Communion
I just wanted to send a few facts about what we call communion, as believers. It is very misunderstood so I thought I’d compile what the Bible tells us about breaking bread as believers.
The first thing to note is what the bread and wine are not: They are not the eukarist. This is a pagan concept that the apostles doctrine (which is the only doctrine we are to follow…and we find it in the Bible) would find repugnant.
The eukarist is a catholic concept that teaches that an ordained minister (not found in the Bible) prays over to make it holy and magically turns it into the actual body and blood of Christ. This means that He is crucified all over again for our sins and if we ingest the eukarist, He enters our body again, and we are forgiven again.
They are not a means of spiritual power or ability. The Bible simply says that it is an act of remembrance of His completed work on the cross and to do it as often as we want, until He returns. It is simply a means of fellowship with one another in Christ and a focus on the fact that it is His death and resurrection that has saved us. It is a remembrance and it is for our good.
It is not to be taken in the sorrowful mindset of a funeral, but as a joyful celebration of life everlasting!
It is not to be taken or observed by anyone but a true believer. Unless a person has been born again, they have no fellowship yet in the body and blood of Christ until they have repented of sin and have been born again by faith in Christ.
It is not to be taken in an unworthy manner (1 Corinthians 11:24-30). This is left open so it encompasses all manner of unworthiness. The first thought is that an unbeliever is unworthy. The second thought is that a believer who is harboring known sin in his heart and partakes of the bread and wine, is in danger of serious illness and even death. It is a very serious matter and Paul warned us that some of us are weak, sick and dying because of this very reason.This is in no way saying that everyone who is sick or dies in Christ is in a state of sin. Only God and the believer know that. Paul and Tromphimus were filled with the Spirit and God’s will yet remained ill. This is our precedent.
This means believers. So this would be considered what John called a sin unto death. It’s when a believer persists in known sin and God has given them time and space to stop it but they refuse. They remain in their old ways. He will take them home. Why? Because a person with the seed of Christ in them cannot sin. He won’t permit it. 1 John 3:9, 1 John 5:16 (The word for sin here refers to a known, intentional and continual siding against the will of God).
1 Cor. 11:24: Jesus gives the only, the complete, the pure and the simple explanation of what communion is and how to observe it. Anything additional was added to the scriptures by pagan Rome practices and remains in some of the church. Because the church that first fell away after pagan practices did not and does not believe that salvation is by faith alone, they needed practices and works to save them. This is how communion was first corrupted.
“And when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, ‘Take, eat: this is My body which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of Me'”.
vs 25, “After the same manner also, the cup, when He had supped, saying, “This cup is the New Testament in My blood: this do ye, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me'”.
Paul goes on to explain that as often as we do this we show the Lord’s death till He returns. In other words, we remember or point to the Lord’s death. We don’t re-create the Lord’s death.
The death of Christ was not a defeat but a victory! It is accomplished!!! Satan tried to prevent it. He failed. Jesus accomplished His death on the cross, and now death is swallowed up in victory! Isaiah 25:8 “He shall swallow up death in victory…” 1 Corinthians 15:54 we see that Paul tells us the crucifixion was that prophesied victory!
John 6:48 “I am the bread of life…” Jesus explains to many who gathered around Him that He is the bread of life. He is claiming here to be the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. He is trying to get them to see that He is the fulfillment of the passover lamb. He Israelites were told that they must eat all of the Passover Lamb before morning and leave none of it. It must be consumed. What was left had to be burned. Jesus is telling them that the lamb was a foreshadowing of Him. He tells them that unless they eat His body and drink His blood, they have no part in Him. Many turned away at this thought. They could not accept that the Messiah was that Lamb slain for the sins of the world. We, as believers are also to consume Christ for every single need in life: Take from Him, learn from Him, follow Him, dwell with Him, hide with Him in God…We can do nothing on our own. We need Him for everything. This is what it means to consume Christ.
Why couldn’t they receive it? Because they wanted their own good works and rituals to save them, giving them merit. By eating the Lamb of God (coming to Him for salvation, whereby being washed in the blood of the Lamb, cleansed from sin) they would show complete poverty of spirit and total bankruptsy. The proud do not want to admit that so they turn away to religion and ritual…which makes them feel worthy by what they do…appeasing God.
