The passage
      v23a. Paul, as with the other apostles, was a source for the oral traditions of the life and teachings of Christ. These traditions Paul passed on to his churches. On the particular tradition of the Lord's Supper, Paul explains that the Corinthians have failed to give due weight to Jesus' words.
      v23b-24. Jesus joined with his disciples to celebrate the Passover meal, a meal which focused on Israel's salvation from their slavery in Egypt. At the point of the blessing, Jesus takes a loaf of bread and reinterprets this element as a symbol of his own "exodus" - the bodily offering of himself, as "the lamb of God", for the salvation of the world ("which is for you"). Our response is to "do this": share together in the story, share together in the bread, share together in faith ("remember").
        v25. After the meal, Jesus takes the cup and states that it signifies the sacrificial outpouring of his blood to death, and that this serves to ratify a new covenant, or agreement, between God and mankind. Again, Paul restates the phrase "do this in remembrance of me" and so underlines what we are doing when we join in the meal; we recall and recommit to the cross.
      v26. The eating and the drinking serves to "proclaim", or set forth, the story of the cross. In much the same way as the exodus story was recounted during the Passover meal, so the story of Christ's death and resurrection is recounted during the Christian passover meal, a meal that begins with the sharing of a loaf and ends with the sharing of a cup. As the story of Christ's sacrifice is recounted, the people reaffirm their faith (they remember), expressing that faith in a shared loaf and cup.
      v27-29. Paul now returns to his "instructions", concerning the Lord's Supper, which commenced in verse 17. The Corinthians were acting with little care for each other in the Lord's Supper. Obviously, they were missing the point of this "love feast". The meal serves to focus the gathered believers on the sacrificial death of Christ. In this death we become God's eternal family. How then can we participate in the meal while ignoring the needs of our other brothers and sisters? A person who acts with disregard toward their brothers in the "love feast" of the Lord, will be held accountable for treating this visible expression of the sacrifice of Christ with disdain. What we need to do is give due weight to what we are doing in the Lord's Supper, for if we fail to recognize the cross in the loaf and cup we stand condemned.

Do this in remembrance of me
      The Lord's supper is an affirmation of Christian community. It is a declaration that we are a people bound under a new agreement with the living Lord, an agreement which sets us apart as an eternal community - a people bound in love to one another and to the Lord.
      Christ's death and resurrection has achieved this for us. In the cross, Jesus takes a people out of the bondage of sin and death and gathers them in a new land. So, when we participate in the Lord's Supper, we remember what Jesus has done for us, and as we eat and drink we reaffirm our faith in his death and resurrection on our behalf. In this eating and drinking we affirm our oneness and love, our community. Then in thanksgiving we go forward toward eternity.
      The high ideals of the Lord's Supper are very easily undermined and it is clear that God does not treat this offence lightly. In fact, the scriptures warn us that if we eat and drink "in an unworthy manner" we "eat and drink judgment against" ourselves. So, beware!
      In the third exhortation of The Book of Common Prayer the communicants are warned that if they receive the holy Sacrament unworthily they eat and drink their own damnation. Obviously, it all comes down to what is meant by participating in an "unworthy manner." The first exhortation lists many unworthy human traits such that if we took the exhortation seriously none of us could honestly attend the Lord's Supper.
      In verse 29, eating and drinking "worthily" is restated in the terms: "without recognizing the body of the Lord." This is often taken to mean not acting in a considerate way toward the other members of the congregation. The Corinthians had turned the Lord's Supper into a feast where some were bloated while others went hungry, so maybe a lack of consideration toward others in the Lord's Supper is what is unworthy, although, is this deserving of "damnation"?
      The "body" Paul is talking about here is probably not the congregation, but the body and blood of Christ, that is, his sacrifice on our behalf, a sacrifice which is symbolically expressed in the sharing of a loaf and cup at the Lord's Supper. If we fail to recognize, fail to discern the significance of the Lord's Supper, fail to see in it the cross of Christ, then we eat and drink in an "unworthy manner." As The Book of Common Prayer puts it: "As the Son of God did vouchsafe to yield up his soul by death upon the cross for your salvation, so is your duty to receive the Communion in remembrance of the sacrifice of his death, as he himself hath commanded: which if ye shall neglect to do, consider with yourselves how great an injury ye do unto God, and how sore punishment hangeth over your heads for the same."

