What is the Lord's Supper?

The Lord's Supper is the meal of bread and wine that Jesus gave his disciples on the night before he died and told them to repeat in remembrance of him. Paul uses the name when he rebukes the Corinthians: "when you come together, it is not the Lord's Supper you eat" (1 Corinthians 11:20). It is also called communion, from koinonia, a sharing or participation,¹ the breaking of bread, and the Eucharist, from the Greek for giving thanks. Harry Ironside called it "the perpetual memorial of the death of Christ."²

The night he was betrayed

Paul hands on the account: "The Lord Jesus, on the night He was betrayed, took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, 'This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.' In the same way, after supper He took the cup, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me'" (1 Corinthians 11:23-25). The Supper was not devised by a church or a council. It comes from the Lord himself. David Gooding observed that Jesus could have asked to be remembered by his miracles or his teaching: "He chose to select something that should recall the offering of himself as a sacrifice for our sins, bread and wine."³

Passover fulfilled

The setting was the Passover meal. Jesus said, "I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before My suffering" (Luke 22:15). Passover remembered the night when the blood of a lamb sheltered Israel from judgment. Jesus now gave the meal a new centre in his own death, and Paul draws the line plainly: "Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed" (1 Corinthians 5:7).

In remembrance of me

J. C. Ryle answered the question of why the Supper was ordained: "It was ordained for the continual remembrance of the sacrifice of the death of Christ, and of the benefits which we thereby receive."⁴ To remember in the Bible's sense is more than to recall a fact. It is to bring a saving act of God before the mind with faith and thanks, and to rest on it again.

Proclaiming his death

The Supper also speaks. "As often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes" (1 Corinthians 11:26). Tony Sargent said it is "Not only a reflection on the past, but a proclamation for the present."⁵ Every time a church breaks bread it declares that Christ died for sinners and that he is coming back.

The new covenant

Jesus said of the cup, "This is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins" (Matthew 26:28). The Supper is a covenant meal. It sets before believers the promise of sins forgiven and announces that the promise has been secured by his blood.

One loaf, one body

"Is not the cup of blessing that we bless a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one loaf, we who are many are one body; for we all partake of the one loaf" (1 Corinthians 10:16-17). The Supper joins believers to Christ and to each other. David Davis said, "And the Lord's Supper is also a celebration of his body here on earth."⁶ A. J. Higgins said, "The breaking of bread is the expression of a fellowship that's based on truth."⁷ The Corinthians' fault was that they ate without regard for one another, the rich going ahead while the poor went hungry.

How is Christ present?

Churches differ on how Christ is present. The Roman Catholic Church teaches that the substance of bread and wine is changed into his body and blood. Lutherans hold that his body and blood are truly present with the bread and wine. Many evangelicals regard the Supper as a memorial. Calvin and the Reformed confessions teach that believers truly feed on Christ by faith, through the Spirit, while the elements remain bread and wine; in Calvin's words, "the flesh and blood of Christ feed our souls just as bread and wine maintain and support our corporeal life."⁸ John Piper, reading his church's statement of the doctrine, said, "Those who eat and drink in a worthy manner partake of Christ's body and blood not physically but spiritually in that by faith they are nourished with the benefits he obtained through his death and thus grow in grace."⁹

Protestants of all these views agree on one thing against the idea of a repeated offering: Christ's sacrifice is finished. "We have been sanctified through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all" (Hebrews 10:10). The Supper remembers that sacrifice. It does not repeat it.

Who should come?

The Supper is for believers. Ryle wrote, "The Lord's Supper is not a converting or justifying ordinance."⁴ It does not make a person right with God. It strengthens those who already are. C. H. Spurgeon warned, "The Lord's Supper is a curse, not a blessing, to unbelievers, so let none of us think of feeding upon Christ in the sign until we have Christ in reality in our hearts."¹⁰ What an unbeliever needs first is Christ himself, who said, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to Me will never hunger" (John 6:35).

Examine yourself

Paul attaches a warning. "Whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. Each one must examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup" (1 Corinthians 11:27-28). Wayne Guindon said, "The Lord's Supper is not something to come to lightly."¹¹ Paul tells the Corinthians that their carelessness had already brought God's discipline: "That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep" (1 Corinthians 11:30).

The warning is against coming carelessly and unrepentantly. It is not a demand for sinless perfection, which would keep everyone away. The believer who knows his sin, confesses it and trusts Christ is the very person the table is for. He examines himself and then, as Paul says, he eats.

How often?

Scripture gives no fixed rule, only "as often as you drink it." The first church made it a regular part of its life: "They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer" (Acts 2:42). At Troas, "On the first day of the week we came together to break bread" (Acts 20:7). Francis Chan drew the lesson: "The Lord's Supper is something we are supposed to be devoted to."¹²

Until he comes

The Supper looks forward as well as back. Jesus said at the table, "I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it anew with you in My Father's kingdom" (Matthew 26:29). The church keeps the feast until he comes, and beyond it lies another: "Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb" (Revelation 19:9).