What does the Bible mean when it speaks of the breaking of bread?

We find that the breaking of bread was an established practice among these new church-members. The practice was there so fully and so definitely established that we are told in the 46th verse that they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple and breaking bread at home, did eat their meat, or food, with gladness. Here a distinction is drawn between eating their food and breaking bread because elsewhere we do find breaking of bread used with reference to an ordinary meal — in the last chapter of Luke (Luke 24:35), for instance. Here the breaking of bread was not the ordinary meal; it was the remembrance of the Lord Jesus according to His own appointment before He went on high; and the Holy Spirit, to prevent confusion, joins it with the ordinary partaking of food. They ate their food with gladness, but they broke bread at home, not in the temple. And they did so daily. Their hearts were in continual touch with Him Who had so recently gone from their midst. It was a real thing to them too, because not so many days, very few weeks, had passed since some of them actually saw Him when He said to them in the upper room, "This do in remembrance of Me."

Of them we read: "And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers" (ver. 42). It is a fine thing to be steadfast. The apostles' "doctrine" was the truth they had received, and fellowship — the common appreciation and enjoyment thereof — the natural outcome of the truth. Then came the breaking of bread — that is the expression of the fellowship; and all was maintained, in a spirit of dependence, by prayer. If you had gone into Jerusalem at that time you would have found a big company at the breaking of bread, and as big a prayer-meeting.

They continued also in the breaking of bread, which was the sign of their Lord's death, and also incidentally — as we learn from 1 Corinthians 10:17 — an expression of fellowship. Thus they were in constant remembrance of their Lord who died, and preserved from reverting to the old associations.

These early Christians “continued steadfastly … in breaking of bread.” If we have a circumference of Christian privileges, surely the very central place must be given to “the breaking of bread.” Our Scripture gives it great prominence. The way in which it was instituted by the Lord Himself, “the same night in which He was betrayed” (1 Cor. 11:23); the simple unritualistic emblems on the table, the loaf speaking of our Lord’s body, given in sacrifice for us; the cup speaking of His precious blood shed for us, all this makes a great appeal to the affection of the Lord’s people. Our Lord, realizing the broken state that Christian testimony would arrive at, assures us that “where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them” (Matt. 18:20). This shows how much our Lord desires our remembrance. When so gathered, we find ourselves in our Lord’s presence, and by the Spirit’s leading we remember our Lord in His death, to whom and to which we owe everything.

And now more briefly I am going to talk about the supper of the Lord, 1st Corinthians 11. This is the breaking of bread. Most of us know the blessedness of this occasion. It was the last request of our beloved Lord made in circumstances most affecting. He seeks a response from those that love Him, and through that response there is an announcement in this world of His death and a testimony to the truth of the one body. We enjoy His company together, the very moments of heaven upon earth. Now, says the apostle, this is not only the breaking of bread, this is the Lord’s supper. The word ‘Lord’ (in verse 20, ‘When ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord’s supper’) only occurs twice in the Scriptures. The other reference is in Revelation 1 verse 10, where John speaks about being ‘in the Spirit on the Lord’s day’. It is a Lordly day, and a Lordly supper. If you look down the passage you would find no fewer than eight references to the Lord. Verse 20, ‘the Lord’s supper’; verse 23 ‘I received of the Lord… That the Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed...’ Verse 26 ‘the Lord’s death...’ Verse 27 (x2) ‘The Lord’, verse 29 ‘the Lord’s body’, verse 32 ‘chastened of the Lord.’ What does it mean? We have heard the statement that 1 Corinthians 10 is the responsibility of the bread breakers and chapter 11 it is the breaking of bread. I am going to add what I believe that teacher wouldn’t have denied, that there is responsibility also in the eleventh chapter. It is not only the breaking of bread it is the Lord’s supper. When we put our hand to the loaf, when we take the cup, it becomes a vitally important matter that we discern the Lord’s body. Now the Corinthians were not discerning it. They were taking the Lord’s supper as if it were an ordinary meal, their own supper. They had failed to discern that in that loaf there was a representation of the Lord’s body, and in that cup there was a representation of His blood. What was the effect? Dearly beloved, it makes us tremble, doesn’t it. The Lord, who is present in the company, is watching the hearts. None of us is worthy, except through His precious blood, but here it is a question of eating worthily.