Who is it that inherits the Kingdom of Heaven? The poor in spirit. Matt. 5:3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven”.
How do we know that The bread and wine are symbols and not the actual body and blood of Christ? Hebrews and 1 Peter tell us. Hebrews 9:28 “For Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many…” (He was offered to ALL, but only a few will take, this is why we see MANY; only a few will ever partake of Him though He dies for all and is offered to all).Jesus was offered once for all. He is not re-crucified again and again for sin. This is what the catholic church teaches as well as many denominations. Hebrews 10:10 says it again. He was offered once.
1 Peter 3:18 “For Christ has also suffered once for sins…”Hebrews 6:6 …If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves, the Son of God afresh, and put Him to an open shame.”
This is so serious. This portion of scripture is explaining that once a person is saved by faith in Christ, he cannot fall away into a lost state. If it were possible, then we would be saying that Jesus could be crucified again for us to save us again…and this is not only impossible but it is putting Him to an open shame…trampling Him underfoot.
So to take the bread and wine and to claim that it is the literal body of Christ, means that he has to be crucified again and again. Jesus went out of His way to warn against such blasphemy. “It is finished” “Paid in full”. Never to be done again…only remembered by His own who entered in through faith.He is put to OPEN SHAME the word says. The eukarist, or the mass (where we get Christmas..it is Christ’s Mass), is a constant re crucifying of the RISEN Lord, the ASCENDED Lord, and the ONE who is seated on the throne in Heaven. His death is accomplished, never needs doing again, and He is on His way now as the LION…not the slain Lamb.When He appears again He will be the Lion from the tribe of Judah and His vesture is stained with blood but not His (Isaiah 63). It is the blood of the wicked, the unredeemed, the Christ rejecters.
So clearly, communion is to be done simply, as a remembrance of Christ’s death, as often as we like and for the express purpose of examining our hearts before Him while we wait for Him to come get us. This causes us to follow Him more closely by heart change, not magic.
The Nicolaitans were a group whose doctrine Jesus said He hated. They lorded it over the others. They established a hierarchy in the church which is not to exist. Isn’t that what we see when we have self imposed higher ups in the church who have the “authority” to pray over and transform the bread and wine, to have sole rights to administer the communion supper? I think so.
If we never partake of the bread and wine,we show ourselves to be outside the body of believers. Jesus said to do this in remembrance of Me. Do it with the right heart. That’s our only instruction. Any believers at any time they choose wherever and whenever they choose should enjoy the communion of the supper. There should be no hubbub, no ceremony, not ritual,no solemnity, no hierarchy, no man-made ordinances and no hesitancy. Any hesitancy shows that we are holding on to old ways and fear His judgement. But we should instead examine our hearts and love His cleansing and follow Him, agree with Him.It should be done with a joy-filled heart and mind, with no fear that comes from man-made ideas about it. How much so many have missed because they have added to to word of God and have confused and complicated the simplicity that is in Christ!How many have been misled into thinking that this is actually His body and blood that are re-cleansing them! They have a false sense of security and continue in old ways against God because they believe this ritual takes care of it all. They never change their minds and their ways and they suffer for it. But if it were rightly known and followed, hearts would be changing into His image. Thats the whole purpose…to keep us while we wait on Him to come get us.
I would encourage all of us to examine what our own churches teach. Make sure they are not adding to the word. Each one is responsible to God. We have no mediator but Christ, the very Spirit of God who teaches us perfectly, and He teaches through the word of God an not any teacher preacher of church. “…You have no need that any man teach you…” (1 John 2:26-27). Here we see that John warns against being deceived by anyone. The Holy Spirit within us teaches us and He does it first through His word and then for those who have labored in the word to know it, through spiritual discernment.I hope this gives us a fresh and exciting and joyful understanding of the incredible privilege we have at the Lord’s table!
Thanks for listening! Have a blessed week in Christ!Love,Cheryl
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