Please note that this article is the first article derived from a five-part teaching series on the Lord's Supper given in Bermondsey Gospel Hall, the audio and transcripts of which can be found here.
When it comes to controversy over the ordinances of the church, it seems like today it all centres on baptism rather than the Lord's Supper. While this may be a result of our tendency to remain within our own 'evangelical' camp, in which there is generally little disagreement over the Lord's Supper, it is undeniable that previous generations had to work through and deal with more disagreements regarding it than we do today.
Indeed, not only was the Lord's Supper a dividing doctrine between Protestants in Reformation such as Luther and Zwingli, but John Piper points out that it was the main division in the English Reformation, splitting Protestants and Catholics across the land. It is important to remember that our forefathers were burnt at the stake for what they believed about the Lord's Supper.
Such historical controversy contrasts with the general lack of clarity over the doctrine today. If what our forefathers in the faith believed about this passage was the difference between life and death, we should perhaps sit up and take more notice. As John Piper says, ‘There are big things here that aren’t worth killing for, but are worth dying for.’
Seven Significant Scriptures
While there are certainly similarities between the Lord’s Supper and the Passover (with many perhaps rightly arguing that the Passover is an Old Testament shadow to the New Testament reality of the Lord’s Supper), the substantial teaching of the Lord’s Supper is found in the New Testament. Within the New Testament, we can be fairly confident that it is referred to in seven passages, which in turn fit into four different categories.
The first three references can be catagorised as the Provision of the Lord’s Supper. They are all found in the gospels: Matthew 26:17-29, Mark 14 :22-25 and Luke 22:14-23. In each of them we see Jesus, the night before he died, providing a symbol to his disciples so that they can remember him after he dies.
The second category deals with the Practice of the Lord’s Supper. This is fleshed out by the two references found in Acts 2:42 and 20:7-12, where we see the early church remembering Christ’s death together by breaking bread. This practice seemed to be prevalent both in the early days of the church in Jerusalem and at the local church in Troas.
The third category is the Principle of the Lord’s Supper. It comes out in 1 Corinthians 10:16-17, during a passage discussing eating food offered to idols. Paul expounds the principle behind the Lord’s Supper as part of his larger argument, describing our communion, participation, fellowship with God and each other. In doing so, he gives the clearest indication of what actually happens at the Lord’s Supper, not physically as we see elsewhere, but spiritually.
The final category is the Problem of the Lord’s Supper. It is of course 1 Corinthians 11:17-34, where Paul deals with the ongoing problems within the Corinthian church displayed at the Lord’s Supper.
Two Tertiary Texts
While the Lord's Supper is almost certainly referenced in the seven passages outlined above, there are disputes over its inclusion in two others: John 6:41-59 and Jude 21. There is little to suggest whether or not the reference in Jude 21 is simply to a fellowship meal of the early church or the meal framing the Lord's Supper. However, in either case, little turns on the final determination. After all, if Jude 21 does refer to the Lord's Supper, it tells us no more than we already know - what should be a display of unity was ultimately divided.
The disputed reference to the Lord's Supper in John 6 is not so inconsequential. In taking time to read the passage, it is easy to see how it could be used to support the Roman Catholic doctrine of the Lord's Supper. The necessity of eating Christ's flesh and drinking his blood for life (John 6:53) is easily turned into supporting the real presence of Christ's actual body and blood in the bread and wine. Or better yet, we should perhaps say easily twisted. For it should be noted that there is nothing in John 6 that should make us think of the Lord's Supper. There is no reference to bread and wine, the New Covenant made in Christ's blood or the command to remember him (three key elements in the passages relating to the Provision of the Lord's Supper). It is also significant that the original hearers of these words would not have understood it as a reference to the Lord's Supper, which even the disciples would not learn about until later in Christ's ministry. Additionally, the original readers of John's gospel would never have picked up any implied reference here from John's words, as non-Christians (John 20:31) they would have known little about the ordinances. Indeed, John doesn't even refer to the Lord's Supper later in his account, so his readers also wouldn't have picked up a reference in hindsight. If the original hearers of these words of Christ, along with the original readers of the words of John, didn't see them as a reference to the Lord's Supper, why should we?
Rather than the Lord's Supper, Christ is referring throughout John 6 to those who spiritually (rather than physically) feed on him through faith. Such a reading supports the wide variety of images and expressions used throughout the chapter (John 6:1-14; 6:23; 6:27; 6:35-36; 6:40; 6:63-64). Therefore, while the Lord's Supper is included, as a means by which we can spiritually feed on Christ through faith, it is no more referred to here than is meditation on God's Word or prayer.
One Bread, One Body
In considering the Lord's Supper, for the sake of time, these article will look primarily at the Problem of the Lord's Supper (1 Corinthians 11:17-34) and Principle of the Lord's Supper (1 Corinthians 10:16-17). The former passage is perhaps the most comprehensive of the seven, covering not only problem in Corinth but also going back to its original provision and outlining the practice of the early church.
However, the later passage is perhaps the most significant of the seven, which is a surprising statement given its brevity and relative obscurity in most treatments of the Lord's Supper today. However, it is in 1 Corinthians 10 that we find the heart of the Lord's Supper, short statements summarising what takes place both vertically (between us and God) and horizontally (between each other). In pealing back the physical, those things that are seen, Paul shows us the unseen spiritual realities that occur when we gather together to break the bread and bless the cup. For because there is one bread, we who are many are one body (1 Corinthians 10:17).
ALEXANDER ARRELL