What is Biblical Communion? It's time to UNLEARN the lies.
UNLEARN
Hey, welcome to UNLEARN. My name is Lex, and I'd like to invite you to join us each week
as we search out Biblical truth together and UNLEARN the lies we have inherited. Now, let's
get started.
I recently received a question from Mark who says,
"Do you know anything about communion? The Sunday School class that I listen to has gone
over it the last 3 weeks and I keep thinking there is something more to it than what we
were brought up with. Communion, as done in Christian churches (a wafer and a shot of
grape juice while reading 1 Corinthians 11:24), is this a practice to continue in? Or if it
needs changed somewhat, what should that be? Look forward to your comments."
- Mark
Great question Mark.
First, I want to point out what Paul says in chapter 10 that sets the stage for his
statements about communion in Chapter 11.
"The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a sharing in the blood of Messiah? The
bread that we break, is it not a sharing in the body of Messiah?"
- 1 Corinthians 10:16
Where did Paul get this language of eating the flesh and drinking the blood of Messiah?
Well, he learned it from Yeshua. The gospel of John records a very important saying of
Yeshua in which He says that we must eat His flesh and drink His blood if we want to have
everlasting life.
"Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me possesses everlasting life. I am the
bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and they died. This is the
bread which comes down out of the heaven, so that anyone might eat of it, and not die.
I am the living bread which came down out of the heaven. If anyone eats of this bread,
he shall live forever. And indeed, the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall
give for the life of the world.” The Yehuḏim, therefore, were striving with one another,
saying, “How is this One able to give us His flesh to eat?” Yeshua therefore said
to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Aḏam and
drink His blood, you possess no life in yourselves. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood possesses
everlasting life, and I shall raise him up in the last day. For My flesh is truly food,
and My blood is truly drink. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood stays in Me, and
I in him. As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds
on Me shall live because of Me. This is the bread which came down out of the heaven, not
as your fathers ate the manna and died. He who eats this bread shall live forever."
- John 6:47-58
These are some very significant statements that Yeshua made that we need to pay close
attention to, because He said we must eat His flesh and drink His blood if we want eternal
life. What was He talking about? How do we eat His flesh and drink His blood? This is
the context for what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 11.
"So when you come together in one place, it is not to eat the Master’s supper. For,
when you eat, each one takes his own supper first, and one is hungry and another is drunk.
Have you not houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the assembly of Elohim and
shame those who have not? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you in this? I do not
praise! For I received from the Master that which I also delivered to you: that the Master
Yeshua in the night in which He was delivered up took bread, and having given thanks, He
broke it and said, “Take, eat, this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance
of Me.” In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the renewed
covenant in My blood. As often as you drink it, do this in remembrance of Me.” For as
often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the death of the Master
until He comes. So that whoever should eat this bread or drink this cup of the Master
unworthily shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Master. But let a man examine
himself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup. For the one who is
eating and drinking unworthily, eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the body
of the Master." - 1 Corinthians 11:20-29
Notice the somber self-reflection that Paul is encouraging concerning this special meal.
When we take of this bread and wine, we are partaking in the body and blood of Messiah.
This was not a wafer and a thimble of juice. They were breaking bread and drinking wine.
We know this because Paul scolds them for getting drunk and full instead of sharing
together with the assembly.
Now, the next question we need to answer is how often should we eat the Lord's Supper?
The Catholics teach that eucharist is to be eaten every week during their weekly Mass.
Many protestant churches serve communion quarterly. But, what does the Bible say about when we
should eat the Lord's Supper? We need to go to the source, and see when Yeshua said to
celebrate His memorial supper.
"And the Day of Unleavened Bread came when the Pesach had to be slaughtered. And He sent
Kepha and Yoḥanan, saying, “Go and prepare the Pesach for us to eat.” And they said
to Him, “Where do You wish us to prepare?” And He said to them, “See, as you enter
into the city, a man shall meet you carrying a jar of water. Follow him into the house
he enters. And you shall say to the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says to you,
Where is the guest room where I might eat the Pesach with My taught ones?”’ And
he shall show you a large, furnished upper room. Prepare it there. And going they found
it as He had said to them, and they prepared the Pesach. And when the hour had come, He
sat down, and the twelve emissaries with Him. And He said to them, “With desire I have
desired to eat this Pesach with you before My suffering, for I say to you, I shall certainly
not eat of it again until it is filled in the reign of Elohim.
- Luke 22:7-16
The Lord's Supper that He ate with His disciples was Passover. The bread He broke was Unleavened
bread, and the wine they drank was Passover wine. This was the covenant renewal meal that
He ate with His disciples. The first Passover was the covenant Yahuwah made with Israel
in Egypt, and Yeshua renewed that covenant on Passover with His disciples. Then He instructed
us to eat Passover in remembrance of Him each year.
"Therefore cleanse out the old leaven, so that you are a new lump, as you are unleavened.
For also Messiah our Pesach was slaughtered for us. So then let us celebrate the festival,
not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of evil and wickedness, but with the unleavened
bread of sincerity and truth." - 1 Corinthians 5:7-8
I want to encourage you, as Paul did, to keep Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread
as a memorial to Yeshua.
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