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The Lord's Supper

by

Pastor Robert A. Pannier

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Published by
Bridge to Freedom Ministries
P.O. Box 385801
Bloomington, MN 55438

Copying for non-commercial purposes is permitted.

© copyright 2009
All Rights Reserved
Printed in U.S.A.

There are only two "rituals" that are actually ordained in the Bible for Christians to follow. They are Baptism and Communion, or the Lord's Supper. While many other rites have been added, such as confirmation and last rites, we are not told to do these things in the Bible. They are the creation of man.

In the Gospels the Lord gave instructions on how Communion was to be observed. Later, because of some inappropriate behavior of the people within the Corinthian Church, Paul was forced to elaborate on what one should do to honor this command of Jesus.

Over the centuries a lot of false doctrine and tradition has been created around the Lord's Supper. It is a lack of understanding of both the Old Testament offerings as well as the sacrifice that Jesus made that have led to some false and at times blasphemous traditions.

In this book I hope to remove the confusion, and to give you a clear understanding of the roots and foundation upon which one should celebrate Communion.

What Does Communion Mean?

The Lord's Supper goes by a few different names, with the most common of these being Communion. This is a fitting name because it speaks to us about the purpose of this gathering.

In relation to Christianity, the Webster's Dictionary defines communion as:

2 capitalized: a Christian sacrament in which consecrated bread and wine are consumed as memorials of Christ's death or as symbols for the realization of a spiritual union between Christ and communicant or as the body and blood of Christ

This is a very formal definition, and to be honest, it is a lot more than is necessary. The three other definitions are more fitting for what Communion is supposed to represent.

1: an act or instance of sharing

3: intimate fellowship or rapport

4: a body of Christians having a common faith and discipline

These remaining definitions actually capture the true role and purpose of Communion. What we read in these is that Communion is supposed to be a time of sharing, not only of food, but of a common faith.

When many of us think about what Communion is we can very easily identify with the first definition I provided to you. It is when Believers come together and share "consecrated" bread and wine to symbolize our new relationship with Jesus. While I do agree that part of this feast is a time to reflect on the death and resurrection of our Lord, it is supposed to be a time when we come together and share in the one true belief - that Jesus is Lord and died for all of our sins.

Jesus wanted this to be a time of fellowship, but it has instead turned into something far more ritualistic, and almost burdensome. It was supposed to be enjoyed, but now has been made into a task.

In many Protestant services ushers scurry around passing out baskets containing little pieces of bread, and little cups full of juice. Each individual grabs a piece of bread and then waits for a few minutes before the little tray of cups arrives. You then eagerly wait while the pastor explains the purpose of Communion, your sweaty palm soaking your piece of bread, while you attempt to keep your other hand steady enough so as to not to spill your one-half ounce of juice. Then the pastor gives permission for the bread to be eaten. A minute later you are allowed to drink your juice, and then a procession of empty cups heads down the aisle, to where the person at the end holds these empty little glasses until an usher comes and takes them away. What a "special" moment this is for all I am sure.

In the Catholic faith it is done differently. Lay ministers stand in the front of the church and lines begin to form in front of each minister. Row after row is allowed to leave their seat to join in the procession; hands held folded, each person solemnly and quietly moving toward the front. When you arrive in front of the priest or lay minister, you hold out your hands, or stick out your tongue. The minister declares, "The body of Christ," to which you affirm, "Amen." You are then given the bread, called the Eucharist. Some genuflect in front of the giant crucifix before heading back to their seat. Others make the sign of the cross across their chest before returning. You then shift to the right or left where a person holds a big chalice or a platter of little cups. They tell you "the blood of Christ," and you drink, making another cross over your chest or genuflecting before the big crucifix. You return to your seat and kneel down, where you are now supposed to ponder the amazing piece of bread and its meaning.

No matter which type of church you are in, there is generally silence, as people are awaiting their communion to be given to them, and even quiet after communion time ends. There is a lot of reflection; religious leaders want a lot of prayer and contemplation. And then the service continues.

Sound familiar to many of you? I know it does to me. I was raised Catholic and have also attended many different Protestant services and this is what Communion has come to mean. But is this right? To answer this we need to see what the Bible says.

Communion in the Gospels before the Last Supper

In reviewing the Gospels we find that long before the Last Supper Jesus was already speaking of Himself in terms of bread. For example in John 6:35 we read:

³⁵ Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.

Here we learn that not only is Jesus the Bread of Life, but that all who "eat" of Him will never go hungry.

Later in John 6:48-51 He elaborates on these thoughts. Here we read:

⁴⁸ I am the bread of life. ⁴⁹ Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died. ⁵⁰ But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die. ⁵¹ I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world."

This was a very hard teaching for most in Jesus' day to understand, solely because they were trying to understand His words from a very literal standpoint.

We even see that in the next verse they ask themselves:

⁵² ."How can this man give us his flesh to eat?"

To be honest, it was a good question. One cannot eat the flesh of another person. First of all, human beings do not have a cud and cloven feet (Leviticus 11), which means that in God's eyes we are unclean animals. Therefore to eat a human being would be to eat something that was unclean and therefore heinous in nature.

It would also be reasonable to assume that the people would have found Jesus' words to be some sort of sick idea. On many occasions when God gave the Law to Moses He explained that if the Israelite people turned from God that a result of this would be that they would resort to cannibalism. For example, we read in Leviticus 26:29:

²⁹ You will eat the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters.  

God reiterates this in Deuteronomy 28:53-57:

⁵³ Because of the suffering that your enemy will inflict on you during the siege, you will eat the fruit of the womb, the flesh of the sons and daughters the Lord your God has given you.   ⁵⁴ Even the most gentle and sensitive man among you will have no compassion on his own brother or the wife he loves or his surviving children,   ⁵⁵ and he will not give to one of them any of the flesh of his children that he is eating. It will be all he has left because of the suffering your enemy will inflict on you during the siege of all your cities.   ⁵⁶ The most gentle and sensitive woman among you-so sensitive and gentle that she would not venture to touch the ground with the sole of her foot-will begrudge the husband she loves and her own son or daughter   ⁵⁷ the afterbirth from her womb and the children she bears. For she intends to eat them secretly during the siege and in the distress that your enemy will inflict on you in your cities.

While God did not say, "You cannot eat other people," we can see that the command against eating unclean food would have included human beings. In addition, we know that God used cannibalism as a means of judgment upon those who had strayed to other gods. Therefore it would have looked incredibly deplorable to the Jewish people when Jesus told them that they had to eat of His body.

It is with this understanding that we realize that when Jesus made these statements that He was the Bread of Life and that people had to eat Him, that this would not have been easily accepted, especially when being taken so literally.

But Jesus was not content on just telling them that He was the Bread of Life. He specifically commands them that they had to eat of His body and drink of His blood. John 6:53-57:

⁵³ Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. ⁵⁴ Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. ⁵⁵ For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. ⁵⁶ Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. ⁵⁷ Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me.

I am sure that you can see that this would be a hard teaching for anyone. If someone told me that I had to eat their body and drink their blood to gain eternal life I would be running away quickly.

We already know that under the Law you could not eat human beings, but the Law also strictly made it forbidden to eat or drink anything with blood in it. Leviticus 17:10-12:

¹⁰ 'Any Israelite or any alien living among them who eats any blood-I will set my face against that person who eats blood and will cut him off from his people. ¹¹ For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one's life. ¹² Therefore I say to the Israelites, "None of you may eat blood, nor may an alien living among you eat blood." '

When we read that Jesus commands His followers to eat of His body and drink of His blood, we are taken aback by the grotesqueness of what is being asked, but understand that this command would be even worse if we considered it from the Jewish mindset. He is asking them to do something that, if taken literally, is not only gross, but is also unlawful, and used as a judgment by God. This would be a serious abomination to them.

