06/03/2024
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO âDRINK DAMNATIONâ ON OURSELVES?
Suppose that someone does drink âunworthily.â Suppose that someone carelessly eats the communion bread without repenting for abusive behavior towards other members of the body. What will happen? Will they be damnedâlost eternally in hell, without any hope of forgiveness?
If we keep reading, the question answers itself. Paul writes,
29 For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment [krima; âdamnationâ KJV] on himself. 30 That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. 31 But if we judged [i.e., examined] ourselves truly, we would not be judged. 32 But when we are judged [krinĹ] by the Lord, we are disciplined [paideuĹ] so that we may not be condemned along with the world.
Yes, this is a serious warning. No, we should not brazenly approach the Lordâs Table when we are sinning against others in the body. But the krima(âjudgmentâ ESV, âdamnationâ KJV) that someone eats or drinks on himself is not automatic damnation to hell. Itâs the judgment of the Lordâs paideia (discipline), which has our final salvation as its aim.
When the KJV was translated in 1611, the first sense of âdamnationâ was âcondemnationâ (OED). It could also be used of public disapproval or sentencing to hell, but notice that normally additional modifiers are needed, like âdamnation of hell,â âeternal damnation,â and so on. Other texts in the KJV that use âdamnedâ or âdamnationâ that are equally misunderstood include Romans 13:2 and 14:23. Language changes, which is why, as the Protestant Reformers understood, we need new translations to avoid unnecessary barriers to understanding Godâs word.
The krima (âjudgmentâ ESV, âdamnationâ KJV) that someone eats or drinks on himself is not automatic damnation to hell. Itâs the judgment of the Lordâs paideia (discipline), which has our final salvation as its aim.
Reading 1 Corinthians 11 in light of Hebrews 12 is enlightening. In fact, I turn to Hebrews 12 more than any other passage in Scripture when counseling believers who lack assurance and struggle with anxiety over their spiritual âperformance.â Hebrews 12 explains how believers should think about and respond to the Lordâs paideia (discipline):
âthe Lord disciplines [paideuĹ] the one he lovesâ ⌠God is treating you as sons. ⌠he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
If we brazenly eat the body (the bread) while despising the body (church), God will discipline us. That discipline may be very painful. In Corinth, God allowed some to become physically ill: âThat is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have diedâ (1 Cor. 11:30). But the purpose of this judgment is not our final damnation; itâs our final salvation! Paul plainly says, âwhen we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the worldâ (1 Cor. 11:32). To cite Wesley again, âye eat and drinkâ (not âdamnation:â a vile mistranslating of the word, but) judgment, temporal judgment.â
Christians should examine their hearts before they come to the Lordâs Table and repent of any sin in their lives, especially towards other members of the church, so that they can avoid unpleasant discipline. But if they go to the Table and are disciplined by God, it is because God is trying to bring them to their senses. He does not want his disciplined sons and daughters to give up, he wants them to repent, stand up straight, be healed, and keep pressing on in their lifelong pursuit of holiness. Since Godâs discipline means that he is a loving Father who is serious about our holiness, Hebrews 12 continues,
Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed. Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.
Sadly, many believers have had the last part of Hebrews 12 pounded into them (âstrive for holiness without which no one will see the Lordâ) before they have ever understood the first part (God is a father who lovingly corrects, not casts out, his children when they stumble on the highway of holiness).
In light of this, hasten to the Lordâs Table! Come with joy! Receive the gift of God in the bread and wine! Join the church in its happy anticipation of the Marriage Supper of the Lamb! And if you are disciplined, remember that it comes from the hand of a loving Father who, like kind earthly fathers, disciplines his children (even the stubborn ones) for their good.
