A Concise Explanation of the Purpose & Meaning of the Lord's Supper

Christ chose to establish the Lord's Supper and the New Covenant on the occasion of the Passover. This is significant for two reasons: First, Passover marked an annual time of remembrance of how God had liberated his people out of slavery in Egypt. The lamb in the Passover meal is a type of Christ (1 Cor. 5:7),

as is the blood applied to the doorpost of every Israelite home. Second, Passover was a time of proclamation wherein children and visitors would hear the story of how God saved his people Israel (Exod. 12:26, v. 48). The Lord's Supper is similarly a memorial meal and a means of proclamation. We participate in the Lord's Supper because Christ told us, "Do this in remembrance of me" (1 Cor 11:24)[1], but we also "proclaim the Lord's death until he comes" (1 Cor. 11:26).

Importantly, the Lord's Supper is also the initiation of the New Covenant (Luke 22:20; cf. Jer. 31:31). Therefore, as we participate in the Lord's Supper, we remember, proclaim, and renew our participation in the New Covenant. Through our participation, we once again repledge our allegiance to Christ through public worship. Whereas the Passover was a time for the people of Israel to respond to the grace of God in their liberation, the Lord's Supper is our time to respond after we have prayed, confessed sin, and been taught by the Word on the Lord's Day. The Lord's Supper, therefore, is the biblically sanctioned time of response for God's people.

In my younger years, I attended a church that would conduct altar calls at the conclusion of a service. The pastor would invite not only unbelievers to respond, but also often invited believers to "recommit themselves to the Lord" by responding to an altar call. However, the biblically sanctioned time for recommitting oneself to Christ is not an altar call, but the Lord's Supper. The Supper is the appointed time in which we repledge our loyalty to Christ in light of his sufficient death and victorious resurrection.

Sacrament or Ordinance?

Baptists commonly chaff at the notion that Baptism and the Lord's Supper are sacraments, given the excesses of Roman Catholic sacramentalism. Subsequently, many prefer the term "ordinance." "Ordinance" emphasizes that these rituals are ordained or commanded by Christ. However, the term "sacrament," derived from the Latin sacer meaning "sacred," refers to a sacred practice that confers grace. Since both baptism and the Lord's Supper confer grace in that they afford to us symbols of Christ's work on our behalf and our participation in the church, we may safely conclude that baptism and the Lord's Supper are both ordinances and sacraments.

Paul's Warnings

Paul wrote, "Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord" (1 Cor. 11:27). The term translated "unworthy manner" (anaxiōs) is rare in the New Testament, only occurring in 1 Corinthians 11:27. In other ancient texts, the term is used to connote something inappropriate or unfitting. For example, the term is used once in the Septuagint to describe the prospect of a respected Israelite elder being abused by wicked men (2 Macc. 14:42). Note that Paul's concern is how Christians eat the Supper. That is, to eat the Supper in a way that is inappropriate is a sin against the "body and blood of the Lord." This is no light matter!

In v. 29, Paul elaborates: "For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself." We may conclude that the "unworthy manner" Paul described is identical to failing to "discern the body." Some have assumed that the "body" under discussion is Christ's physical body. However, Paul routinely refers to the church as the "body" (e.g., Rom. 12:4-5; 1 Cor. 6:15-20; esp. 10:16-17). Judging by the preceding verses (17-22), Paul was primarily concerned not with the physical body of Christ, but with the divisions and partiality evident in the Corinthian observance of the Lord's Supper. Their observance was marred by divisiveness, factions, favoritism, and even drunkenness. Therefore, Paul commands self-examination: "Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup" (v. 28). This self-examination, then, is not intended to merely determine whether one is a sinner in need of forgiveness. No, our sinfulness is a prerequisite to the Supper. Rather, the self-examination should cause us to evaluate the manner in which we treat each other. If we disregard the body, treating our brethren as inconsequential or unimportant, or if we abuse the body, only to take the Lord's Supper, we sin against the body and blood of our Lord. Moreover, we also risk sickness and even death (v. 30)!

