communicant, leaves out an important significant element in this sacrament.
17. For we (being) many are one bread, (and) one body : for we are all partakers of that one bread.
Literally rendered this verse reads : Since it is one breads we the many are one body ; for xoe are all partaJcers of one bread. We are not said to be one bread ; but we are one body because we partake of one bread. The design of the apostle is to show that every one who comes to the Lord's supper enters into communion with all other communicants. They form one body in virtue of their joint participation of Christ. This being the case, those who attend the sacrificial feasts of the heathen form one rehgious body. They are in religious communion with each other, because in communion with the demons on whom their worship terminates. Many distinguished commentators, however, prefer the following in- terpretation. "For we, though many, are one bread (and) one body." The participation of the same loaf makes us one bread, and the joint participation of Christ's body makes us one body. This is, to say the least, an unusual and harsh figure. Believers are never said to be one bread ; and to make the ground of comparison the fact that the loaf is the joint product of many grains of wheat is very remote. And to say that we are literally one bread, because by assimilation the bread passes into the composition of the bodies of all the communicants, is to make the apostle teach modern physiology.
In the word Kotvwvta, communion^ as used in the preceding verse, lies the idea of joint participation. 'The bread which we break is a joint participation of the body of Christ ; be- cause (oTt) it is one bread, so are we one body.' The thing to be proved is the union of all partakers of that one bread. Instead of connecting this verse with the 16th, as containing a confirmation of what is therein stated, many commentators take it as an independent sentence introducing a passing re- mark. ' The Lord's supper brings us into communion with Christ. Because this is the case, we are one body and should act accordingly."* But this not only breaks the connection, but introduces what is not in the text. The idea is, ' Par- taking of the sacrament is a communion, because we the many all partake of one bread.'