I gazed in the mirror to approve my wardrobe. This event required new, navy blue dress pants, a white shirt, and a navy blue clip-on tie. Mom made me polish my shoes that morning – she wanted me to look my best for the ceremony. I was nervous, even though my classmates and I had practiced all week in anticipation of this occasion of our first Holy Communion. This was a big event in the life of every Catholic boy and girl. The Bishop would be there to perform the ceremony, and the church building would be packed with people.
Naturally, I was looking forward to the banquet that was served afterward. If one liked Italian food, my mom was Queen of Italian cuisine! The meal was a smorgasbord of the best Italian foods you could imagine!
Although we were taught about the importance of Communion, at 7 years old, I can assure you that I didn’t comprehend much about it. What I did remember was this: I would be eating the actual body of Jesus and drinking his blood! I just couldn’t digest that.
I don’t think I ever believed that doctrine, though I never voiced my disbelief for fear of being beaten by my grade school principal, Sister Marie Sylvia, who brandished the dreaded wooden paddle. It hung on the wall behind her desk to strike fear into all those who were unfortunate enough to be sent to the Principal’s office.
I continued to partake of Communion all the way through high school. I did so primarily because I went to Catholic schools and we were encouraged to attend the Catholic Mass before school each morning. But after high school graduation, I stopped attending church, and Communion fell by the wayside.
Although it’s true that I didn’t believe the doctrine of transubstantiation, I will confess that the Communion rite made its mark on me. Thus, when I answered God’s call to salvation through trust in Jesus Christ and learned more perfectly about the sacrifice that Jesus made on my behalf, I began to better understand the significance of the Communion observance. But it seemed as though something was still missing in each Communion ceremony I participated in over the years.
When I asked to teach at our Christian fellowship one Sunday before Easter, I suggested we also have a Communion service. This necessitated a deeper dive into the meaning and purpose of Communion. The probe opened my eyes to scriptural veracity that I had not seen before. I realized that I had embraced wrong teaching about Communion that had to be weighed on the scales of scriptural evidence, and not on traditional belief.
History
As I delved into the history of the communion service, I found that communion was not a ceremony, as most denominations celebrate it today; instead, it simply occurred as a part of a communal meal, or banquet. Communal meals were common in Biblical times and are still common today.
Multiple studies show that shared meals have psychological and social benefits. Eating together is one of the most important and practical means for overcoming any barrier that separates us. It is also an incredible way to share thoughts and fellowship together. Jesus ate with all kinds of people, and much of the teaching recorded in the gospels is centered around meals. It gave him the opportunity to connect with individuals.
The last meal Jesus ate with his disciples was the Passover supper. It is recorded in all four gospels, and the records of this meal form the foundation of the Communion service.
Matthew 26:26 – 28
And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and having blessed it, he broke it, and giving it to the disciples, said, “Take, eat. This is my body.” And having taken a cup, and having given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. For this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
Mark 14:22-24
And while they were eating, he took bread, and when he had blessed it, he broke it and gave it to them and said, “Take it; this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank from it. And he said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.
Luke 22:19, 20
And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And in the same way he took the cup after they ate, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.
Interestingly, the gospel of John does not record the elements of the meal as in the other three accounts. However, what is recorded will be considered later.
There are a lot of components at work in the account of the Last Supper. It was the observance of the Passover meal, and the bread and wine were given specific relevance by Jesus. He presented the bread in a metaphor as his body, and the wine as his blood. There is the command to “Do this in remembrance of me,” which must be considered, as well as the issue of the “new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you” and how it relates to the forgiveness of sins.
There is a lot to consider, so we better get started.
The bread and wine Jesus used were not specially prepared. It was the ordinary bread and wine they typically had for their meal. There is no record of the early church using special bread or wine for the Communion remembrance. There are several passages of scripture in the New Testament that refer to communal meals and the Communion service, but nothing is mentioned of special requirements that had to be met.
Acts 2:42
And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer.
This is a record of the period following the Day of Pentecost. The breaking of bread spoken of here refers to communal meals at which Christ’s words at the Last Supper would have been remembered and the bread and wine shared. Certainly the Apostles would have been present at these gatherings to share Christ’s instructions of remembrance.
