Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Corinthians 11:26

For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord’s death till he come.

26. For as often as ye eat ] These words are not those of Christ, but of St Paul. St Joh 3:31-36, and Gal 2:15-21 are somewhat similar instances, but in them it is by no means certain that we have a commentary by the writer on the speech he records, but quite possible that the passage forms part of the speech itself.

ye do shew ] Tell, Wiclif. Annuntiabitis, Calvin and the Vulgate. Annoncerez, De Sacy. Some (e.g. the margin of the English Bible) take this imperatively, but it is better as in the text. If Meyer be right in supposing that the word here used is never employed except in the sense of oral proclamation (see ch. 1Co 2:1, 1Co 9:14 of this Epistle; and Php 1:16; Php 1:18; Col 1:28, as examples of its use by St Paul), we have here strong grounds for affirming that the words of institution formed part of the form of celebrating the Sacrament, even in Apostolic times. The word occurs ten times in the Acts of the Apostles, always in the sense of proclaim.

the Lord’s death ] Since this Sacrament was instituted as a memorial of Christ’s Death upon the Cross.

till he come ] As long as the Christian Church shall last, this Sacrament will continue to be celebrated for the object for which it was instituted. However widely divided on other points, Christians have agreed in carrying out this prediction for more than 1800 years.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

For as often – Whenever you do this.

Ye eat this bread – This is a direct and positive refutation of the doctrine of the papists that the bread is changed into the real body of the Lord Jesus. Here it is expressly called bread – bread still – bread after the consecration. Before the Saviour instituted the ordinance he took bread – it was bread then: it was bread which he blessed and broke; and it was bread when it was given to them; and it was bread when Paul says here that they ate. How then can it be pretended that it is anything else but bread? And what an amazing and astonishing absurdity it is to believe that that bread is changed into the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ (transubstantiation or consubstantiation)!

Ye do show the Lords death – You set forth, or exhibit in an impressive manner, the fact that he was put to death; you exhibit the emblems of his broken body and shed blood, and your belief of the fact that he died. This shows that the ordinance was to be so far public as to be a proper showing forth of their belief in the death of the Saviour. It should be public. It is one mode of professing attachment to the Redeemer; and its public observance often has a most impressive effect on those who witness its observance.

Till he come – Until he returns to judge the world. This demonstrates:

(1) That it was the steady belief of the primitive church that the Lord Jesus would return to judge the world; and,

(2) That it was designed that this ordinance should be perpetuated, and observed to the end of time. In every generation, therefore, and in every place where there are Christians, it is to be observed, until the Son of God shall return; and the necessity of its observance shall cease only when the whole body of the redeemed shall be permitted to see their Lord, and there shall be no need of those emblems to remind them of him, for all shall see him as he is.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

1Co 11:26-27

And after the same manner also He took the cup.

The sacramental cup

He doubleth the elements, to show that in Christ is not only necessary and sufficient, but also plentiful and abundant, with assured redemption. To blame, then, is the Church of Rome, which is guilty of that fault whereof Benjamin was taxed; they have stolen away the cup. If to steal the chalice be the phrase whereby men express the highest sin, what sacrilege is it to steal the wine of the chalice, from whom it belongeth? But let us hear what these Romanists plead for themselves.

I. Flesh and blood go always together. It is superfluous, therefore, to give the laity the blood the second time, who by concomitancy had received it before. Answer–What God hath put asunder, to be taken severally and distinctly, let no man join together.

II. There be many inconveniences, yea, mischiefs, attend the laitys receiving of the wine; as, its sticking in their beards, spilling of it, etc. Answer–God, in the omnisciency of His wisdom, surveyed the latitude of all occurrences, yet, beholding all future inconveniences present, He appointed the laity to drink of the cup. Wine was then as subject to spilling; it hath not since gotten a more liquid or diffusive quality.

III. In several places no mention is made of wine, but of bread only (Act 2:42; Act 2:46; Act 20:7). Answer–Either bread, by a synecdoche, is here put for bread and wine; or else that phrase importeth their ordinary meetings and civil feasts. But a cart-load of these exceptions are weighed in the balance and found too light to outpoise Christs institution. Let us not be so foolish as to depart from Gods written Word in the sacrament, concerning giving the laity the cup, for the company of human arguments on our side; but let us stick to our commission. (T. Fuller, D.D.)

