Bread & wine are the symbols of the body & blood of Jesus the Savior. The partaking of these symbols is called communion or the eucharist by many churches, and is considered a sacrament by some.
At Jesus’ Last Supper, He instructed His disciples regarding bread & wine in Lk.22:19-20. “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me…This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood.” Accordingly, a communal sharing of the symbolic bread & wine became the practice of the church after His sacrificial death and resurrection.
A few churches believe the bread & wine actually becomes Christ’s body & blood in substance. This is called transubstantiation. But communion isn’t transubstantiation. If communion were transubstantiation, then it would contradict the Holy Spirit’s decree for the church to abstain from blood (Ac.15:29)! Christ had already forbidden human consumption of blood in the Old Testament (OT). ref Ge.9:4 & Le.17:10. Although Jesus is the figurative ‘bread of life’, human flesh (cannibalism) is unclean for food (Le.11:1-3, Ezk.4:12-14)! Furthermore, at His Last Supper, Jesus was standing there in His physical body at the time He said the bread on that table “is My body” (e.g. Mt.26:26)! Jesus then ate the bread; He didn’t eat His own body or drink His own blood.
The Christian faith isn’t magic. The above verses help make it clear that the symbolic bread & wine don’t become in substance Christ’s body & blood; rather they represent His body & blood. For example, Jesus said in Mt.13:38, “The field is the world and the good seed are the sons of the kingdom”. But what Jesus meant was, the field and the seed represent the world and the sons. It’s not literal. Jesus said of the bread & wine in Mt.26:26-28, “This is my body…this is my blood.” Likewise, the bread & wine are symbolic representations, not to be viewed literally. We believe God is present in Spirit, yet not as physical food.
These symbols of bread & wine weren’t entirely new to those Jews in the 1st century AD. The earliest believers in Jesus/Yeshúa were Jews. The practice of taking bread & wine has a long history. Jews today call it kíddush, usually taken on the sabbath.
Religious bread & wine meals predate Jesus’ Last Supper. David Stern Jewish New Testament Commentary (JNTC) Appendix, p.931 has a quote from the Dead Sea Scrolls (DSS). “And when they gather for the Community table…let no man stretch out his hand over the bread and wine before the priest….he shall first stretch out his hand….And afterwards the Messiah of Israel shall stretch out His hands. And they shall process according to this rite at every meal where at least ten persons are assembled.” This is evidence that Jewish bread & wine meals at Qumrán anticipated the Messiah in the decades before Jesus’ human birth.
But the representative bread & wine is much more ancient than the 1st century BC! Back in Ge.14:18-19, “Melchisedek brought out bread and wine”. He shared a (leavened) bread & wine meal with the uncircumcised gentile/non-Jew Abrám.
The Ps.110:1-4 prophecy about Jesus. “You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchisedek.” (also ref He.6:20.) Jesus, the Priest-King, is of the order of Melchisedek (not of the in-between Levitical order)! So way back in the days of father Abram/Abraham, even prior to Jacob/Israel and the Jews, a bread & wine meal foreshadowed Christ’s priesthood and rule.
Recognizing this celebration as a Melchisedekian meal and order is significant! (see the topic “Melchisedek Order Priesthood”.) The archetypal meal wasn’t tied to a recurring religious date or season of the year. Its timing may or may not coincide with other religious observances.
In Jn.6:51-54, 66, 31-33, Jesus’ flesh & blood are symbolized prior to the Last Supper. (And Qumran was having their Community bread & wine meals prior to the Last Supper date.) Jesus said in Jn.6:54, “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life”. Many early Jews thought bread & wine related to the coming Messiah…but not as His (literal) body & blood.
In Christianity today, there are various views about how often communion should be taken. Some Christians now keep this (Melchisedek order) New Covenant bread & wine memorial annually, only at Passover time in the spring.
Since Jesus’ Last Supper occurred at Israel’s Passover, some (especially Jews) have tied the Lord’s Supper to Passover with unleavened bread. 1Co.5:1-9 is Paul’s mídrash about suspending the sinner, typified as “old leaven”. v.7 “Christ our Passover”…it was Christ who ‘passed over’ the firstborn of Israel in Egypt (Ex.12:23). He was the “Rock” who followed them in the wilderness (1Co.10:4 & De.32:3-4). Perhaps some Jewish Christians in Jerusalem continued to customarily keep Passover at the temple (cf. De.16:5-6), as had been commanded in the old Levitical order. Christ is the Passover of Jewish Christians, as Paul indicates. (also see “Passover and Peace Offerings“.)