Nevertheless, as with most things, over time the simple offering of thanks and time that was taken to eat bread and drink wine in recognition of Jesus’ sacrifice became ritualized, and the “communion service” was conceived.1
This happened very early in the life of the Church and can be seen in the study of early Church documents:
There is a very early description of the correct way to celebrate the Eucharist (meaning in Greek “thanksgiving”) in the Didache, a work cited by the Christian writers Clement of Alexandria (c. 150-215), Eusebius of Caesarea (263-339) and Athanasius (c. 293-373). Several centuries later the 4th century Gentile theologian Cyril of Jerusalem left a more detailed and ritualistic instruction for Communion. While the Didache concentrates on prayer and thanksgiving, Cyril’s instructions emphasize technique.2
So it becomes evident that the religious and ritualistic procedures for performing the Communion service that were established in early Christianity were developed by men, and are not altogether scriptural. All the same, the Scriptures encourage believers to remember the sacrifice of Jesus Christ when they come together to eat. His words were clear: “Do this in remembrance of me.”
There is no reason to believe that the words of Christ were not headed by the early Christians, so anyone who wanted to eat and drink and remember the sacrifice of Christ could do so. There was no membership or special requirements that had to be met, other than those that are inherent in Jesus Christ’s instructions to love one another.
Paul addressed the subject of the Lord’s Supper in 1 Corinthians. As we look at chapter 10, we learn more about the Communion service.
Joint Participation
1 Corinthians 10:16, 17
The “cup of blessing” that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one loaf of bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.
In verse 16, the word “participation” in the Greek is koinōnia and is translated “fellowship” throughout the New Testament. Koinōnia refers to a close relationship characterized by involvement and sharing. Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon defines it as “joint participation, intimacy.”
The fact and experience of Christian fellowship only exists because God the Father through Jesus Christ has re-established a relationship with mankind that was lost when Adam sinned. When one believes the gospel of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, this relationship is created and leads to an experienced relationship, a “communion” between man and God. And those who are thus “in Christ” (as the apostle Paul often states) are in communion not only with Jesus Christ and the Father, but also with one another. This relatedness, relationship, and communion is fellowship.
The beauty of having a clear definition of koinōnia is that it allows us to tell if we are actually having true Christian fellowship or not. Someone once defined “intimacy” as “in-to-me-see,” which is accurate and clear. Genuine fellowship requires us to let people into our hearts and lives, and they in turn do the same. Chit-chat and small talk is not full sharing or intimate participation. Christian fellowship happens among people who are in close association and with people they trust. It is this intimacy that Christ had with his disciples at the Last Supper. Our participation in this remembrance should mirror the same relationship and intimacy.
Covenants: Fulfillment of the Old; Ratification of the New
The “cup of blessing” that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ?”
The cup of blessing, in verse 16, refers to the “cup of blessing” over which thanks were offered in the Passover meal. Yet the original Passover story makes no mention whatsoever of a cup. In fact, the only biblical mention of a cup in connection with Passover is in the New Testament. What is the significance of the cup Jesus uses during his Passover observance?
In his article, The Mystery of the Passover Cup, David Brickner gives us the following insight:
Throughout the Hebrew Scriptures the cup is often used as a symbol of God’s judgment. For example, the cup of fury, the cup of judgment, the cup of trembling and the cup of horror and desolation appear throughout the Old Testament. Yet we also find the Psalmist crying out, “I will take up the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord” (Psalm 116:13). So the symbol of the cup carries with it pictures of both wrath and redemption, of judgment and blessing.
None of these references mentions the Passover. Yet, the themes of judgment and salvation are woven together beautifully in the Passover story. God poured out His judgment on the Egyptians, but spared the Israelites who obeyed Him by placing the blood of a lamb on the doorposts of their homes. Each year Jewish families retell these events through the seder, the ceremonial meal that commemorates Passover.
Yet, how the cup became a Passover symbol remains a mystery. We do know that by the time Jesus observed the Passover, drinking a cup during the meal was an official part of the observance. In fact, an ancient rabbinic source, the Mishnah, instructs those celebrating to drink from the cup four times during the Passover seder. That tradition remains to this day.
The New Testament names one of the cups—the cup taken after supper, which is traditionally the third cup. Jesus calls this cup “the new covenant in my blood, which is shed for you” (Luke 22:20). The Apostle Paul calls it, “the cup of blessing which we bless,” as well as “the cup of the Lord” (1 Corinthians 10:16, 21).
