The Lord’s Table
THE LORD’S TABLE (Devin H. Dunn)
1 CORINTHIANS 11:17–34
Big Idea: Because the Lord’s Table displays the gospel, we must come to it in a manner worthy of the gospel, with united hearts.
The Lord’s Table is meant to visibly proclaim the unity Christ has created through the gospel. The tragedy in Corinth was not simply that the church contained differences and disagreements. Every church does. Their sin was allowing those divisions, hierarchies, and distinctions to overshadow the very meal that proclaimed their unity in Christ.
Paul confronts the Corinthians by showing them three things that should happen whenever the church gathers around the Lord’s Table: Table Proclamation, Table Participation, and Table Preparation.
I. Table Proclamation (11:17–26)
Paul begins with a severe rebuke: “when you come together it is not for the better but for the worse” (11:17). Divisions within the Corinthian church had become so pronounced that Paul tells them, “it is not the Lord’s supper that you eat” (11:20).
The Lord’s Supper was originally celebrated in the context of a shared meal. Yet the wealthy Corinthians were using their social privilege to eat separately, consume excessively, and humiliate those who had little. They would then gather around the same bread and cup and claim to celebrate their unity in Christ.
Their actions contradicted their proclamation.
The gospel announces that every person comes before God equally sinful, equally needy, and entirely dependent upon grace. Social status, wealth, privilege, and worldly hierarchies have no place before the Table because the gospel equalizes us before God.
Paul reminds them of the words Jesus spoke when instituting the meal:
1 Corinthians 11:23–26: “The Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it… In the same way also he took the cup… For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.”
The Lord’s Table makes several proclamations:
We proclaim our need for the gospel.
The broken bread and poured cup remind us that Christ’s body was broken and his blood shed because we are sinners who desperately need grace.
We proclaim the invitation of the gospel.
There is no hierarchy of worthiness at Christ’s Table. The invitation of the gospel goes to “whoever believes in him” (Jn. 3:16). All who recognize their need and trust in Christ are invited to come.
We proclaim the death of Christ.
The Table visibly preaches the story of the crucified Savior. Until Jesus returns, the church continually announces through this meal that our salvation rests upon his body given and his blood shed for us.
The Corinthians were performing the ritual while contradicting its message with their lives. We cannot proclaim the humility and grace of Christ at the Table while living in pride and superiority toward one another.
II. Table Participation (11:23–27)
Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are visible signs through which Christians publicly profess their faith in the gospel. But there is a danger in knowing the signs without actually participating in the reality toward which those signs point.
It is possible to know the symbols, perform the ceremony, and even defend the theology while never embracing the Christ proclaimed through them.
The Corinthians possessed the sign but were failing to participate rightly in its reality.
Paul therefore warns:
1 Corinthians 11:27: “Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord.”
The Lord’s Table is not an ordinary meal. Christ has commanded his church to fellowship with him through these physical elements in a unique and sacred way.
Historically, Christians have sometimes fallen into two opposite errors concerning this participation:
1. Treating the elements as Christ himself.
The Roman Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation teaches that the bread and wine become Christ’s body and blood. Yet Scripture teaches that Christ’s sacrifice was accomplished once for all (cf. Heb. 10:10–14). Salvation is received through faith in Christ, not through repeatedly receiving the elements.
The bread and cup point us toward Christ; they are not another sacrifice of Christ.
2. Treating the elements as merely symbolic.
The opposite error reduces Communion to little more than a mental exercise of remembering Jesus. Yet Paul’s severe warning in verse 27 shows that something profoundly sacred is taking place when Christians gather around this meal.
The Table is a sign, but it is not an empty sign.
In Communion, believers enjoy a unique, Christ-appointed fellowship with their Savior. We do not come to receive a new salvation or additional justification. We come to renew, enjoy, and participate in the grace that is already completely ours in Christ.
The Table is therefore not optional or insignificant to the ordinary life of the Christian. Christ has given it to his bride as a tangible expression of our communion with him.
III. Table Preparation (11:28–34)
Because the Table proclaims the gospel and provides sacred fellowship with Christ, Christians should prepare themselves before participating.
Paul commands:
1 Corinthians 11:28–29: “Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself.”
Preparation for the Table requires us to discern three things:
Look In — Examine Yourself
We recognize our sin and our need for grace. We do not approach the Table because we have made ourselves worthy, but because we recognize ourselves as spiritually impoverished sinners invited to the King’s feast.
Look Up — Behold Christ
We look away from ourselves toward the body and blood of Jesus. Christ is not merely part of the Table; he is the King who invites us to it. Our confidence rests entirely in his finished work.
Look Out — Discern the Body
The “body” is not only the body of Christ represented in the meal, but also the people Christ has united to himself—the church (cf. 1 Cor. 10:16–17).
The Corinthians failed in all three directions. They saw themselves arrogantly, treated Christ casually, and treated fellow Christians contemptuously.
The gospel calls us to something radically different.
We look in and see our sin. We look up and see our Savior. We look out and see our family.
In a world fractured by division, the Lord’s Table presents a radically different picture: sinners of every background, status, and circumstance standing together because they have received the same grace from the same Savior.
At the Table, we proclaim the gospel, participate in the gospel, and prepare our hearts with the gospel until the day when Christ returns and faith finally becomes sight.
Questions for reflection:
Does my life proclaim the same gospel that I proclaim at the Table?
Who in the church am I tempted to see as beneath me, less important than me, or simply someone I would rather avoid?
Am I merely familiar with the signs of Christianity, or am I actually participating in Christ?
When I receive Communion, what am I actually thinking about?
Is there unconfessed sin I need to bring before Christ before coming to the Table?
Is there another Christian with whom I need to pursue reconciliation? Can I proclaim our unity around Christ’s Table while refusing to pursue peace with a brother or sister?
Which direction do I most often neglect when preparing for Communion?
Look in: Do I see my sin?
Look up: Do I see my Savior?
Look out: Do I see my family—the body of Christ?What would change about our church if we actually lived Monday through Saturday according to what we proclaim together at the Table on Sunday?