Many of the Disciples who were present questioned this teaching. We read in John 6:60:

⁶⁰ On hearing it, many of his disciples said, "This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?"

Jesus knew that they were complaining about His words and so He decided to challenge them about it.

⁶¹ Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, "Does this offend you? ⁶² What if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! ⁶³ The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.

He asks them if they are offended, and clearly they were. They could not understand how He could even ask them such a thing. He wanted them to understand that He was delivering a spiritual message to them. That the words He was telling them were not about eating physical flesh or drinking blood, which He explained that flesh really amounted to nothing anyway, but were instead words that were meant to bring life through the Spirit.

They did not understand this, however, and could only hear the command He was giving to eat flesh. So we are told that many left.

Of course Jesus was not speaking in a literal way. We will discuss this more in the next section, but for now what I want you to know is that Jesus' command was made as part of uniting ourselves in a bond with Him. It was a call to covenant with Him and to share with other brothers and sisters in this covenant. But I am getting ahead of myself.

Now to understand the context of this more clearly, John 6 tells us of two important events that occurred directly before Jesus gave this command.

John 6 begins with Jesus feeding the five thousand. As a quick refresher, Jesus is teaching when it gets late, and the Disciples tell Him that that He needs to send the crowd away so that they can get something to eat. Jesus then tells Philip to get the crowd some food. Philip explains that they do not have nearly enough money to feed the people. Andrew then tells Jesus that there is a small boy with five loaves of bread and two fish, but that this is still not enough to feed everyone.

Jesus has all the people sit down and He begins to pass out the bread and fish. When He is done everyone is fed so that they are full, and they begin to collect the leftovers. When they have finished they find that there are twelve baskets of bread left over.

When the people saw this occur they were sure that Jesus was a prophet sent from God. Jesus then departed from them.

Now there is one important detail that is included with this story that directly correlates this event with the Last Supper. In verse 4 we are told:

⁴ The Jewish Passover Feast was near.

If you remember, Jesus was crucified at Passover, and He had the Last Supper with His Disciples on the night before He was crucified, which would have been "near" the Passover Feast. This is significant, because it is intended to set the pattern of what Communion was to be all about. But to fully understand this we need to delve into some other details of the story.

The first of these is that the loaves He handed out were made of barley (John 6:9). There were two different kinds of grain that grew in Israel during this time: barley and wheat. Of the two, barley was the more robust. In fact, barley is one of the stoutest grains that there is. It can survive extreme cold and heat, drought and floods, or virtually anything else that nature throws at it.

Wheat on the other hand is not nearly as sturdy. It requires much more ideal conditions to be able to flourish.

During the time of Passover, the Israelites were required to eat unleavened bread, or bread made without yeast. This meant that the bread could not be mixed with yeast. Exodus 12:8 tells us:

⁸ That same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast.

Bread and the sacrifice of a lamb thus became the two primary parts of the Passover Feast.

Passover was obviously a tremendously important celebration to the Israelites. It commemorated the time when the Israelite people were not only freed from Pharaoh and saved from the judgment of the first-born dying, but also their relationship with God was dramatically strengthened.

The closeness of their relationship was celebrated by communing with God through the eating of bread. We will see later that bread was used during the Fellowship (grain) Offering as a gift of friendship to God.

In the Hebrew calendar, the first month of the year (Abib) occurred in about mid-March on our calendar. It was at this point that the first harvest of grain occurred as well. In fact, the calendar was set by when the first-fruits of the harvest came. These first-fruits were the first barley grain that was harvested, and these were used to make bread for the feast of Passover. The reason barley was used was because wheat was not ripe so it could not be used. That is the simple explanation, but we also have to remember that barley was used because it was the better grain that was able to grow in colder conditions.

The importance of this is that barley represents the hearty Believers who remain faithful and overcome the struggles. This is why Jesus is described as the first-fruit of all Believers. 1 Corinthians 15:20:

²⁰ But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

Christ was the first piece of "barley" to be brought to heaven.

Now I mention all this because I want you to understand that barley had a real significance in terms of its symbolism. Keep in mind that God could have had Passover occur at any time He wanted, but He chose this time for us to see that when barley bread was used it represented that when we have communion with God we are attaining that promised relationship that the Father wants with us.

Notice that although there were five loaves of bread Jesus passed out, twelve baskets of bread were collected after all had eaten. A barley communion feast not only satisfies all, but returns more than what one began with.

The second event that takes place in John 6 is that Jesus walks on water. In this story, the Disciples are in a boat and see Him coming towards Him, but they do not know it is Him and are afraid. He tells them to not worry, and Peter declares that if it is really Jesus to call him out of the boat. Peter is able to walk on water, but when the wind comes he becomes fearful and takes His eyes off of Jesus and begins to sink. Jesus then pulls Him out of the water and returns him to the boat.

Peter was in the process of taking a tremendously huge leap of faith, but he lost his focus. This meant that he not only did not reach Jesus, but had to be returned to the boat. All his progress went for nothing. If you want to learn more about this you can read my book The Purpose of Baptism.

It is then that Jesus declares that He is the Bread of Life. I think these two events prior to Jesus making this statement were meant to speak to us about what communion with Jesus is all about. We first of all see that when one is fed by Jesus with His body that even though you may have a small amount, there is not only enough to feed you so that you are completely full, but there is even some left over. The second part of this is that when you ask to come to Him, the physical, spiritual, emotional, and mental limitations of this world have no control over you. You can overcome any struggle with Jesus' help.

After Jesus feeds the five thousand, we are then told that He explains the difference between clean and unclean. During this talk a Canaanite woman comes and begs for Jesus to heal her child. In Matthew 15:21-28 it reads:

²¹ Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. ²² A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is suffering terribly from demon-possession."

²³ Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, "Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us."

²⁴ He answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel."

²⁵ The woman came and knelt before him. "Lord, help me!" she said.

²⁶ He replied, "It is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs."

²⁷ "Yes, Lord," she said, "but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table."

²⁸ Then Jesus answered, "Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted." And her daughter was healed from that very hour.

Because the feeding of the five thousand happened "near" the feast of Passover, it is quite likely that this event happened within a day of Passover. I believe that this is significant because of the words that Jesus used Himself. He said that the children's bread was not wasted on the dogs. The children in this story are the Jews, and the dogs are the Gentiles, non-Jews. Jesus is saying that He came to establish communion, using bread as the example, with the Jews. She explains that the Gentiles should get the crumbs of what was not used by the Jews. This is what is given to the Gentiles represented by the twelve baskets of bread that were collected.

This story tells us that Jesus was saying that everyone was going to have communion with God; that even the "dogs" would have this friendship.

Now before you get all irate about non-Jews being described as dogs, consider that this is how they would have been perceived by Jews. The people of Judah would have seen the Gentiles as lowly, as dogs. Jesus used this term as well because He wanted the Jews who were present to see that He came for everyone.

Jesus had fed the five thousand in Bethsaida, which is near the northernmost point of the Sea of Galilee. We are then told that He went through Tyre and onto Sidon, which are both in the region of Decapolis. To get to Tyre you would follow the shoreline south, where it is about twenty miles south of Bethsaida. He would have then had to walk about ten miles north up the shoreline to reach Sidon.

I mention this because very rarely did Jesus move through any region with extreme purpose. In fact only one time are we ever told of this in the Gospels. Most often He took time in every region He passed so that He could spend time teaching and meeting the people, helping them with their problems.

Now understand that Decapolis was a Gentile region. While Bethsaida was part of the Jewish realm of influence, Sidon and Tyre were not. Therefore Jesus had come to a Gentile region to teach about the Kingdom of Heaven. In essence He came to "drop crumbs from His Master's (the Father's) table."

We then read in Matthew 15:32-37:

³² Jesus called his disciples to him and said, "I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, or they may collapse on the way."