The sacramental cup

Remembrance–

I. Begets humiliation.

II. Quickens hope.

III. Inspires new activity through gratitude.

IV. Lifts our longings heavenward. (T. A. Nelson.)

Price of the sacrament

Cleopatra put a jewel in a cup, which contained the price of a kingdom: this sacred cup we are to drink of, enriched with the blood of God, is above the price of a kingdom.

For as oft as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show the Lords death till He come.

Frequent communion

In the primitive Church the Lords Supper was celebrated every day: and fit it was, needing as they did constant cordials in the time of persecution. This frequency soon abated, and St. Ambrose reproves the negligence of the Eastern Churches, who received it but once a year. The Church of England requires her children to receive at the least thrice a year. But hear those who say that it is to be but seldom received.

I. The Passover was celebrated but once a year; in whose place the Lords Supper succeeds. Answer–The Passover was so restricted by God; in the Lords Supper we are left to our own liberty. Finding, therefore, our continual sinning, and therefore need thereof to strengthen us in our grace, we may, yea, must oftener use it, especially seeing all services of God under the gospel ought to be more plentiful than under the law.

II. Things done often are seldom done solemnly. Manna, if rained every day, is not dainty. The frequent doing of it will make men perfunctory and negligent therein. Answer–Then sermons should be as seldom as Apollos smiles, and prayers should not be presented to God every day, lest the commonness of the duty should bring it into contempt. Rather ministers are to instruct their people to come with reverence, notwithstanding their frequent repairing thereunto.

III. But long preparation is requisite to this action; and therefore this sacrament cannot often be received. Answer–After the first grand preparation, where, by faith and repentance, we are first estated in Gods favour, other preparations are not so difficult in doing, or tedious in time, as being but the reiterating of the same again. The good housewife that scoureth her plate once a week hath less work than she that doth it but once in a twelvemonth. Often preparing makes the work easy, and fits men the sooner for the sacrament. (T. Fuller, D.D.)

The Lords Supper

I. A commemorative ordinance.

1. The sacrament was instituted at the time of the feast of the Passover, and this was the memory uppermost in the minds of the disciples. Afterwards they saw as we see in the light of the perfected revelation, how fitly on that night was instituted the memorial of deliverance from a bondage greater than Egyptian, and from the deadlier peril of a death that never dies.

2. But what were the thoughts of the Redeemer? There stretched out the whole course of suffering which He had set Himself resolutely to travel. It was the same night on which He was betrayed. It was the last supper table. Very deeply under such circumstances as those would the words sink into the hearts of the disciples. We, too, must enter into the Saviours sorrows. For us, if we believe in Him, He breaks the bread and pours the wine, and when we eat and drink we do show forth His death till He come.

3. And this is what we commemorate. His death–

(1) Not His life, though that was lustrous with a holiness that knew not the shadow of a stain.

(2) Not His teaching, though that embodied the fulness of a wisdom and truth that was Divine.

(3) Not His miracles, although His course was a march of mercy.

(4) His death–His body, not glorious, but broken: His blood, not coursing through the veins of a conqueror, but shed for man. You are to see your sins laid upon Him; your souls washed by Him; your doom reversed by Him; your life secured by Him; and thus show forth His death–till He come.

II. A confirmatory ordinance.

1. Its perpetuity seems to stamp it as an ordinance, confirming, on the one hand, mans faith in God, and on the other Gods fidelity to man. The disciples had followed Christs fortunes through evil and good report; but they were more faithful witnesses after this night than they had ever been before. And when in obedience to His command they partook of the ordinance which He had bequeathed to them, it is no wonder that they should come away from each successive celebration of the communion of His body and blood with braver purpose. And it is so with Gods people still. By thus waiting upon the Lord in His own enduring ordinance they renew their strength, etc.

2. The sacrament confirms the two things which it exhibits–the death and the second advent of the Lord. It seems to link the humiliation and the royalty, the accomplished passed and the assured future together. It is the wedlock of the believers memory and the believers hope; the memory which yet lingers round the Cross; the hope which already revels in the glory of the throne.

