Communion - what is it really?

Our next Doctrinal Rethink is communion.

Communion is a well-established sacrament of the Church, practiced in way that is very similar in most every denomination. Typically it is expressed as a ritual, with carefully-designed procedures.

We have long wondered at how the traditional communion service came about, because the biblical descriptions seem to be at odds with these practices. We suspect that the early development of the Romanist church with its propensity for structure and rituals contributed to how communion began to change from the biblical model.

Some have suggested that the excesses chronicled in First Corinthians caused a backlash, which caused the early church to overcompensate by limiting and ritualizing the practice. In any case, the biblical practice gave way to the ceremonial sacrament as practiced today.

The OT

There is a long biblical tradition of breaking bread, where guests were honored, or for fellowship, or to acknowledge, remember, or celebrate of special days or events, like weddings or the Passover. Sometimes the meal contained great symbolic meaning, or it was a marker for a new alliance or a new era.

The first biblical reference to breaking bread is Ge. 14:18:

Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine.

Melchizedek, a type of Christ, sat down with Abram (Abraham) and the king of Sodom and communed with them, breaking bread. Notice that Melchizedek blessed Abraham but not the king of Sodom. Though both Abraham and the king of Sodom shared in the bread, Melchizedek made it clear who was chosen and blessed of God, so much so that the king Sodom tried to cut a deal with Abraham.

Then there was the encounter between the three men and Abraham, which was part of the events that led to the great promise of Sarah becoming pregnant. Ge. 18:2-5:

Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground. 3 He said, “If I have found favor in your eyes, my lord, do not pass your servant by. 4 Let a little water be brought, and then you may all wash your feet and rest under this tree. 5 Let me get you something to eat, so you can be refreshed and then go on your way — now that you have come to your servant.” “Very well,” they answered, “do as you say.”

Other references include Ge. 19:3, Ge. 24:33, and Ge. 43:16.

The bread and the wine were basic elements of meals, as fundamental as a burger and coke is today.

Bread also represents the blessing and favor of the Lord:

De. 8:7-9 For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land — a land with streams and pools of water, with springs flowing in the valleys and hills; 8 a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig-trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey; 9 a land where bread will not be scarce and you will lack nothing...

Ps. 104:14-15 He makes grass grow for the cattle, and plants for man to cultivate — bringing forth food from the earth: 15 wine that gladdens the heart of man, oil to make his face shine, and bread that sustains his heart.

Bread is artos ( ἄρτος): properly, bread; (figuratively) divine provision... to be one's table-companion, his familiar friend, John 13:18 (Psalm 40:10 ()). In John 6:32-35 Jesus calls himself, τόν ἄρτον τοῦ Θεοῦ, τόν ἄρτον ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, ὁ ἄρτος τῆς ζωῆς, as the Divine λόγος, come from heaven, who containing in himself the source of heavenly life supplies celestial nutriment to souls that they may attain to life eternal.

Bread is a staple, and also it is symbolic of the most elemental of foods, which Jesus Himself is. He is the Bread of Life, the one who gives eternal life.

Breaking bread together was and is a central part of Hebrew culture, so when the disciples gathered with Jesus in the upper room for Passover, it was not unusual at all. What was unusual was this Passover meal would take on a new meaning for Christians.

Jn. 6:35 Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.

The breaking of bread, the togetherness and community it implies, is embodied in Jesus Himself as the source and sustainer of all things. There is nothing more fundamental than for Jesus to be the Bread of life, the sustenance that eternally satisfies, just as there was nothing more basic to eat than bread.

The Last Supper

The Last Supper is recorded in three of the four Gospels (Mt. 26:26-28, Mk. 14:22-24, and Lk. 22:14-20). Matthew relates it this way:

While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.” 27 Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. 28 This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins."

The key to all this is the representative nature of the elements:

1Co. 10:1-4 For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. 2 They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual food 4 and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. 

"They" is the nation of Israel as they wandered in the wilderness. "They," together. They were baptized. They ate bread from heaven and drank of the water that gushed from the rock. Together. These things are called "spiritual." The provision of God was their portion, a spiritual provision. 

