The Significance of the Lord’s Supper

“I speak as to wise men; judge ye what I say.  The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ?  The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?  For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread.”  I Corinthians 10:15-17

In Paul’s first letter to the church at Corinth, he admonished them about several different subjects.  One that he particularly focused on was eating food sacrificed to idols.  In order to help them understand the importance of refraining from anything that could harm their witness or diminish their faith, he used the example of the Lord’s Supper, or Communion, as it is also called, to illustrate the significance of this sacrament.

The church members at Corinth to whom Paul was writing were not “new babes in Christ”.  They were adults who had repented of sin and placed their faith in Christ a few years prior to his letter.  They had gotten off track in their worship because of envy and pride.  In some ways, they were like the church in Ephesus of whom Jesus rebuked because they had become involved in so many other things rather than worship of Him (Revelation 2:14).  The folks in the Corinthian church were mature enough to take Paul’s words and understand them in order to get back on the right track.  Paul had enough confidence in them to trust that they would judge his words and also judge themselves rightly.

Paul used the Lord’s Supper as the basis for his reasoning with them.  What does it mean to partake of the wine, or juice, which is symbolic of Christ’s blood that was shed for the remission of the sins of people and to eat of the bread which symbolizes His body that He freely sacrificed to provide forgiveness and salvation?  When we eat the bread and drink the fruit of the vine, we are identifying ourselves as being in communion with Jesus.  We are saying that His blood and body were given to bring us into fellowship with Him.  If we are out of fellowship with Him because of unconfessed sins yet partake of the Lord’s supper, we bring condemnation upon ourselves for we have made this sacrament empty and without meaning (I Corinthians 11:27).  Jesus died to save us from our sins, but if we partake of the juice and bread while living in sin, we are making ourselves open to God’s judgment.  The Lord’s supper is a reminder of what Jesus did for us on the cross, dying to set us free.  To partake unworthily is at best hypocritical and at worse is a denial of the saving power of Christ.  This is certainly not insignificant.  No wonder Paul urged folks to examine themselves before they “eat of that bread and drink of that cup” (I Corinthians 11:28).

All who faithfully partake of the bread are united into one body, that of the body of Christ.  We have communion with Him and with one another.  An analogy would be to think of Jesus as a sacred Corporation, and of His followers as shareholders.  All have the same number of shares that were not earned but given freely when we repented of sin and placed faith in Christ.  As joint owners we receive the privileges of mercy, provisions, comfort, and eternal life.  Our responsibility is to stay committed to Christ and not to follow some other doctrine or idol.  We sign, as it were, a non-compete clause which means all of our allegiance, loyalty, love, and worship is to Christ alone and not to another.  Our relationship to Christ is a binding contract of which partaking of the Lord’s supper affirms our total commitment to Him.  Jesus’ promise of forgiveness of sin, eternal life, and of never forsaking us was signed with His own blood and body.  He will never break His part of the contract.  All that He requires from us is an unswerving and unending dedication to live for Him and to make Him known among those who do not know Him so that they, too, can join with all other believers in the building up of God’s kingdom, or referring to the above analogy, so they can also become shareholders of eternal life.

Paul went on to say that those believers who eat of food sacrificed to idols are splitting their allegiance to Christ even though an idol is nothing.  Paul warned to eat of these foods was an act of devil worship, and that was certainly not permissible for those who belong to Christ.  They couldn’t have it both ways.  Jesus had said that one could not serve God and mammon, that is, the world, wealth, etc. (Matthew 6:24).  He said that we would hate one and love the other or vice versa, ending up on an emotional roller coaster.  “A double minded man is unstable in all his ways” (James 1:8).  Scripture also tells us that God is a jealous God (Exodus 20:5).  He expects complete loyalty and commitment from those who give their lives to Him.  That’s not asking too much for all the benefits that He provides for us (Psalm 116:12).  Is He not worth our all?