3. For the confirmation of your faith and of your devotedness God has set up this sacramental sign. It is to confirm your faith–

(1) In His death. It is to confirm your faith–

(a) In its reality–that it was not a prolonged swoon.

(b) In its vicariousness, to show you that His life was offered–the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God. In its efficacy as an accepted atonement.

(2) In His coming–

(a) In its certainty that the Church is not for ever orphaned of His presence.

(b) In the recompense that awaits you; for the day is coming when all wrongs shall be redressed, sin eradicated, Satan trampled under foot, the glad welcome, the abundant entrance, the triumphal and eternal song.

4. Now you are called to meet the Saviour in His confirming and witnessing ordinance. If thou seekest Jesus surely He will not send thee empty from His own table away. But for you who do not love the Saviour, there is no grace in the sacrament for you. Like the sun and rain, they will shine and fall upon the stone, and the stone will remain insensible, because it has no hidden principle of life; but if they fall upon the flower they will foster the growth, and develop the beauty, and bring out the fragrance, because the principle of life is there.

III. A covenanting ordinance, and this follows upon the two preceding.

1. It is not only a sign but a seal: a solemn federal act which involves mutual pledges–pledges of fidelity on the one hand, and of blessing on the other. Says the Psalmist: I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord. And in the next verse is the translation of the symbol: I will pay my vows unto the Lord, now in the presence of all His people. And your participation in the Holy Communion is to be thus regarded as the fresh act of your espousals. If you eat and drink without discerning this great purpose, you eat and drink unworthily.

2. But I am speaking to those who love the Saviour. There is a mortal distrust, of yourselves which causes you to hesitate. Well, that you may take this Holy Sacrament for your comfort, remember that there are two parties to the covenant, and that the sacrament is the Divinely instituted seal of the fidelity of Gods promise to you. The Lord speaks to the father of the new world, from which the waters have been but recently assuaged. I do set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be a token of the covenant between Me and the earth. Here in the sacrament is the rainbow of the new and the better covenant. Behold the renewed pledge of salvation purchased, and blessing conferred upon you all who believe. Oh! the simplicity of the condition–upon him that believeth in Jesus. (W. M. Punshon, LL.D.)

The Lords Supper

This passage is instructive when regarded in its bearing upon great and ever-recurring controversies. Around the observance of the Lords Supper a multitude of irregularities had arisen. Here, then, if anywhere, was the opportunity for the apostle to glorify the sacrament, and to surround it with all those symbolic rites which would make its desecration impossible in the future. But we hear nothing of priest, altar, lights, incense, and genuflexions; but simply of a state of heart of those who unite in the act.

I. The true significance of the Lords Supper. It is a proclaiming (R.V.) the death of Christ until He come.

1. The Lords Supper is a memorial of the one fact in the Masters story which every natural feeling would have led His followers to conceal, and there was not a feeling of horror at the thought of the Cross which they had not experienced. The thought so familiar to us, but which the world has learned from Calvary only, of victory through suffering and the crown won by the Cross, was unknown to them. The Cross was a sign of defeat and disaster. No wonder that Peter should cry: That be far from Thee, O Lord. The humiliation and despair of the day after the crucifixion baffle description. More pathetic utterance could hardly be spoken than We trusted that it had been He who should have redeemed Israel.

2. There are few facts more remarkable than the revolution of feeling which is shown in the action of these men in regard to the Lords Supper. In the hour of their reviving faith, it was the Cross to which they gave prominence, and the one characteristic of early Church life was the keeping of the feast by which they proclaimed the Lords death till He come. A festival of the Incarnation, or of the Transfiguration, or of the Resurrection, would have been intelligible. But this is the memorial of His death.

3. And could anything have set it forth with more impressiveness as the distinctive truth of Christianity? Other systems have had teachers, leaders of genius and power, and lawgivers. But where else do we find a Saviour who has died for the sins of men? Christs claim rests not on the profundity of His wisdom, but on the infinitude of His love. So there is a fitness in the Supper as the proclamation of the gospel. The guests are not the wise or the holy, but sinners who have learned, to put their trust in Christ. They eat the bread and drink the wine as a confession that in His death alone is their hope of eternal life.

II. The influence which this view of the Lords Supper should exert on us. The apostle points out distinctly when be says: Let a man prove himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.

