Why We Partake of the Sacrament
1 Corinthians 11:23–29
23 For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread:
24 And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.
25 After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.
26 For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come.
27 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.
28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.
29 For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.
Elder Bruce R. McConkie wrote:
“When Jesus instituted the ordinance of the sacrament, He and His Apostles were celebrating the Feast of the Passover; the partaking of the emblems of His broken flesh and spilled blood was a part of and grew out of this paschal meal. . . .
“The ordinance of the sacrament, replacing the ordinance of sacrifice, is the repetitiously performed rite whereby the true Saints center their worship in Christ and His atoning sacrifice, and whereby they renew and reaffirm the covenant made in the waters of baptism, thus again attaining a state of full fellowship with the Lord, through the consequent remission of their sins.
“The sacramental ordinance was destined to continue among the true Saints until and after the Second Coming of the Son of Man, when Christ Himself will again partake, with all His holy Saints, of the emblems of His broken flesh and spilled blood [see D&C 27:5–14].
“Personal worthiness is an essential prerequisite in all gospel ordinances; otherwise the performances are not sealed by the Holy Spirit of Promise, thus gaining efficacy, virtue, and force for this life and for the life to come [see D&C 76:53; 132:7]. Thus Moroni counsels: ‘See that ye partake not of the sacrament of Christ unworthily’ [Mormon 9:29]. Similarly, in latter-day revelation we find this decree: ‘If any have trespassed, let him not partake until he makes reconciliation’ [D&C 46:4].”
(Doctrinal New Testament Commentary, 3 vols. [1965–73], 2:364–65.)
