Doctrine
"...this do in remembrance of me."
Luke 22:19
On the last night before He went to the cross — the very night He was betrayed — the Lord Jesus Christ gathered His disciples in an upper room, took bread and a cup, and gave His church a simple and precious way to remember Him. Down through the centuries, believers have gathered at this table to look back to His death and forward to His coming. It is called the Lord's Supper, and it is full of meaning for every child of God.
The Lord's Supper is not a tradition invented by men; it was given by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and delivered to the churches through the apostles.
"For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me." (1 Corinthians 11:23-24)
Two plain things stand out at once: the bread speaks of His body broken for us, and the whole purpose is remembrance — "this do in remembrance of me."
The chief meaning of the Lord's Supper is remembrance. It is a memorial, a looking back with grateful love to the body given and the blood shed for us at Calvary.
"And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me." (Luke 22:19)
As a wedding ring calls to mind a covenant of love, so the bread and cup call to mind the greatest love ever shown — the Lord Jesus Christ giving Himself for sinners. Every time we come to the table, we are saying: we have not forgotten what He did for us, and we never shall.
Some teach that the bread and wine actually become the literal body and blood of Christ. But the Scriptures will not bear this, and simple reason forbids it. When the Lord Jesus Christ said, "This is my body," He was sitting there bodily before them, holding the bread in His own hands — plainly the bread represented His body; it was not that body. He spoke here as He often did, in figures. He said, "I am the door," and "I am the vine" — yet no one imagines He is made of wood or is a literal grapevine.
"I am the vine, ye are the branches..." (John 15:5)
Moreover, His blood had not yet been shed when He gave the cup; and His disciples, being Jews, were forbidden by God ever to drink blood. They understood Him to mean a symbol. Even the apostle Paul, describing the supper afterward, still calls the elements "this bread" and "this cup" — not flesh and blood.
"For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come." (1 Corinthians 11:26)
And the Lord Himself called the contents of the cup "the fruit of the vine" — that is, wine — even as He gave it.
"But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom." (Matthew 26:29)
So the bread remains bread and the wine remains wine — precious symbols of a body broken and blood shed, to be received by faith, not a literal eating of His flesh.
This leads to a truth of the greatest importance. The Lord's Supper is not a sacrifice, and it does not re-offer Christ. Some teach that in their ceremony Christ is offered up again and again for the sins of the people. But the Bible declares that the Lord Jesus Christ was offered once — once for all — and that His one sacrifice can never be repeated, because it never needs to be.
"...we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all." (Hebrews 10:10)
"But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God." (Hebrews 10:12)
He sat down — the work was finished. A priest who is still offering is a priest whose work is not done; but our Saviour sat down, because His one offering perfected forever all who trust Him. And where full forgiveness has been secured, no further sacrifice remains.
"Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin." (Hebrews 10:18)
To turn the Lord's Supper into a repeated sacrifice is therefore to deny the very heart of the gospel — that His one death has done it all. We do not offer Christ again at the table; we remember the one offering He has already made, and rest in it.
The Lord's Supper is a kind of sermon — a gospel message preached in bread and cup, without a word. As often as the church eats and drinks, it proclaims the death of the Lord Jesus Christ to all who see.
"For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come." (1 Corinthians 11:26)
Mark the two directions in which the table looks. It looks backward to the cross — "the Lord's death"; and it looks forward to His return — "till he come." Every time we gather, we remember that He died for us, and we declare that He is coming again. It is a feast held between two great events: a cross already accomplished, and a coming still awaited.
The Lord's table is spread for the Lord's people — for those who have trusted the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Bible calls each one who comes to examine himself, that he may come rightly.
"Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup." (1 Corinthians 11:27-28)
This does not mean we must first make ourselves worthy — for no sinner is ever worthy in himself, and if only the worthy could come, the table would stand empty. It warns rather against coming in an unworthy manner: carelessly, irreverently, with unconfessed sin, or without discerning what the bread and cup mean. Let a man examine himself — confess his sins, judge his heart, come in faith and reverence — and so let him eat. The table is not for the perfect, but for the penitent who trust their Saviour.
The Lord's Supper is also a sweet fellowship — communion — both with the Lord Jesus Christ and with all His people gathered at the table.
"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?" (1 Corinthians 10:16)
And as the many grains become one loaf, so the many believers are drawn together into one body around their one Saviour.
"For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread." (1 Corinthians 10:17)
So the table both lifts our hearts to Christ and knits our hearts to one another in Him.
The Lord Jesus Christ left His church two ordinances, and only two: baptism and the Lord's Supper. Baptism is done once, at the beginning of the Christian life, picturing our union with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection. The Lord's Supper is kept again and again, throughout the Christian life, picturing our ongoing remembrance of and fellowship with our crucified Saviour. Neither ordinance saves the soul; both are pictures of the gospel, given to be obeyed by those already saved. The early churches kept the Supper when they gathered together on the Lord's day.
"And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them..." (Acts 20:7)
How often should a church observe it? The Bible does not fix a number, but says "as often as ye eat this bread" — leaving the frequency to each church, while making clear it is to be a regular and treasured part of her gathered life.
There is a note of glad hope in this ordinance. We do not keep it forever; we keep it only "till he come." One day the Lord Jesus Christ will return, and then remembrance will give way to sight, and the symbol to the substance. Until that day, the bread and cup keep His death fresh before us and His coming bright before our hope.
But all of this belongs to those who know Him. If you have never trusted the Lord Jesus Christ whom this table remembers, then the first and greatest thing is not to come to the table, but to come to the Saviour. Trust Him who gave His body and shed His blood for you, and you will have a place among His people at His table — and, better still, at His side forever.
"For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come."1 Corinthians 11:26