1. What miserable trifling are all the questions which men discuss with so much heat as compared with this! Forms of observance–what are they all when weighed in the balances with the spirit of the observance? Surely the first and chief question must be as to our right to a place at the table, and as to our preparation for filling that place with consistency. Here is a meeting-place between God and the soul. This is a renewed act of faith and most solemn confession, and this is the point in which all proving of ourselves converges; and it is one evil result of certain theories that their tendency is to keep this out of view. The attention is fixed on the priest and the altar rather than on the relations between Christ and the soul of the individual worshipper. The whole reminds us of Micah when, having detained the wandering Levite, he exclaimed, Now know I that the Lord will do me good, seeing I have a Levite to my priest. He who comes filled with the solemn awe of the altar and the priest, and allows these to interrupt his communion with Christ, feedeth on ashes: a deceived heart hath turned him aside.

2. Here, then, is the one question for each communicant, What is the death to me? It is not enough that I hold as an article of my creed that Christ died for sinners. This act of communion is a profession of my personal trust in that death to deliver me from my sins. It is in the light of the Cross that we begin to understand something of the infinite tenderness of the Divine heart, and so to learn the exceeding sinfulness of sin.

3. What may be the special benefits to the soul which comes in humble faith to this banquet of love, it would be presumption in any man to decide. Who would under take to determine the possibilities of spiritual growth which may be the result? Here, as everywhere, to faith all things are possible. (J. Guinness Rogers, B.A.)

The objects of the believers contemplation in the Lords Supper

I. In this ordinance the believer contemplates the full accomplishment of the infinitely important objects which that death was designed to attain.

1. In the sufferings and death of our Redeemer exhibited in the Lords Supper faith discerns the character of the true God unfolded, and His transcendent glory displayed, with far more brightness than by all the works of creation.

2. In the death of Christ, as represented in fide Lords Supper, the believer by faith discerns the price of his own salvation and the only foundation of his hope before God.

3. The believer contemplates in the death of Christ, as represented in the Lords Supper, the source of all his spiritual blessings and a never-failing spring of strong consolation in his afflictions.

4. The believer, in the ordinance of the Supper, views by faith our glorious Messiahs death as accomplishing a happy reconciliation between men and angels, and as opening to both new discoveries and new employments.

II. In this ordinance the believing Christian perceives a lively and affecting representation of all the circumstances connected with the death of Christ and the blessings to be thereby conveyed to his people.

1. All who sit at the sacred table partake of these elements and affectionately distribute them from one to another; thus we are reminded that there is a sufficiency in Christ to supply the wants of all His people, and that they are all children of the same family, eating at the same table, drinking of the same cup, and bound by every endearing tie to love one another and to live as brethren.

2. After partaking of the sacred symbols they retire from the communion table, from the delightful service of the sanctuary, to mingle in the duties and toils and trials of life. For it is only in the temple not made with hands that their fellowship shall be uninterrupted and their joy be full.

3. At the first celebration of the sacrament the condescending Saviour Himself was present with His disciples and gave them the cup and spake words of consolation to their fainting minds. Thus it still is as to His spiritual presence; He is in the midst of them to do them good; the cup of blessing which in His name we bless is the communion of the blood of Christ.

III. The believing Christian contemplates the sacrament of the Supper as a sacred memorial of his inestimable Friend, the best beloved of his soul; and as a feast of commemoration, designed to keep up the believing and sanctifying remembrance of what Scripture testifies concerning Him,

1. Ye shew forth the Lords death; the Lord of angels and men; the Lord of heaven and earth; the Lord of providence and grace. It wonderfully enlarges and elevates the mind of devout communicants when they can enter into the contemplation of their Redeemers personal greatness; as the brightness of the Fathers glory; as upholding all things by the word of His power; as King of kings and Lord of lords; and as the same to-day, yesterday, and for ever.

2. Again, when showing forth the Lords death, do it in remembrance that He is the Mediator of the New Testament, or better covenant. When you are engaged in this ordinance you ought to rest on the sure promises of that covenant which was sealed with the blood of the Testator; be persuaded of their truth, embrace them, and plead their fulfilment.

