1 Corinthians 11:31 - Printer Friendly

ESV: But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged.

NIV: But if we were more discerning with regard to ourselves, we would not come under such judgment.

NASB: But if we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged.

CSB: If we were properly judging ourselves, we would not be judged,

NLT: But if we would examine ourselves, we would not be judged by God in this way.

KJV: For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.

NKJV: For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged.

In this sobering passage, Paul elevates both the meaning and importance of the Lord's Supper and the consequences for participating in it in an unworthy manner. Paul has been clear that to eat the bread that represents Christ's body and drink the cup that represents His blood without proper respect for Christ and each other will bring judgment. In the previous verse, Paul shockingly said that some in Corinth were sick and others had already died for this very reason (1 Corinthians 11:27–30).

In short, God will judge His children for failing to honor Christ's sacrifice in their observance of the Lord's Supper. He will not react well if they fail to honor each other while participating in it. The following verse will define that judgment as the discipline of a loving father. This is not about a loss of salvation, or a complete rejection by God. On the contrary, God does this, in part, to keep people from experiencing judgment. Even those Christians He brings to death, in this life, will spend eternity with Him in glory.

Still, Paul now writes, believers can avoid any judgment at all for violating God's intent for the Lord's Supper. To do so, they must judge themselves first with sincerity. In other words, we must be brutally honest with ourselves before joining in the Lord's Supper and change our attitudes toward Christ's death and all those He died for. Then we will not have to worry about God's judgment afterwards.

First Corinthians 11:17–34 contains Paul's rebuke of the church in Corinth for their application of the Lord's Supper. They had turned it into a gathering at which the wealthy ate and drank too much, leaving the poorer Christians hungry and humiliated. Paul warns that communion should be a time of sober self-reflection about our sin and Christ's sacrifice, as well as a time to unite the body of Christ, the church, while taking in representations of the blood and body of Christ. Some in Corinth were sick and others had died as part of God's judgment for participating in communion in an unworthy manner.

Paul confronts two issues the church in Corinth was failing to practice correctly. First, some women were not wearing head coverings while praying or prophesying in their meetings. Paul insisted they must do so, and that men must not, based on mankind's relationship to God and the social implications of that covering. Second, Paul describes the reasons for observing the Lord's Supper and how it should be done. The Corinthian Christians had brought God's judgment on themselves for practicing communion in a way which dishonored Christ's sacrifice for sin and humiliated the poor among them.

After concluding his teaching on meat offered to idols, Paul turns to two issues the church in Corinth was getting wrong. The first was head coverings when praying or prophesying in their meetings. Differences between men and women in that regard are because of both spiritual and social reasons. Paul also corrects the disastrous way in which they were practicing the observance of the Lord's Supper. They were dishonoring Christ's sacrifice for sin as well as the poor in the body of Christ, the church. Despite having more to say on communion, Paul will move on to the topic of spiritual gifts in chapter 12.

First Corinthians is one of the more practical books of the New Testament. Paul writes to a church immersed in a city associated with trade, but also with corruption and immorality. These believers are struggling to properly apply spiritual gifts and to resist the ungodly practices of the surrounding culture. Paul's letter gives instructions for real-life concerns such as marriage and spirituality. He also deals with the importance of unity and gives one of the Bible's more well-known descriptions of love in chapter 13.