LORD'S SUPPEE
LORD S SUPPER
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saving', This, is mj' body ^vllic•ll is given for you ; this do for my memorial. And the cup in like manner after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood, even that which is i>ouied out for you. " From the jxfint of view of exegesis, this account of the Institution does not need fuither comment than what has already been said in connexion with the accounts in 1 Cor., Mk., Mt. From other jwints of view it would be necessary to discuss (1) the cup which our Lord ' received ' (Se^d- fuvos) before He ' took bread " (Xo/Sii'v apTov) ; and (2) the shorter reading of the text according to which some authorities omit from ' which is given for v<_>u " to ' which is jwured out for you.'
3." Pauline teaching.— (1) 1 Co 10'«"^. ' The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a communion of the blood of Christ ? The bread which we l)reak, is it not a communion of the body of Christ? seeing that we. who are many, are one bread, one IkxIv : for we all partake of the one bread. Be- hold Israel after the flesh : have not they wliich eat the sacrifices communion with the altar ? What say I then? that a thing sacrificed to idols is any- thing, or that an idol is anything ? But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons, and not to God ; and I would not that ye should have communion with demons. Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of demons ; j-e cannot partake of the table of the Lord, and of the table of demons." The following points here call for comment : (a) St. Paul describes the ' bread' and the ' cup" as being the means by which Chris- tians participate in the ' body of Christ ' and the 'blood of Christ"; (;3) there is nothing to suggest that the phrases ' body of Christ " and ' blood of Christ " are used in any other sense than that in which they would ordinarily be understood ; (7) the i)hrases ' which we break,' ' of blessing which we bless,' seem to connect the efficacy of the ele- ments as means of conveying the body and blood of Christ \\-ith the consecration of them, not dimply N\"ith their reception ; (5) this farticipation by Christians in ' the one bread " is a means of theii" unity, so that they are ' one bread, one body ' ; (el this description of the ' bread" and the 'cup' as the • body of Christ ' and the ' blood of Christ ' must l.>e compared with St. Pauls description else- where of Christians being made bv means of bap- tism the body of Christ (see 1 Co 12i^- 1*- *^, Eph o**) ; (j'l the communion of Christians is analogous to the Jewish sacrifices and to the sacrifices of the Gentiles. As the object of the Jewish sacrifices was to hold commxrnion with God, and as the object of the Gentile sacrifices was to hold com- munion with the false gods who are more properly regarded as demons, so also the Christian feast aims at communion with Christ.
(2) 1 Co ir^-^. 'As often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye proclaim the Lord's death till he come. Wherefore whosoever shall eat the bread or drink the cup of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and the blocxi of the Lord. But let a man prove himself, and so let him eat of the bread, and drink of the cup. For he that eateth and drinketh, eateth and drinketh judgment unto himself, if he discern not the body." (a) Christian communion is here declared to be a pioclamation of the death of the Lord, a setting forth of it so that it may not l>e forgotten l>etween the time of Hir> visible departure from the earth and the time of His return. So far as the indica- tions of a sacrificial aspect which liave already been noticed are held to be of weight, this pro- clamation may be regarded in a double manner as a memory among Christians and as a memorial before Ok)d. (3) Tlie rec-eption of communion unworthily is said to be an offence of so great gravitj- as to make the ofiender 'guilty of the
body and the blood of the Lord," .>o that his com- munion Ls an act of judgment upon himself in his failure to dLscem or appreciate or estimate the significance of the Lords body.
(3 1 1 Co 12**. ' We were all' made to drink of one Spirit." This proljably refers to the gift of the Holy Ghost in Baptism, though the use of the word 'drink ' has led some to refer it to such a gift in Communion.