My Identity and the Lord's Supper

In 1 Corinthians 11, Paul tells us that in order to partake of the Lord's Supper aright, we must be able to "judge the body rightly." This phrase means so much more than our simply being able to say "this bread represents Christ's flesh". That is bare mental recall. To "judge the body rightly" has much more to do with understanding something of Christ's body on earth: the church.

I noted in a recent adult Sunday School that there are three ways this phrase has historically been understood.

1. Do I understand the bread and wine to be consecrated, and thus different than the ordinary bread and wine. (This was the view of Justin Martyr, Augustine, and Thomas Aquinas.)
2. Do I understand this congregation to be the body of Christ? (This is the view of Gordon Fee and bears some merit.)
3. Do I understand what it means to be identified with Christ, to share in his death and resurrection? (This is the standard Reformed interpretation of the phrase.)

And I would like to add a fourth:

4. Am I acting like a Christian? The Corinthians, by excluding some as well as engaging in drunken revelry, were not acting like "little Christs". In reality, they were not excluding others from the body by their unrighteous behavior, but excluding themselves--drinking judgment unto themselves. For ones life to show no fruit of righteousness, disunity with those who know Christ, and utter disregard for the means of grace is nothing short of saying, "I am not a Christian!"

It is this kind of unity with Christ and his body that Doug Wilson draws our attention to in this Supper Sermon. (HT: Justin Taylor.)