³³ His disciples answered, "Where could we get enough bread in this remote place to feed such a crowd?"

³⁴ "How many loaves do you have?" Jesus asked.
"Seven," they replied, "and a few small fish."

³⁵ He told the crowd to sit down on the ground. ³⁶ Then he took the seven loaves and the fish, and when he had given thanks, he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and they in turn to the people. ³⁷ They all ate and were satisfied. Afterward the disciples picked up seven basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over.

Jesus is teaching for three days when He tells the Disciples that they must feed the four thousand men, plus the women and children that are present. The Disciples only have seven loaves of bread and some fish and clearly this is not enough. But Jesus tells them to sit down and He feeds them until all are full. When they have finished eating they collect the leftovers and find that they have seven basketfuls.

This is the second communion of Jesus, but in this case, this is communion of God to the non-Jews. Jesus is offering the same fellowship with Gentiles that was offered to Jewish people.

Now, although we are not told this, I believe that this feeding of the four thousand probably took place at the time of Pentecost, which is fifty days after Passover. The time it took Jesus to get to a place was often quite long because everyone came out to see Him. He rarely moved along with any expediency.

I think that the fact that we are only told that he had "loaves of bread," and are not told the grain type adds to the conjecture that this could have been wheat bread. If it was the time of Pentecost then wheat would be ready to harvest. While I appreciate that I am speculating, I think it means something that in the story of the feeding of the five-thousand we are told specifically that it was barley bread, but we are not told that here.

Remember that Pentecost was a time when all men heard the Gospel message in their own language. In fact in Acts 2:11 we are even told that not only did Jews and converts to Judaism hear this message, but Arabs and Cretans did as well.

¹¹ .both Jews and converts to Judaism, Cretans and Arabs

This was a day that God was declaring that His communion table was available for all of mankind. He had made sure that this message was for all to hear, and did this by making certain that the Gospel was delivered in the languages of those who were present.

The Communion Math of God

Before I move onto the Last Supper, I wanted to take a little time explaining some important numbers that were given to us in these accounts that we read in the last section.

God is a Sovereign God who is in control of all things. There is nothing that is beyond His control. As such, He dictated the Bible to men in such a way as to tell us something significant in every word that is present. This is just as true in His use of numbers.

There are important numbers that are given to us related to the communion stories. I believe that these numbers tell us some special things about what God is doing in relation to calling all of mankind to Himself.

Now every number does not have a Biblical meaning. This means that two numbers that have meanings must be multiplied to give us the purpose for the number. The choice of those numbers is related to other similar uses of that number and the previous numbers used in the story. This will make more sense as I move along.

In our first account we saw that Jesus took five loaves of bread and two fish and fed five-thousand men. When they were done eating they collected the leftovers and were able to fill twelve baskets. The key numbers in this are obviously five, two, five-thousand and twelve.

Now keep in mind in this story that Bethsaida was in a Jewish area. This would have meant that the significance of these numbers would have been related to the Jews and God's relationship with them specifically.

In the story Jesus has two fish and five loaves of bread. Two is the Biblical number for unity or witnessing. Marriage brings two (a man and a woman) together to be one, there were two Tables of Testimony in the Tabernacle, God tells us that there are two parts to the universe (heavens and earth - Genesis 1:1), just to name a few. Five is the number of God's grace and goodness. There were five offerings that God required to forgive sins and create union with Him, there are five books of Moses, there were five names that Jesus is called by in Isaiah 9:6, five porches to the pool Bethesda, plus many more examples.

When we take these two numbers and use them as Jesus did we get two numbers in return - five-thousand and twelve. Jesus fed five thousand. There is no Biblical meaning for five-thousand, but there is for five and one-thousand. We saw that five meant the grace and goodness of God. One-thousand means divine completeness. Both Revelation and Daniel use the thousand number to describe those that would be coming to Christ and thus saved.

When we take the union that God wants with us and combine that with His grace, we receive His grace back in the form of a complete plan that unites us with God in communion. On top of that, the result of this union is twelve baskets of bread, or Communion offerings.

If we examine the number twelve we see that it means governmental perfection. There were twelve tribes of Israel, twelve Disciples, twelve thousand from each of the twelve tribes were saved in Revelation. Twelve is often used in relation to who would reign or have authority with God.

When Jesus gave out bread and fish and the people gathered in communion with God, we are told that twelve baskets of barley bread were left over. The leftovers were meant to symbolize the authority that was given to the Disciples. It was these broken, ununiqe men that brought the amazing message of Jesus to the world, and allowed all of mankind to have Communion with God. We know that after Pentecost the Disciples fervently went out and preached the Gospel. The authority of the Disciples was established through the infilling of the Holy Spirit.

In the next communion Jesus feeds four-thousand with seven loaves of bread and a few fish. Since we are not told a specific amount of fish I cannot use this in the math of God. I believe that the fact that He told us that there were a few fish was intentional so that it would not be calculated in the message.

Seven is the number of completeness and perfection. We know that God made seven days to a week, a Sabbath year occurred every seventh year, Daniel's prophecies were in seventy sevens. There are many more. In fact seven is the most commonly used number in the Bible, appearing in some form nearly one thousand times.

Through these seven loaves of bread, Jesus was feeding the Gentiles the completion of God. It was through this number that God was telling us that they would be included in the plan of God, thus being able to be made complete.

As a result four-thousand were fed. There again is not a meaning for this number, so we turn to multiplication again. We already saw that one-thousand was the number of divine completeness. We know that one-thousand is the number that we begin with because it not only was used in the feeding of the five-thousand, but also because it helps us to demonstrate the completeness of God's plan. In the feeding of the five-thousand He was telling us that He was setting communion with the Jews, and now He is completing communion by including the Gentiles.

We then would multiply one-thousand by four to get the four-thousand who were fed. Four is the number of creation and the world, which we see in the four corners of the earth, the four divisions of the day, the four different animals that can be brought as a sacrifice, and the four beasts that sit at the throne of God. The Jews were already God's "chosen" people. We read earlier that Jesus said He came for His own. So for Gentiles to be prepared for God they had to be changed, and this is where the number four tells us this. 2 Corinthians 5:17 tells us:

¹⁷ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

By Jesus feeding the four-thousand He was telling us that the Gentiles were being created new in the image of Jesus, and thus were welcome to share in His communion meal. This is confirmed to us in the next verse where we read:

¹⁸ All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:

The word translated as reconciliation is katallasso. This is a slight mistranslation. Reconciliation in Greek would be apokatallaso, so katallasso means conciliation. Why this is important is because Paul is writing to non-Jews in Corinth. He is telling them that in Christ they have been made to be ambassadors to take the message of conciliation to the Gentiles. If it was reconciliation it implies that the Gentiles were once with God, but now are no longer, so there needs to be a reconciliation or restoration of the relationship. Translated the correct way we see that Gentiles did not have a relationship with God, so they were in need of one from the start. This is what Jesus was telling us through this feast; that God came to "create" the Gentiles so they could join Him at His table.

When the meal was over they collected the leftovers and found that there were seven baskets left. We already mentioned that seven is the number of completion and perfection, and Jesus was telling the Gentiles that they would be made complete and would be fed the message of perfection.

But here is where an interesting support appears to drive home this message. Twelve loaves were left over at the feast related to Jews. Seven were left over at the communion related to the Gentiles. When Jesus began ministering to the Jews He chose twelve disciples. These twelve had God's authority to preach the Gospel message.

However, after Jesus' death it became impossible for these twelve men to do all the work. In Acts 6 we are told of some Greek men who came to complain about the neglect they felt the Greek widows were receiving. Acts 6:1:

¹ In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Grecian Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food.

