WCF 29.8

Westminster Confession of Faith

29.8. Of the Lord’s Supper

Although ignorant and wicked men receive the outward elements in this sacrament: yet they receive not the thing signified thereby, but by their unworthy coming thereunto are guilty of the body and blood of the Lord to their own damnation. Wherefore, all ignorant and ungodly persons, as they are unfit to enjoy communion with Him, so are they unworthy of the Lord’s table; and cannot, without great sin against Christ while they remain such, partake of these holy mysteries, or be admitted thereunto.

Proof texts

1 Cor. 11:27, 28, 29 — [27] Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. [28] Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. [29] For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself.
2 Cor. 6:14, 15, 16 — [14] Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? [15] What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? [16] What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
1 Cor. 5:6, 7, 13 — [6] Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? [7] Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. [13] God judges those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.”
2 Thess. 3:6, 14, 15 — [6] Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from any brother who is walking in idleness and not in accord with the tradition that you received from us. [14] If anyone does not obey what we say in this letter, take note of that person, and have nothing to do with him, that he may be ashamed. [15] Do not regard him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother.
Matt. 7:6 — [6] “Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.

For discussion

The Assembly cited 1 Cor. 11:27, 28, 29 in support of this answer. Read it in context — how does it bear on what is claimed here?
5 passages are cited here. Which does the most work, and is anything claimed that the proofs do not obviously carry?
WSC Q97 treats the same ground. What does it add, and why might it put things differently?
WLC Q175 treats the same ground. What does it add, and why might it put things differently?

Read alongside

WSC Q97 · WLC Q175 · WLC Q177 · WLC Q149 · WSC Q88 · BC 8.1 · BC 8.2 · BC 8.3 · HC Q65 · 1689 28.1 · SD 28.1 · IAR 7.1 · SC60 6.1 · SC60 6.2 · SC60 6.3 · SC60 6.4 · SC60 6.5 · SHC 6.1 · SHC 6.2 · IAR 8.1 · SC60 7.1 · SC60 7.2 · SC60 7.3 · SHC 7.1 · SHC 7.2 · SHC 7.3

Leader's notes

A Commentary on the Confession of Faith (A.A. Hodge): These Sections teach the Reformed doctrine as to the relation which in the Lord's Supper subsists between the sign and the grace signified — that is, as to the nature of the presence of Christ in the sacrament, and the sense in which, consequently, the worthy recipient is said to feed upon the body and blood of the Lord. This Reformed doctrine may be stated as follows : 1st. The bread and wine — always remaining mere bread and wine, without change — represent, by the divine appointment, the flesh and blood of the Redeemer offered as a sacrifice for sin. The relation between the bread and wine and the body and blood is purely moral or representative. 2d. The…

An Exposition of the Confession of Faith (Robert Shaw): In the preceding sections we have a strong condemnation of the Popish doctrine respecting the sacrament of the Lord's supper, and hei'e we have an explicit condemnation of the Lutheran doctrine. The Lutherans hold, that although the bread and wine are not changed into the body and blood of Christ, yet that his real body and blood are received by the communicants along with the symbols. This is called consubstantiation, to signify that the substance of the body and blood of Christ is present in, with, or under the substance of the elements. " This opinion, although free from some of the absurdities of transubstantiation, appears to us to labour under so many palpable difficulties, that we are disposed to…