3. Once more, when showing forth the Lords death, not only remember that He died in the character of Mediator between an offended God and offending creatures, but survey the gradual progress of His work from its commencement before the worlds were framed to its consummation in the glorifying of all the elect.

IV. We are to view this ordinance as a solemn gospel feast, a sacred Christian festival.

1. In the everlasting gospel provision is made for the most indigent of mankind; and in this sacred ordinance the poor and needy feed with satisfaction on the rich blessings of the great salvation.

2. Provision is not the only idea which enters into our mind under the general term of a feast or supper; nourishment also is included, and when applied to this sacred ordinance it suggests this reviving sentiment, that by the right participation of the Lords Supper humble believers are strengthened with the inestimable blessings of that well-ordered covenant which the great Master of the feast makes with all who give themselves to Him.

3. Besides nourishment and provision the comparison of the sacred ordinance before us to a feast or supper conveys to the mind all the animating ideas of fellowship and intercourse with the whole Church of Christ.

V. This ordinance is represented, in the words of the institution, as a distinguishing badge of Christianity and a mark of separation between the friends of Christ and the children of the world.

1. Those who have a right to participate of this holy ordinance are in Christ, and are new creatures.

2. They lay aside the sins which beset them, and separate themselves from whatever is displeasing to their heavenly Father. They are awake to the infinite evil of sin, and are brought through Divine grace to hate it perfectly, as displeasing to God by whom they lived and on whom they rely.

3. Those who are prepared to show forth the death of Christ, love Him above all that this poor world can give or promise.

VI. We now direct your meditations to the connection between the death of Christ and His second coming as the Sovereign Judge of quick and dead. His death prepared the way for all the triumphs of the general resurrection, and the sacred ordinance of the Supper is a standing pledge, that He who was once offered up to bear the sins of many will come the second time without a sin-offering for the complete salvation of His people. (A. Bonar.)

Of the end of the Lords Supper

The Corinthians were a Church planted by Paul, watered by a long preaching among them. But notwithstanding all his pains he receives news of some corruptions crept in and overspreading that Church.

1. Concerning the carriage of men and women in the Church.

2. The celebration of the Lords Supper.

3. The use and exercise of spiritual gifts (1Co 12:17).

The apostle makes a transition from the first to the second, and taxeth them with their divisions. Observe divisions in a Church are usually attended with sad consequences. They despoil the Church of its beauty and ornaments; they here hindered a communion with one another. All communion is founded upon union; divisions shook that and brought in gross miscarriages about the Lords Supper. For the reformation of those abuses the apostle reduceth them to the consideration of the first institution. Observe, in all reformations we are not so much to mind what this or that custom of the Church is when there is a clear word to walk by. Christ overthrows polygamy by reducing the number of persons married to the first institution (Mat 19:4; Mat 19:9).

1. How soon will corruptions creep into the best Church! The devil will sow his tares where God sows His wheat.

2. Human ceremonies are not to be urged, especially when they by abuse degenerate into superstition, carnality, and profaneness. Divine institutions, because of Gods sanction, are not to be laid aside though abuses creep in. What is mans must be discarded, what is Gods must be preserved. For the first doctrine. The Lords Supper is chiefly instituted for the remembering and showing forth the death of Christ. It is not a bare historical remembrance of the death of Christ.

For then–

1. Every profane man who assents to the history of Christs death, and believes the acting of this tragedy on the Cross, and hath a notional belief of the ends of it, might be partaker of this ordinance. But the apostle puts a bar to that (verse 28).

2. A man could not then receive more unworthily, or incur a greater damnation in this than in other acts. But here the apostle fixeth a particular guilt of the body and blood of Christ when received unworthily (verses 27-29). As Christs death was not a bare dying, but a death with high and glorious ends, so our remembrance of it is not to be a bare historical but a practical remembrance and declaration. As Christs remembrance of the promises of His Father was not only an assent to the truth of them, but a recumbency on Him for the performance, so our remembrance of the death of Christ ought to be. It is not a speculative remembrance only, as when a man sees a picture of a prince, but such a remembrance as a man hath when he sees the picture of a dear friend absent from him at that time; he remembers not only his person, but the mutual love between them, the actions his friend hath done for him, which stirs up a sense of gratitude at that time.