I know that the NIV translates this as "Grecian Jews," but Jews is not used in this sentence. The NIV translators felt it was implied, but it was not.

We are then told in verses 2-4:

² So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, "It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. ³ Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them ⁴ and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word."

Seven men were chosen from amongst the Greeks to help in the administration of the Word. These are the seven baskets of leftover bread. We even find out that Stephen, who was stoned to death, was among these seven.

I know for some that this information may seen unimportant or even tedious, but I want you to see that God is the Master Mathematician, and as such, He shows His mathematical precision in all He does.

The Last Supper

The Last Supper is told in all four Gospel accounts. It is the night before Jesus is to have been crucified, so like the feeding of the five-thousand, it is "near" the Passover. Jesus and the Disciples gather in the upper room of the inn where they are to have one last meal together. In fact Jesus tells them that they are going there to celebrate the Passover meal as one.

A lot of people become side-tracked by the fact that He is celebrating the Passover meal on Thursday evening, the day before the Passover. They claim that this means that Jesus was actually crucified the day after Passover. The problem is that they do not understand the Jewish system of keeping time. Days began at sundown, so the Passover actually began at about six pm on Thursday, and would have continued until 6 pm on Friday.

We read about the preparations of this meal in Matthew 26:17-19:

¹⁷ On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus and asked, "Where do you want us to make preparations for you to eat the Passover?"

¹⁸ He replied, "Go into the city to a certain man and tell him, 'The Teacher says: My appointed time is near. I am going to celebrate the Passover with my disciples at your house.' " ¹⁹ So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them and prepared the Passover.

John does not mention this detail at all, but the other three accounts do. Mark tells us that Jesus sends two of the Disciples to reserve the room, and Luke tells us that the two Disciples are John and Peter. The two He sent to prepare the communion table where Jesus would establish His table for all to join Him were "the rock upon which He would build His church" (Peter) and "the graciousness of
God" (the meaning of John).

Now before we continue let us get a feel for how the room was set. No offense to DaVinci, but they would not be sitting at one rectangular table with everyone on one side. This would not make it easy to talk to one another.

Usually at such meals if the number of guests was small, with less than fifteen or twenty in attendance there would either be one larger, round table or three small, round tables that made it so that each guest could see every other guest. People sat around the tables so they were all facing the center. This is the most likely seating for the Last Supper, with three tables being used.

Within the party there was always an arrangement of how the most special people sat. For example at the head table in the most prominent position sat the host of the party. To the right of the host sat the most trusted person of the host. This person sat in this position because most people were right-handed, which made it impossible to stab anyone who sat directly to your right if an attempt was being made on your life. Thus the host put his most trusted person to the right. This is where we get the term "right-hand man."

To the left of the host sat the honored guest. This is where Jesus often sat when He attended many of these parties and feasts. This person would have been the one that everyone came to see and listen to.

At the Last Supper John sat the right of Jesus, telling us that He trusted John above all the rest. Amazingly the person who sat as the honored guest to Jesus' left was Judas Iscariot, the man who was just about to betray Him. This is very interesting because it shows us that even knowing what Judas would do, and how it would lead to a horrific death for Jesus, He still put His "enemy" in a position of honor. Just think of how we treat our enemies, and most of them are not plotting to have us brutally tortured to death. Jesus was saying to us that even our enemies deserve an honored place in our lives.

While they were reclining and just talking with each other Jesus tells them that He is eager to eat the Passover meal with them before He has to suffer. Luke 22:14-16 says:

¹⁴ When the hour came, Jesus and his apostles reclined at the table. ¹⁵ And he said to them, "I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. ¹⁶ For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God."

It is at this point that we are told that Jesus gave us the way to remember Him. Luke 22:17-20 explains it this way:

¹⁷ After taking the cup, he gave thanks and said, "Take this and divide it among you. ¹⁸ For I tell you I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes."

¹⁹ And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me."

²⁰ In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.

Now I will tell you that Luke gives a slightly different account of this than Matthew and Mark do. In Luke we are told that Jesus offers them the bread and wine and explains that this is the covenant, and then we are told that He reveals that one would betray Him. Mark and Matthew tell us that He revealed that someone would betray Him before He passed out the bread and wine. While there is some significance in why the stories are told this way, this does not bear any part in relation to Communion.

Jesus breaks the bread and gives it to the Disciples. In this way He was calling them friends. In fact in John 15:15 this is what He tells them:

¹⁵ I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.

The communion meal was about breaking bread to demonstrate that Jesus and His followers were no longer separated by Him being Master and them being servants. It is true for us today as well.

It was also meant to symbolize that just as He and they were one, so all Believers are one. Jesus even prays this in John 17:20-21:

²⁰ . I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, ²¹ that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.

To be honest this should be a rather simple thing to understand, but the church and its leaders have turned this into some sacred event that has lost its purpose. We use the phrase "breaking bread" to describe gathering and sharing a meal together in fellowship, which was the etymology of the phrase. It was intended to describe the purpose in the Lord's Supper, which was to commune and fellowship with one another. Yet it's turned into something else; primarily a focus on ritual.

When we think of this communion we must return back to the words we read from Jesus earlier where He told the people that they had to eat of His body and drink of His flesh. This was a spiritual reference related to uniting us with God.

Consider that Jesus told us that He came to fulfill the Law. This meant that He came to fulfill every aspect of the Law, especially in the laws of offerings and sacrifice. He was the Lamb of God. He was the goat that was sacrificed in the offering for the Day of Atonement (Barnabas was the scapegoat). He also was the bread that would be used for the Friendship Offering. We will discuss this more in our next section, but when we were told to eat of His body, He was telling us that He was also to be the offering that was shared between God and ourselves that symbolized our covenant friendship.

Jesus also passed the cup and told the Disciples to drink of it. This was to be a new covenant between us and God. Actually it was to be the fulfillment of the covenant that God made with Abraham. This was a covenant based on faith in God, and not on works and sacrifice. It was faith in Jesus and His death and resurrection that one claims as the road to salvation. It is faith in that sacrifice that secures one's place in heaven.

But the covenant relationship in this case was much more. Jesus was actually offering to marry all of those who wished to follow Him (yes men, we are married to Jesus as well.).

In the marriage covenant, when the groom was ready to propose to the bride he and his father would go the bride with a marriage contract, a covenant, which they would offer to her. This contract included the things that the groom promised to the bride, and also included the gifts she was to receive.

After the contract was offered, the groom would set a cup of wine in front of the bride. This was referred to as the cup of acceptance. If the bride pushed the cup away she was rejecting the offer. If she drank then she was accepting the proposal.

Understand that when Jesus offered the cup to the Disciples and told them that He was offering them a new covenant, they would have clearly understood that He was offering them a kind of marriage proposal. He wanted them, and later us, to be His bride. Revelation 21:9 says:

⁹ One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, " Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb."

That is us, the bride of the Lamb.

Just to show you how Jesus fulfilled this covenant relationship with us, in the marriage pledge if the bride accepted she was then given gifts by the groom. When we accept Jesus into our lives we are filled with the Holy Spirit and given gifts from the same Spirit.

Her agreement to marry meant that the man and woman were betrothed, but not actually married. The groom would then go away to his father's house and build a home for his bride and himself. Before he would leave though, the groom would tell all the people of the village that he was "going away to prepare a place for his new bride, but that he would return for her." Now look at what Jesus told the Disciples before He was crucified. John 14:2-3:

² "In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. ³ And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am."

Jesus went to heaven to prepare a place for us to go and live with our Groom.

The groom could only return to get his bride when he had finished the bridal home. The one who determined when it was finished was the father of the groom. This is why Jesus said that He did not know the hour or day when He would return, because that is the role of the Father to determine this. Jesus could not say when He was to return because the Son could not choose the time.

