Bread of Life
Challenging the Lord's Supper
Among the Christian practices I’ve challenged and refined over the years is the Lord’s Supper — what Catholics and some high ecclesiastical churches call “communion.” When you’re a teenager when you make Jesus the Lord of your life, there’s things in that life that you bring from the world — drinking, sex, drug use, how you treat your parents, how you choose a mate, how you choose a career — but there’s also a lot of things the church you go to hands you that you kind of have to accept as the way things are done. Later, you discover that not all churches do it that way. For me, that meant thoughtfully considering it and deciding what my faith would look like for me
Fortunately, the Lord’s Supper is dealt with several times in the New Testament, so I could draw my conclusions from what God has already said rather than base them on my own feelings or what other people told me.
For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night in which he was betrayed took bread, and after 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, he also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, every time you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For every time you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 Apostle Paul’s 1st (well, really 2nd) Letter to the Church at Corinth
I’m a Baptist by attendance and Baptists have few ordinances (sacraments) compared to, say, Catholics who have seven. The two ordinances Baptists celebrate are baptism and the Lord’s Supper (called communion in some churches).
My original challenge on this subject came from a friend who was Catholic who thought Baptists don’t celebrate communion the right way. Let me be clear here. I’m telling you about how I celebrate it and why. If you celebrate it differently, that’s between you and God, but I do think you should seek Biblical guidance on the issue.
Communion With God
The Lord’s Supper is for believers, not for people who are outside the churches. Jesus served this meal in the Upper Room, to His close disciples. Judas even left before the last cup was poured.
Born-again Christians are meant to have communion with God through Jesus on a momentary basis. Every minute of every day, we are to be in relationship with Him. That’s an individual communion.
We are also called to be in community with our fellow believers. The New Testament doesn’t say how often we’re supposed to gather together, but it is clear that we’re not to forsake gathering into community with other Christians.
Yeah, I know! They’re all irritating sinners. The Bible doesn’t say that’s an excuse.
If you can find somewhere in the Bible that suggests I’m wrong, send it to me. Drop it in the comments. I’ll seriously entertain it in my next beliefs challenge.
Jesus gave believers the Lord’s Supper as a continual practice of perpetual memorial of Christ’s death. It’s not optional. We can’t skip it because believers are commanded to remember Jesus’ death and resurrection for the forgiveness of our sins through the Lord’s Supper. We must celebrate it.
This is what I was taught as a teenager when I first became a believer. The question came a few years later — was that really what the Bible says?
When I challenge my presuppositions, I compare what I believe to what the Bible says. Sometimes I have to shift my beliefs because they don’t align with the Bible. I’ve been fortunate to attend some very biblically-based churches, so I haven’t found massive challenges to my deeply held beliefs, but I have had to make shifts at times, especially in nonessential beliefs such as the Lord’s Supper.
Examining 1 Corinthians 11:20-21 and Jude 12, I moved from the Lord’s Supper just being something the church does occasionally that I participate in to a personal understanding that it’s a time to take stock, forgive those who have wronged me, and seek the forgiveness of those who I have wronged so that I can enter God’s presence with a clear conscience. I’ve come to understand why it is a sin to not practice or to rarely celebrate one of Jesus’ clearly delineated commands. To not do the preparatory work for taking the Supper allows crap to build up and be ignored. That affects my relationship with God and others.
Relationship
How often do you have meals with friends? More than once a quarter, I’d hope. The church I attend celebrates the Lord’s Supper quarterly, usually on the 5th Sunday in a quarter. This establishes a pattern for the celebration that assures it won’t be neglected. Sometimes that feels a little rote to me, but a church I attended before would celebrate it randomly and once went over a year without celebrating it, and in retrospect, when we finally met to partake of the Supper, it felt forced — like meeting with a friend we had an obligation to meet with rather than something to celebrate. The Supper is meant to be an act of fellowship and intimacy, so it’s important to celebrate it regularly.
My Catholic friends partake of it weekly (and some of them do it more frequently than that). The Bible doesn’t tell us how often to celebrate it, so I’m not going to argue that they shouldn’t take communion every week, but that would be way too rote for me. I want nothing in my life or walk with the Lord to feel like I’m just going through the motions.
Self-Examination
Because I know my church will hold the Lord’s Supper in March, June, September and December, I can know it’s coming and prepare for it. It’s that fearless and searching moral inventory that 12 Steppers advocate. What have I done lately that I need to ask forgiveness for…from God…from humans…from myself? Because of some personal issues, this year has been one of soul-searching. That’s not a bad thing.
