What does the Bible say about communion?

The breaking of bread — which the Brethren observe every Lord's day morning — is the highest expression of the church's unity. "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? For we being many, are one bread and one body; for we are all partakers of that one bread." 1 Corinthians 10:16-17.*

But is there not more than this in the Lord's supper? God has caused it to be written, "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? For we being many are one bread and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread" (1 Cor. 10:16-17). Now here it is plainly a question of communion — communion in its double aspect. In verse 16 it is communion with the body and blood of the Lord, the body of our Lord that was nailed to the cross, the blood of our Lord that was shed to put away our sins. In verse 17 it is communion of the body of our Lord that is composed of His saints: though we be many, we are but one loaf — one body; and this is proved by being all partakers of the one loaf.

Scripture is clear and definite on the subject of the Lord's Supper. The words are as distinct as possible, “As oft as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till He come.” Again, “This do in remembrance of Me.” We remember Him in death — the basis, center and spring of everything to us. The apostle calls attention to the fact that it was in the same night He was betrayed that our blessed Lord, in His thoughtful, unselfish love for us, instituted the feast, and this is full of touching interest for our hearts. But as to the feast itself — its significance — its object — its place, Scripture is most precise: “ye do show the Lord's death,” “Do this in remembrance of Me.” We remember a Christ who was dead; we call Him to mind in that condition in which, thank God, He no longer is. All this can only be by faith through the power of the Holy Spirit. There is no need to enter into sensational details; indeed such things are most offensive to all true spiritual feeling. We cannot keep too close to the actual, perfect language of Holy Scripture.

The first feature of the second couplet of those things in which these believers persevered is "the breaking of bread." The fellowship which is regulated by the apostles' teaching is expressed in the breaking of bread. As believers gather on the first day of the week for the remembrance of their Lord in His appointed way, they give expression to at least two things. One is that the fellowship is based upon the death of their Lord, and the other is that it embraces all who are redeemed in virtue of their having been baptized by one Spirit into one body. "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? For we being many are one bread, and one body; for we are all partakers of that one bread" (1 Corinthians 10:16-17).

In verse 16 we see that when we drink from the cup we have communion with the blood of Christ. Not I alone have this, but "we", all the believers, and so it is also with the bread. It is the cup which we bless and the bread which we break. All believers who celebrate the Lord's Supper have fellowship with it and with one another. In verse 17 this is again emphatically established: "We, being many, are one loaf, one body for we all partake of that one loaf". (New Trans). When therefore we celebrate the Lord's Supper collectively, we clearly express that we have fellowship with the blood and the body of the Lord, and that we form with all believers, one bread, one body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:13).

That fellowship is founded on, and centers in, the death of Christ. Our blessing the cup and breaking the bread is the expression of that death which is the basis of the fellowship. The cup, containing the poured out wine, is the symbol of the poured out blood of Christ, and the loaf symbolizes the dead body of Christ. Our partaking of the cup and loaf expresses our identification with that death — the death that is the foundation on which the fellowship in which we participate depends (1 Cor. 10:16-17).

Besides celebrating the death of the Lord, remembering Himself, and worshipping; do we not find another object in the Supper? Is it not to manifest the oneness of the body? I think so. Let us see. In 1 Cor. 10:16-17, this idea seems to be fairly deduced, as we read, "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? For we, being many, are one bread (or one loaf) and one body; for we are all partakers of that one bread (or loaf). We saw on a previous occasion that the Lord always contemplated "one body," "one assembly." And this should be expressed in the one unbroken loaf set upon the table, afterwards broken and divided among the gathered saints.*

As regards the precious institution of the Lord's Supper, we believe that Christians should celebrate it on every Lord's day, and that, in so doing, they commemorate the Lord's death until He come. We believe that, as baptism sets forth our death with Christ, so the Lord's Supper sets forth Christ's death for us. We do not see any authority in the word of God for regarding the Lord's Supper as "a sacrifice," "a sacrament," or "a covenant." The word is, "This do in remembrance of me." (See Matt. 26:26, 28; Mark 14:22- 24; Luke 22:19-20; 1 Cor. 11:23-26.)

From both instances it is ours to profit. At the institution of the Supper, the Lord Himself made no restrictions. "This do in remembrance of Me" was His own word to the apostles of the circumcision; but nothing did He lay down as to the frequency of participation. Neither when making a special revelation to the apostle of the Gentiles, did the Lord define the interval that should separate the observances of the feast of remembrance. From His silence on this point therefore it may surely be gathered with the utmost certainty that He has left it to the love and fidelity of our hearts to respond to His own expressed desire by eating bread and drinking wine as often as circumstances will allow. And this we have seen was the practice in early days. In Jerusalem at the first the saints were able to break bread at home daily. In Troas the custom was to gather for that purpose on the first of the week. Considering both examples, we conclude that they were under neither the incitement nor the restriction of any rigid rule, but that they met together as often as was possible.

Be pleased to mark this word of the apostle very carefully, "Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord." He condemns the way in which the supper was observed. Some persons have misunderstood this text, and have needlessly stayed away from the Lord's supper for years. They say, "I am not worthy to go; it says in the Bible I ought not to go." But they have not read the passage very carefully, because the verse does not speak about unworthy persons eating, but about the unworthy way in which some persons ate.