The main argument against covenant communion goes something like this – “if a child cannot yet examine himself or discern the Lord’s body – then he is eating in an unworthy manner and shouldn’t eat the Lord’s Supper until such a time that he can do so.” This, of course, is taken from the only passage opponents of covenant communion can cite for their position – 1 Corinthians 11:27-29.

But this notion is not at all what Paul was intended his readers to understand here. This “warning passage” (v.27-34) is a safeguard for the Lord’s Supper.  The sin Paul was addressing was schism at the Table. 

It’s important to remember the context for the passage.  The book of Corinthians begins in chapter 1 addressing the sin of divisions in the body.  “Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment . . . Is Christ divided?” (1 Corinthians 1:10,13)

In Chapter 3, Paul addresses the carnality of the divisions and sectarianism that was rampant in the church.  The brethren were proud and acting in many unloving ways towards each other.  In chapter 6, he exhorts against the sin of lawsuits among the brethren – which of course was not keeping the spirit of unity in the body.  Chapters 12 and 14 are passages where Paul rebukes and corrects the Corinthians for their proud and divisive abuse of the spiritual gifts.  Chapter 13 is a needful excursus to reveal to the church the nature of God’s love in which they were so lacking.  In Chapter 15, Paul addresses a heresy in the church regarding the resurrection which was confusing and dividing the body.  And in chapter 11, the chapter for our interest, sandwiched between all the other exhortations to unify the body of Christ, Paul speaks against the schism in the body regarding the how people were taking the Lord’s Supper (cf. 1 Corinthians11:18-21).

Therefore, the purpose of Paul’s warning regarding the Lord’s Supper was not to set a prerequisite for an intelligent participation, but the self-examination was a preventative measure to come to the table in communion with one another, not disunity. That’s the main point of what Paul is saying here.  Discerning the Lord’s body is primarily speaking about the rightly discerning the body of Christ – i.e. the church.

Peer back at the passage through those spectacles, and you might see it open up for you.