What is communion?

Understanding 1 Corinthians 11:23-25

Communion is the most universal and most divisive practice in Christianity. Every branch of the church practices it in some form — and almost every branch disagrees about what exactly happens when they do. Understanding communion requires tracing it from its origin to its theological significance.

The origin — the Last Supper:

On the night before His crucifixion, Jesus celebrated the Passover meal with His disciples. The Passover commemorated Israel's deliverance from Egypt — the night when the blood of a lamb on the doorpost caused the angel of death to 'pass over' Israelite homes (Exodus 12). Jesus took two elements from this meal and invested them with new meaning:

The bread: 'This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me' (1 Corinthians 11:24). At the Passover, unleavened bread reminded Israel of their hasty departure from Egypt. Jesus now declares the bread to represent His body — broken for His people.

The cup: 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me' (v. 25). The Passover cups recalled God's promises of redemption. Jesus declares the wine to represent His blood — poured out to establish the 'new covenant' prophesied in Jeremiah 31:31-34.

The connection to Passover is theologically deliberate. Just as the lamb's blood delivered Israel from death in Egypt, Christ's blood delivers believers from the death that sin brings. Paul makes this explicit: 'Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed' (1 Corinthians 5:7).

The names:

Different traditions use different terms, each emphasizing a different aspect:

• The Lord's Supper (1 Corinthians 11:20) — Emphasizes that this is Christ's meal, hosted by Him, in His presence.

• Communion / Holy Communion (1 Corinthians 10:16, KJV: 'communion of the blood/body of Christ') — Emphasizes participation and fellowship with Christ and with other believers.

• The Eucharist (from Greek 'eucharistia,' thanksgiving) — Emphasizes the gratitude that characterizes the meal. Jesus 'gave thanks' before breaking the bread.

• The Breaking of Bread (Acts 2:42, 20:7) — The earliest and simplest description of the practice in the apostolic church.

Four major views on what happens:

1. Transubstantiation (Roman Catholic): The bread and wine literally become the body and blood of Christ while retaining the 'accidents' (appearance, taste, texture) of bread and wine. The substance changes; the appearance does not. Christ is physically, truly, and substantially present. The Mass is a re-presentation of Christ's sacrifice. This view was formally defined at the Fourth Lateran Council (1215) and affirmed at Trent (1551).

2. Real Presence / Sacramental Union (Lutheran): Christ is truly and physically present 'in, with, and under' the bread and wine, but the bread and wine remain bread and wine. Luther used the analogy of an iron heated in fire — the iron is still iron, but the fire is genuinely present in it. The elements are not merely symbolic, but the Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation goes too far.

3. Spiritual Presence (Reformed/Calvinist): Christ is truly but spiritually present in the Supper. Believers genuinely receive Christ — but by faith and through the Holy Spirit, not through a physical transformation of the elements. The bread and wine are more than symbols but less than physically transformed. Calvin emphasized the Spirit's role in lifting believers to communion with the ascended Christ.

4. Memorial / Ordinance (Baptist, most evangelicals): Communion is a symbolic memorial that obediently remembers Christ's death. The bread and wine represent His body and blood but do not become them or contain them. The value of the practice is in the remembering, the proclaiming, and the fellowship — not in any special presence in the elements. This view emphasizes Jesus' words 'Do this in remembrance of me.'

What communion does:

Regardless of one's view of the elements, Scripture teaches that communion accomplishes several things:

1. Remembrance — 'Do this in remembrance of me' (1 Corinthians 11:24-25). Communion is an act of corporate memory. The church re-tells the story of Christ's death — not as a distant historical event but as the event on which their entire existence depends.

2. Proclamation — 'For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes' (v. 26). Communion is a visible sermon — the gospel enacted in bread and wine.

3. Participation — 'Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ?' (1 Corinthians 10:16). The word 'participation' (koinonia) means fellowship, sharing, partnership. Communion is not passive observation but active participation in the benefits of Christ's death.

4. Anticipation — 'Until he comes' (1 Corinthians 11:26). Every communion meal looks forward to the 'wedding supper of the Lamb' (Revelation 19:9) — the ultimate feast when Christ returns and all things are made new.

5. Unity — 'Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all share the one loaf' (1 Corinthians 10:17). Communion is a visible declaration of the church's unity in Christ.

The warning:

Paul issues a serious caution: 'So then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup' (1 Corinthians 11:27-28). 'Unworthy manner' does not mean 'you must be sinless to participate' — no one would ever qualify. It means taking communion carelessly, without self-examination, while harboring unrepentant sin or treating fellow believers with contempt (the Corinthian problem was that wealthy members feasted while poor members went hungry — vv. 20-22).

Communion is meant to be received with reverence, gratitude, self-examination, and awareness of the community. It is the family meal of the church — and like any family meal, its meaning lies not in the food itself but in who sits at the table and what binds them together.