And it wasn't actually bread. The specific foods are nothing special in themselves, and unless one is a Catholic, they are nothing special when eaten. It is what they represent that is important, not which foods they are.

So Jesus took the mundane and common and made them into powerful and symbolic representations of the incredibly unique event of His death on the cross. 

The Contemporary Communion Service

The tradition in every church of which we've been a part is a variation on a theme:

1) The elements:

• Either passed out by the ushers, or placed on a table at the front
• Sometimes bread, most often a cracker
• Sometimes a choice of wine or grape juice, usually administered in a little cup

2) The homily:

• A Scripture reading, usually Mt. 26:26-28 or 1Co. 10:23-27
• An invitation to pause and consider the state of one's soul in reflection
• A statement about whether or not communion is open to all, or just members

3) Partaking:

• At the point in the homily when the bread is referenced, the bread or cracker is received
• At the point in the homily when the cup is referenced, the wine or juice is received

The emphasis in a typical church communion service is on a somber, self-reflective activity, with no interaction between congregants.

The NT Practice: The Lord's Supper

The NT does not contain a solemn communion ceremony, or in fact, any ceremony at all. Communion was a meal, with the whole church participating in fellowship.

The first mention of a meal after Pentecost is

Ac. 2:42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

So the early church was committed to eating together, praying together, fellowshipping together, and they wholeheartedly devoted themselves to the teachings of the apostles. The emphasis is on community, being together. They probably communed nearly every day. This is much different than our contemporary practice, and it is our opinion that the church has suffered for not maintaining this practice.

Paul broaches the subject of the Lord's Supper for the first time in 1Co. 10:16-17:

Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? 17 Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf.

Partaking of a meal together speaks to us being one body. The sharing of bread is symbolic of togetherness, unity, and a singular identity. Eating together means we belong together as the body.

This is a critical understanding, that communion is a representation of the body as one entity. It is with this understanding that we approach the central passage regarding the practice of communion and what our obligations are:

1Co. 11:20-30 When you come together, it is not the Lord’s Supper you eat, 21 for as you eat, each of you goes ahead without waiting for anybody else. One remains hungry, another gets drunk. 22 Don’t you have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you for this? Certainly not!

Notice that this was a full blown meal, deemed "the Lord's Supper." "Supper" is deipnon (δεῖπνον, ου, τό) From the same as dapane; dinner, i.e. The chief meal (usually in the evening) -- feast, supper. Clearly they were not just solemnly eating a little cracker and a tasting a bit of grape juice while sitting in a church building. The early church was eating together. It wasn't a sacrament, it was a time of regular fellowship together with a meal.

And we find out that the Corinthian church was in fact despising the body (Jesus' sacrifice, and by extension, the Church) by neglecting those who were there, and by getting drunk.

The Biblical Model

23 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

Paul was telling the Corinthian church directly what the elements mean. His body, the church, was to remember the great sacrifice Jesus gave at the cross.

26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. 27 Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. 

"Whenever." Every time we eat together we proclaim His death. Every time we eat together it is communion. Every time we eat together we consider His body and blood.

28 A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. 29 For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself. 30 That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep.

This examination is not only His body broken for us, but His body the church as well. And in fact are rejoicing over Christ's victory over death.

Joe Thorn put it this way:

...the Lord’s Supper is sometimes treated as an overly-introspective and nearly depressing act. Some are encouraged to so focus on their sin that, despite the highlighted and visible gospel proclamation happening in the Lord’s Supper, the joy of salvation is nowhere to be found. 

If we don't recognize the Body (He and His church) we eat and drink judgment upon ourselves. If we eat and exclude, diminish, or dishonor our brothers and sisters, we tear down the Body. It isn't about considering the state of our own souls in relation to unconfessed sin, it instead is about our regard for the Church and Jesus' sacrifice, as well as our care and honor of the Body!

Communion is the interaction of the body of Christ one with another in honor. To dishonor the body (the church) is to dishonor Christ.

Conclusion

It seems to us that communion is more accurately represented by the church potluck than by the little cracker and splash of grape juice during the church service. Communion speaks of a much higher purpose for the church than is currently practiced, a togetherness and unity of vision and purpose that far exceeds the lifeless ceremony.