The Disciples would have clearly understood the manner in which Jesus was speaking. They would have known that He was making a marriage covenant with them. Understand that what He was doing though was to make two into one. He was creating a situation where they would be unified, as a man and woman do when they become married.

Earlier I mentioned that we do not know exactly whether Jesus revealed that Judas would betray Him before or during the meal. It seems that He did it during the meal, but what we do know for sure is that He did it before they ate of the bread and drank from the cup.

Luke 22:21-23:

²¹ But the hand of him who is going to betray me is with mine on the table. ²² The Son of Man will go as it has been decreed, but woe to that man who betrays him." ²³ They began to question among themselves which of them it might be who would do this.

In Matthew 26:20-25 it reads:

²⁰ When evening came, Jesus was reclining at the table with the Twelve. ²¹ And while they were eating, he said, "I tell you the truth, one of you will betray me."

²² They were very sad and began to say to him one after the other, "Surely not I, Lord?"

²³ Jesus replied, "The one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me will betray me. ²⁴ The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born."

²⁵ Then Judas, the one who would betray him, said, "Surely not I, Rabbi?"

Jesus answered, "Yes, it is you."

Judas had gone to betray Jesus before he had eaten of the bread and drank the wine from the cup. This is important because it meant that he was not part of the covenant. We will discuss this more later, but I want you to keep this in mind when we discuss Paul's writings on Communion.

How Communion Fulfills Old Testament Offerings

While Communion appears to be a New Testament idea, it has its roots in the Old Testament, specifically in terms of the offerings that the people made to God. Remember that Jesus told us that He came to fulfill the Law, with specific emphasis on meeting the requirements of the sacrifices and offerings that God wanted.

There are two that are directly related to Communion, and they are the Grain and Drink Offerings. The Grain Offering is told to us in Leviticus 2. In verses 4-10 we read:

⁴ If you bring a grain offering baked in an oven, it is to consist of fine flour: cakes made without yeast and mixed with oil, or wafers made without yeast and spread with oil. ⁵ If your grain offering is prepared on a griddle, it is to be made of fine flour mixed with oil, and without yeast. ⁶ Crumble it and pour oil on it; it is a grain offering. ⁷ If your grain offering is cooked in a pan, it is to be made of fine flour and oil. ⁸ Bring the grain offering made of these things to the LORD; present it to the priest, who shall take it to the altar. ⁹ He shall take out the memorial portion from the grain offering and burn it on the altar as an offering made by fire, an aroma pleasing to the LORD. ¹⁰ The rest of the grain offering belongs to Aaron and his sons; it is a most holy part of the offerings made to the LORD by fire.

The purpose of the Grain Offering was to thank God for His provision. It was a way of telling God that you were thankful for His ability to always meet your needs. If you look back at the feeding of the four- and five-thousand you see that God provided even when it seemed that there was not enough for even a few people. This is an example of God's provision.

The Drink Offering, on the other hand, was not specifically given as one of the five offerings to God. It became included as part of the Grain Offering. The first usage of this term, however, appears in Genesis 35 after Jacob had returned to Bethel. In verse 14 it tells us:

¹⁴ Jacob set up a stone pillar at the place where God had talked with him, and he poured out a drink offering on it;

The Drink Offering was poured out over the altar as an offering of thankfulness to God.

The Drink Offering is mentioned a few additional times before it is directly linked to the Grain Offering. This happens in Leviticus 23:9-14:

⁹ The LORD said to Moses, ¹⁰ "Speak to the Israelites and say to them: 'When you enter the land I am going to give you and you reap its harvest, bring to the priest a sheaf of the first grain you harvest. ¹¹ He is to wave the sheaf before the LORD so it will be accepted on your behalf; the priest is to wave it on the day after the Sabbath. ¹² On the day you wave the sheaf, you must sacrifice as a burnt offering to the LORD a lamb a year old without defect, ¹³ together with its grain offering of two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil-an offering made to the LORD by fire, a pleasing aroma-and its drink offering of a quarter of a hin of wine. ¹⁴ You must not eat any bread, or roasted or new grain, until the very day you bring this offering to your God. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, wherever you live.

This was the feast of the first-fruits. Remember we mentioned earlier that Jesus was the first-fruit of this new covenant. Here we see that grain and wine were offered together to celebrate the first-fruits being harvested. Again, we must realize that Jesus' choice of food and drink that He offered to the Disciples would have had an impact on them. They would have understood that He was making a first-fruit offering before them, and would have seen these two offerings as such.

The symbolism of these offerings carries over into many of the words that Jesus made. As an example we look at Numbers 28:9:

⁹ On the Sabbath day, make an offering of two lambs a year old without defect, together with its drink offering and a grain offering of two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil.

Remember that the purpose of the Sabbath was to be a rest day. On this day it was still required that two lambs be offered as well as a Drink and Grain Offering. Jesus too wanted us to rest, but in Him. Matthew 11:28:

²⁸ "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

By joining in this covenant, no longer are we in need of a day to rest, because we are able to rest directly in Jesus. We are even told this in Hebrews 4.

The Old Testament gives us one additional point to consider in relation to these offerings. In Numbers 6 we read about the Nazarites. These are people that were set aside specifically for God. Samson, for example, was a Nazarite. That did not mean he was righteous; just that he was set aside for God.

Before going into the service of God, a Nazarite was to have a time of separation, and when he returned he was to offer a lamb as a sacrifice, and then verse 15 tells us:

¹⁵ together with their grain offerings and drink offerings, and a basket of bread made without yeast-cakes made of fine flour mixed with oil, and wafers spread with oil.

He was to offer a series of Grain and Drink Offerings to commune with God. In other words, he was to eat and drink with God.

Verse 17 then says:

¹⁷ He is to present the basket of unleavened bread and is to sacrifice the ram as a fellowship offering to the LORD, together with its grain offering and drink offering.

Here we see that as part of the Fellowship Offering that Drink and Grain Offerings were given as well. This is who we are; we are the new Nazarites.

The Fellowship Offering was a voluntary act of worship. Along with the Grain Offering they were the only offerings that were voluntary. You did these things to say thank you to God and to tell Him how amazing you think He is. You also did them to spend time with God, and as part of this there was a communal meal. One did not generally make a Fellowship Offering to God alone. You generally did it as part of a group offering with others, in the form of a meal.

The one exception to this was when you were making an individual vow. The Fellowship Offering was also used when one would make a commitment to God. This is why the Nazarites used it after their time of separation. They were making a vow to serve God. However, if there were a group of people that were present who were making the same commitment they could all have this meal with God at the same time.

How Did the Early Church Celebrate Communion?

If we look beyond the Gospels we see that Communion and the Lord's Supper is actually not mentioned very much. Other than Paul's discussion in 1 Corinthians 11 (which we will discuss in a later section) there are only two additional references to Communion at all, and they do not specifically say "The Lord's Supper."

In Acts 2:42-44 we are told:

⁴² They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. ⁴³ Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. ⁴⁴ All the believers were together and had everything in common.

This does not say "Lord's Supper" or "Communion," but we already know that breaking bread was an integral part of this gathering, so it is safe to assume that this was a gathering for Communion. At this point, however, we are not told much else.

In Acts 20:7 we are told about the Believers in Troas. Acts 20:7 begins by saying:

⁷ On the first day of the week we came together to break bread..

Here we have a new detail included, which is that they gathered to break bread on the first day of the week, Sunday. It had already been established by this point that Sunday had become the gathering day for Christians, and this had been determined by the Apostles themselves. We saw here that Paul broke bread with the people of Troas on the first day of the week, and also he had instructed the people of Corinth that they were to collect money on the first day of each week (1 Corinthians 16:2).

