1 Cor 11:27
reads as follows in the KJV:
Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and
drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily,
shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.
Young's
Literal Translation is very similar:
So that whoever may eat this bread or may
drink the cup of the Lord unworthily,
guilty he shall be of the body and blood of the Lord.
Some other
translations seem to give the impression, however, that Paul is not speaking of
the worthiness of the person, but the worthiness or lack thereof in their
partaking of the Eucharistic elements, such as the NRSV:
Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks
the cup of the Lord in an unworthy
manner will be answerable for the body and blood of the Lord.
The
underlying Greek term is ἀναξίως, an adverb which is modifying the verbs of
eating and drinking. Because of this, some Protestants and modern translations
claim that the use of an adverb modifying the eating/drinking, as opposed to an
adjective modifying the person (which identifies an unworthy individual), means
that the recipient's personal sins are not an issue, but only their discernment
of the significance of the bread/body and wine/blood.
While it is
technically true that the adverbial modifier points to the discernment of the
body and blood of Jesus, a person in grievous sin(s) who attempts to sanctify
himself with the Lord's Supper and who attempts to sanctify himself with the
Sacrament without confessing grievous sins to a Church leader (cf. John
20:23; D&C 132:46), has, in effect, not discerned the Body and Blood of
Jesus in the Sacrament. Further, they are eating unworthily since they have not
approached the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper with the proper intentions.
Finally, it should
also be noted that, had Paul used an adjective instead of an adverb, he would
have limited the focus to the person and eliminated the person's responsibility
to discern the nature and importance of the Sacrament.
