Communion

The Body and the Blood: Understanding Communion

Communion: A New Covenant

Communion, also known as The Lord's Supper, begins in the Passover meal. Jesus instituted communion during a Passover meal, linking it to Israel’s redemption from Egypt.

• Passover was a time where the Lord, through sacrifice, set aside His chosen ones to be saved.
• It celebrated God’s deliverance through the blood of a lamb. God made a covenant of protection and renewed His promise.
• Jesus tells us that this is going to be a new covenant and this will require a new sacrifice.

The New Sacrifice

Christ fulfills the Passover as "our Passover lamb, who has been sacrificed." His death on the cross provides true redemption, replacing the temporary atonement of animal sacrifices. He is the perfect lamb, and as the perfect lamb, He is the perfect sacrifice.

• Through His sacrifice, believers are offered eternal life. This is both a physical and spiritual reality:
  • We will be “Raised up on the last day.” (Physical)
  • “Resides in me and I in him.” (Spiritual)
• This idea of both physical and spiritual repeats throughout the teachings on communion.

The New Covenant

Old Testament covenants, like Abraham’s, were sealed with blood and broken bodies. Communion mirrors this as a new covenant act.

• In the time of the tabernacle and the temple, sacrifices were made by breaking an animal's body and pouring out the blood.
• The bread and cup symbolize Christ’s broken body and shed blood, fulfilling God’s promise of salvation.
• These are the images we see in Passover: the blood of the lamb and the blood of Christ; the broken body of the lamb and the broken body of Christ.
• This act invites believers to participate in the covenant through faith, renewing their commitment to God.

The Sacrament of Communion

1. An Act of Obedience

Jesus commands, "This do in remembrance of me," calling us to regular observance. This is not an "if you do this" but a command! Just as Baptism is an act of obedience, communion is the same. By obeying Christ’s command, we are coming together as one in agreement in who Christ is, and we also fellowship as one.

2. A Memorial and Proclamation

Just as with Passover, this isn’t merely a memory, but sharing in the experience. The God of the universe shed His blood and tore His Body for this new covenant, and He wants us to share in this experience.

“Do this in remembrance of me.” This specific instruction is found only in Luke 22:19 and 1 Corinthians 11:24. Some have argued that the absence of the words in the other Gospel records indicates that it was not the explicit intention of the Lord that what he did at the Last Supper was to be repeated as a Christian sacrament. Yet all the Gospels were written when the breaking of bread had been a regular practice in the life of the church for years. Matthew and Mark, therefore, may have thought it unnecessary to express Jesus’ intention with those words. They were taken for granted.
It must also be said that these words have been interpreted differently in various Christian traditions. Many Protestant Christians have understood them to mean that in the Holy Communion we are to recall with great thankfulness that Christ loved us and gave himself to die for us. In the Roman Catholic Church the word “remembrance” has been understood as a memorial before God, a representing of the sacrifice of Christ before the Father. “This do” has been interpreted as meaning “offer this,” and even in the 2nd century Christian writers spoke of the Eucharist as a “sacrifice.” Protestant Christians generally have felt the danger of this way of speaking; it can detract from, or even deny, the biblical understanding of the sacrifice of Christ having been offered once and for all, and sufficiently atoning for the sins of the world (cf. Heb 7:27; 9:12). It must be said, however, that many Roman Catholic statements today stress the sufficiency and completeness of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross; and many Protestant scholars, while not wishing to introduce a sacrificial understanding of the Lord’s Supper, stress that “remembrance” is more than simply calling to mind a past action. In biblical thinking “remembrance” often involves a realization and appropriation in the present of what has been done or what has proved true in the past (e.g., Eccl 12:1; Pss 98:3; 106:45; 112:6; Is 57:11). Then a right human response is the “sacrifice of praise to God” (Heb 13:15) for what Christ has done and for what that means to us today.

— Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible

• Just as his body and blood were a sacrifice, so this should be our sacrifice, but a sacrifice of praise.
• By taking communion, we are offering up a praise to the Lord for the work He has done.
• The word "Eucharist" (from Latin Eucharistia) literally translates to Thanksgiving.
• It isn’t just the work He has done, but what He is still going to do! Every time you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes. We are agreeing that the Lord died on the cross for the sins of the world, but more, HE IS COMING BACK!

The Unfortunate End: This is often where many modern Protestants end their understanding of communion. We do it to obey and to remember. But there is more…

3. Communion (Koinonia) with Christ

The Greek word Koinonia means communion, association, partnership, fellowship. This is where we get the term “Communion.”

Our fellowship with Christ is not only a fellowship with His merits by imputation; it is a fellowship of life through the action of the Spirit of Christ. Where this is once established, it must necessarily follow that bread and wine are not simply signs of what Christ has done in His person, but at the same time are signs of what Christ is for us now as the living Mediator who still possesses our nature. Our eating and drinking, then, is also more than an exercise of justifying faith; it is a sign of the mystical fellowship of life that we as members of His body have with Christ, the Head.

