Causes of Fear

An extraordinary dread of approaching the Lord’s Table exists in many minds. This is partly caused by a misunderstanding of certain words of the Apostle Paul, and must be removed by considering their true import. The expressions are found in his account of the institution.

‘’ 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.”

“For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation (the word means judgment) to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.”*

Every thing depends upon our discovering of whom this guilt and this judgment are declared. For this purpose we must examine the history and context of the passage. Paul was writing to the Corinthians. They had fallen into gross and heathenish abuses of the Lord’s Supper, such as to annul its real character.f They turned it into a common banquet, where each ate his own separate provision, and where they drank to intoxication. It was this which was eating and drinking unworthily, and this which

1 Cor. n: 27, 29. f 1 Cor, H 2a brought on them guilt and condemnation. But these censures do not apply to fearful souls, in our day, who come reverently to the ordinance, even if it should be the case that they come without full preparatiqn.