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.
Eat ... and drink. So A Delta (Lachmann versus Tischendorf) read. But 'Aleph (') B C G f g, Vulgate, and Cyprian, read 'or.' Romanists quote this in favour of communion in one kind. This does not follow. Paul says, Whosoever behaves unworthily, either in eating the bread or in drinking the cup, is guilty of the body and blood of Christ. Impropriety in only one vitiates communion in both. Therefore, in the end of the verse, he says, "body AND blood." Any who takes the bread without the wine, or the wine without the bread, "unworthily" communicates: so 'is guilty of Christ's body and blood,' for he disobeys Christ's command to receive both. If we do not receive the sacramental symbol of the Lord's death worthily, we share the guilt of that death (cf. Hebrews 6:6). Unworthiness in the person ought not to exclude any, but unworthily communicating: however unworthy we be, if we penitently believe in Christ's meritorious death for us, we worthily communicate. The 'unworthiness' primarily meant here is that of unlovingness to brethren in the very ordinance which seals love to them as well as to our common Saviour.