Thus Sunday came to be known as "The Lord's Day." We see this in some of the writings of the disciples of the Disciples. One of these is Ignatius of Antioch, who was a disciple of John. He writes in chapter nine of his Letter to the Trallians,

"On the day of the preparation [Friday], then, at the third hour, He received the sentence from Pilate, the Father permitting that to happen; at the sixth hour He was crucified; at the ninth hour He gave up the ghost; and before sunset He was buried. During the Sabbath [Saturday], He continued under the earth in the tomb in which Joseph of Arimathea had laid Him. At the dawning of the Lord's Day [Sunday] He arose from the dead, according to what was spoken by Himself, 'As Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of man also be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.' The day of the preparation, then, comprises the passion; the Sabbath embraces the burial; the Lord's Day contains the resurrection."

As a bit of historical information, Ignatius was a Jewish Christian. He had personally seen and known Jesus. In fact, the tradition holds that Ignatius was the child that Jesus said we would have to be like if we wished to enter the Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 18:2).

For him to state that Sunday was a perfectly acceptable day to hold such a communion, knowing the Jewish traditions as he did, shows us that there was no theological debate about this day.

In fact in the Didache, Sunday is confirmed as the Lord's Day, and as the day that the people gathered for Communion. The Didache, composed and collected from 60-120 AD, was the book of Christian teachings collected amongst the early disciples. The word didache means "teaching," and this was like the early church manual related to ideas and rituals. In chapter 14 it reads:

But every Lord's day gather yourselves together, and break bread, and give thanksgiving after having confessed your transgressions, that your sacrifice may be pure.

This confirms to us that Sunday seemed to be the day that Communion took place.

Justin Martyr, who was another church father confirms that Sunday was the day that the Christians gathered. In chapter 67 of his First Apology, written between 150-160 AD, he writes:

"And on the day called Sunday, all who live in cities or in the country gather together to one place, and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits... But Sunday is the day on which we all hold our common assembly, because it is the first day on which God, having wrought a change in the darkness and matter, made the world; and Jesus Christ our Saviour on the same day rose from the dead. For He was crucified on the day before that of Saturn [i.e., the day before Saturday]; and on the day after that of Saturn, which is the day of the Sun [Sunday], having appeared to His apostles and disciples, He taught them these things, which we have submitted to you also for your consideration."

There was no dispute about gathering on this day to share Communion at all. Paul tells us that this is when he gathered at Troas. But let us also understand that he did not tell us that this is the only day that it could occur, or that this is the only day he celebrated it. All he told us is that he celebrated Communion in Troas, with the most recent time occurring on the first day of the week.

In chapter 65 of his First Apology, we see that Justin provides some additional information about how Communion occurred.

There is then brought to the president of the brethren bread and a cup of wine mixed with water; and he taking, then gives praise and glory to the Father of the universe, through the name of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, and offers thanks at considerable length for our being counted worthy to receive these things at His hands. And when he has concluded the prayers and thanksgivings, all the people present express their assent by saying Amen. And when the president has given thanks, and all the people have expressed their assent, those who are called by us deacons give to each of those present to partake of the bread and wine mixed with water over which the thanksgiving was pronounced, and to those who are absent they carry away a portion.

Justin tells us that the leader of the group would bring the bread and wine. They then had a long time of prayer, praying for all the people's needs, people said Amen to the prayers, and then deacons passed out the bread. If someone was not present, a portion of the bread and wine were taken to them.

What we see in Justin's description is that the primary purpose of Communion was to be unified in their thinking and love for one another. They agreed with each others' prayers, they shared it this meal, and if some were not present they were still remembered and were included in the Communion.

The Didache tells us that there were prayers said after receiving of the Lord's Supper. Chapter 10 tells us:

We thank Thee, holy Father, for Thy holy name which You didst cause to tabernacle in our hearts, and for the knowledge and faith and immortality, which You madest known to us through Jesus Thy Servant; to Thee be the glory for ever. Thou, Master almighty, didst create all things for Thy name's sake; You gavest food and drink to men for enjoyment, that they might give thanks to Thee; but to us You didst freely give spiritual food and drink and life eternal through Thy Servant. Before all things we thank Thee that You are mighty; to Thee be the glory for ever. Remember, Lord, Thy Church, to deliver it from all evil and to make it perfect in Thy love, and gather it from the four winds, sanctified for Thy kingdom which Thou have prepared for it; for Thine is the power and the glory for ever. Let grace come, and let this world pass away. Hosanna to the God (Son) of David! If any one is holy, let him come; if any one is not so, let him repent. Maranatha. Amen.

Originally the Disciples gathered with Believers and just broke bread in fellowship. This appears to have happened on Sunday, or the Lord's Day. In a matter of less than one-hundred years there began the idea that a certain prayer needed to be said when the Communion was over. There also began a new belief known as transmutation.

In this belief, the Eucharist, or bread, is supposed to actually take on the real form of the body of Christ when it is prayed over. For example Justin writes in chapter 66 of First Apology:

.For not as common bread and common drink do we receive these; but in like manner as Jesus Christ our Saviour, having been made flesh by the Word of God, had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so likewise have we been taught that the food which is blessed by the prayer of His word, and from which our blood and flesh by transmutation are nourished, is the flesh and blood of that Jesus who was made flesh..

Justin was the first to actually document this belief. I am not saying that he was the only one who believed this, but there are no other documents that record this belief prior to this point. Soon this became the doctrine of the Catholic Church. Justin was declared Saint Justin shortly after the Bishop of Rome became the head of the Christian Church, and many of his teachings became official church doctrine. It was clear that this was not the doctrine of the church in the first century however. There is no reference to it in the Didache, and this was the book that most used in relation to theology.

The Roman administrator, Pliny the Younger, further establishes that the bread was nothing more than a representation of Jesus. He served in the court of the Emperor Trajan from about 91 AD to 113 AD. During his time in this position it was illegal for people in the Roman Empire to be Christians, primarily because of the secret gatherings that they were having. Christians met in people's homes, and not in public places, and this drew the suspicion of the emperor.

Pliny served in the role of accusing people of being Christians and if they admitted to such, he would then have them executed. Later he retracted death as the punishment.

During his examination of the Christians he was told by many of what went on during their services. In relation to Communion he was told:

According to these people, "on an appointed day they had been accustomed to meet before daybreak, and to recite a hymn antiphonally to Christ, as to a god." Then they would take an oath (Latin sacramentum) "to abstain from theft, robbery, adultery, and breach of faith." After this ceremony they left, but reassembled later on to eat together.

This meal that they ate together was the Communion meal. He states in this gathering that.

It was their custom to depart and to assemble again to partake of food - but ordinary and innocent food.

As we can see here, by as late as 113 AD Communion was understood correctly. We then see that Justin documented some theology that led to some false ideals by 150 AD.

Around 200 AD the Roman Priest Hippolytus developed a manual for order and worship within the church. This was called the Apostolic Tradition. He described the giving of the Eucharist in two settings. The first was for consecration of bishops and the second was for baptism and confirmation.

His primary purpose in writing this was to provide a clear set of rules that all were expected to follow in any kind of ceremony or ritual. This included Communion. For example, when bishops were receiving the Eucharist as part of consecration the following liturgy was to be said: (in italics are the words the consecrated bishop would respond)

The Lord be with you

And with you in spirit

Lift up your hearts

We have them with the Lord

Let us give thanks unto the Lord

It is fitting and right

Interestingly, today this is still said in Catholic Mass prior to the congregation receiving the Eucharist.

As part of this ceremony bread was not the only thing that was eaten or blessed. Often olives and cheese were also included, and they were all considered part of the Eucharist.

After one went through baptism or confirmation the Eucharist would be given as well. This time it would include honey, wine, milk, and bread as part of Communion. Milk and honey were mixed to symbolize the Promised Land, and the bread was used to symbolize Christ's sacrifice. Water was symbolic of cleansing and wine of the covenant.

