Questions & Answers

Your question gives evidence of a common misunderstanding that burdens consciences or distorts the meaning of the Bible unnecessarily. Thanks for asking to allow these comments.

In and of ourselves we have no "worthiness" to be in fellowship with our Lord God or to have and enjoy his gifts like the gospel in Word and sacrament. To seek a personal "worthiness" is futile and approaching God in a wrong way.

In the light of Christ's perfect and finished work in our place, and reflecting the personal possession of this treasure through God-given faith in Jesus, we are fully "worthy" of such blessings, including the Lord's Supper and all other gifts God freely gives. Our "worthiness" is always and only linked to personal repentance and reliance on our Savior. That is how "worthy" we need to be to enjoy and derive blessing from his gospel instruments.

The misunderstanding I referred to earlier assumes you are thinking of Paul's words in 1 Corinthians 11:27. Read the passage carefully and note that it does not say we are to "be" worthy or to somehow make ourselves "worthy." Rather it speaks of receiving the sacrament "in an unworthy manner." That means that we who are worthy through Christ's work and personal faith in him can act or approach the sacrament in an unworthy, unfitting, or inappropriate manner or way. The issue is not that we ourselves are to be worthy but that our use of the sacrament be fitting or proper for such a wonderful means of grace. The Corinthian believers, who were certainly "worthy" as believers who enjoyed the blessings Christ won for them and enjoyed God-given faith, could nevertheless act or behave in an unworthy manner in connection with the sacrament. From this section of 1 Corinthians 11 we learn that their unfitting or inappropriate behavior was in treating the Lord's Supper as an ordinary meal, eating it with selfish or unloving attitudes over against the less fortunate among them, and failing to honor the meal and the real presence of Christ's body and blood as they should have. So Paul warns them. Anytime a professing believer eats and drinks the Lord's Supper without personal repentance and reliance on Christ, unworthy behavior is also happening.

My answer to you, then, is that you ARE worthy through Christ's blood and God's gift of saving faith. Do not let your conscience be burdened on that. But see that the point the Bible is making is that we who are "worthy" by God's grace in Christ are nevertheless capable of "unworthy" behavior, using the sacrament in an unfitting and inappropriate way. Daily repentance and faith in Jesus will continue to give us the ability and wisdom to use the sacrament wisely and properly.