Sometimes we need to clean out the closets.
Occasionally, I’ve had to go to people and confess my fault. Sometimes I’ve had to talk to a fellow believer to settle issues where I couldn’t talk to the offended person directly. Once or twice I’ve been challenged to accept that the person most hurt by my behavior was myself. Most of us feel weird apologizing to ourselves, but I highly recommend it. I journal it, lift it to the Lord, and let it go.
What a relief!
And, finally, I confess it to God and accept that He’s got it. Some relationships can never been mended, but He can make it right in the end, according to His purposes.
And, then, I can take the Lord’s Supper and enter the Lord’s presence with a clear conscience. It doesn’t mean I’m not a sinner. It simply means I’ve cleared up what sin I can and hope Jesus covers the rest.
Sometimes things come to mind as I’m sitting in the pew and the elements are being passed. Then I offer those to God right then and make a note to call and talk to that person that afternoon. I can then take the Lord’s Supper in compliance with Matthew 5:23.
If I’ve offended you and you haven’t gotten an apology from me, it might be because God has made it clear to me that I don’t owe you any apologies. Look at the finger you’re pointing at me and notice the other three pointing back at you. I can forgive you without letting you harm me again.
Meaning
A part of my celebration of the Lord’s Supper is to concentrate on His body and blood during the celebration.
The Lord’s Supper proclaims the New Covenant initated through the body of Christ on the cross and our participation in its benefits. See Luke 22:20, cf. Exekial 31:31-34; 36:26-27. Our covenant is fulfilled by Him, and now we are in a covenant relationship with Him.
First Corinthians 11:26 says, “For every time you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.” Taking of the elements is like a memorial service. The Lord’s Supper is an act of faith declaring God has forgiven us and we will not bear His wrath for our sins.
When Christ ate the Last Supper with His disciples before His death, it was also a celebration of the Jewish Passover meal. Jesus imbued a traditional feast with rich new meaning. At Israel’s original Passover, they were slaves in Egypt instructed to put the blood of a lamb on their doorposts, so their first-born would not be killed by the Spirit of God passing over Egypt. The New Testament teaches the original Passover lambs always foreshadowed Christ. In 1 Corinthians 5:7, Paul said, “For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.” In celebrating the Lord’s Supper, we declare by faith that we will not bear God’s wrath because our Lamb already died for us and His blood protects us.
In this, we look forward to Christ’s return. In the Lord’s Supper, believers not only look back at His death, but celebrate His return yet to come. It’s important to remember this world is not true reality. There’s something more important than this life and when we take the Supper, we declare with other believers, “Come, Lord Jesus!” (Revelation 22:20).
Controversies
Yet, the Lord’s Supper is not without controversy. The Biblical example is pretty clear, but there are four main views about what it means to participate in the body of Christ in the Lord’s Supper:
Catholics - Transubstantiation
The word “transubstantiation” derives from Latin—“trans” means “change” and “substantiation” means “substance”; therefore, in communion, there is a “change of substance.” The term is used to show how the bread and wine are physically changed into the actual body and blood of Christ when the priest declares, “This is my body” during the celebration of mass. Also, Roman Catholics believe that every time the Lord’s Supper is celebrated, in some way, Christ’s sacrifice literally happens again—Christ dies for the sins of the world.
The problem with this view is it fails to recognize the symbolic nature of Christ’s words, “This is my body” (Luke 22:19). When the disciples were eating the Supper, they wouldn’t have viewed the bread as literally becoming Christ’s body because Jesus was standing in front of them. He was serving them the bread. They knew the breaking of the bread was symbolic. Christ didn’t die in front of them; the breaking of the bread foreshadowed His death.
Similarly, when Christ said, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood” in Luke 22:20, it meant the cup and the wine being poured out symbolized the initiation of the New Covenant through Christ’s shed blood. It wasn’t literally the New Covenant. Jesus was still alive. The Catholic view fails to recognize the symbolic nature of the elements.
In addition, the Catholic view fails to recognize the finality of Christ’s sacrifice. There is no need for it to happen over and over again, every time communion is taken. In Hebrews 10:1-3, the author states the Old Testament sacrifices were offered yearly because they couldn’t make the worshipers perfect. The yearly sacrifices were a reminder of sin. The author of Hebrews contrasted those sacrifices with Christ’s sacrifice which only needed to happen once.
