Partaking of the bread means that a person believes in the benefit of Jesus’ sacrifice in his behalf and accepts it.

¹⁴ In fact, after Jesus directed the apostles to partake of the emblematic bread and wine, he told them that they would ‘eat and drink at his table in his kingdom, and sit on thrones to judge the twelve tribes of Israel.’ (Luke 22:28-30) Consequently, partaking of the Memorial emblems means more than simply believing in Jesus’ sacrifice. Every Christian must accept the ransom and exercise faith if he is to gain everlasting life anywhere. (Matthew 20:28; John 6:51) But partaking of the emblems signifies that one is in the new covenant, selected to be with Jesus in his Kingdom.

Paul said that a bad practice had developed among those there who were obliged to partake of the emblems. Some had meals beforehand at which they ate or drank too much, making them drowsy, dulled in their senses. As a result, they could not “discern the body,” Jesus’ physical body represented by the bread. Was that so serious? Yes! By partaking unworthily, they became “guilty respecting the body and the blood of the Lord.” If they were mentally and spiritually alert, ‘they could discern what they were and would not be judged.’​—1 Corinthians 1:2; 11:20-22, 27-31.