— Geerhardus Vos

"The elements, when received by faith, mediate to the believer the spiritual benefits of Christ’s death. The elements in themselves are only tokens, but when believers receive the Lord’s Supper by faith, they experience real communion with the Lord and the benefits of that communion. Calvin says [Institutes, 4.17.10]: “We conclude that our souls are fed by Christ’s flesh and blood, just as bread and wine feed and sustain physical life. For the sign would not correspond with the thing signified if souls did not find their nourishment in Christ.… And although it seems unbelievable that the flesh of Christ should penetrate to us through such a great distance to become food for us, let us bear in mind how far the secret power of the Holy Spirit extends beyond all our awareness … since He (Christ) pours his life into us, just as if it penetrated into our bones and marrow.… The thing signified is offered and presented there by Him to all who … sit …, although it is received with benefit only by believers.” This is substantiated with an appeal to 1 Corinthians 10:16."

— John Calvin

• This is more than symbolic; it requires Faith. It is both physical and spiritual.
• Through the physical act of partaking in communion, doing it with the faith that the finished work of Jesus is done, we partner with Christ.
• This is not to say that anything we do brings us salvation. In modern terms, this is a rededication of our faith. Every time we take communion, we are strengthening our faith as we commune with the Lord.
• The Lord is truly present with us when we take communion, as He promised! That is how we are fellowshipping with Him!
• It is NOT literal blood and body. This is a miracle that the Holy Spirit brings us into the presence of Christ when we, in faith, eat the Lord’s Supper.
• This koinonia fosters a mystical fellowship, uniting believers with Christ as their living Mediator.
• The "body of Christ" here also has a double meaning, that we are participating in fellowship with one another. The same word Koinonia is used to describe our participation with Christ in Communion as it is to describe our participation with each other in Communion. We are united as one, as we are united with the Lord.

How to Take Communion

1. Partaking in a Worthy Manner

"Whoever eats…in an unworthy manner will be guilty…" This requires self-examination and faith. Paul is correcting the idea that just eating and drinking is “the Lord’s Supper.”

• We are supposed to do this together, orderly, and with great care. Paul actually warns the church in Corinth that the reason so many are sick and weak is because they aren’t taking the Lord’s Supper, this HOLY communion, as it should be.
• Proper observance involves approaching the table with repentance, humility, and trust in Christ.
• Communion is a re-dedication of our faith, a time where we get to fellowship with the Lord and our brothers and sisters. If you haven’t been saved, if you don’t have your own faith, then communion isn’t for you, and it could be damaging to yourself and others if you take it.

2. In Faith with the Holy Spirit

The Spirit mediates Christ’s presence, overcoming physical distance. Christ is really with us, but the cup and bread aren’t literally flesh and blood. This is a miracle of the Spirit that is within us, as the same Spirit is within our Lord.

• Eating in faith gives us the spiritual benefits—redemption, justification, and eternal life—through this fellowship.
• This is not us doing anything, but Christ working in us. There is a divine mystery here that we don’t have to understand, just have faith that the words Jesus spoke are true.
• The Spirit’s miraculous work makes Christ’s presence real, transcending human understanding.

3. A Regular Sacrament

As a covenant sign and spiritual nourishment, communion should be observed regularly. The early church took communion every time they met! They recognized the power and necessity of taking that communion.

• It unites the body of Christ in oneness at the Lord’s table, growing community.
• Just as the Lord’s Prayer was given to differentiate His disciples, the Lord’s Supper is something that sets us apart and defines us as His.
• In the end, regular communion reinforces our identity as God’s covenant people, sustained by His grace. We are partnering with Jesus in the fulfillment of the covenant relationship. We are “Co-Heirs in Christ” through His broken body and shed blood.

Taking Communion: Past, Present, Future

Past: Thankful Remembrance

• Looks back to Jesus’s final sacrifice for the world’s sins.
• A fulfillment of the old covenant, we remember when God redeemed His people from Pharaoh.
• Like the Passover’s remembrance of Israel’s exodus, communion recalls God’s redemptive act through Christ.
• Christ is our Passover lamb, whose blood was poured out for our sins.
• This backward look inspires gratitude for the completed work of atonement on the cross.

Present: Fellowship with the Living Lord

• As we approach the table, let us examine ourselves, confessing sins and trusting in Christ’s atoning work.
• With humble hearts, we come to receive Christ’s grace, not by our merit but by the Spirit’s power.
• Believers experience Koinonia with Christ now. We truly partake with Him in this time. This is not a game, not something to be done lightly, but with respect and reverence to the Lord who gave His all for us.
• This present communion with each other strengthens our faith and deepens our union with Christ.

Future: Hope of Christ’s Return

• As we eat and drink, we proclaim “the Lord’s death till He comes”, anticipating the kingdom’s fulfillment.
• Just as we shout “Next year in Jerusalem” in anticipation of the Lord’s return, this is us telling the world what Christ did, and what He will do!
• Passover held hope for a greater deliverance, and communion points to Christ’s return and the heavenly banquet.
• This forward-looking act encourages us to live with a future hope and expectation of the Lord.