---
title: 1 Corinthians 11:28
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/1-corinthians-11-28/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/1-corinthians-11-28.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: 1 Corinthians 11:28
testament: NT
section: Letters
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# 1 Corinthians 11:28

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> Each one must examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup.

## JW Usage

The Watchtower cites 11:28 as part of the rationale for Memorial abstention — most Witnesses examine themselves, find they are not of the anointed, and pass the bread. The verse becomes a gatekeeping step in the Watchtower's two-class system, where self-examination sorts Witnesses AWAY from the elements rather than toward them. 99.88% of Memorial attendees arrive at an abstention conclusion, verse 28 treated as the instrument that produces it.

## Protestant Usage

Paul's "each one must examine himself" presupposes that each one will then eat. Verse 28 is not a filter that sorts some away from the table; it is the preparation every partaker makes before eating. Read alongside 2 Corinthians 3:18 ("we ALL, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord's glory, are being transformed") — the "all" Paul addresses is the Corinthian congregation as a whole, not a subset. At the door: "Paul's grammar is 'examine yourself... and then eat.' He does not say 'examine yourself to see if you qualify to eat.' The Watchtower has changed a step in the sequence into a barrier at the sequence."

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [Transformation Is Happening Now](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/2corinthians3-transformation.md) — 2 Corinthians 3:18 — not deferred to the millennium [Sanctification]