v23
      parelabon (paralambanw) aor. "received" - took, received [from the lord]. Most likely the sense here is that Paul received the tradition concerning Jesus' words of administration from others. Some argue that he received it directly from the Lord. The variant para, in place of apo, indirectly supports this argument. "For the tradition I received from the Lord and also handed on to you", NJB.
      paredwka (paradidwmi) aor. "passed on" - delivered over. Paul passes on the tradition.
      en th nukti (nux nuktoV) "on the night" - Supporting the view that Jesus and the disciples were celebrating the Passover.
      paredideto (paradidwmi) imperf. pas. "betrayed" - delivered over, handed over. Translations now tend toward "handed over / delivered up", in the sense of given up by God to the cross, rather than "betrayed", AV. RV..., as in betrayed by Judas. Possibly "arrested", REB.
      arton (oV) "bread" - "A loaf of bread."

v24
      eucaristhsaV (eucaristew) aor. part. "had given thanks" - having given thanks. The participle forms a temporal clause. The act of declaring a blessing or thanksgiving over the bread was commonly performed by the head of a Jewish household, and was performed with particular solemnity at a Passover meal.
      eklasen (klaw) aor. "he broke" - he broke. The bread (most likely something similar to Lebanese bread) is parted for the purpose of sharing.
      touto mou estin to swma "this is my body" - The bread may represent the person of Jesus, "I myself", Bruce. Jeremias says "body" means "flesh", in fact he argues that Jesus would have used the word "flesh" originally. It is likely that "body" represents his sacrifice, his flesh crucified - body broken ("broken" is found in some manuscripts, but is most likely not original). Doubtless the Passover symbolism is dominant here such that Jesus' death and resurrection serve as the new exodus of a saved people in Christ, and it is this truth which is imaged in the new passover celebration in the symbols of a loaf of bread and a cup of red wine. "This bread represents my sacrifice on your behalf."
      to uJper uJmwn "which is for you" - on behalf of you. The emphases is substitutionary; Christ's sacrifice was on our behalf.
      touto poieite (poiew) imp. "do this" - make, do. Luke has this phrase as a command, although Matthew doesn't. Lit. "do this as my memorial". The second touto, "this", given the context, refers to the giving of a blessing / thanksgiving over the bread, the recounting of the story, cf. v26, breaking it, distributing it and consuming it as in a meal.
      eiV thn emhn anamnhsin (iV ewV) "in remembrance of me" - toward my remembrance, reminder, memory of me. OT, used of a memorial sacrifice which serves to remind the participant of their sin under a merciful God. Clearly the Passover serves as our guide in understanding the business of remembering. The remembering is not a reenacting (or even a reexperiencing) of the salvation event worked by Christ on the cross (the myth-and-ritual school), nor is it just a mental imaging of the cross, but does involve an identification with the cross; probably best understood as a faith response toward Christ's death on our behalf. Remembering involves "identity reshaping, not mere intellectual recall", Thiselton. Possibly, but unlikely, "do this in order that God may remember me by bringing about my parousia and consummating his kingdom", Jeremias.

