Baptism and the Lord's Supper

The Lord's Supper Explained

The Lord's Supper · The two ordinances Jesus gave his church

The Lord's Supper, also called Holy Communion, is the meal of bread and cup that Jesus gave his church on the night he was betrayed, telling his followers to eat and drink in remembrance of him. It looks back to his death, where his body was given and his blood was shed, and it draws believers into communion with him and with one another. As often as the church keeps it, it proclaims the Lord's death until he comes again.

And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me.Luke 22:19 (KJV)

The night he gave the meal

The Lord's Supper began at a table, on the last night before the cross, during the Passover meal Jesus shared with his disciples. In the middle of that ancient feast of deliverance he did something new. He took the bread, gave thanks, broke it, and gave it to them with words they would never forget.

Then he took the cup, saying that it was the new covenant in his blood, shed for them. In a few quiet gestures he gathered up the meaning of his whole coming death and handed it to his church to keep. Christians have kept it ever since, in cathedrals and prison cells and living rooms, wherever two or three gather in his name.

The apostle's account

We do not depend only on the Gospels for the Supper. Paul, writing to the Corinthians, passed on the tradition he had received from the Lord himself, and his words are read at communion tables all over the world.

For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come.1 Corinthians 11:23-26 (KJV)

Everything essential is in those verses. The Supper comes from the Lord, not from human invention. It centers on his body given and his blood shed. It is to be done in remembrance of him. And it proclaims his death until he comes. To share the bread and cup is to stand inside that story.

A meal of remembrance

Twice Jesus said, this do in remembrance of me. The Supper is first of all an act of memory, not a dead recollection of something far away, but a living remembering that brings the past into the present. When the church eats the bread and drinks the cup, it calls to mind the cross: the body broken, the blood poured out, the love that went all the way to death for us. In a world that forgets so quickly, Jesus gave his people a way to remember the one thing they must never forget.

To remember his death is also to receive it afresh as good news. The Supper says, in effect, this was for you. The believer who takes the bread is reminded that Christ's body was given for them personally, and that the forgiveness bought at such cost is theirs.

This kind of remembering is active, not sentimental. When Israel kept the Passover, each generation was told to remember the exodus as though they themselves had been brought out of Egypt, so that an old deliverance became their own. In the same way the church does not merely recall a distant Friday; it takes its own place at the foot of the cross and receives the love poured out there as a present gift. To remember, at this table, is to be drawn again into the saving event and to feed on it by faith.

Communion with Christ

The Supper is remembrance, but it is more than remembrance. Paul calls it a communion, a sharing, a real fellowship with Christ himself.

The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?1 Corinthians 10:16 (KJV)

The bread and the cup are the church's participation in the body and blood of the Lord. Christians describe the manner of that communion in different ways, which a companion page sets out fairly. But across those descriptions runs a shared conviction: at this table the believer does not merely think about an absent Christ, but meets the living Christ who gave himself, and is nourished by him. It is called Holy Communion because communion is exactly what it is.

Communion with one another

Because the many share in the one loaf, the Supper also binds believers to each other. Paul reasoned that since there is one bread, those who partake of it are one body, for all are partakers of that one bread. The table is not a private devotion but a family meal. It is no accident that Paul's longest teaching on the Supper is a rebuke to a church that came to it divided, some feasting while others went hungry. To eat this bread together is to confess that we belong to one another because we belong to Christ.

So the Supper heals as well as feeds. It calls the church to come reconciled, to leave behind its quarrels, and to sit as one family at the table of the Lord who made them one.

The many names of one meal

Christians call this meal by several names, and each opens a window onto its meaning. It is the Lord's Supper, because the Lord Jesus gave it and the Lord Jesus is its host. It is Holy Communion, because in it believers commune with Christ and with one another. It is the breaking of bread, the name Luke uses for the gatherings of the first Christians, who continued steadfastly in the apostles' teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. It is the Eucharist, from the Greek word for thanksgiving, because Jesus gave thanks over the bread and cup, and the church has given thanks ever since.

The different names are not rival claims but facets of one gift. Whether a believer speaks of communion, the Lord's table, the breaking of bread, or the Eucharist, they mean the meal Jesus gave on the night he was betrayed, and they mean to keep it as he commanded, with gratitude, remembrance, and love.

Proclaiming his death till he comes

The Supper looks back to the cross, and it also looks forward. Paul says that as often as the church eats the bread and drinks the cup, it shows the Lord's death till he come. Every communion is a small proclamation of the gospel and a quiet act of hope. The church announces that Jesus died and rose, and it waits for the day he returns and the long supper of the redeemed begins, the marriage feast of the Lamb. Between the cross behind and the kingdom ahead, the church keeps the meal he gave, remembering, communing, proclaiming, and hoping.

Traditions differ over how often to celebrate it and exactly how to understand it, and those honest differences are named on their own page. What unites Christians at the table is far greater: they come at the command of Jesus, to remember his death, to commune with him, and to proclaim him until he comes.

A note for all traditions: baptism and the Lord's Supper are kept across the whole church, yet Christians practice them in genuinely different ways. Where believers sincerely differ, the main views are named here fairly and without taking a side, because The Living Bread is non-denominational. What unites us is greater than what divides us: obedience to Christ, remembrance of his death, and union with him.

Related: The meaning of the bread and the cup · Who should take communion? · How Christians differ on the Lord's Supper · Baptism and the Lord's Supper