Like baptism, there has been considerable debate over communion throughout church history. Different denominations and churches all seem to have their own understanding of communion and way of practicing it. It has all created quite a confusing quandary. This morning I am going to attempt to bring some clarity to the quandary by answering some of the most common questions I have heard people ask about communion!
1.) What is communion?
Simply put, communion is a symbolic and communal act of remembering the death of our Lord Jesus Christ by eating bread and drinking wine. Jesus himself instituted this practice when he shared his last supper with his disciples the night before he was crucified. The Last Supper meal became a model for the Lord’s Supper and Jesus commanded his disciples to repeat this practice in remembrance of him. In verse 23 Paul tells the Corinthian church that he received this tradition from the Lord and passed it on to them. No doubt, he received the communion ordinance via the disciples, not from some direct revelation, and taught it to all of the churches he planted.
Symbolic Act of Remembrance (23-25)
Paul explains the symbolic nature of communion in verses 23-25. The broken bread represents Jesus’ body broken for us. Likewise, the cup of wine represents Jesus’ blood that was poured out for us. Jesus cleverly chose bread and wine, two of the most common elements in the ancient Jewish diet, as visible signs of his suffering. Bread is the same color as human flesh and wine is the same color as blood are visual reminders that Jesus sacrificed his body and blood so that we could have forgiveness for our sins.
As you can already tell, I believe that when Jesus said “This is my body” and “This is my blood” he is speaking metaphorically. He means that the bread and wine represent his body and blood, not that they literally are his body and blood. No one sitting with Jesus at the table would have understood his statement literally. By eating and drinking this food, Christians exercise their faith by symbolizing that they have received God’s grace through the death of his son. This is one of the areas where the Christian church has been divided.
The Roman Catholic view is called “Transubstantiation” which means that when the priest raises up the elements and says “This is my body” and “This is my blood” that bread and wine are literally transformed into the body and blood of Jesus. This is why they believe that every time the mass is celebrated, the sacrifice of Christ is actually repeated. The Lutheran view is called “Consubstantiation” which means that although the bread and wine are not literally transformed into the body and blood of Christ, Jesus’ physical body is present “in, with, and under” the bread and wine in the Lord’s Supper. All other Protestant churches believe that Jesus’ words are meant to be understood figuratively, not literally, and that the bread and wine are mere symbols of Jesus’ body and blood.
Throughout his ministry, Jesus often used physical objects to teach us about spiritual realities, and I wholeheartedly believe that this is exactly what Jesus was doing when he instituted the Lord’s Supper. So, when we see, hold, smell, and taste the bread and wine, it reminds us of what Jesus endured for us!
Communal Act of Remembrance (17-22)
Secondly, communion is a communal or community act of remembrance. When Jesus first instituted the Lord’s Supper, who did he do it with? That’s right, his disciples! He did not take his personal loaf of bread and bottle of wine to a lonely mountain and have a private picnic with his Heavenly Father; he shared this meal with his closest friends (his spiritual family if you will). Communion is a community celebration of what Jesus has accomplished for us on the cross. Communion is about community!
This is why Paul chastised the Corinthians in verses17-22. Communion is a picture of the Church’s unity with Christ and with each other, but the Corinthians had defiled the ordinance by their divisions, dissentions, disunity, and disrespect that they were showing to one another. Paul actually tells them that their worship services were a waste of time; they brought more harm than good! The specific problem was that the wealthy members of the church were not waiting for everyone else to arrive before they began eating. Remember, in the early church communion was often served during an actual meal. They were gorging themselves on the bread and getting drunk on the wine, and by the time the poorer church members showed up, there wasn’t anything left for them to share communion. Paul was angered by this display of decadence and he hammers their hypocrisy by telling them that it is not the Lord’s Supper that they are eating. The depth of his displeasure is seen in the sarcasm of his rhetorical questions in verse 22.
If communion is not about community, then it is not true communion. Communion should be celebrated across social, racial, economic, and gender lines! It is not reserved for certain cliques in the church. Communion is about what Christ has done for the whole community and should be remembered and practiced as a whole community!
2.) Why should we celebrate communion?
Obedience (24-25)
The first reason why we should celebrate communion is obedience. Jesus commanded his disciples to “do this in remembrance of me.” It is as simple as that: Jesus told us to do it, so we do it! Jesus expects us to continually obey him by celebrating communion until he comes. The disciples passed communion on to Paul, Paul passed it on to the churches he planted, the Church has passed it on for 2000 years, and we are to practice it today and continue to pass it on to the next generation.
Remembrance (24-25)
The second reason why we should celebrate communion is remembrance. We have already partially discussed this when we explored the meaning of communion, but it needs to be revisited here. Jesus knew how forgetful human beings are, so he gave us this graphic picture to constantly remind us of his death.
I am so glad that Jesus instituted communion to remind us of his death. I forget things all the time. When I was growing up, my grandfather used to tell me, “You’d forget your head if it wasn’t screwed on!”
Think about it! We forget things all the time! We forget where we put our keys, we forget to do our homework, we forget most of what our wives tell us to do, and we would certainly be more susceptible to forgetting Jesus’ love if we weren’t reminded of his death when we celebrate communion.