Both Jesus and Paul draw on something from Jewish tradition to provide insights not previously understood. By calling the cup “the new covenant in my blood,” Jesus makes a direct reference to the promise of Jeremiah 31. God had declared that He would make a new covenant because the previous covenant had become “broken” (Jeremiah 31:32). To violate a covenant agreement with God would surely incur His wrath and judgment—a terrible cup! Yet, God promised a new covenant of grace and salvation.3
When early Christians participated in communion, they were aware of its connection to Passover and with the Last Supper of Jesus with His disciples.
When we examine the Matthew and Luke records of the Last Supper, we see similar accounts of Jesus blessing the cup.
Matthew 26:28 reads, For this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
Luke 22:20 reads, And in the same way he took the cup after they ate, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.”
Now, the casual reader might think what is written in each account is the same thing, just stated differently. But that is not the case.
There are several examples of blood covenants in the Old Testament. An animal was killed to represent the consequences of breaking the covenant. The animal was cut in pieces and the covenant parties would walk between the pieces, implying that it was understood that if either of them broke the covenant, they would be put to death like the sacrificed animal. By their death, forgiveness was attained for breaking the covenant. It was a vivid display of the consequences of breaking the oath that was made.
The following commentary from the Revised English Version clarifies what Jesus was referring to in Matthew and in Luke:
The covenant Matthew is referring to is the Old Covenant because Jesus said that his blood was “poured out for the forgiveness of sins.” But the blood sacrifices that inaugurate and ratify a covenant, such as the sacrifices that ratified the Abrahamic or Mosaic covenants, were not for the forgiveness of sin, they were the graphic presentation of the maledictory oath that if the covenant was broken, the covenant-breaker deserved death. If the blood of the covenant sacrifices was shed to forgive the sins of anyone who broke the covenant, then there would be no penalty for breaking the covenant. If someone broke the covenant, they were not forgiven on the basis of the ratification sacrifice; on the contrary, the blood sacrifice that ratified the covenant emphasized that there would be death to anyone who broke the covenant. It was the death of the one who made the covenant or a designated representative that paid the penalty for breaking the covenant and thus allowing sins to be forgiven.
So in a biblical covenant there was blood shed when the covenant was made to point out that anyone who broke the covenant deserved death, and there was also blood shed if the covenant was broken. Amazingly, Jesus’ death fulfilled both parts of that shedding of blood. His death on the cross was the death required because Israel broke the Old Covenant, and it was also the sacrificial death that was required to inaugurate the New Covenant. The penalty for breaking the first covenant had to be paid before the second one could be ratified. No one’s sin is forgiven by entering the New Covenant; they are able to enter the New Covenant because they already have their sin forgiven. Peter understood that, so on the Day of Pentecost he told the people to repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of sin so that they could then receive the gift of holy spirit.4
After reading this, I immediately went to the book of Hebrews and read chapters 8, 9, and 10. Jesus Christ is our High Priest who entered into the presence of Yahweh with his own life as sacrifice for the broken covenant and to inaugurate the new covenant. We have been made holy through the offering of the life of Jesus Christ, the perfect Lamb of God, once and for all.
So one might ask, “Is the New Covenant in force for the Church today?” Contrary to what many Christians think, the answer is no, it is not.
The New Covenant was ratified at the Last Supper, and will be effective when Christ returns to earth and sets up his kingdom. The fulfillment of the covenants God made with Abraham and with Israel will also be realized at this time. God promised both Abraham and the children of Israel the land, yet Abraham never saw it, and Israel never had the full inheritance promised to them. There can be a large gap between when a covenant is made and when it is fulfilled. That is the case today. Study in the Old Testament what God says will happen when the New Covenant is in force, and you will realize it is not in force yet. We today are living in the Administration of the Sacred Secret.
The cup of blessing was a bitter cup for Christ to drink; he prayed three separate times that it might be taken from him. He fully understood the sacrifice, the pain, suffering, and brutal horrors that faced him. His death would pay the price for Israel’s broken covenant and also be the sacrificial death that was required to inaugurate the New Covenant. Because he freely drank from this cup, it becomes for the believer a cup of blessing.
Communion: An Intimate Participation
When we come together and participate at the communal dinner table, we drink from the cup and we eat the bread. We refer to this as Communion. I’ve heard it called a commemoration – but communion is a better word. It is a commemoration, but not simply like commemorating the anniversary of the death of a famous person. When we come to the Lord’s Table, we are not simply commemorating someone who was here but who died and is gone. We are actually communing with someone who died but was raised from the dead and who is present with us.
