More than a Symbol
by OriginalSoapbox
Most of the direct theology about the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper comes from 1 Corinthians 10-11, in which Paul is praising the Corinthians for avoiding idolatry, but chastising them for the way in which they treat one another during the Eucharistic feast. Extracts follow, then comments:
10:1 For I want you to know, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, 2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 and all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. 5 Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. . . . 14 Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. 15 I speak as to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say. 16 The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? 17 Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.
1 Corinthians 10:1-5; 14-17 ESV
23 For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when 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 also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
27 Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. 28 Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. 30 That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. 31 But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. 32 But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.1 Corinthians 11:23-32 ESV
These are some striking passages. Some of the implications:
- By receiving the bread and wine together, Christians are partaking of the redemptive body and blood of Jesus Christ.
- This term, the “body,” appears to have multiple simultaneous meanings. It refers both to the elements, which are by Jesus’s institution his own body, and to those partaking in them, who by grace participate in and become the body of Christ, i.e., the Church.
- Participation in the sacraments is akin to the participation of Israel in God’s collective acts of redemption. Likewise, Paul is very clear that the Lord’s Supper is something Christians must participate in together.
- To rightly partake of a sacrament, Christians must acknowledge its true nature, to the extent that they are able. Infants and children have very little rational understanding, but even a child can understand that it is “the body of Christ” and that it requires he forgive his brother.
- Sacraments could be called symbols, but the word fails somewhat, because the physical elements really convey the substance of what they represent.
- An essential meaning of the Lord’s Supper is the unity of the church in one Body, which is why ‘private communion’ is almost an oxymoron.
- An equally essential meaning of the Lord’s Supper is that Christ presents himself to believers by grace through the elements, when received in faith.
- Christ is apparently present in the elements even when someone does not “discern the body,” because in partaking without faith, the undiscerning person may incur judgment which he would not otherwise have suffered.
- The sacrament of the table is thus a means by which Christ sanctifies and unifies his Church, in a way that has to be regarded as more than symbolic, metaphorical, or psychological.
In addition to the Bible, the writings of Martin Luther, John Calvin, Augustine of Hippo, Melito of Sardis, and Gene Edward Veith have been very helpful.
I just read Melito a bit ago. Poetic.
I’m always struck, reading 10:17, that participation in this broken loaf in some sense effects our unity as a single entity, in Christ. There’s a causation here — obviously brought about by the Holy Spirit, but somehow directly tied up in this act of eating.
Eating and drinking, of all things. God is a lot less refined than people sometimes want Him to be.