v25
      wJsautwV "in the same way" - in the same manner, likewise. Meaning, that the cup is treated in the same way as the loaf. "And in the same way with the cup after supper", NJB.
      meta to + inf. "after [supper]" - after the [eating of supper, dining, feasting, eating a meal.] Properly a temporal infinitive expressing antecedent time. Paul is saying that the wine is taken after the meal is completed. Disputed by some on the grounds of custom, but not grammar. "After the meal", Barclay.
      to pothrion (on) "the cup" - Presumably "the cup of blessing", 10:10, ie. "the cup over which we offer a blessing", "the cup of the Lord", v27, ie. no ordinary cup, but a cup put to a special use, originally for the Passover, but now as a memorial of the cross. Most commentators agree that Christ is probably alluding to the third or fourth moment the Passover cup is used in the celebration, although it is unlikely that Jesus is locking in the exact sequence of events for future use. "The cup of the Lord", containing red wine to share, represents Christ's sacrifice, while our taking the cup and drinking expresses a faith act of remembering (believing)." As to the issue of the content of the cup, grape juice or red wine, at the Passover red wine was used, but for the Lord's Supper we have no rule on the issue.
      kainh adj. "new" - This "covenant" is "new" in that it was promised in Jeremiah 31:31-34 and replaces the old covenant of Exodus 24:6-8.
      diaqhkh (h) "the covenant" - the agreement, treaty. The covenant/agreement established by God with his people at Mount Sinai was at the cost a sacrificial victim. So, the new agreement, the content of which is the gospel, an agreement established between God and believers, is at the cost of Jesus' life, a blood-sacrifice. "After the meal Jesus took a cup of wine in his hands and said, 'This is my blood, and with it God makes his new agreement with you'", CEV.
      en tw/ emw/ aJmarti "in my blood" - The sense is probably "by means of / at the cost of" Christ's sacrifice. The phrase most likely modifies "the new covenant", but it may well modify "the cup." "The new relationship with God made possible at the cost of my death", Barclay.
      oJsakiV ean pinhte (pinw) subj. "whenever you drink it" - as often as you drink. Possibly referring to the wine, and possibly every time we drink wine; "as often as you drink wine", Barrett. This phrase is not in v24. Commenting on "whenever", Barrett suggests that in a normal Palestinian home wine is not always available and so the bread will suffice for a complete memorial, but when wine is available it can be included. There are those who argue that this phrase shows that Jesus intended every meal to commence and end with a memorial to him. Fee suggests that the phrase "implies a frequently repeated action, suggesting that from the beginning, the Lord's Supper was for Christians, not an annual Christian Passover, but a regularly repeated meal in honor of the Lord." It does seem likely that "it" refers to a particular cup, "the cup of the Lord", and that the drinking of/from it physically expresses a faith act focused on Christ's sacrifice. We are to "remember" whenever we share in this memorial cup; "as often as you drink the cup of the Lord."

v26
      gar "for" - The word serves to introduce an explanation of what precedes. Barrett suggests that the verse explains the "memorial character of the supper." Fee suggests that Paul is explaining why he has repeated the words of administration at this point in his criticism of the Corinthians' failure to respect the Lord's Supper. The meal (or the memorial elements of the meal) signifies the death of Jesus, and sadly the Corinthians have failed to recognize this.
      esqihte (esqiw) subj. "eat" - eat. As noted above, it is whenever we eat this memorial loaf and drink from this memorial cup, rather than every time we eat and drink.
      kataggellete (kataggellw) pres. "you proclaim" - you proclaim, announce. "You represent symbolically, by means of the broken loaf and the outpoured wine", Weiss. Barrett suggests it means to proclaim, as a narrative, the events concerning Christ's death during the supper in the same way as the events of the Exodus are proclaimed during the Passover meal. The word is most often used of proclaiming the gospel, of preaching Christ. "You are telling the story of the Lord's death", TH.
      acri + subj. "until [he comes]" - This phrase gives the meal a future aspect, rather than a total focus on a past completed act. Christ's death, celebrated in the Lord's Supper, has future ramifications which will be realized on his return. "Until he comes again", Phillips.

v27
      wJste an + subj. "therefore, whoever [eats]" - it follows therefore, whoever [eats]. "The consequence is that anyone who eats", Barclay.
      anaxiwV adv. "in an unworthy manner" - unworthily. "Unworthily" is favoured by translators, but it is far too broad, given that no one is worthy to participate in the Lord's Supper. Paul's focus is not on the worthiness of the participants, but on the actions of a number of the participants who feast at the supper without considering the significance of the feast and the practical impact this has on the life of their Christian community. "In a careless manner", BAGD; "in a way that is not fitting", Thiselton; "in a way that contradicts all that the Lord meant it to be", Barclay.
      enocoV adj + gen. "[will be] guilty [of the body and blood of the Lord]" - "Guilty" in the sense of "held accountable by God." This adjective, followed by a genitive, expresses the guilt of evil action "against" something or someone. Here, the action may be expressed in the terms of "sinning against / profaning / desecrating", although given the context, something more specific is required; "held accountable for so treating the body and blood of the Lord", Thiselton.

