Vineyard Church North Phoenix | Communion

I was looking at your website and I have a question about your belief on communion. I have attended Vineyard a couple of times and really liked it. That goes the same for my 11 yr old son. I have been in the valley for about 8 months now and been to a couple of churches and so far only yours has kept my interest w/ the sermon and the attitude of your members.

But onto my question do you beleive that taking communion unprepared or as a unbeliever that your damning your soul. I can't give you the verse and chapter but I believe that is what I read in the New King James. If I am mistaken please let me know but I would also appreciate your stand on the issue. I have been to churches that beleive you can take communion when your not saved and it will not have any effect on you. Thank you for your time and answear.

We’re glad you’re enjoying VCNP and hope that you continue to enjoy attending here. Let me try and answer your question;

I believe that your thinking of the section of Scripture found in I Corinthians chapter 11. It is fairly long section of scripture so I won’t put it up, but make sure you check what I say against this passage. The section on communion starts at I Corinthians 11:17. Paul is not happy with what is going on in Corinth. They are celebrating the Lord’s Supper and Paul says the way they are celebrating is causing more harm then good. The problem was that the Lord’s Supper was a full meal (not just a wafer and cup of juice), that was eaten by the church to celebrate what Jesus had done. Some people were showing up early, eating all the food and drinking all the wine which was causing divisions with the people who got nothing.

It is important to note that Paul was not complaining about people who were un-worthy to be taking communion, but rather people taking communion in an un-worthy fashion.

Paul wrote this section to bring correction to this practice. He wasn’t primarily bringing correction to non-believers, but to believers. While it is true that a non-believer can’t correctly examine him or herself, they are not the subject of Paul’s admonition here. We can tell what Paul’s intent was by the statement that sums up this section, which is found in I Corinthians 33-34 “So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for each other. If anyone is hungry, he should eat at home, so that when you meet together it may not result in judgment.” Notice Paul’s warning about judgment was for the brothers (believers).

So to sum up, communion is for believers only (primarily because how can you celebrate what Jesus did for us and proclaim his death until he comes if you don’t believe he did anything and secondarily you can’t judge the body rightly if you are not “born-again”). But the judgment for taking communion in an un-worthy fashion seems to be an admonition for believers not non-believers.

As to whether this results in damnation we can say that, while the King James text translates verse 29 to say that who does eats and drinks in an un-worthy manner “eateth and drinketh damnation to himself” that is probably not the best translation of what is going on in the text. Most translations (including the New King James) translates this as “ judgment” not damnation, which fits much better with what is going on in the text, because right after this Paul talks about the “judgment” resulting in people being sick or even dying