(Vv. 15-17). Having warned us against the abuse of Christian ordinances, the Apostle sets before us the true significance of the symbols, the cup and the loaf, in the Lord's Supper. For us the cup is a “cup of blessing”, a symbol of the blood of Christ, reminding us of His death, when the blood that cleanses from all sin was shed at the Cross. For Him it was a cup of judgment, but the cup that brought judgment to Him secures blessing for us. The cup of judgment for Christ thus becomes a cup of blessing for the believer. For this cup we can bless, or give thanks. In speaking of blessing the cup, there is no thought of an individual consecrating the elements according to the ideas of corrupt Christendom. The Apostle says, “we” bless, “we” break, and “we” partake. It is an act of thanksgiving in which all who partake have their part.

It is important to see here that there are two expressions of fellowship, — fellowship with and fellowship of. We speak usually of fellowship with one another, more in the sense of 1 John 1:7, but here it is not communion with, but communion of. It must be remarked here that the words "communion" (verse 16), "partakers" (verse 18) and "fellowship," all represent the same root-word of the original, which gives the idea of sharing in common. Look at Luke 5:10: "Partners with" is the same word as "partakers" here, i.e., sharers in common of the fish caught. But in verse 7, "partners" is a different word, meaning that they shared not the fish but the privilege of fishing in the lake. This is the word used in Hebrews 6:4, "partakers of the Holy Ghost," where people may share in the privileges of Christianity and be lost. Our use of the word "partner," shows the thought. The fellowship, or communion, of the blood of Christ is the sharing in common with all God's children in all the value of His wonderful death. There are three "fellowships of" in Corinthians: (1.) 1 Cor. 1:9: "The fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord." All the true church is called to it. It is "of" and not "with," and means that we share the blessings in common with all saints of being livingly associated with the Son of God, on the other side of death; (2.) 1 Cor. 10:16: "The fellowship of the blood and body of Christ;" and (3.) 2 Cor. 13:14: "The fellowship of the Holy Ghost." To many, as now used, this expression is merely a sign of the end of a service, but what does it mean? It means that we share with all true Christians the results of the dwelling here of the Holy Ghost and of His power to make good the truth in our souls. But, of course, each one of these is a subject in itself.

The breaking of bread was a special event. It was the outward expression of this fellowship into which they had been brought. Every time they broke the bread they remembered, first of all the greatness of the body of Christ, His own personal body in which He suffered upon the cross in order to bring us into blessing (1 Cor.11:23-26) and, secondly, the bread that was broken spoke about the one body of believers, the 'mystical body', if you like, of Christ upon earth (1 Cor.10:16-17). Every time that bread was broken there was a public expression of this wonderful fellowship, and they continued in this.

We break bread because we thereby express that all believers on earth form one fellowship and unity. This thought, too, is closely bound up with the Lord’s Table. Paul writes: “We, though many, are one bread and one body; for we all partake of that one bread” (1 Corinthians 10: 17). It is a great joy for us to express this unity. The Lord Jesus came to “gather together in one the children of God who were scattered abroad” (John 11: 52). Even if this unity among the children of God is no longer visible today – through our unfaithfulness and sin – it still exists in God’s sight, and we have a unique opportunity of testifying to it when together we proclaim the Lord’s death at His Table according to the teaching of the Bible. The loaf not only speaks of His body given into death, but also of the unity of the children of God. Together we form the One Body, which is symbolized by the loaf.

Another important truth is taught by the apostle in 1 Cor. 10. He says: "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, one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread," or loaf. (vv. 16, 17.) We are here told that the "one bread," or "loaf," is a symbol of the unity of the body of Christ; and this unity is also set forth by the fact that all (the members of Christ forming the assembly) are partakers (when gathered together) of that one bread or loaf. Hence the purpose of the gathering together was to "break bread," to "show the Lord's death till He come" (1 Cor. 11:26); and consequently, when gathered according to the mind of God as members of Christ, it should be around the table of the Lord in obedience to His command, where, in addition to remembering Christ, we have before us the bread which reminds us on the one hand of His broken body; and on the other of the unity of His body — the church. Accordingly we find that when the early disciples came together on the first day of the week, it was to break bread (Acts 20:7); for they were mindful both of the commandment of the Lord, and of the fact that they were members of the body of Christ.