Communion in the Church

June 12, 2009
By

The Apostle Paul quoted what the Lord said on the last night, when He sat down with His disciples for the last Passover meal.

“And when he had given thanks, he broke (the bread), and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, this cup is the New Tes­tament in my blood: this do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me,” (1 Corinthians 11:24-25.)

Paul said that the Lord told them to celebrate the occasion of this event “in remembrance of Him”. This is the reason to celebrate the Lord’s Supper. This was to be a solemn occasion to proclaim or declare the Lord’s death until He returns. He goes on to tell them if they take part in this event unworthily it is wrong and they will suffer for it. But just what does Paul mean by unworthily? It sounds as if you are not worthy to do it, then you shouldn’t. But this is not what Paul was say­ing. Let’s look at the 29th verse and see what it says.

I Cor 11:24 29 “For he that eats and drinks unworthily, eats and drinks damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.”

Paul is actually saying that if a person eats the bread and drinks of the cup for any other reason except to discern the Lord’s body, or to have some other motive except to do it in remembrance of Him, then it is wrong.

Many times believers are led to believe that they should not celebrate the Lord’s Supper if they have done something, or are engaged in something the church does not approve of. They are made to believe that because of their actions, they are not wor­thy to take part in the Communion. This is just not true and it’s wrong to lead people to believe that.

Part of this misunderstanding is due to the translators of the Bible not using the best word in their translation. Here is another case where they let their own understanding and doctrinal practices influence their decision. The Greek word “anaxios” can be translated into the English words “unworthily” or “irreverent­ly”. And in this text it should have been translated into, “irrev­erently.”

Paul says that a believer should take part in the Lord’s Supper in remembrance of Him and to show respect for the Lord’s body being broken for us. To take part for any other reason is showing irreverence or disrespect for the Lord. Being unworthy has nothing to do with it. If we are believers, having repented for our sin and have been baptized, then we are worthy to take part in the Lord’s Supper, for He has made us worthy.

Do not let someone rob you of the joy of your salvation by causing you to believe that you are unworthy to take part in any form of worship, just because of his or her misunderstanding of the scriptures.

This is just one example of what is wrong with using so many of the different versions of the Bible. Man too easily accepts, for the gospel, what another man says or writes, instead of being sure that what he is receiving is the unadulterated Word of God. We can only be sure we are receiving the true Word of God if we accept only what the original writers of the scriptures put down. Once man puts his hand to translating and/or interpreting the scriptures, he gives satan an opportunity to cause something to be changed or misrepresented.

Thats my opinion

Ron

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  • http://www.christianbooksbibles.com Heather

    Hi Ron,

    I was just talking with a friend of mine about this the other day so I’d like to ask you a question. Don’t you think a God as all powerful as ours would keep His word from being corrupted by man, since He knew all too well how imperfect His creation was? I just can’t wrap my mind around the idea that He would allow it to be mistranslated the very first time. I’m thinking that maybe later, He might allow Satan to slide in with other translations that are not pure because Satan always has a counterfeit to everything God puts out, but if The Lord of all Creation can’t have one single unadulterated translation of the bible, then I don’t think people would believe in that God.

    PS, I am by no means a King James “only”. My preferred translation is the NASB but I do think that an intelligent being like God, would give the gentiles of the western world, their first copy, error free.

  • Patti

    Hi Ron,

    Thank you Thank you for writing this here. I totally agree with what you have said about the Lord’s supper…that is what I have concluded as well from studying about that greek word.

    The rest of what you have written may I ask…who do you say are the origianl writers of God’s word? Are you going back to the original manuscripts like the Masorete (probably have the spelling wrong) texts or the latin vulgate texts or the originals?

    One this I do trust and know for a truth….that while there may be error in translations….I do know that God has preserved the truths of the gospel as shared with us in the Pauline epistles..So now we are talking about God’s preserving His truths within the Bible…

    As Heather expresses here…An Almighty God CAN and DID preserve His word for us…but many of us are content to just accept and read any translation and I’m thinking that the reason we do is that very few people know what is theeeeee preserved word of God… will you comment on this for us please Ron?

  • Ron

    Hi Heather

    Yes you do make a good point and many others have grounded their faith on the literal reading of the KJV bible, saying that it is the inerrant, infallible Word of God.

    I too viewed this translation the same way until it became obvious to me that God does not micromanage the lives and actions of His children.

    We must keep in mind that our Heavenly Father gave us freedom of choice and made us free moral agents which allow us to make mistakes.

    Anyone that gives an in depth study of the KJV must recognize that these translation errors do exist in many places, but this does not and should not reflect on the ability of God. It just might be that He allowed these errors to exist to see for Himself if His children would seek out the truth of His Word.

    I wonder if many others like yourself believe that the KJV is the inerrant Word of God, but choose to adopt other translations which are not word for word translations.

    Ron

  • Justin

    Also, the issue isn’t that it was written wrong…it was that the core meaning of the words used, have many different applications. In addition, the translation to different languages may have caused many personal opinions to get in the way.

    I remember reading about when they were trying to decide which books of the Bible were included…and it was such a man-made process that was subject to personal opinions and ulterior motives in some places (some of those in leadership were actually corrupt).

  • Ron

    I certainly thank all of you for your comments on my post about communion in the Church.

    Each one of you have contributed with valid statements and I agree that God certainly knows what He is doing and why He allows man to do what man does. But who has the mind of God? Who among us is able to state that God would or would not allow certain errors to occur between when His Word leaves His mouth until it reaches our ears?

    Since this discussion has deviated somewhat from the subject of communion to the Bible as a whole, I would like to share with you my comments on the Bible in general.

    Please allow me to publish a new post about the Bible and consider what I have to say.

    Kindness Regards

    Ron





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