THE DOCTRINE OF THE LORD'S SUPPER
Everyone
who partakes of the Lord's Supper receives a divine promise that Christ’s body
was "given for" us and that His blood was "shed for" us,
"for the remission of sins". That promise is the very heart of the
gospel. However, whenever men assume that what is promised comes to us without
faith in Christ, the truth of the gospel is obscured. Therefore, before
examining what the Bible says about the Lord's Supper, we need to remind
ourselves that God’s promise of forgiveness in Christ comes to us only through
faith in what Christ did for us on the cross (Galatians 3:6-22). In other
words, even though God uses the Lord's Supper (just as He uses preaching) to
give us His promise of forgiveness, it is only through personal faith in Christ
that we receive what is promised (Romans 5:2, Galatians
TAKE
EAT THIS IS MY BODY
Matthew 26:26 ¶ As they were
eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and broke it, and gave it
to the disciples, saying, Take, eat; this is my body.
Mark
Luke
1Corinthians
[Comment: While
all four accounts (quoted above) include the words, "this is My
body," the fact that Christ was physically present with His disciples when
He made that statement tell us that He was not giving them His physical body.
At the same time, to say that what we receive merely represents Christ's body
is to say that it is not Christ's body, and that is the opposite of what Christ
actually said. Therefore, Christ's words must have a deeper meaning, which
should become clearer as we go.]
THIS
CUP IS THE NEW TESTAMENT IN MY BLOOD
Matthew 26:27-28 And he took
the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink from it,
all of you; For this is my blood of the new testament, that is shed for many
for the remission of sins.
Mark
Luke
1Corinthians 11:25 In the same way he also
took the cup, after he had eaten, saying, This cup is the new testament in
my blood: do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.
[Comment: By
referring to the cup as the "new testament in My
blood," Christ makes it clear that the new covenant consists of His
sacrifice (His shed blood) not a new set of rules. His words then tell us that he
is giving us the blood that was shed for us, and faith is
believing that His blood was shed for us. Thus, the ceremony promises us
Christ's body and blood as the atonement for our sins, while faith receives
what is promised (Galatians 3:6,22).]
[Note:
All who believe that Christ’s body was given, and His blood shed, for them, are
(through faith), "members of his body, of his flesh, and of his
bones" (Ephesians
WORTHY
OR UNWORTHY
1Corinthians
[Comment: Since we
are justified by faith, it is faith in Christ (not works) that makes us worthy
to partake. Therefore, those who humbly confess their sin and look to Christ
for forgiveness are worthy to partake, while those who deny their sin, are not.
That truth is illustrated by the parable of the Pharisee and the publican. The
publican judged himself, and admitted his sin, while the Pharisee did not (Luke
THE
DISCOURSE AT
John 6:51-59 I am the living bread that came down from
heaven: if any man eats of this bread, he will live for ever: and the bread
that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. The
Jews therefore began to argue among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat? Then Jesus
said to them, Truly, truly, I say unto you, Unless you
eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, you have no life in you.
Whoever eats my flesh, and drinks my blood, has eternal life; and I will raise
him up on the last day. For my flesh is truly food, and my blood is truly
drink. He who eats my flesh, and drinks my blood, dwells in me, and I in him. As the living Father has sent me, and I live by the Father: so he
who feeds on me, will live because of me. This is the bread that came
down from heaven: not as the manna your fathers ate, and died: he who eats of
this bread will live forever. He said these things in the synagogue, as he
taught in
[Comment: Since
Christ had not instituted His Supper when he made these statements, He was not
talking about His Supper. Furthermore, the grammar is entirely different. In
these verses, He calls His body "bread" (which is a metaphor), yet in
the Lord's Supper He calls bread His "Body" (which is the opposite of
a metaphor). In fact, calling bread His "body," is the equivalent of
saying, "that door is me" instead of saying "I am the
door." Since there is no such figure of speech, such a statement must
either be true, or it is absurd. However, while Christ was not talking about
His Supper in these verses, what He said does cast light on that Supper,
because He equates faith in His sacrifice with eating His body and blood
(compare John 6:40 and 6:54). In other words, all who trust in Him, in effect,
receive His body and shed blood (His sacrifice) as the atonement for their
sins.]
CONCLUSION
All of God's promises, including those
connected with the Lord's Supper, were given for a reason, and those who
contradict Christ's words cast doubt on that promise, making His words "of
none effect," and hindering the work of the gospel (Mark 7:13). Therefore,
it is important to believe exactly what Christ said when He instituted His
Supper. In regard to the question of how we receive what is promised to us in
the Lord's Supper, Martin Luther had this to say:
Now
this treasure is conveyed and communicated to us in no other way than through
the words "given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins." In
these [words] you receive the double assurance that it is Christ's body and
blood, and that it is yours as your treasure and gift… And inasmuch as He
offers and promises forgiveness of sins, there is no other way of receiving it
than by faith… that which is given in and with the sacrament cannot be grasped
nor appropriated by our body. This is done by faith in the heart, which
discerns this treasure and desires it. (Large Catechism)
Gary
Ray Branscome