THE LORD'S SUPPER

The church of God continues in obedience to the Bible in holding certain ordinances or sacraments to be observed perpetually until the second coming of Jesus Christ.  This ordinance is referred to as the Lord's Supper (1 Corinthians 11:20) because Christ instituted it.  It is called "communion" (1 Corinthians 10:16) because of the common participation of the saints.   In some religious organizations it is called the "Eucharist" (1 Corinthians 11:24), meaning the giving of thanks. There are four different views on the doctrinal position of this ordinance.  The first three are false.

1. Transubstantiation—the Catholic doctrine that the bread and wine mysteriously change into the actual body and blood of Jesus Christ.

2. Consubstantiation—Certain Protestant bodies believe that the bread and wine retain their natural elements, yet the body and blood of Christ are in and with the elements.

3. Mystical presence theory—this view denies the physical presence of Christ in the elements, but holds that the communicant partakes of and benefits by some special "grace."  Some believe that a person's sins are forgiven or that they receive a healing benefit when partaking of the elements. All the previous theories make the communion a substitute for the Savior himself or a substitute for the definite experience of salvation.  (Proverbs 30:6, 1 Timothy 2:5-6)

4. Symbolic—this is the Biblical view.  When we partake of the communion bread, we are symbolically saying that we totally accept into our hearts the whole gospel of Jesus Christ.  We accept the body of Christ; we eat His flesh; we believe His Word.  When we drink of the communion wine (grape juice), we are symbolically saying that we totally submit to the Spirit-controlled life which Jesus lived.  We drink His blood; we are purged by the power and virtue of His sacrifice.   There can be no merit received from the act itself.  The reward comes in obeying God's Word and living the life which is a fulfillment of the design and purpose of the ordinance. What is the scriptural purpose and design of the Lord’s Supper?

1. The ordinance was begun by Christ himself.  Matthew 26:26-28

2. This ordinance was and is regularly observed by all Christians. Saints at Corinth - 1 Corinthians 10:16; at Troas - Acts 20:7; and all saints - Matthew 28:19-20

3. Christ stated the purpose of the ordinance when it was begun, "Do this in remembrance of me" Luke 22:19

4. If the ordinance is "in remembrance" of Christ, then it cannot actually be Christ himself.  It is a commemorative or memorial institution by which the physical sufferings of Christ for our sins are brought vividly before the mind.  As we remember Christ's death, we are drawn closer to understanding His sufferings and death.  1 Corinthians 11:26

5. The Passover feast looked forward to the sacrificial sufferings of Christ; the Lord's Supper points backward to it.

6. The Lord's Supper also symbolizes the unity of God's people in Christ. Like a parable, the sacraments have symbolic meaning. In 1 Corinthians 10:16, 17 the unbroken bread represents the true saints.  As individual kernels of wheat are "perfectly joined together" by His Holy Spirit, so a saint is changed from sin to holiness.  We are indeed "all one in Christ."  The unbroken loaf is the unity of the saints in the church of God.  As Christ suffered for the Church, the Church must suffer for Christ.  (1 Peter 4:12-14; Philippians 3:10; Hebrews 5:8;1 Peter 2:20-24).  In Christ's suffering and death we receive freedom from the curse of sin.  In the church's suffering and death with Christ, we cease from the deeds of sin.  (1 Peter 4:1). Who is able to participate in the Lord's Supper?  Only those who have repented of their sins can participate.  (1 Corinthians 11:27-29).  People who do not recognize the sin-offering of the sacrifice of Christ and their redemption from sins, are unworthy or unqualified to partake in the Lord's Supper.  If they participate in the Lord's Supper with the guilt of sin in their life, they become guilty of putting Christ to death anew and are damming themselves. Only true born-again Christians, living righteously before God and men, can commemorate the Lord's Supper.