As part of the ritual each person was required to say Amen to three statements made by the bishop.

In God the Father Almighty - Amen

And in the Lord Jesus Christ - Amen

And in the Holy Spirit in the Holy Church - Amen

The ritual of saying each of these prayers became instrumental in the ceremony. It became essential church doctrine in many places to say these prayers as part of Communion.

Matters only got worse when the Bishop of Lyons, Irenaeus, wrote that Communion was not only a good thing, but was essential if one wanted to have their sins removed.

And then, when we have perfected the oblation, we invoke the Holy Spirit, that He may exhibit this sacrifice, both the bread the body of Christ, and the cup the blood of Christ, in order that the receivers of these may obtain remission of sins and life eternal.

He believed that without taking Communion one was not saved and sins were not forgiven. He would later reiterate his thoughts in Against Heresies, chapter 17 where he wrote:

For as the bread, which is produced from the earth, when it receives the invocation of God is no longer common bread, but the Eucharist, consisting of two realities, earthly and heavenly; so also our bodies, when they receive the Eucharist, are no longer corruptible, having the hope of the resurrection to eternity.

The whole teaching on Communion had been thoroughly corrupted within about seventy years.

Origen, who was one of the most renown of all the church fathers, attempted to put Communion in the proper perspective. In Against Celsus, written in about 210 AD, he writes:

We are much more concerned lest we should be ungrateful to God, who has loaded us with His benefits, whose workmanship we are, who cares for us in whatever condition we may be, and who has given us hopes of things beyond this present life. And we have a symbol of gratitude to God in the bread which we call the Eucharist.

Here we see him speaking of the bread as a symbol and nothing more. While Origen's writings did have some effect, the false teaching had taken hold and has remained church doctrine for many denominations even today.

What Paul Said About Communion

As I mentioned before, there is not a great deal of information about Communion in the Bible after Jesus' death. Of all the Epistles, only once is the subject even covered, and this was by Paul. However, he does give us some clear ideas about what Communion is all about.

In 1 Corinthians 10:14-22 we read:

¹⁴ Therefore, my dear friends, flee from idolatry. ¹⁵ I speak to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say. ¹⁶ Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? ¹⁷ Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf.

¹⁸ Consider the people of Israel: Do not those who eat the sacrifices participate in the altar? 19 Do I mean then that a sacrifice offered to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything? ²⁰ No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons. ²¹ You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord's table and the table of demons. ²² Are we trying to arouse the Lord's jealousy? Are we stronger than he?

Paul provides two important teachings here that should eliminate any misconception about what Communion is all about. First in verse 16 he writes that the cup is a cup of thanksgiving for we are thankful that we get to participate in the blood of Christ. In other words, he was saying that he was very appreciative of the fact that Jesus died for him, and that he was able to accept that sacrifice for his sins.

Paul did not die on the cross, so he did not participate in losing his blood as Jesus did. He had not been martyred for being a Christian at this point, so again he did not participate on this level.

The King James version translates participation as communion. This comes from the Greek word koinoinia, which means participation, communion or partnership. Here we see that Paul is writing that he is able to be partnered with God through Jesus' death on the cross and that he gives thanks for this partnership by drinking from the cup. The cup is then nothing more than a thank-offering to God for his provision. It is a Fellowship Offering.

In the next sentence he asks if the bread is broken and shared to participate in the body of Christ. Participation is the same Greek word koinoinia which we read earlier means partnership. His question is to get them to understand that when they ate the bread they were being joined in communion with the body of Christ.

The body of Christ is not Christ's body however. He is not giving rise to the idea of transmutation. He is instead speaking of the group of Believers that are Christians. When one eats of the bread they are professing to be partnered with their Brothers and Sisters in Christ.

He then tells them that we are all one body in Jesus. That no matter where we get our Communion, whether it is at a Pentecostal, Baptist, Catholic, or other denominational church, we are eating from the same loaf of bread. That we are all sharing in the same Communion.

He then tells us that we cannot share in Communion with our brethren and then also eat and drink things that are sacrificed to pagan gods. I will return to explain this further in the last section of this book.

In 1 Corinthians 11 Paul then gives some instrumental teachings related to Communion. Before I reference those I think it is important to mention that he first admonishes the Corinthians for the poor manner in which they worship God in general. We see that, starting in this chapter and taking us through chapter 14, he speaks about the inappropriate way they have eaten Communion, used tongues, and held services, as well as how unloving they had become. There was a lot that they were doing wrong.

He writes in verses 17-34:

¹⁷ In the following directives I have no praise for you, for your meetings do more harm than good. ¹⁸ In the first place, I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you, and to some extent I believe it. ¹⁹ No doubt there have to be differences among you to show which of you have God's approval. ²⁰ When you come together, it is not the Lord's Supper you eat, ²¹ for as you eat, each of you goes ahead without waiting for anybody else. One remains hungry, another gets drunk. ²² Don't you have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you for this? Certainly not!

²³ For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, ²⁴ and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me." ²⁵ In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me." ²⁶ For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

²⁷ Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. ²⁸ A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. ²⁹ For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself. 30 That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. ³¹ But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment. ³² When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.

³³ So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for each other. ³⁴ If anyone is hungry, he should eat at home, so that when you meet together it may not result in judgment.

Paul begins this message by admonishing them for their poor behavior. He in fact tells them that their gatherings are doing more harm than they are good in promoting the commune of Believers. The primary focus of his frustration with them is related to their being divisive. This is the central issue related to Communion - unity.

Paul describes that there are a great many differences amongst them and that this is creating friction during the Lord's Supper. While he is frustrated by this, he also points out that this may be a good thing, because then everyone will know who is truly about serving God and who is not. This is still not something that Paul wanted. He wanted them to be of one mind in terms of their commitment to Jesus.

He wants them to know that he is aware of what is going on during their gatherings. He knows there are those who are treating the Lord's Supper as some sort of buffet. They are coming and filling themselves with as much food as they can eat, so that when others came later they had nothing. They also do not wait on anyone else, but just decide to go ahead and eat.

Then there is the group that shows up to the Lord's Supper drunk, or that gets drunk while they are there. These are the men and women that come to Communion, find the wine, and sit around drinking until they pass out.

It was this kind of selfish way in which they came together that angered Paul. He told them that they were demonstrating a hatred for the church and were humiliating the poor who had nothing. We are not told how they were doing this exactly, but the insinuation seems to be that they were eating up all the food before poorer people showed, making these people have to beg for some food to join in the Communion. This was humiliating to say the least.

Paul then gives the account of what Jesus did on the night He celebrated Communion with the Disciples. He explains that if one is to join in this Communion in an unworthy manner that they are guilty of sinning against the body and blood of Jesus. He continues by telling them that they must examine themselves to see if they should be joining in this feast. He challenges them to judge themselves so that they will not be judged.

This leaves us with the question - how does one eat this meal in an unworthy manner?

To grasp this we need to look at a few things that Paul says. Particularly the beginning statement he made about divisions among them, and the last statement he made in this passage - that when they came together they should wait for all to be present, and that if they are hungry they should eat at home before they came to avoid judgment.

What is the Purpose of Communion?

Too often I listen to pastors and ministers speak about "examining oneself" and they tell us to check our hearts and see if there is anything that is separating us from God. To see if we can find sin that would make us unworthy of joining in Communion. To be honest, if all of us examined ourselves we would all fall short of joining in this meal.

I will admit, however, that the writers of the Didache agreed with the idea of these pastors. They thought that if one was approaching God with transgressions in their heart that they should not be able to join in Communion. Chapter 14 reads:

But every Lord's day gather yourselves together, and break bread, and give thanksgiving after having confessed your transgressions, that your sacrifice may be pure. But let no one who is at odds with his fellow come together with you, until they be reconciled, that your sacrifice may not be profaned. For this is that which was spoken by the Lord: "In every place and time offer to me a pure sacrifice; for I am a great King, says the Lord, and my name is wonderful among the nations."