We all do things to help us remember things that are important. Some people write things down in a calendar, use little sticky notes, or e-mails to themselves. Some people leave themselves voice messages on their telephones. Others tie strings around their fingers. The problem is they can’t remember what the string was supposed to remind them of! God uses communion to remind us of the depth of Jesus’ love for us and the extent of his sacrifice for our sins!
Proclamation (26)
The third reason why we should celebrate communion is that it proclaims the gospel of Jesus Christ. In verse 26 he tells the Corinthians that whenever they eat the bread and drink the wine they proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes. Communion is a visual sermon or an object lesson that tells about the suffering and death of our Lord Jesus. This picture is one of the ways that non-Christians learn about who Jesus is and what he has done for us.
3.) Who should participate in communion?
This question has caused considerable controversy in the church. Should only Christians participate in communion or is it OK for non-believers too? Do you have to belong to a particular denomination? How about children? Should they participate? If so, when? Should we take communion when we are in sin? It is quite a quandary indeed!
Believers, not Unbelievers
Let’s begin with the question of whether communion is just for believers. I believe the answer to this question is “Yes!” Communion symbolizes our union with Christ and Christ’s community. As baptism is a sign of entering into the Christian life, communion is a sign of continuing in the Christian life. How can communion symbolize union with Christ and his Church, if the person taking it is not a Christian? How can communion signify a continuation in the Christian life if the person is not a Christian?
Also, even though the “unworthy manner” in verse 27 primarily refers to those wealthy Christians who were eating and drinking everything before the poorer Christians showed up, there is a broader implication of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. In verse 29 Paul explains what he means by this when he says “without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment upon himself.” How can someone “recognize” the body and blood of the Lord if they are not believers? Unbelievers, by definition, do not accept the biblical meaning of Christ’s death nor do they adequately care about his people. Christians don’t recognize the body and blood of the Lord when they act selfishly toward others in the Christian community.
Whether it is an unbeliever who hasn’t received the benefits of Jesus’ death or a believer who is abusing the meaning of Jesus’ death, Paul warns against participating in communion. Either way, he is trying to prevent hypocrisy in the Lord’s Supper so that no one will take it in an unworthy manner and incur God’s judgment.
I believe that if a person is a true believer in Jesus Christ, you don’t have to belong to any particular denomination to take communion. At our church, anyone who professes faith in Jesus Christ is welcome to this table. It doesn’t matter if you are Catholic, Lutheran, Methodist, Congregational, or something else. I would caution you against taking communion at churches where they state that communion is only for members of their particular church or denomination. We want to be respectful to all!
Children who Profess Faith
As for children, I believe it should be as I have just mentioned. Until a child is able to “recognize” the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ and makes some profession of faith, I think they should abstain. Whenever a child understands who Jesus is and what he has done for us through his death on the cross, regardless of specific age, I believe they should be accounted as part of the Christian community and allowed to participate.
Therefore, parents have a huge responsibility in spiritually discerning the faith of their children. I would recommend erring on the side of caution and not allow your children to take communion until you feel quite comfortable with your child’s understanding of the death of Jesus Christ. If you are not sure, I would recommend enlisting the help of your pastor and/or child’s Sunday school teacher.
In Sin or Not
As for the question, “Should I take communion when I am in sin?” I would ask, is there ever a time when we are not in sin? When Paul encourages the Corinthians to “examine themselves” he is specifically referring to the hypocrisy of their disunity and selfishness during the communion service, but again, this has broader implications. Any sin against a member of Christ’s Church is a sin against Christ himself. Therefore, a period of self-examination and repentance before communion is always appropriate.
Listen to what New Testament scholar Craig Blomberg says:
The Eucharist should be a time for self-examination, not so much for past sins, though repentance from them is always appropriate. Rather, Christians should consider their present attitudes toward those more needy than themselves. This would lead to a radically different group of people who ought to refrain from the Lord’s Supper than usually appears. All repentant sinners are welcome, no matter how far away from God they may have recently felt. All professing believers who are unprepared to give generously of their wealth to help the poor in their midst, or who treat people of lower classes as second-class citizens, or who simply remain unreconciled with fellow celebrants, should refrain.
4.) Who should administer communion?
Some churches specify that communion can only be served by ordained clergy, but the Bible gives us no explicit teaching on this question. So we are simply left to spiritual wisdom to decide. In order to guard against abuse of the Lord’s Supper, a responsible leader should be in charge of administering it. In most situations, this would be the pastor, but it does not have to be limited to a pastor.
5.) How often should communion be celebrated?
Some churches celebrate communion every week, some once a month, and still others only celebrate it quarterly or once or twice a year. Which one is right? Well, again the Scriptures don’t give us any explicit teaching about this. Jesus said, “As often as you do this, do it in remembrance of me.” Every church should decide on what is most appropriate for their Christian community, but we should all be careful not to become too dogmatic about issues that are not clearly expressed in Scripture.
6.) How should communion be served?
Every church has its own custom on how communion is served. Some call everyone up to the alter where they eat a wafer and drink wine from a common cup while others use white bread and serve grape juice in individual cups in the pews. Some only allow elders to serve communion while others utilize the youth group. Again, Scripture is really silent on this issue so we should be careful not to assert that any one way is the right way. Under the guidelines of unity and respect, every church should follow what is best for their particular community.
Now that we know about communion, let’s partake of it together!