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drinketh judgment unto himself, if he discern not the body. For this cause many among
you are weak and sickly, and not a few sleep" (11: 27-30 R.V.).
Those in the Corinthian assembly who were so grossly indulging the sinful old nature
by gluttony and drunkenness were playing with fire. The Lord could not be indifferent to
such conduct, and as a result, a great number of them were ill, and some had actually
been visited with death.
This was the Lord's judgment indeed beginning at the house of God (I Pet. 4: 17), and
was an earnest of the Kingdom age when, not only will there be world-wide blessing, but
divine judgment and discipline too so that sin may be restrained, and without this, such a
Kingdom and blessing would be impossible of realization.
Again we would point out that this direct judgment for sin is not typical of this present
age of grace. When one considers the errors in connection with the Roman Mass
participated in by many thousands; the many unbelievers who regularly have taken
communion over the centuries, "not discerning the Lord's body", one wonders again just
what would have happened in Christendom down the centuries had the Lord been dealing
with His people in the same way as the time we are here considering. As one has said,
undertakers could not have coped with the work! Yet Paul warned the Corinthians that
he who did not discern the spiritual teaching underlying the meal relating to the Lord's
body "eats and drinks judgment unto himself", and this judgment was not one in the far
future at the last day, but was taking place at that very time in a drastic way.
This fact, together with other features, should make it clear to the discerning believer,
that the Acts is a separate dispensation, even though we have the fundamental gospel of
grace, true for all time dealing with sin and death, preached throughout the period. The
solemn conclusion of all this is stated in verse 31:
"But if we discerned ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we
are chastened of the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world. Wherefore,
my brethren, when ye come together to eat, wait one for another. If any man is hungry,
let him eat at home; that your coming together be not unto judgment. And the rest will I
set in order whensoever I come" (11: 31-34 R.V.).
If the believers at Corinth would only turn the searchlight of judgment upon
themselves instead of on others, they would have disciplined themselves and avoided the
Lord having to discipline them, although this discipline, even if severe, was better than
being condemned with the unsaved world around them.
It is still true today, believers should never judge or harshly condemn one another. It
is easier and more pleasant to judge someone else than to rigorously judge and discipline
ourselves, but this is the only condemnation that God allows us! How much more
pleasant the history of the professing Church would have been if only this had been
carried out consistently! In this blatant age, when self-discipline is so little known, it
behoves the believer to give a witness that his faith in Christ has taught him to control
himself, remembering that this is one of the fruits of the Spirit (Gal. 5: 23, where