In the Gospel of John, chapter 6, Jesus referred to himself as “bread.” When Jesus spoke of eating his flesh and drinking his blood, he was using idioms that were common in his day, and in fact are still used today. Eating and drinking were common activities that required personal involvement, so it is easy to see why they became idioms for involvement and commitment. By asking people to eat his flesh and drink his blood, Jesus was asking people to be committed to him. Jesus is the bread that truly gives life. Jesus Christ is our Lord and life – we yield ourselves up to him and live upon him. Our Christ is alive – not in a tomb, but risen, exalted, living!
The body of Jesus, which was given as a sacrifice for all, stands as an example of how we also ought to live sacrificially for others. In John’s record of the Last Supper, we see Jesus teaching his beloved disciples this truth. One-by-one, he washed the disciples’ feet. Afterward, he told them he had given them an example, that they also should do as he had done to them. And then he gave them a new commandment.
John 13:34, 35
“I am giving to you a new commandment, ‘Love one another.’ Just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples: if you have love for one another.”
This is a beautiful testimony of what the Communion remembrance entails: not only the remembrance of the broken body and shed blood, but also the giving of oneself completely and fully in service to others.
So when we come to the Communion table, it is realistically a time for us to commune with Christ. In our remembrance and commemoration of him, we can have communion with him. And as we pray and give thanks for the food and drink of which we will partake, we remember what the elements symbolize. His body was broken on our behalf, and he bore our sin upon the cross. And we are reminded that we are one body, in union with him and the Father in service to others.
And so we not only have communion with Christ, but also with all who are in Christ – vertical and horizontal. Isn’t this what Paul is saying in 1 Corinthians?
1 Corinthians 10:17
“Because there is one loaf of bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.”
One loaf, one body, one bread – the bread of life – Jesus Christ. So Communion is a reminder that this body of Christ – our relationship with him and with one another – is a reality. We are members of one another. We not only have communion with Christ, but also with each other.
But the Church in Corinth had problems in this matter. In 1 Corinthians 11:17-34, Paul reproves the Corinthian believers for eating the bread and drinking the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner. The context shows us that there were factions within the body of believers. The rich were getting preferential treatment, filling their bellies and getting drunk, leaving little or nothing for the poor. Thus, the “body” (the Church) was not recognized as one body with many members, each equally important, and as a result some were weak and sick and others had died.
When we remember the Lord’s Supper, there is wonderful, loving participation – intimate dialogue and heartfelt sharing, centered around a meal – just as Christ did with his beloved disciples at his last supper. The realization that we are all broken, imperfect beings saved by God’s grace and cleansed by Christ’s blood is evident.
1 Corinthians 11:26
For as often as you eat this bread, and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
We participate in remembrance of Christ, to keep fresh in our minds his dying for us, as well as to remember Christ continually making intercession for us at God’s right hand. It is not merely in remembrance of Christ, of what he has done and suffered; but to celebrate his grace in our redemption. We vocally declare his death to be our life, the basis of all our comforts and hopes. And we glory in that declaration by living it. Paul asserts that this ordinance should be perpetuated and observed “until he [Christ] comes,” when there will be no more occasion for this observance. In every generation, therefore, and in every place where there are Christians, it is to be observed, until the Son of God shall return.
Matthew 26:29
And I say to you, I will absolutely not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”
Beloved brothers and sisters, our communion will be complete when we sup with Christ at the marriage banquet of the lamb as revealed in Revelation 19:9. Christ and his people together shall drink wine “new” in the Father’s great kingdom, a banquet of which the Lord’s Supper is a spiritual preview and sample. It is the great celebration of the inauguration of Jesus Christ as king over the earth at the start of the Millennial Kingdom. All saved people will enjoy this banquet with the King of Kings.
Until that day comes, we remember and recognize the sacrifice of Christ when we eat the communal meal together and enjoy intimate fellowship with him and each other.
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1 Matthew 26:26, Commentary, Revised English Version (REV); John Schoenheit
2 Early Church History: earlychurchhistory.org/beliefs-2/communion-in-the-early-church
3 The Mystery of the Passover Cup by David Brickner, March 01 2002, jewsforjesus.org
4 Luke 22:20 Commentary, REV; John Schoenheit
For further learning on this subject, see the link below:
https://www.truthortradition.com/articles/what-does-the-bible-say-about-holy-communion
