“If one took the bread and the cup without discerning the REAL body of Christ as The Ekklesia with whom they were communing, then that one would be guilty of taking the body and blood of the man Jesus, by an act of will, not faith.”
I can see where you’re coming from.
I can not and do not agree. Not just from a plain reading of the words, but also because church bodies from the beginning, while the Apostles were still alive, believed in the real presence. Don’t you think that the Apostles and those who were taught by them would have put a stop to something so hideous if they did not believe it was commanded by Jesus?
Also, I have no idea what you mean by ‘an act of will, not faith.’ Explain?
The heart of man is desperately wicked. Who can know it? ... When CHRISTIANS gather for communion, they gather to remember and show why they are CHRISTIANS, not to eat and drink the man Jesus. Paul calls the symbols what they are bread and wine (well, the cup ... of wine). The pagans in that day gathered to eat the god they worshipped. In an act of their will they gathered to eat the food brought for sacrifice to the idol then ate it believing (by their will believing, not by The Spirit of Truth) they got their god in them vias their alimentary tract.