1 Corinthians 11:28
1 Corinthians 11:2828Each one must examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup.
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.
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 ("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."