In Ex.12, Israel had been commanded to keep the Passover (from the flock) with a lamb or kid, unleavened bread, and bitter herbs. The traditional custom of drinking wine at Passover was added centuries later. But in all Last Supper passages, the Greek term for bread is always ártos (Strongs g740), never ázumos/unleavened (g106).
Jesus didn’t say bread & wine replaced Israel’s Passover meal, nor did He specifically call the bread & wine “a Passover”. Even though Jesus’ last meal before His death coincided with their Passover meal, the bread & wine meal is a new covenant/ceremony in the order of Melchisedek. It’s part of Jesus’ last will & testament (He.9:15-17)! Therefore this communion wasn’t instituted until Jesus’ final meal before His death (which was also a Passover meal).
There was no Passover wine commanded to Moses/Israel in the Old Covenant. Else Nazarites like Samson and Samuel would’ve been continually disobedient, ref De.16:1-2, Nu.6:2-3 & Jg.13:4-5…or cut off from Israel, ref Nu.9:13! God had forbidden Nazarites to drink wine or grape juice, Nu.6:3. Talmud Pesachim 10:1 it became a custom at Passover for each man to drink four cups. That custom wasn’t commanded by God. It was a Roman Empire custom for banquet type celebrations to include four servings of wine (cf. Lk.22:17, 20).
In 1Co.11, Paul shows that the Lord’s Supper is more than a Passover meal. v.2 this Supper remembrance had become an authorized church practice. In several verses Paul instructs them for when they “come/meet together”: v.17, 18, 20, 33, 34, 14:23, 26. Paul is referring to regular gatherings in these verses, not infrequent occasions.
The celebrating of the Lord’s Supper was a main festive component of those church gatherings. Frank Viola Pagan Christianity, p.239 “For the early Christians, the Lord’s Supper was a communal meal…a Christian banquet…called a love feast.” Continuing with 1Co.11….
Paul reproved the Corinthians, saying their attitude was unfit for the Lord’s Supper. 1Co.11:20-22 it seems their mindset was the eating of their own supper. A.T. Robertson “Selfish conduct…made it impossible for them to eat the Lord’s Supper.” The hungry poor and the intoxicated rich there together.
1Co.11:23-24 Paul referred to the time Jesus instituted the observance as, “The night in which He was betrayed”. That’s not an OT holyday emphasis. Paul doesn’t tie bread & wine to the Passover. Jesus had said, “Do this in remembrance of Me”. v.25-26 “As often as you eat and drink…you proclaim the Lord’s death.” The Greek for “as often” occurs elsewhere in the New Testament only in Re.11:6…as often as they smite the earth with plagues. “As often” doesn’t indicate only once-a-year.
Jesus’ death was foreshadowed by all temple sacrifices each year, for that matter, not just the Passover. e.g. Ro.3:25 Jesus is the Atonement (although He didn’t die in October on the date of Yom Kíppur). Throughout the year, many churches will often proclaim Christ died for our sins, partaking of bread & wine. (The DSS Essene meals at Qumran were often too.)
1Co.11:27 taking the Lord’s Supper meal selfishly was doing so unworthily. They were ‘desecrating the Lord’s Table to satisfy personal cravings’. v.28 “Let a man examine himself, and eat of the bread and drink of the cup.” We should “examine” ourselves regularly, not just spiritually cram once-a-year! David Stern op. cit. (JNTC), p.227 “The early believers were to recall Yeshua’s death for them as they began their meal. Then, after that, the entire meal time was to be devoted to fellowship.”
It was a full meal! Were the poor brethren in Corinth “shamed” only once-a-year (v.22)? It’s likely that for many of the poor and slave participants, the (weekly or bi-weekly) Lord’s Supper was their one real meal…a sacrificial banquet, if you will!
These were regular gatherings/meetings. v.29-30 some saints, failing to discern the Lord’s body, were sick and passing away. There’s healing in it also! 1Pe.2:24 “By His wounds you were healed.” After Jesus suffered wounds on His body, figuratively the bread, we’re healed. Is.53:4-5 emotional healing too! McLaren Expositions Is.53:4 “Hebrew thought drew no sharp line of distinction between diseases of the body and those of the soul.” People have testified to the healing! It’s not magic.
