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1 Corinthians 11:28

That is why you should examine yourself before eating the bread and drinking the cup.
1 Corinthians 11:28 · New Living Translation
Parallel translations
  • WEB But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread, and drink of the cup.
  • KJV But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.
  • BSB Each one must examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup.
  • NKJV But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup.
  • NASB But a person must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Quick answer

Each person should examine himself before eating the bread and drinking the cup. Self-examination is the proper preparation for the Supper.

Overview

In light of the danger of unworthy participation, Paul calls for honest self-examination, testing one's heart, repentance, faith, and love toward others. This is not a counsel to abstain but to come rightly. The verse establishes the discipline of self-examination as integral to receiving the Supper worthily, with humble dependence on Christ's grace.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 11

  • Gal 6:4But let each man examine his own work, and then he will have reason to boast in himself, and not in someone else.
  • 2 Cor 13:5Examine your own selves, whether you are in the faith. Test your own selves. Or don’t you know as to your own selves, that Jesus Christ is in you? — unless indeed you are disqualified.
  • Lam 3:40Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to Yahweh.
  • Matt 5:23–24“If therefore you are offering your gift at the altar, and there remember that your brother has anything against you,
  • 1 Cor 11:31For if we discerned ourselves, we wouldn’t be judged.
  • Hag 1:5Now therefore this is what Yahweh of Armies says: Consider your ways.
  • Ps 26:2–7Examine me, Yahweh, and prove me. Try my heart and my mind.
  • Hag 1:7This is what Yahweh of Armies says: “Consider your ways.
  • 1 Jn 3:20–21because if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things.
  • Zech 7:5–7“Speak to all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and in the seventh month for these seventy years, did you at all fast to me, really to me?
  • Num 9:10–13“Say to the children of Israel, ‘If any man of you or of your generations is unclean by reason of a dead body, or is on a journey far away, he shall still keep the Passover to Yahweh.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (3)

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Christ at the center

Christ crucified is the wisdom and power of God; he is our Passover sacrificed for us, the firstfruits of resurrection, the foundation on which everything is built.

How 1 Corinthians 11:28 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Original language

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.