v28
      dokimazetw (dokimazw) pres. imp. "ought to examine" - let examine, test, approve after examination. The sense of "approve after examination" is best, since a positive outcome is the intended purpose of the testing, so BAGD. The present imperative here denotes action that is obviously iterative, ie. action that is repeated. Prove what? Possibly whether they are "genuine", v19, although is this a genuine faith, or a genuine intent to participate in the Lord's Supper in a way that is fitting? The latter seems best. As noted above, an ethical testing to see whether we are "living and acting 'in love and charity' with our neighbors", Bruce (cf. BCP), is unlikely.
      ouJtwV "before [he eats]" - thus, so, in this way. The NIV, REB, NJB and NRSV render this adverb as if introducing a temporal clause. The literal sense, "let a man prove himself and so let him eat ..", RV, leaves us struggling with the meaning. The sense "in this way" seems best, where this adverb refers to the antecedent, the proving of an intent to participate in the Lord's Supper in a fitting way, a way that does not contradict all that the Lord meant it to be. Such a proving enables a believer to effectively participate / share in the loaf and cup and therefore share in its blessing.
      ek "-" - [and in this way] of, out of, from [the bread let him eat]. "And in this way participate / share in the loaf and the cup."

v29
      mh diakrinwn (diakrinw) pres. part. "without recognizing [the body]" - not discerning, differentiating, separating, making a distinction. The participle is either conditional, setting a condition to the eating and drinking, "if you fail to understand", CEV, or better, causal, defining the ground on which effective eating and drinking is destroyed. If "body" is the gathered people of God, then "discerning the body" possibly entails "showing consideration ("respect", Robertson) for one another and so giving practical expression to our common membership of the body of Christ, which is signified in the sharing of the eucharistic bread", Bruce. Barrett and others argue that "body" is a short-hand version of "body and blood" and that the "discerning" involves "making a right judgment" when comes to the significance of the loaf and cup, namely, the saving work of Christ on the cross. This interpretation seems best.
      krima "judgment" - A participant in the Lord's supper who fails to recognize, in the meal, the substance of Christ's saving work, will stand condemned in the last day; "he is eating and drinking his own condemnation", NJB.

v30
      dia touto "that is why" - because of this. "This is the reason why", Barclay.
      en uJmin polloi "many among you" - many of you. "Many members of your church."
      asqeneiV adj. "weak" - sickly. Paul makes the point that the physical illness of some of the Corinthians, even the death of some, is at the hand of God, and is a consequence of their failure to properly address the substance of "the love feast." Paul's observation is not easily glossed over, although, in a preaching situation, we may be inclined not to go there. Most commentators regard these "divers diseases and sundry kinds of death", BCP, as self inflicted, the consequence of a life-style focused on self gratification, but others regard the symptoms as signs of God's impending judgement, cf. Bruce, Conzelmann, Moule. Of course, a specific prophetic observation made of a particular congregation does not necessarily apply to all congregations. The proposition that God chastises his people clearly applies to all, but the specific chastisement facing the Corinthians, namely, sickness and death, does not necessarily apply to all.
      arrwstoi adj. "sick" - ill, diseased. "Feeble and sick", REB.
      koimwtai "have fallen asleep" - A euphemism for death, "have died", CEV, although possibly "it is this careless participation (in the Lord's Supper) which is the reason for the many feeble and sickly Christians in your church, and the explanation of the fact that many of your are spiritually asleep", Phillips.

v31
      ei + imperf. "if" - Introducing a conditional clause, 2nd class, present contrary to fact. "If we would examine ourselves, we would not be undergoing the judgment of God", Barclay.
      diekrinomen (diakrinw) imerf. "we judged" - cf. v29, "if we would make a right judgment of ourselves."
      an + imperf. "-" - Forming the apodosis of the conditional clause, "we would not be judged."