Lord's Supper
In much of the Western world today (perhaps especially in some evangelical contexts) the idea that God would judge his people in the way Paul suggests here is completely foreign, and people may be tempted to think that Paul’s language reflects an antiquated and unenlightened view of God. Such an attitude reflects the extent to which the modern world has lost the biblical understanding of God’s transcendence and fearsome holiness. In The Chronicles of Narnia C. S. Lewis emphasized the idea that Aslan was not “a tame lion,” but in much evangelical culture at the beginning of the twenty-first century the Christian God is a tame God, into whose presence people feel free to enter in a trifling or frivolous manner. Paul would have us know that the way we behave in worship and the way we treat other members of God’s holy people are not to be taken lightly, but require the most serious circumspection.
11:32 Even God’s judgment has the good of his people in mind: Nevertheless, when we are judged in this way by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be finally condemned with the world.