How are they that receive the sacrament of the Lord's supper to prepare themselves before they come unto it?
They that receive the sacrament of the Lord's supper are, before they come, to prepare themselves thereunto, by examining themselves 1 of their being in Christ,2 of their sins and wants;3 of the truth and measure of their knowledge,4 faith,5 repentance;6 love to God and the brethren,7 charity to all men,8 forgiving those that have done them wrong;9 of their desires after Christ,10 and of their new obedience;11 and by renewing the exercise of these graces,12 by serious meditation,13 and fervent prayer.14
Scripture proofs
The Westminster Assembly's proof texts (KJV). The bracketed numbers in the answer above mark the clause each set of references supports; expand a row to read the verses.
1 1 Cor. 11:28
But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.
2 2 Cor. 13:5
Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?
3 1 Cor. 5:7; Exod. 12:15
Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:
Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel.
4 1 Cor. 11:29
For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.
5 1 Cor. 13:5; Matt. 26:28
Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;
For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
6 Zech. 12:10; 1 Cor. 11:31
And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.
For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.
7 1 Cor. 10:16–17; Acts 2:46–47
1 Cor. 10:16 The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?
1 Cor. 10:17 For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread.
Acts 2:46 And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,
Acts 2:47 Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.
8 1 Cor. 5:8; 1 Cor. 11:18, 20
Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
1 Cor. 11:18 For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you; and I partly believe it.
1 Cor. 11:20 When ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord’s supper.
9 Matt. 5:23–24
Matt. 5:23 Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee;
Matt. 5:24 Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.
10 Isa. 55:1; John 7:37
Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.
11 1 Cor. 5:7–8
1 Cor. 5:7 Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:
1 Cor. 5:8 Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
12 1 Cor. 11:25–26, 28; Heb. 10:21–22, 24; Ps. 26:6
1 Cor. 11:25 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.
1 Cor. 11:26 For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come.
1 Cor. 11:28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.
Heb. 10:21 And having an high priest over the house of God;
Heb. 10:22 Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.
Heb. 10:24 And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:
I will wash mine hands in innocency: so will I compass thine altar, O LORD:
13 1 Cor. 11:24–25
1 Cor. 11:24 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.
1 Cor. 11:25 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.
14 2 Chron. 30:18–19; Matt. 26:26
2 Chron. 30:18 For a multitude of the people, even many of Ephraim, and Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves, yet did they eat the passover otherwise than it was written. But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, The good LORD pardon every one
2 Chron. 30:19 That prepareth his heart to seek God, the LORD God of his fathers, though he be not cleansed according to the purification of the sanctuary.
And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body.
This doctrine across the Standards
Where the Confession and the Westminster Shorter Catechism treat the same matter, so the question can be studied alongside its parallel statements.
In the Westminster Confession
XXIX.1 Our Lord Jesus, in the night wherein he was betrayed, instituted the sacrament of his body and blood, …
Our Lord Jesus, in the night wherein he was betrayed, instituted the sacrament of his body and blood, called the Lord's Supper, to be observed in his Church, unto the end of the world; for the perpetual remembrance of the sacrifice of himself in his death, the sealing all benefits thereof unto true believers, their spiritual nourishment and growth in him, their further engagement in and to all duties which they owe unto him; and to be a bond and pledge of their communion with him, and with each other, as members of his mystical body.
→ XXIX.1 · Of the Lord's SupperXXIX.2 In this sacrament Christ is not offered up to his Father, nor any real sacrifice made at all …
In this sacrament Christ is not offered up to his Father, nor any real sacrifice made at all for remission of sins of the quick or dead, but only a commemoration of that one offering up of himself, by himself, upon the cross, once for all, and a spiritual oblation of all possible praise unto God for the same; so that the Popish sacrifice of the mass, as they call it, is most abominably injurious to Christ's one only sacrifice, the alone propitiation for all the sins of the elect.
→ XXIX.2 · Of the Lord's SupperXXIX.3 The Lord Jesus hath, in this ordinance, appointed his ministers to declare his word of institution to the …
The Lord Jesus hath, in this ordinance, appointed his ministers to declare his word of institution to the people, to pray, and bless the elements of bread and wine, and thereby to set them apart from a common to an holy use; and to take and break the bread, to take the cup, and (they communicating also themselves) to give both to the communicants; but to none who are not then present in the congregation.
→ XXIX.3 · Of the Lord's SupperXXIX.4 Private masses, or receiving this sacrament by a priest, or any other, alone; as likewise the denial of …
Private masses, or receiving this sacrament by a priest, or any other, alone; as likewise the denial of the cup to the people; worshipping the elements, the lifting them up, or carrying them about for adoration, and the reserving them for any pretended religious use, are all contrary to the nature of this sacrament, and to the institution of Christ.
→ XXIX.4 · Of the Lord's SupperXXIX.5 The outward elements in this sacrament, duly set apart to the uses ordained by Christ, have such relation …
The outward elements in this sacrament, duly set apart to the uses ordained by Christ, have such relation to him crucified, as that truly, yet sacramentally only, they are sometimes called by the name of the things they represent, to wit, the body and blood of Christ; albeit, in substance and nature, they still remain truly, and only, bread and wine, as they were before.
→ XXIX.5 · Of the Lord's SupperXXIX.6 That doctrine which maintains a change of the substance of bread and wine, into the substance of Christ's …
That doctrine which maintains a change of the substance of bread and wine, into the substance of Christ's body and blood (commonly called transubstantiation) by consecration of a priest, or by any other way, is repugnant, not to Scripture alone, but even to common sense and reason; overthroweth the nature of the sacrament; and hath been, and is the cause of manifold superstitions, yea, of gross idolatries.
→ XXIX.6 · Of the Lord's SupperXXIX.7 Worthy receivers, outwardly partaking of the visible elements in this sacrament, do then also inwardly by faith, really …
Worthy receivers, outwardly partaking of the visible elements in this sacrament, do then also inwardly by faith, really and indeed, yet not carnally and corporally, but spiritually, receive and feed upon Christ crucified, and all benefits of his death: the body and blood of Christ being then not corporally or carnally in, with, or under the bread and wine; yet as really, but spiritually, present to the faith of believers in that ordinance, as the elements themselves are, to their outward senses.
→ XXIX.7 · Of the Lord's SupperXXIX.8 Although ignorant and wicked men receive the outward elements in this sacrament, yet they receive not the thing …
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 can not, without great sin against Christ, while they remain such, partake of these holy mysteries, or be admitted thereunto.
→ XXIX.8 · Of the Lord's SupperIn the Westminster Shorter Catechism
Q.96 What is the Lord's Supper?
The Lord's Supper is a sacrament, wherein, by giving and receiving bread and wine, according to Christ's appointment, his death is showed forth; and the worthy receivers are, not after a corporal and carnal manner, but by faith, made partakers of his body and blood, with all his benefits, to their spiritual nourishment, and growth in grace.
→ Open Q.96Q.97 What is required for the worthy receiving of the Lord's Supper?
It is required of them that would worthily partake of the Lord's Supper, that they examine themselves of their knowledge to discern the Lord's body, of their faith to feed upon him, of their repentance, love, and new obedience; lest, coming unworthily, they eat and drink judgment to themselves.
→ Open Q.97