The Bread...

...and the cup of the Lord

by Elder C.C. Coleman

"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 break 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. (I Cor. 11:23-25)

This Scripture is one of the underlying premises for the common belief of many churches in the communion service, called by some "The Lord's Supper." However, concerning the Lord's Supper, the Apostle Paul said, "now in this that I declare unto you I praise you not ... first, that when you come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you, and partly believe it. For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you. When you come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's supper." (I Cor. 11: 17-20)

The Apostle did deliver an ordinance to them though - one they were praised for keeping! "Now I praise you, brethren, that ye remember me in all things, and keep the ordinances, as I delivered them to you.(I Cor. 11:2) One of these ordinances was given in I Cor. 5: 7-8: "Purge out therefore the old leaven that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us: Therrefore let us keep the feast, not with the old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." Leaven in the Scriptures is false doctrine and hypocrisy. (See Matthew 16: 6-12 and Luke 12:1) Malice is defined as the disposition to injure another, evil intent or ill will. Wickedness is sin, vice, crime, or opposition to goodness. We need to be certain that these things are not in our lives so that we can keep our Passover with the unleavened Bread of sincerity and Truth.

Christ is now our Passover. Therefore we keep the Passover Feast differently in the New Testament Age. There can be no substitute for Christ: neither can there be a substitute for the Bread of Sincerity & Truth.

But what is truth? Jesus said, "Sanctify them through thy truth; thy word is truth." (John 17:17) If we eat the Word, we eat the Truth. This is the Bread of our Passover Feast or Supper. (The Lord's Passover is called the Feast in I Cor. 5:7-8, and the Lord's Supper in I Cor 11:20. See also, Luke 22:1 and John 13:1-2)

Jesus and his twelve Apostles kept the last literal feast to be observed. This feast had been instituted in Egypt in 1491 BC, the night before Israel was thrust out. (Ex. 12: 1-51) Jesus fulfilled the old covenant at the last Natural Passover Feast and established the New Covenant which He made when He said, "This is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins." (Matt. 26:28)

Thus, our passover for the New Testament church is not a natural feast because Christ, our passover was sacrificed for us. Our passover feast is kept with the unleavened Bread of sincerity and truth. Truth is the Word of God and has to be received into our hearts by faith and obedience.

What exactly then is the Bread that Paul told the church to eat to show the Lord's death? Jesus, Himself said, "Take, eat; this is my body, which is broken for you, this do in remembrance of me." (I Cor. 11:24) The following Scriptures help to reveal to us revelation that Paul had: There is "One Lord" (Eph 4:5) "The Lord, He is God," (Psalms 100:3) Accordingly, the Bread of God must be the same thing as the Lord's bread or body. In St. John 6:33, Jesus tells us what the Bread of God is: "for the bread of God is He which cometh down from heaven and giveth life to the world." In verse 35 Jesus said, "I am the bread of Life", verse 51, "I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world." Verse 53: "Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you."

To eat the flesh and drink the blood of Jesus is to receive him into our hearts by faith. He then washes us from our sins in His blood, and we become partakers of His divine nature. What food is to the natural body, Christ must be to the soul. The life of Christ, which in turn gives life to the world, is His word. By His Word, the worlds were formed, the sea was stilled, devils were cast out; by His Word Christ healed the sick and raised the dead.

As our physical body is sustained by natural food we eat; so our spiritual life is sustained by the Word of God. Every person, moreover, is to receive life from God's word for himself. God gives the Holy Spirit or life, to anyone who obeys His word. (See Acts 5:32) By looking to Jesus with the eye of faith, we are strengthened. As we feed on the word, we find that the spirit is life. (His words are "spirit" and they are life. John 6:63) The Word of God destroys the carnal nature and imparts life, and this life is in His Son. "He that hath the Son hath life." (I John 5:11-12) This, consequently, is eating the Bread which came down from heaven, the Bread of sincerity and truth. The Bread when obeyed will break down the barriers between associations and organizations and make God's people one body and Bread. (See I Cor. 10:17)

"The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?" (I Cor. 10:16) The word communion is defined fellowship. Our communion is fellowship with the body of Christ. To prove that this is not natural bread, let us look at I Cor. 1):17, "For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread,"... the Bread that came down from heaven. The word for connects the main thought, or words, of verses, 16 and 17 which is Bread. If the 17th verse is not referring to natural bread neither is the 16th. We have communion by partaking of that Bread,... the Bread of God. Thus we become one body! (I Cor. 12:27 says, "Now ye are the body of Christ, and membes in particular." Verse 13 in the same chapter tells us how we get into the body of Christ: "For by one Spirit we are all baptized into one body." This baptism puts us in the body. (See Eph 1:23, Col 1:18, and 24.)

