Is the Lord’s Supper Jesus’s Precise Physique and Blood? (1 Corinthians)

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²³For I obtained from the Lord what I additionally delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the evening when he was betrayed took bread, ²⁴ and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and mentioned, “That is my physique, which is for you. Do that in remembrance of me.” ²⁵ In the identical method additionally he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the brand new covenant in my blood. Do that, as typically as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” ²⁶For as typically as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s demise till he comes.

4 New Testomony students supply passage-by-passage commentary by means of the books of Romans, 1–2 Corinthians, and Galatians, explaining tough doctrines, shedding mild on neglected sections, and making use of them to life and ministry at present. A part of the ESV Expository Commentary collection.

The Bread and Wine

Paul explains what the Lord’s Supper is all about by repeating what Jesus mentioned on the meal’s establishment. He reminds the Corinthians of the custom or doctrine that he has already handed on to them from the Lord (cf. 1 Cor. 15:3) however that they’ve failed to keep up (distinction 1 Cor. 11:2).¹ This part begins with “For” as a result of it helps verse 22b—the explanation Paul can’t commend the church is as a result of the best way they’re abusing the Lord’s Supper is antithetical to what the Lord himself introduced that the Lord’s Supper is meant to represent. The bottom is stage on the foot of the cross. No Christian is inherently higher than one other. So how can a Christian have fun Jesus’ cross-work in a method that snubs fellow Christians?

“That is my physique. . . . This cup is the brand new covenant.” Professing Christians have understood Jesus’ phrases in a number of other ways.² Opposite to Roman Catholicism, the bread and wine are usually not repeated sacrifices that grow to be Jesus’ precise physique and blood, nor do they convey justifying grace. Opposite to Lutheranism, Jesus’ precise physique and blood are usually not current “in, with, and below” the bread and wine. Jesus’ precise physique and blood are usually not current in any respect. The bread and wine symbolize Jesus’ demise for no less than three causes: (1) That is essentially the most pure option to perceive Jesus’ two statements. (2) Jesus’ two statements parallel one another, so it’s becoming for the primary assertion to be symbolic, because the second is symbolic: “the cup,” which represents the wine inside the cup, doesn’t grow to be the brand new covenant however symbolizes what is important to safe it—demise. (3) Jesus twice says to have fun his Supper “in remembrance of me.” The Lord’s Supper is a treasured memorial to remind folks about Jesus’ sacrificial demise. However it isn’t merely a memorial. It conveys particular sanctifying grace to Christians who eat and drink in religion as a result of Jesus is spiritually current as his folks fellowship with him and one another (cf. touch upon 1 Cor. 10:16).³

Jesus introduced that his physique “is for you”—that’s, he died on our behalf and in our place. He atoned for our sins as a penal substitute (cf. touch upon 1 Cor. 15:3).

Jesus’ “supper” refers to a Passover meal. The Passover meal is a kind, and the Lord’s Supper is its antitype (on typology, cf. touch upon 1 Cor. 10:1–22).⁴ The Passover meal was each a sacrifice and a covenant renewal ceremony through which Israel remembered the exodus (Ex. 12:14) and the previous covenant that God inaugurated with the blood of sacrificed animals (Ex. 24:5–8). The Lord’s Supper isn’t a sacrifice, nevertheless it remembers Jesus’ once-for-all-time sacrificial demise as “our Passover lamb” (1 Cor. 5:7; cf. Heb. 7:27; Heb. 9:12, 26; Heb. 10:10); it’s a covenant renewal ceremony through which the church remembers Jesus’ new exodus for his folks and the brand new covenant he inaugurated together with his bloody demise and resurrection (Jer. 31:31–34; Hebrews 8).⁵ When the church celebrates the Lord’s Supper, it remembers Jesus’ physique and blood: his demise has inaugurated the brand new covenant. Thus most English translations (rightly) learn, “This cup is the brand new covenant in my blood.”⁶

The church ought to proceed to “eat this bread” and “drink the cup” with the intention to keep in mind Jesus’ cross-work as a result of this act of consuming and consuming is a option to proclaim the gospel commonly till Jesus returns. The symbolic meal heralds essentially the most wonderful story and thus ought to construct up believers and evangelize unbelievers.

Notes:

Paul most likely wrote this letter earlier than others wrote the Gospels. Cf. parallel accounts in Matthew 26:26–29; Mark 14:22–25; and Luke 22:17–20. Paul’s wording most intently resembles Luke’s.
See John H. Armstrong, ed., Understanding 4 Views on the Lord’s Supper, Counterpoints (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2007); Gregg R. Allison, Historic Theology: An Introduction to Christian Doctrine; A Companion to Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), 635–658.
Cf. Gregg R. Allison, Roman Catholic Theology and Observe: An Evangelical Evaluation (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2014), 299–325; John S. Hammett, 40 Questions on Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, 40 Questions (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Tutorial, 2015), 215–257.
On the typology right here, see James M. Hamilton Jr., “The Lord’s Supper in Paul: An Identification-Forming Proclamation of the Gospel,” in The Lord’s Supper: Remembering and Proclaiming Christ Till He Comes, ed. Thomas R. Schreiner and Matthew R. Crawford, NACSBT (Nashville: B&H, 2011), 85–92.
Cf. Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics, ed. John Bolt, trans. John Vriend, vol. 4, Holy Spirit, Church, and New Creation (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Tutorial, 2008), 540–544.
The NLT clarifies, “This cup is the brand new covenant between God and his folks—an settlement confirmed with my blood.”

This text is by Andrew David Naselli and is tailored from ESV Expository Commentary: Romans–Galatians edited by Iain M. Duguid, James M. Hamilton Jr., Jay Sklar.