1Co.11:31-34 Paul said to eat more at home if need be, so sufficient food for the poor would be available on the Lord’s Table.
The traditional full fellowship meal with bread & wine occurred often in the apostolic church. (Gentiles in the church don’t recall any one-time Passover exodus from Egypt anyway.) Jude 1:12 indicates these love feasts were common. Writing of the early church, Samuele Bacchiócchi God’s Festivals, p.74 “During the course of the year the Lord’s Supper was celebrated as part of a religious service.”
1Co.10:16 “Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ?” Their ‘breaking bread’ referred to Christ’s body. v.3-4, 11 Israel had received food & drink all those days in the wilderness (an OT type). v.21 commune with the Lord at His Table. The expressions “cup of blessing” (v.16) and “fruit of the vine” (Lk.22:18) are common in Jewish blessings. Ac.20:6-7, 11 Paul was breaking bread at a Christian love feast in Troás (a couple weeks after Passover was held in Jerusalem; communion isn’t tied to it).
Archaeologists have discovered banquet halls within several excavated ancient synagogues. In primitive church congregations, bread & wine may well have been taken weekly (as part of a Christian banquet or memorial). Le.24:5-9 the priests in the ancient tabernacle/temple had eaten the showbread at the Lord’s table weekly on the sabbath. The objection of some men that partaking of the eucharist elements too often will result in them losing their meaning…isn’t in the Bible! He.13:10 but the disbelieving Levites at the temple in the 1st century AD had no right to eat the Lord’s Supper meals.
Over time, three noted factors leading to a morning communion service were: #1 Roman legislation prohibited Christian meal gatherings. #2 The growing gentile church (clergy) avoided the Jewishness link of common bread & wine meals (a practice carried-over into the church from the synagogue). #3 Abusive behavior, as Paul warned in 1Co.11, led to abandoning the bread & wine full meals. The general practice became, Didache 14:1 (ca 100 AD) “Eucharist on the Lord’s Day”. A communion consisting of only a wafer & thimble of grape juice/wine became a Sunday morning custom. No shared meal. (see “Sabbath Day Became Sunday in Rome” and “Wine or Grape Juice in Jesus’ Cup?”.)
{Sidelight: Steven Shisley cites: “The apologist Tertullian (c 155–240 CE) recounts how his community in Carthage began to assemble in the mornings to participate in a separate Eucharistic ritual at an altar (De Corona 3). According to Cyprian, a 3rd-century bishop, Christians in Carthage regularly gathered as one large assembly in the morning at an altar for a Eucharistic sacrifice in buildings devoted to religious activities (Epistle 62.14–17; Epistle 33.4–5).” Clergy changed the apostolic love feast meal.}
Did children participate in the early church love feasts? Jesus said in Mt.19:13-15, “Let the children come to Me”. Here Jesus didn’t exclude children. Children had been included, not forbidden, in OT family meals at the Lord’s pilgrim feasts. Mt.14:21 feeding the 5,000 included children. And the Jn.6 account of the 5,000 (v.10) also specified His “flesh and blood” symbols (v.53). However, children should be able to conduct themselves appropriately if they take the symbols. At the Last Supper, Jesus’ 12 disciples/apostles hadn’t received the Holy Spirit yet either, as most children today haven’t. (cf. Jn.20:22 & Ac.2:4, which were after the Last Supper.)
1Pe.2:5, 9 Christians are a royal priesthood. OT priests ate the showbread weekly! Manna, the bread from heaven, was gathered by the people daily (Ex.16:21-32). It’s important we take communion thankfully with a good conscience. Some may use leavened or unleavened bread, with wine or grape juice. (Recovering alcoholics are advised to use grape juice.)
Some modern Christians partake only annually, yet throughout the year they are daily able to remain mindful of the Lord’s death for them (1Co.11:24-26). Others feel they should partake more often to remain so mindful. Consciences do matter. Let’s not unfavorably view others who conscientiously observe the symbols at a different time, whether very often or infrequently…or in a different manner, part of a meal or a leavened/unleavened wafer & thimble cup. It’s a holy celebration of what Jesus has done for us. Let’s rejoice in it!
Bible Topic Exposition 