v, taking) sc. in His hand. This implies the supreme dig nity of the holy supper ; cf. John iv. 2.1 — rbv aprov, the bread) which was at hand. — siXoy^tfas, having blessed) In the next verse we find ju^af/or^a?, having given thanks (corresponding to the Hebrew T"Q). Each verb explains the other. He gave thanks to the Father, and at the same time blessed the bread and also the wine by the act of giving of thanks and by prayer ; cf. Luke ix. 16; John vi. 11; 1 Cor. xiv. 16, 17. — sx\aos, brake) after blessing it (post benedictionem) : which is incon sistent with the notion of transubstantiation. For an accident, as the Romanists declare the bread to be after it has been blessed (post benedictionem), cannot be broken. — nai sdidov, and gave) Our Lord is not said Himself to have eaten and drunk on this oc casion : since not for Himself was His body being given, nor His blood being shed. — AdfStrt, Take) Who could have taken (" re ceived"} if the Lord had not instituted it? Cf. John iii. 27. — rovro, This) sc. in opposition to the shadows of the Old Dispensa tion ; as much as to say, you have Me, My actual self; This, sc. which I command you to take : for it is immediately followed by My blood, which is of the New Testament. — Sw^a, Body, must be taken as literally as A//.z,a, blood. The separate distri bution, however, of His body and blood represents the actual death2 of our Lord, in which His blood was drawn forth from His body. The benediction preceded and precedes the utter-
the nod of Peter [beckoning to John to ask the Lord] : therefore both the question of John and the reply of the Lord escaped their notice, John xiii. 28.
7. That the traitor should have been vouchsafed the washing of feet, is a circumstance almost as astonishing as his being admitted to the Lord's Supper : nor does even the permission of the kiss, given for the purposes of treachery, move us to less astonishment. As to the rest, we are here treating only of a question of historical truth : nor is it our intention ever to uphold the cause of unfair adapters of facts to their own aims (perfidorum recono- morum.) — Harm., p. 611, etc.
1 It is there said, " JESUS Himself baptized NOT." It is here said, " JESUS
TOOK BREAD," etc. — (I. B.)
2 The memory of which ought to be perpetuated till His coming again. — B. G. V., ver. 29.
In the very moment of death Christ approached that state which is different from the life that He lived before His death and after His resur rection, and thenceforward for ever. — Harm., p. 510.