himself,
and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup” (1 Cor.
11:28). Certainly Paul is here alluding to that first supper:
“And as they did eat, he said,
‘Verily I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me.’ And they
were exceeding sorrowful, and began every one of them to say unto him,
‘Lord, is it I?’ ” (Matt. 26:21,22).
It is possible still for the disciple to betray
his Master. He who falls away from the Truth, who allows the soil of his heart
to bear again its natural thorns and briers, is crucifying to himself the Son of
God afresh, putting him to an open shame (Heb. 6:6,8). He is treading under foot
the holy blood of the covenant (10:29), even as swine heedlessly trample pearls
in the mud (Matt. 7:6). It is indeed better for such a one never to have known
the way of life than, having known it, to insult and outrage the precious Spirit
of grace mediated by Christ. ‘I would never do such a thing,’ is the
instinctive reaction. But that is just the point! None of us is immune from just
such a falling away; the wolves of the world follow hard behind the flock of
Christ, and the stragglers are swiftly torn apart. Christ must speak to each of
us, in the bread and wine; his eyes must gaze into ours and turn our vision
inward. ‘One of you will betray me.’ ‘Are you speaking of me?
Lord, is it I? Give me strength that it be not so. Lord, I am so weak. Let me
cling close to you. Purge from me all that offends you, so that I betray you not
in thought or deed.’ Surely here is the only correct attitude for each of
us who assemble to the memorial meal: all of us together constituting “One
Body” but each steadfastly examining himself alone in the light of the
Perfect Example. Not “Who is he that would betray Christ?”
but instead, “Is it I?”
“The most pressing and urgent lifelong
consideration of any who aspire to the kingdom of God must be their own complete
personal transformation of character. The realization of this urgent necessity
is far too dim among us. This is our foremost ecclesial concern, and the root of
most ecclesial problems.
“Any attempt to judge, criticize or
regulate the lives and conduct of others — until we have brought
ourselves into line with the commandments of God in this respect —
is hypocrisy.
“We tend to feel, or at least to act as
though we feel, that if we can legislate righteousness upon others, and surround
ourselves with the external appearance of a sound ecclesial framework, then our
own personal shortcomings will somehow be absorbed, and overlooked, and
compensated for, in the general ecclesial strength. We tend very much to get our
priorities in this respect completely reversed. Jesus said:
‘Thou hypocrite; first cast out the beam
out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to cast the mote out of
thy brother’s eye’ (Matt. 7:5).
“We shall find that the more attention and
concern we give to our own very numerous shortcomings, the less will be the
vehemence of our zeal to condemn our brethren, and the more cautiously, and
gently, and Christ-likely shall we approach that task.
“Let us, then, frankly examine our own
conduct and characters in the light of the plain, simple commands of Scripture,
and see if we are in any position to presume to operate on the eyes of
others.
“Let us judge, and suspect, and expose
ourselves at least as critically as we so eagerly judge and suspect and
expose others. Rather, indeed, let us judge ourselves far more searchingly than
we judge others, for this is the prescribed course of Scripture, of wisdom, and
of love. The divine command is:
‘Let a man examine.... HIMSELF’
”
(G.V. Growcott, “Let a Man Examine
Himself”, The Berean Christadelphian, Vol. 60, No. 11 — Nov.
1972 — p. 338).
“For he that eateth and drinketh
unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the
Lord’s body” (v. 29). Those who look too much at the faults, or
supposed faults, of their brethren are in danger of doing this very thing. In
looking at others rather than themselves and Christ, they are first of all
missing the point of the ordinance, and nullifying in their heedlessness the
benefit to themselves of the offering of Christ’s literal body. And in so
judging others, they may also be tearing the Lord’s spiritual
“body” to pieces. He who cannot discern the Lord’s
“body” all around him, who sees his brethren and sisters only as so
many potential problems of doctrine and practice, is in danger of cutting
himself off from them. His “careful” eating and drinking in solitude
will then degenerate into a silly smugness, a self-satisfaction that may remove
him from the very benefit he thought was exclusively his. “I thank thee,
Lord, that I am not as these other men.” But you are like them, and the
sooner you realize it the better!