The Bread then is the Bread of the Lord,.... of the Bread of God...... The Bread of Sincerity and Truth; and also it is our Passover Bread, ...ye do show the Lord's death until He comes. We are to obseve this ordinance until He comes back for His Church. Our Passover, or Lord's Supper looks back to the cross and anticipates "that blessed hope and glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. "(Titus 2: 13-14)

I Cor. 11:27 states: "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." I want to reiterate on the Bread. The Bread of the Lord is that Bread which came down from heaven that gives life unto the world. The Bread that He gave is His flesh, or the incarnate Word of God. (John 6:51) "The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us." (John 1:14) When we eat the Word, we eat the flesh; and when we eat the flesh we have eternal life... "He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him." (John 6: 54,56) Christ dwells in our hearts by faith. (See Eph 3:17) Therefore, when we eat Christ, our Passover, we eat the Bread of the Lord, the Bread of Truth, the Word of God, and the Bread of our communion or fellowship with Christ and His saints. "For we being many are one Bread and one Body." (I Cor. 10:17)

Remember, the Lord's body is His church. (See Col 1:18 and 24) Some teach that this refers to Jesus' mortal body, but this is an erroneous interpretation. Jesus no longer has a mortal body to discern. "Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we Him no more." (I Cor 5:16)

By the Bread of Truth, our passover, we are made to partake of the cup of the New Testament in His blood. In I Cor 11:27, the cup of the New testament is called "the cup of the Lord" Letting scripture interpret scripture, we can see what the Cup of the Lord is. There is "One Lord" (Eph 4:5) Jesus is Lord (See Acts 2:36) Therefore the Cup of the Lord is Jesus' Cup. "But Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask, Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with. (Matt. 20: 22-23) "Then Jesus said unto Peter, Put up thy sword into thy sheath; The cup which my father hath given me, shall I not drink it? (John 18:11) He prayed in the garden, "Oh Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me." (Matt. 26:39) So the Cup of the New Testament in His blood, which was shed for many for the remission of sins. The cup of death became a cup of blessing to all His people. "The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ:" (I Cor 10:16)

This cup of blessing, the cup of the lord, is not a natural cup, a "Holy Grail" but a spiritual cup of blessing and fellowship. When we drink this Cup of the Lord, we are to remember that our Lord died for our sins; and when oppressed or persecuted or afflicted for His sake and the gospel"s we must remember His love for us which caused Him to suffer the cup of sorrow for us. "For He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righeousness of God in HIm" (II Cor. 5:21)

The person who beholds the Saviour's matchless love will be elevated in thought,purified in heart, and transformed in character. He will go forth to be a light to the world to reflect, in some degree the light of the glorious gospel of Christ to the world, that they may see His wonderful love. The more we contemplate the cross of Christ, the more we should adopt the words of the Apostle Paul when he said, "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." (Gal. 6:14)

The cup of the Lord, the Cup of Suffering, the Cup of the New Testament, the Cup of the Communion of the Blood of Christ and the Cup of Blessing are all in the one cup which has been the greatest blessing ever bestowed on the human race. Without this cup there would be no remission of sins. To eat this Bread and drink this Cup of the Lord unworthily is to be guilty of the sacrificing of the Body and Blood of the Lord. In our day, the Lord has no mortal body and blood that one can crucify, thus, He was not talking about a mortal body, but His Church, which is now His body. (Col 1:18 and 24) "For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the Heavenly Gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put Him to an open shame." (Heb 6: 4-6) That would make one as guilty of the crucifixion of the body of the Lord as those who actually were there on that fateful day long ago.

"Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the Blood of the Covenant, wherewith He was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of Grace?" (Heb. 10:29) They who would do such things would be guilty of the Blood of the Lord and would be unworthy of Christ our Passover.

"But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh damnation (judgement) to himself not discernign the Lord's body." (I Cor 11:28 -29) To eat unworthily is to eat with malice and wickedness in our lives. If this were not possible, the Scriptures would not warn us against it.

Let a man examine himself that he may be able to discern the Lord's body! There may be some of God's Holy Ghost filled people who are suffering sickness because they have failed to discern the Body of Christ, His Church. Everyone who has received the baptism of the Holy Ghost is a member of His body, and the Lord has added them to His church. Therefore, we should recognize them and honor them as members of the same Body. Brethren have built barriers between brethren over doctrinal and ethical views and have failed to discern the body of Christ. If we will eat the Bread of sincerity and truth, it will eliminate misunderstanding and cause the brethren to keep the unity of the spirit until they come to the unity of the faith.

"Examine yourselves, whether you be in the faith: Prove your ownselves. Know ye not your ownselves how Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?" (II Cor. 13:5)

"Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord." (II Cor 7:1)

Because malice, ill will, and wickedness exist in some of God's children, it is necessary that we purge out the old leaven that we may be a new lump; for Christ our Passover, is sacrifices for us. Then we can keep the feast with the unleavened Bread of Sincerity and Truth and can discern, fellowship, and honor the members of the Lord's body, His Church.

Again, I plead with you, examine yourselves, for he that eats and drinks unworthily, eats and drinks damnation, or judgement, unto himself for failing to discern the Lord's body.

"For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that, we should not be condemned with world." (I Cor. 11:30-32)

To judge ourselves is to keep our hearts clean in word and deed by obedience to the Word of Truth. This is our Passover, or Lord's supper. True fellowship with other Spirit-filled Christians is our communion service.

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