What the Bible says about "Lord's Supper"
(From Forerunner Commentary)
During the evening of Nisan 14, Jesus and His disciples ate the Passover, commonly known as the "Last Supper." After the meal was served, Jesus rolled up His sleeves, as it were, tied a towel around His waist and washed His disciples' feet. Later in the evening, after He predicted that one of the disciples would betray Him (verses 21-26), Jesus introduced the symbols of bread and wine as part of the Passover service (Mark 14:18-24). Following this example, the church places the footwashing ritual first in the annual service.
Richard T. Ritenbaugh
FootwashingRelated Topics: "Last Supper" | "Lord's Supper" | Bread | Bread and Wine | Bread and Wine as Symbols | Bread, Symbolism of | Footwashing | Footwashing Ritual | Jesus Christ's Example | Passover | Passover , Symbols of | Passover as Annual Observance | Passover, Changing the Symbols of | Wine , Symbolism of
There are some denominations that read Acts 20:7 as a proof that the "Lord's Supper" should be taken each Sunday morning! First notice that this was after the Days of Unleavened Bread (verse 6). Paul was preaching a farewell meeting, not on Sunday morning, but on Saturday night. It was after midnight (verse 7) that they broke bread because they were hungry. When they "had broken bread, and eaten, and talked a long while, even till break of day," Paul departed.
So this was just an ordinary meal!
The same expression "break bread" is found in Acts 27:34-35. "Wherefore I pray you to take some meat . . . he took bread . . . and when he had broken it, he began to eat." Also Acts 2:46: "And breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness." This could not possibly have been the "Lord's Supper" or, more properly, Passover, because Paul says that if we take it to satisfy our hunger we take it to our condemnation (I Corinthians 11:34). In that day, everyone "broke bread" at ordinary meals, because they did not have the kind of bread that we slice. Jesus broke bread because it was at the Passover supper, while eating a meal.
Herbert W. Armstrong
The Plain Truth About Easter
While the Passover is an annual observance—happening just once each year—the issue here is the congregation occasionally gathering as a church for a meal. The text implies that their "com[ing] together as a church" was a frequent occurrence rather than an annual one. The event he speaks of, then, was not the Passover, despite his mentioning it in the midst of his admonition. The congregational gathering was an occasion for food, fellowship, and fun—perhaps akin to the "love feasts" of Jude 12.
Yet we can tell that Paul took great exception to what occurred during those feasts because his admonition is quite stern. He describes blatant self-centeredness, lack of self-control, and general despising of God's church through some shaming and despising others on account of their personal situations.
Following this, in verses 23-26, the apostle brings up the Passover for a couple of reasons. First, some were confused, thinking that any church gathering was a time to commemorate the Passover. Thus, Paul had told them in verse 20 that when they came together, it was not to eat the Lord's Supper. He feels a need to give them a brief refresher on what the Passover is.
Second, the Passover is a powerful, motivational teaching tool to get his point across about their shortcomings. So, in verse 27, he underscores the matter's seriousness: "Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord." We must understand this is within the context of their behavior in the congregation, where some were only looking out for their own interests, and others were being despised and shamed. That context does not end until the chapter's end in verse 34.
The apostle is warning them about taking the Passover while they continued to perpetrate this social and spiritual violence against their brethren. Observing the Passover in such an unworthy way will make an offender guilty of Christ's body and blood. This matter of worthiness is so crucial that he instructs church members to perform an examination—an evaluation—of our spiritual state before we partake of the Passover: "But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup" (I Corinthians 11:28). God will not look favorably on those who mistreat the ones for whom Christ died.
David C. Grabbe
What Does 'Discerning the Lord's Body' Mean? (Part One)
Many Bibles' marginal references for this verse, as well as some interlinear Bibles, indicate that the translators have added the word "Lord's" to the text, assuming that Paul refers to Christ's human body. However, in the Greek text, the end of the verse simply reads "not discerning the body." The words "the body" can refer to several things that are not mutually exclusive. Paul could weave multiple threads through his writings, and at times, overlap them in profound ways.
First, the chapter shows that some members in Corinth were confused about whether the congregational meals were the Lord's Supper. By trying to observe the Lord's Supper or Passover on just any occasion, the significance of the bread and the wine becomes muddled through familiarity and sheer repetition. Hence, if any bread throughout the year symbolized Jesus Christ's crucified body, church members would take the Passover in an unworthy manner because they would not see His sacrifice as distinct and set apart. For the symbol to continue to be meaningful, people must distinguish between the unleavened bread eaten on Passover and common, daily bread.
Second, we can understand the phrase "not discerning the body" as a reference to the tortured, physical body of Jesus Christ. Thus, we participate in the Passover in an unworthy manner if we do not seriously and consciously acknowledge our sins, which made Christ's excruciating sacrifice necessary. He suffered crucifixion because of what we have done, and without consciousness of our sin and the wages—punishment—we have earned, His sacrifice loses its significance in our minds.
Third, "the body" can refer to the spiritual Body of believers, the church. I Corinthians 10:16-17 teaches that what we partake of is what we become a part of. When we partake of the bread that symbolizes His body, we become a part of the spiritual Body of believers who are also "in Christ" and have the Father and the Son dwelling in them.
I Corinthians 10 contains the first mention of this spiritual Body, and the rest of the chapter and chapter 11 are all about things related to interactions within the Body. Then chapter 12 gives the most lengthy and specific explanation of the Body analogy in the Bible. After that, chapters 13 and 14 continue expounding on the theme of relationships and interactions within the Body, even though the Body is not directly mentioned. So, when Paul talks about "the body" without defining exactly what he means, we must remember that it appears in the middle of a lengthy discourse on the spiritual Body.
In light of this, what does it mean to "discern" the body? The English word discern means "to separate or distinguish by the eye or by the understanding" or "to see the difference between two or more things." It can mean "to judge" or even "to be partial to." The Greek word in I Corinthians 11:29, diakrino, means essentially the same thing: "to make a separation or a distinction" or "to evaluate between two or more things, and become partial to one." It can mean "to differentiate" and "decide."
What I Corinthians 11:29 means, then, is that if we do not discern or make a correct distinction regarding the spiritual Body, we will partake of the Passover in an unworthy manner. The way that we "discern the Body" is to distinguish it in our minds from what is not part of the Body—the rest of humanity. It means to show partiality to the Body as a whole, rather than making distinctions within the Body. The Corinthians were making distinctions about people within the Body, and thus they highly esteemed some individuals among them and despised others.
Thus, Paul warns them that, when it came time to observe the Passover, they were in danger of eating and drinking judgment to themselves because they were not being partial to Christ's spiritual Body as a whole. Put another way, they were not treating all church members—all the brethren for whom Christ died—with the highest respect.
David C. Grabbe
What Does 'Discerning the Lord's Body' Mean? (Part Two)