What Does It Mean to Take Communion Unworthily?
THE QUESTION
What does it mean to take Communion unworthily? Some sincere Christians fear that any remembered sin, spiritual weakness, or feeling of unworthiness forbids them from the Lord’s table. Paul’s warning in 1 Corinthians 11 is serious, but it does not demand sinless perfection. He rebuked believers who treated the Lord’s Supper selfishly, divisively, and without proper regard for Christ and His church.
SHORT ANSWER
To take Communion unworthily means to eat the bread and drink the cup in an unworthy manner—carelessly, selfishly, divisively, or without discerning the Lord’s body. Paul addressed people who turned the church’s shared meal into an occasion for factions, humiliation of the poor, overeating, and drunkenness. His remedy was self-examination, repentance, consideration for others, and reverent remembrance of Christ. He did not say that only sinless people may participate.
WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS
The word describes the manner of participation
First Corinthians 11:27 warns against eating the bread and drinking the cup “unworthily.” The word describes how someone participates, not a claim that certain Christians possess personal merit worthy of Christ’s sacrifice. No believer deserves the body and blood of the Lord through his own goodness.
Paul does not say, “Only worthy people may eat.” Instead, he commands, “But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup” (verse 28). Examination should lead to honest and reverent participation, not endless absence based upon the impossible goal of personal perfection.
The Corinthian context explains the warning
Paul begins the section by saying their gatherings did more harm than good. Divisions existed among them (1 Corinthians 11:17–19). When they assembled, each person rushed ahead with his own meal. One remained hungry while another became drunken (verses 20–21).
The wealthy shamed believers who had little. Paul asked, “despise ye the church of God, and shame them that have not?” (verse 22). Their conduct contradicted the meaning of the Lord’s Supper. The one bread testified to fellowship, but their meal displayed selfishness and contempt.
Therefore, taking Communion unworthily includes more than failing to feel solemn. The Corinthians mistreated fellow believers while supposedly observing a meal that proclaimed Christ’s self-giving love and the unity of His body.
Participants must discern the Lord’s body
First Corinthians 11:29 says that the careless participant eats and drinks judgment “not discerning the Lord’s body.” At minimum, believers must recognize that Communion concerns Jesus Christ rather than ordinary food. The bread directs attention to His body given for us, and the cup directs attention to His blood.
The surrounding chapters also emphasize the church as Christ’s body. First Corinthians 10:17 says, “For we being many are one bread, and one body.” The Corinthians failed to recognize the practical meaning of that body when they humiliated poorer members. Reverence for Christ cannot coexist comfortably with contempt for His people.
Self-examination is commanded
Paul tells each person to examine himself. A believer should ask whether he is remembering Christ, understanding the gospel meaning of the meal, harboring selfish division, mistreating other believers, or treating holy things casually.
Self-examination is not morbid introspection that searches for a feeling of personal worthiness. It brings conduct into the light of God’s Word. When Scripture exposes sin, the proper response is confession, repentance, needed reconciliation, and renewed dependence upon Jesus Christ.
The command ends with eating and drinking. Paul expected self-examining believers to participate. Communion itself reminds Christians that their acceptance rests upon Christ’s body and blood, not upon their ability to make themselves worthy.
God’s judgment upon the Corinthians was serious
Paul writes, “For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep” (1 Corinthians 11:30). God had disciplined the church physically; “sleep” in this context refers to death. The warning shows that God does not regard the Lord’s table as an empty custom.
The KJV uses “damnation” in verse 29, but the next verses explain the judgment in view. Paul says, “when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world” (verse 32). He describes divine discipline upon believers, not a statement that one careless participation automatically sends a Christian to hell.
Believers should judge themselves honestly
Verse 31 says, “For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.” Christians should not wait for severe correction before confronting sin. They should evaluate their motives and actions by Scripture, accept God’s rebuke, and change course.
This self-judgment must remain gospel-centered. It is not self-salvation or self-punishment. Jesus Christ bore the believer’s sin at the cross. Honest examination acknowledges wrong, seeks mercy, and restores truthful fellowship with God and others.
Paul gave practical instructions
The chapter closes with simple correction: “Wherefore, my brethren, when ye come together to eat, tarry one for another” (verse 33). They needed to wait for one another and treat the gathering as a shared church observance rather than a private feast.
If someone was hungry, Paul told him to eat at home (verse 34). The Lord’s Supper should not become an occasion for satisfying appetite, showing social status, or excluding others. The church gathers to remember Christ and proclaim His death together.
KEY SCRIPTURES—KJV
1 Corinthians 11:20–22: “When ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord’s supper. For in eating every one taketh before other his own supper: and one is hungry, and another is drunken. What? have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? or despise ye the church of God, and shame them that have not?”
1 Corinthians 11:27–29: “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. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.”
1 Corinthians 11:30–32: “For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.”
1 Corinthians 11:33–34: “Wherefore, my brethren, when ye come together to eat, tarry one for another. And if any man hunger, let him eat at home; that ye come not together unto condemnation.”
1 Corinthians 10:16–17: “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread.”
BIBLICAL PRINCIPLES
Unworthily does not mean imperfectly
Every Christian still needs grace. Paul condemns an unworthy manner of participation, not every believer who feels weak or remembers a failure.
Context controls interpretation
The Corinthian abuses define Paul’s immediate concern: division, selfish consumption, drunkenness, humiliation, and failure to wait for one another. We should not detach the warning from those facts.
Christ and His sacrifice deserve reverence
The bread and cup concern the Lord’s body and blood. Casual mockery, unbelief, or thoughtless routine contradicts the purpose of Communion.
The church body must not be despised
Believers cannot honor Christ’s self-giving death while treating poorer, weaker, or less prominent Christians with contempt. The Lord’s table calls the many to live as one body.
Examination should produce a response
When God’s Word exposes sin, Christians should confess it, turn from it, pursue reconciliation, and depend upon Christ. Examination without repentance becomes another empty exercise.
God may discipline His people
The Corinthians’ sickness and deaths show the seriousness of persistent irreverence. Divine chastening aims to correct God’s people and distinguish them from the world’s final condemnation.
WHERE CHRISTIANS DIFFER
Christians differ about the phrase “not discerning the Lord’s body.” Some emphasize recognizing Christ’s sacramental presence in the elements. Others emphasize understanding what the bread symbolizes. Many also see the church body in view because Paul’s central rebuke concerns division and mistreatment within the congregation.
These interpretations need not erase one another. The context requires reverence for Jesus Christ and serious regard for His gathered people. Christians also differ about whether someone conscious of serious sin should temporarily abstain. Paul’s instruction gives the primary direction: examine yourself, address the sin honestly, and “so let him eat.”
THE CONCLUSION
Taking Communion unworthily means participating in an unworthy manner—without reverence for Christ, without understanding the meal, or while expressing selfish division and contempt for His church. Paul’s warning is not a demand that believers make themselves sinlessly worthy.
Christians should examine themselves, confess and turn from known sin, pursue needed reconciliation, discern the Lord’s body, and then eat and drink in grateful dependence upon Jesus Christ. The table magnifies His worthiness, not ours.
PRACTICAL APPLICATION
- Read 1 Corinthians 11:17–34 before reducing Paul’s warning to a vague feeling.
- Remember Christ’s body and blood and the gospel proclaimed by the bread and cup.
- Examine whether you harbor division, contempt, selfishness, or careless unbelief.
- Confess known sin and take practical steps toward reconciliation where possible.
- Do not demand sinless perfection from yourself before participating.
- Approach the table humbly, depending upon the worthiness of Jesus Christ.
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