“But when this priest had offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, he sat down at the right hand of God.” Hebrew 10:12
Christ sat down because His work, as far as paying for the sins of the world, was finished for all time.
Transubantiation doesn’t make Catholic believers any greater sinners than anyone else. It just means they might need to examine why they believe the way they do in light of what the Bible actually says.
Lutherans — Consubstantiation
Martin Luther rejected the Catholic view of the elements becoming the body of Christ. Martin Luther had been a Catholic priest and still clung to some Catholic beliefs. He often changed them slightly, but often not in alignment with the Bible. Luther still believed Christ was physically present in the Lord’s Supper, that the presence of Christ existed in the elements (the bread and wine), without becoming them.
Like the Catholic view, the Lutheran view fails to recognize the symbolic language of “This is my body” (Luke 22:19). If we pressed the symbolism, we could use the same hermeneutic with “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood” (Luke 22:20).
I am not saying Luther wasn’t a great theologian who did the world a great service with his 95 treatices. He did the initial work to break Christendom free of the pomp and circumstance of Catholic liturgy. He deserves praise for that. But he didn’t go as far as to align with the Bible on what I’m sure were dearly-loved rituals. He compromised. This doesn’t make him evil. It makes him human.
Reformers — Spiritual Presence
John Calvin (arguably a proto-evangelical) rejected the physical presence views of the Catholics and the Lutherans. He believed the Supper was symbolic but more than symbolic. When people eat of the elements, “they do contain His spiritual body and blood.”7 Calvin said it this way:
Yes, Christ’s human body is locally present in heaven, but—Calvin said—it doesn’t have to descend in order for believers to truly partake of it. Why? Because the Holy Spirit makes true fellowship possible here and now. The Holy Spirit is Christ’s Spirit. He lifts us to the heavenlies to feed on Christ. Those who eat the bread and drink the wine in faith are also, by the power of the Holy Spirit, actually being nourished by the body and blood of Christ.8
I think Calvin might have been trying to please those who were recently come from Catholicism. That doesn’t make him evil. It’s just another example of the compromises humans try to make with God’s reality.
Anabaptists - Memorial or Symbolic
Since Christ said, “Do this in remembrance of me” (Lk 22:19b), Huldrych Zwingli, another Protestant reformer closer to the Baptist tradition, believed the Supper was primarily symbolic—meant to be a memorial of Christ’s death. Those who hold this view don’t deny Christ is spiritually present when participating in the Supper, but Christ is spiritually present only in the sense that He is always present with believers and He is especially present when believers gather in His name. Matthew 18:20, 28:20. Jesus doesn’t become the elements or enter the elements (physically or spiritually), but He is present spiritually as we worship and serve Him. This is the most common understanding of the Lord’s Supper in Protestant churches.
And it is the view I hold because I recognize that Jesus wasn’t yet dead when He served the Last Supper, so that Supper had to be symbolic, meaning subsequent ones must be as well.
Lela Markham is an Alaska-based novelist and commentator who believes salvation is a one-time event you can’t go back on, but that it takes a lifetime to learn to walk rightly with God.
I’m visiting my Hawaiian-based daughter this week, so I may not be able to respond daily. I’ll catch you when I have the internet. Meanwhile, envision me living in a gazebo and showering outdoors. And between hiking rainforests and swimming on black sand beaches, I’ll be challenging my presuppositions, not to deconstruct my faith, but to see where God wants me to follow today and not decades ago. Ask me about it.
I pretty much agree with your take. My current (very small storefront church) is nondenominational but sort of Baptist (how I was raised) we do this once a month although they call it communion. I’ve wondered if Jesus meant “each time you celebrate the Passover” and we should do it once a year at Passover. I dunno. Just wondering.
Thanks for this discussion of all of what I understand are the essential variants of the meaning of the Lord's Supper. I grew up in an Episcopalian church, and I do value their liturgical prayers of confession preceding communion. I think the beauty of the 1620 service's language, which was used until about the early 1970s, formed a great part of my education in and love for language. (It seemed to me then, as I became a Christian, that the modernizers had watered down a lot of the language of the liturgy, and in trying to make it more palatable to less-literate parishioners--more modern, I suppose--they also lost some of the theological content. Irregardless (as illustrates my unfair disdain for modern language murder), I still recall fondly the recounting of "For in the night in which He was betrayed, He took the bread and brake it..." and wish that the less-formal celebrations I experience in the evangelical world contained more of the content. (power outage seems imminent)