In 1 Corinthians 11, Paul rebukes his audience for dishonoring the Lord’s Supper. He explains that some were eating the meal in an unworthy manner—getting drunk, eating all the food, and showing no regard for the body of the Lord. As a result, many were weak and sick, and some had died (1 Corinthians 11:29–30). This was the Lord’s discipline.
However, the discipline described in 1 Corinthians 11 was not directed toward believers. Paul writes:
1 Corinthians 11:32 But when we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.
Christians are guaranteed no condemnation because of Jesus’ sacrifice (Romans 8:1), and Jesus said that those who believe do not come into judgment (John 5:24). When Paul said the discipline was intended to prevent them from being condemned, he must therefore have been addressing unbelievers within the church—those who would fall under condemnation unless this discipline corrected their course.
This would also explain why these unbelievers were dishonoring the Lord’s Supper: they did not recognize its significance because they did not believe (1 Corinthians 11:20, 27–29).
Unbelievers Ate With Believers
Unbelievers would regularly assemble with believers. Paul writes:
1 Corinthians 11:18-19 First of all, I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you, and in part I believe it. And indeed, there must be differences among you to show which of you are approved.
He also notes:
1 Corinthians 14:24 But if an unbeliever or uninstructed person comes in while everyone is prophesying, he will be convicted and called to account by all…
Jude likewise indicates that false teachers would eat with believers at these gatherings:
Jude 1:12 These men are hidden reefs in your love feasts, shamelessly feasting with you but shepherding only themselves. They are clouds without water, carried along by the wind; fruitless trees in autumn, twice dead after being uprooted.
It is also possible that the Lord’s Supper was observed primarily at Passover in the earliest days. Jesus instituted it during the Passover meal (Luke 22:15–19). Christ is the true Passover Lamb (1 Corinthians 5:7; 11:23–25). Communion, therefore, may not have been a weekly practice for most early believers but rather the Passover meal reinterpreted in light of Jesus’ death.
During Passover, Jews from across the Roman world traveled to Jerusalem for the week-long feast. Believing and unbelieving Jews would have eaten together, but believers would have celebrated the meal with a fresh understanding of Christ. This may have contributed to the divisions Paul mentioned.
The Eschatological Theme
Paul’s statement that those who eat the Lord’s Supper “proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes” (1 Corinthians 11:26) carries eschatological significance.
While the original Passover celebrated God’s protection through the blood of a lamb and a hasty escape from Egypt (Exodus 12:11–13), communion celebrated protection through faith in Christ’s blood—and perhaps a hasty escape from the coming destruction of Jerusalem (Luke 22:18; 1 Corinthians 11:26). Jesus had repeatedly warned His followers to flee the city when they saw the signs (Luke 21:20–21; Matthew 24:15–21).
Importantly, this discipline would have been aimed at the unbelieving Jews who participated in the meal. If they were treating the Passover (and its fulfillment in Christ) lightly—just as their ancestors had in Egypt—they were not spiritually prepared to heed Jesus’ warnings and flee Jerusalem before its destruction.
In this way, the discipline served as both correction and mercy. It was meant to awaken them to the truth so they would not share in the greater condemnation coming upon the land.
God was not punishing Christians for personal sins but warning unbelievers who were mistreating believers and failing to recognize the significance of the meal. He may even have been preparing them to flee Jerusalem ahead of the coming Roman war.