Subsequently, Paul's warnings related to the Lord's Supper emphasize the unity of the congregation, a consistent theme in Paul's letters (Rom. 12:16; 15:5; Phil. 2:1-2; 4:2; 2 Cor. 13:11). For this reason, it is advisable to refrain from participating in the Lord's Supper in the event that you are involved in an offense or dispute within the body. Rather, "First be reconciled to your brother" (Matt. 5:25), and pursue the bond of peace.

The Frequency of Observance

Luke describes the shape of the earliest Lord’s Day services: “And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers” (Acts 2:42). That “the breaking of bread” occurs along with devotion to the apostle’s teaching, fellowship, and prayer implies that it is a regular part of ordinary weekly worship. Additionally, this phrase uses the same language used in Luke’s account of the institution: “He took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body’…” (Luke 22:19). The “breaking of bread” or a variation thereof is the consistent language of the New Testament referring to the Lord’s Supper. For example: “The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?” (1 Cor. 10:16); “That the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, ‘This is my body…’” (1 Cor. 11:23).

Acts 20:7 states, “On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his speech until midnight.” The “first day of the week” is a reference to the Lord’s Day (Luke 24:1), and a more literal translation of the underlying Greek text makes weekly observance of the Lord’s Supper even more explicit: “And on the first, the sabbath, we gathered to break bread.”

The phrase, “break bread” or variations thereof are unknown to Jewish literature of the time, not being found in any surviving text. This implies, given the phrase's importance in the words of the institution, that it was a known phrase that was understood to refer to the Lord’s Supper when used in the context of a Christian gathering. While some argue that “the breaking of bread” could refer to a love feast, such feasts were not substitutes for the Lord's Supper, but were frequently part of the observation of the Lord’s Supper (1 Cor. 11:20-22). Indeed, the institution of the Lord’s Supper itself occurred during a preexisting meal (i.e., Passover). 

While not definitive on its own, there is unanimous agreement among the earliest Christians on weekly observance of the Lord's Supper. However, these, in conjunction with the biblical evidence, demonstrate that observance was an integral part of the weekly service. For example, Justin Martyr, writing about AD 150, described the weekly observance of the Lord’s Supper:

On the day called Sunday, all who live in cities or in the country gather together to one place, and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits; then, when the reader has ceased, the president verbally instructs, and exhorts to the imitation of these good things. Then we all rise together and pray, and, as we before said, when our prayer is ended, bread and wine and water are brought, and the president in like manner offers prayers and thanksgivings, according to his ability, and the people assent, saying Amen; and there is a distribution to each, and a participation of that over which thanks have been given, and to those who are absent a portion is sent by the deacons.

The Didache, dated to AD 60-120, is the earliest surviving handbook of Christian worship. It plainly requires weekly observance: “Every Lord's Day gather yourselves together, and break bread, and give thanksgiving after having confessed your transgressions, that your sacrifice may be pure.” When the Didache describes the prayers for use during the Lord’s Supper, it says:

And concerning the broken bread: We thank You, our Father, for the life and knowledge which You made known to us through Jesus Your Servant; to You be the glory forever. Even as this broken bread was scattered over the hills, and was gathered together and became one, so let Your Church be gathered together from the ends of the earth into Your kingdom…

Hippolytus, writing around AD 200, similarly described weekly observance:  

On the first day of the week, the elder, if possible, shall deliver the offering to all

the people with his own hand, while the deacons break the bread. When the deacon

brings it to the elder, the deacon shall present his platter, and the elder shall take it himself and distribute it to the people by his own hand.

Going back to 1 Corinthians 11, note that Paul says, "When you come together it is not for the better but for the worse. For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you" (vv. 17-18). Notice that Paul uses the phrase "When you come together," which is a translation of the verb sunerchomai, to refer to the church formally assembling for worship. In v. 20, Paul says, "When you come together, it is not the Lord’s supper that you eat." While the Corinthians were abusing the Lord's Table, it is clear that when they assembled for worship, they observed the Lord's Supper every time. In Paul's view, to gather together for worship naturally implies observance of the Lord's Supper. Therefore, the biblical expectation is that the church would observe the Lord's Supper weekly.

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1. All biblical citations taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2016).