Unity in the Meal: Biblical Theology in Practice

The final question becomes how the Southern Baptist churches and her pastors may apply this model to their practice of the Lord’s Supper. On the basis of the foregoing, the Table belongs to all Christians and should thus be open to each one. However, to freely offer communion to all attendees on Sunday morning would naturally result in the admission of unqualified participants. There must be some sort of means by which pastors can protect the Table while not barring rightful participants to it.
In the second half of 1 Corinthians 11, the apostle Paul provides the framework for a solution to such a quandary. In verses twenty-seven through thirty-two he exhibits a concern that believers within the church at Corinth are partaking in the Lord’s Supper unworthily. Paul writes, “For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself,” (1 Cor. 11:29). Sampley explains that “discerning” is a figuring out or reckoning that a person is capable of doing. The “body” which Paul refers to is the body of Christ, or in other words, how one is related to Christ. In Paul’s thought, “body of Christ” can never be separated as a concept from those who by God’s grace have come to salvation. Sampley writes, “‘discerning the Body’ is Paul’s shorthand way of talking about an individual’s assessment of two distinguishable but inseparable matters: how well one’s life relates to Christ, and how well one’s love ties one to others who, though many, are one body in Christ,” (Sampley, 936). Improper self-assessment leads to both present and future divine judgment, as proper self-examination avoids judgment and ensures blessing. Sampley concludes that in addition to its many functions, the Lord’s Supper is the pre-eminent context for self-examination (Sampley, 937).