While I understand that these are incredible men of God, I find that I am odds with a portion of this teaching and in total agreement with the remainder of it. I know that sounds quite arrogant of me, but let me explain this.

Paul discusses the fact that divisions were in place with the Corinthians. This was wrong, and he was challenging them to put those aside. The Didache agrees with this. We are told that if one is at odds with another that they should reconcile that first. This was the demand of Jesus. In Mark 11:25 Jesus tells us:

²⁵ And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.

If you are coming to the Lord's Table to eat it is your responsibility to hold nothing that can divide the body of Believers. If you approach Communion and are bitter or at odds with someone it is your obligation to reconcile this first, otherwise you have brought judgment upon yourself.

You see we are being taught that unworthy means to be in sin. The reality is that all of us approach God with sin in our lives. If none of us could join in communion with sin then we would all be separated from Communion. Jesus removed the sin equation from our Communion Table by dying on the cross, so we are justified to approach God in Communion.

Some of the misunderstanding comes from the fact that the word translated as "unworthy," anaxios, should really be translated as "irreverent." Irreverent simply means to not show proper respect. It does not mean to have a pure heart. It just means to show reverence for what Jesus wanted this meal to be about. To do this we must grasp the proper meaning of Communion.

We must realize that the purpose of Communion is to declare the unity of Believers. That we are to come together as one united group, sharing in Communion with each other and God. It is honestly nothing more, and nothing less than this.

This may not seem like a tremendously important idea, but unity is what defeats Satan. Disunity is what gives Satan a place to destroy Believers and the work of God.

We need to consider that these Communion meals that Paul speaks about were not everyone eating a small piece of bread and drinking a little cup of juice. These were actual meals, where lots of food was served. Because of this it was like a big banquet.

It should have been a time to gather as a big group and have a feast together, but this is not how it was being celebrated. Paul told us then that if we did not want to bring judgment upon ourselves, we needed to do things at this feast to demonstrate that we truly saw ourselves as a united body. When we eat a lot and leave none for others, or get drunk, or do not wait on others to join us we are not doing things to create unity. This would bring judgment.

Consider this scenario. You invite some friends to dinner. Before they arrive you go to the buffet line and eat all the food, and leave none for them. You also don't wait for them to arrive. You just start eating. When they arrive you have also consumed about two bottles of wine and are nearly in a state of passing out. How do you think your friends would feel about your relationship with them? Not very good I am sure. Now you can see how some of the Corinthians felt.

With all due respect to the authors of the Didache, nothing in the Gospels or in Paul's writings suggest that there was a need to have a cleansed heart from sin before you could have Communion. While it is good to confess our sins, Communion does not demand this. This is instead a time to come together and join the body of Believers with Jesus as the Head. It is like being at the Last Supper, with Jesus sitting at the most prominent place as the host of the banquet.

I once heard a perfect example of what I am talking about. A good friend shared with me a story of when he was a member and pastor of a church in Arkansas. The senior pastor became disillusioned with his church and was upset that he was not getting the proper "respect" that he felt he deserved. As a result he was going to leave the church. The church members went to him asking him to have a change of heart, and he told them that he had changed his mind. However, he had not changed his mind. The next Sunday he joined them at service and shared Communion with them. That night he informed the church he was quitting.

This would be taking Communion in an unworthy manner. He had intended to separate himself from the congregation, yet he still joined them in a feast of unity. This brought judgment upon him.

Who Can Receive Communion?

Many pastors and ministers explain who is welcome to join in Communion before performing the act. They explain that anyone who has accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior, and identifies with the body of Believers is welcome. They are exactly right.

This is not a complex process by any stretch of the imagination.

There is so much religiosity that is added to this very simple feast. It has been made into something that it simply is not. As a result there are so many that are feeling unworthy to join in this blessed event.

To explain this idea I feel I need to address one specific group of people whom I know that the church has for years done what they can to shun from Communion - those who are divorced.

There are many churches that teach that if a person is divorced they are no longer eligible to accept Communion. The Catholic Church has held this policy for years, because they point out that divorce is a sign of disunity. If one is divorced, they must be holding animosity toward their former spouse, which makes them unworthy of having Communion. A perfectly valid argument, but wrong.

First of all consider that the Bible allowed for divorce. I know that this is not a popular idea, but God understood that sometimes we make impulsive decisions that are just destined to fail. Some marriages just reach a point where there is nothing to really keep the couple together. Additionally there are some marriages that are simply toxic and are not healthy for one or both parties.

God understood this, and knew that there was a need to have an option to end the marriage covenant. While this is not what He would want, it is permissible. To be honest, God is a divorcee. Before you start writing to me to tell me that I am a blasphemer, understand that God gave the people of Israel a bill of divorce. In Jeremiah 3:7-8 God declares:

⁷ I thought that after she had done all this she would return to me but she did not, and her unfaithful sister Judah saw it. ⁸ I gave faithless Israel her certificate of divorce and sent her away because of all her adulteries. Yet I saw that her unfaithful sister Judah had no fear; she also went out and committed adultery.

He issued a divorce to Israel, which makes God a divorcee. I am sorry but this is true.

Knowing this, would any of us declare that we cannot have Communion with God; that somehow He is not worthy to be joining us at His table? I doubt that anyone of us could be this emboldened.

In the church those who have been divorced get labeled with quite a stigma and feel like outcasts. This is true of those who have battled drug and alcohol addictions, been to jail, faced financial hardships, or had affairs. These men and women are usually gossiped about and treated with contempt. This is a divisive attitude, and those who are harboring them are not worthy to come to the Lord's Supper to join Him in Communion.

If you love Jesus, and you are a Believer in who He is and what He did, then you are eligible for Communion. Now if you are harboring some resentment toward someone, it does not mean that you are never allowed to have Communion. It just means that you need to try to reconcile that dispute first, and then partake in the Lord's Supper.

You may ask what you would do if you were harboring something against someone and you went to them, but the issue did not get resolved; what then? It is a good question.

Clearly not everyone is going to be receptive to resolving issues. You are angry about what someone has done, you go to them and they tell you to leave them alone; to go away. What now? The answer is simple - forgive. The ultimate form of reconciliation is simple forgiveness. If you forgive and no longer hold onto the offense, then no matter needs to be resolved. The slate is cleared. Now go join in Communion. You can even do this without confronting the person. Jesus wants you to forgive and this is the proper thing to do. Forgive and avoid the judgment that comes from taking communion in an irreverent manner.

There is one last group that Paul mentions that is not able to join in Communion - those who are eating food offered to pagan gods. He says in 1 Corinthians 10:21-22:

²¹ You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord's table and the table of demons. ²² Are we trying to arouse the Lord's jealousy? Are we stronger than he?

This is what John describes in the Book of Revelation as "lukewarm." You cannot serve God and the devil, and so you must make a choice as to whom you will serve. If you are choosing to eat meat or bread or drink wine that is sacrificed to idols, demons or false gods, you cannot join in the communion table with God. This is not allowed.

I am sure that there are few, if any, who would disagree with Paul. However, understand that he is not telling us that we cannot fellowship with pagan believers. If we are to minister the Gospel message to all people we must spend time with those who worship false gods to tell them about Jesus. This may mean spending some significant time with them. That is allowed.

What is not allowed would be to eat meat that is sacrificed or offered to their false gods. After all, how can one have Communion with God, when they are also communing with the enemy of God?

Communion is supposed to be a time when we come together as Believers. It is not intended to separate us from each other, nor to make others feel unwelcome. It is a place to share our love for God, our reverence for His sacrifice, and our unity with one another.