being dropped, the Greeks retained the use of fermented bread, and accused the Latins of Judaizing. Romanists and Lutherans use unleavened wafers ; Protestants generally ordi- nary bread.
24. 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.
Saving given thanks. In Matt. 26, 26, and Mark 14, 22, it is, " Having blessed lY." In Luke 22, 19, it is as here. The two expressions mean the same thing. Both express the act of consecration, by a grateful acknowledgment of God's mercy and invocation of his blessing. See the remarks on 10, 16. ITe brake it. This circumstance is included in all the accounts ; in those of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, as well as in Paul's. This is one of the significant parts of the service, and ought not to be omitted as is done by Romanists, by the Greek church and by Lutherans. A^id said. The words uttered by our blessed Lord at this moment are differently reported by the different evangelists. In Matt. 26, 26, it is, " Take, eat." In Mark 14, 22, the latter word (according to the best authorities) is omitted. In Luke 22,19, both are omitted. Here, although both are found in the common text, yet, as they are wanting in the oldest MSS., they should probably be omitted ; so that Paul's account agrees as to this point with that of Luke. The proper inference from this diversity is, that the words were uttered by our Lord ; but as the ideas which they express were sufficiently indicated by the gesture of reaching, the bread to his disciples, they were omitted by some of the narrators as unnecessary. The idea, whether ex- pressed by words or gesture, is however of importance. The bread was to be taken and eaten. — There must be a distribu- tion of the elements to those participating in the service. Otherwise it is not a communion. This distribution is omitted by Romanists in the ordinary celebration of the Mass. The priest . alone eats the consecrated wafer. The next words, this is my hody^ are found in all the accounts. Probably the history of the world does not furnish a parallel to the contro- versies occasioned by these simple words. The ordinary and natural interpretation of them is, that the pronoun this refers to the bread* *This bread which I hold in my hand, and