John Calvin Commentary 1 Corinthians 11:30

"For this cause many among you are weak and sickly, and not a few sleep." — 1 Corinthians 11:30 (ASV)

For this cause, etc. After having treated in a general way of unworthy eating, and of the kind of punishment that awaits those who pollute this sacrament, he now instructs the Corinthians about the chastisement which they were at that time enduring. It is not known whether a pestilence was raging there at that time, or whether they were suffering from other kinds of disease.

However this may have been, we infer from Paul’s words that the Lord had sent some scourge upon them for their correction. Nor does Paul merely conjecture that it is for that reason that they are punished, but he affirms it as something that was perfectly well known to him.

He says, then, that many lay sick — that many were kept long in a languishing condition, and that many had died, as a consequence of that abuse of the Supper, because they had offended God. By this he intimates that by diseases and other chastisements from God, we are admonished to think of our sins; for God does not afflict us without good reason, for he takes no pleasure in our afflictions.

The subject is extensive, but let it suffice to touch upon it briefly here. If in Paul’s time an ordinary abuse of the Supper could kindle the wrath of God against the Corinthians, so that he punished them so severely, what should we think about the state of affairs today?

We see, throughout Popery, not merely horrid profanations of the Supper, but even a sacrilegious abomination set up in its place.

1. It is prostituted to filthy lucre (1 Timothy 3:8) and merchandise.
2. It is maimed by taking away the use of the cup.
3. It is altered in character, as it has become customary for an individual to partake of his own feast separately, and communal participation has been abolished.
4. There, there is no explanation of the meaning of the sacrament, but a mumbling that would accord better with a magical incantation, or the detestable sacrifices of the Gentiles, than with our Lord’s institution.
5. There is an endless number of ceremonies, abounding partly with trifles, partly with superstition, and consequently, manifest pollutions.
6. There is the diabolical invention of sacrifice, which contains an impious blasphemy against the death of Christ.
7. It is designed to intoxicate miserable people with carnal confidence, while they present it to God as if it were an expiation, and think that by this charm they ward off everything hurtful, and that without faith and repentance. Moreover, while they trust that they are armed against the devil and death, and are fortified against God by a sure defense, they venture to sin with much more freedom, and become more obstinate.
8. An idol is there adored in the place of Christ.

In short, it is filled with all kinds of abomination.

Indeed, even among ourselves, who have the pure administration of the Supper restored to us, as a result of a return, so to speak, from captivity, how much irreverence! How much hypocrisy on the part of many! What a disgraceful mixture, while, without any discrimination, wicked and openly abandoned persons intrude themselves, such as no person of character and decency would admit to ordinary fellowship!

And yet, we wonder why there are so many wars, so many pestilences, so many crop failures, so many disasters and calamities — as if the cause were not manifest!

And assuredly, we must not expect an end to our calamities until we have removed their cause by correcting our faults.