Gr. diakrinō, “to distinguish,” “to discriminate.” Here the meaning may be that the Corinthians did not distinguish between an ordinary meal and the consecrated emblems of the ordinance, that they placed no difference between their regular food and that which had been set apart to remind them of the atoning death of Christ. There is a great difference between memorials of ordinary events in history and the memorial of the transaction by which restoration of the sinner to divine favor became possible. Believers must not treat the ordinance as merely a commemorative ceremony of a happening in history. It is that, and much more; it is a reminder of what sin has cost God and what man owes to the Saviour. It is also a means of keeping fresh in mind the believer’s duty to bear public witness to his faith in the atoning death of the Son of God (see DA 656).

 Gr. krima, “judgment,” not necessarily the future and final punishment of the wicked. By improper participation in the Lord’s Supper one is exposed to the displeasure of God and to punishment, such as that mentioned in vs. 30, 32.

Important textual evidence may be cited (cf. p. 10) for omitting this word. If omitted, the sense of the passage is, “For the one eating and drinking not discerning the body.”