fore sim^lj Judgment, not the judgment. The meaning obvi- ously is, that the unworthy eater contracts guilt ; he exposes himself to the judgments of God. What kind of judgments the apostle had in his mind is plain from the next verse, where he refers to sickness and death.* This verse is only a repeti- tion of the sentiment expressed in v. 27, where he who eats unworthily is said to contract guilt in reference to the body of the Lord. Not discerning, i. e. because he does not dis- cern the Lord's body. The w^ord SiaKptVw, translated to dis- cern, means to separate, then to cause to differ, as 4, V ; and also, judge of, either in the sense of discriminating one thing from another, or in the sense of estimating aright. This passage may therefore mean, not discriminating the Lord's body, i. e. making no difference betw^een the bread in the sacrament and ordinary food ; or, it may mean, not estimating it aright, not reverencing it as the appointed symbol of the body of the Lord. In either case the offence is the same. The ground of the condemnation incurred is, regarding and treating the elements in the Lord's supper as though there was nothing to distinguish them from ordinary bread and wine. Here, as before, it is the careless and profane who are warned. There is, therefore, nothing in these passages which should surround the Lord's table with gloom. We are not called unto the mount covered with clouds and darkness, from which issue the signs of wrath, but unto Mount Zion, to the abode of mercy and grace, where all is love — the dying love of him who never breaks the bruised reed.
30. For this cause many (are) weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.
For this cause, that is, because those who partake of the Lord's supper unworthily incur the judgment of God ; many are weak and sickly. The distinction between these words made by commentators, is, that the former designates those whose strength decays as it were of itself, and the latter, those rendered infirm by sickness. The latter term is the stronger of the two. And many sleep, i. e. have already died. As there is nothing in the context to intimate that these terms
* Bengel's remark on this clause is : Kpifxa sine articulo judicium aliquod, morbum, mortemve corporis, ut qui- Domini corpus non discemunt, corpore suo luant. Non dicit rh KariKpifiaj condemnationem.