I shall show–

1. This is the end of the institution.

2. What it is in the death of Christ that is here remembered and shown forth.

3. How we should show forth this death.

(1) The remembrance and declaration of the death of Christ is chiefly intended hereby. For the explication consider–

1. God was always careful of appointing and preserving memorials of His favour. The pot of manna and Aarons budding rod were to be preserved in the ark as standing monuments of Gods kindness. Stones were appointed to be set up for a memorial of the division of the waters of Jordan to give the Israelites passage to the conquest of Canaan (Jos 4:5). The passover was instituted as a memorial of the Israelites affliction. And is there not much more reason for a standing memorial of that mercy of which all those were but the types? It hath been the custom of all nations to have an anniversary commemoration of those heroes who have been the instruments of some public happiness to them, and of all societies to commemorate their benefactors. And is there any reason to deny that to the great Benefactor of mankind, the Redeemer of the world?

2. These memorials are necessary–

(1) Because of the nature of our affections, which rather follow the orders of our sense than the commands of our souls, and are more excited by sensible than invisible objects. Most things we cannot understand but under sensible representations; we understand not Gods power, goodness, justice, but by the objects we see those attributes conversant about. Hence are those frequent metaphorical resemblances of spiritual things in the Scripture, and our Saviour sets Himself forth to us under the notions of bread, wine, Bridegroom.

(2) In regard of the inconstancy of our affections. What our affections rouse themselves up to receive at the first approach, they afterwards begin to flag like the strings of an instrument that sound well at the first tuning, but quickly slack and need a watchful ear and careful hand to wind them up. We want, therefore, those memorials to keep up our hearts in a warm and glowing temper.

(3) In regard of the natural ingratitude and enmity we have to a crucified Christ, and the weakness of faith. What the world did, that doth every mans heart naturally, account the Cross foolishness. How is our faith weak when Christ is absent from us! He hath therefore instituted a symbol of His spiritual presence, whereby our minds might exercise themselves as well as the eyes of men did behold His body.

3. What it is in the death of Christ that is here set forth.

(1) The painfulness of His death. It is the picture of Him as He hung upon the Cross.

(a) This was the intent of the ancient passover. The lamb was to be killed, the flesh roasted with fire (Exo 12:6-8).

(b) Of the elements in this sacrament. Bread signifies as passing through various kinds of sufferings to be made fit for food, reaped when ripe, thrashed when housed, ground to powder and baked to be made fit for bread. The actions testify the painfulness.

(2) The intention of this death for us. It is in this ordinance represented as a sacrifice-death. He is our Passover sacrificed for us (1Co 5:7-8). In His institution it was, My body broken for you, My blood shed for you, as an expiatory sacrifice.

(3) The sufficiency of this death for us. It would never else be remembered. We remember no more than what was done; we remember a whole Christ broken. God by covenant with Christ could challenge no more, and justice after the striking of that match could demand no more. Whence ariseth a redundancy of merit, an overflowing merit for ten thousand worlds, were they in being and in a sinful state.

(4) The acceptableness of this death to God. All that Christ did He did by order as His Father commanded Him. Had not His death been acceptable to His Father He would not have ordered us to remember it.

(5) The present efficacy of this death. It is now of efficacy, and will be to the second coming of Christ. Why else should it be remembered? To what purpose should we commemorate it if it did not retain an everlasting efficacy?

(6) How we should show forth and remember this death.

1. Reverentially.

(1) With a reverence of the holiness of God.

(2) With a reverence of the justice of God.

2. Holily. We must undertake such religious services with suitable dispositions of heart.

(1) With mourning hearts for sin. A broken Christ must not be remembered without a broken heart.

(2) With deep considerations of the cursed nature and demerit of sin. It must needs be bitter, killing, condemning, cursed sin which brought Christ to such a bitter death.

(3) With strong resolutions against sin. It is a sad thing to be Christians at a supper, heathens in our shops, and devils in our closets.

3. Believingly.

(1) We should profess our adherence to Him. The showing forth His death is solemnly to cleave to Him alone for the pardon of our sins, the justification of our persons, and the sanctification of our natures.

(2) Look up to Christ in His death as a Conqueror. It is the Lords death; He was a Lord in His death; He was a King upon the Cross as well as a Priest, as He is a Priest in heaven as well as a King. His death was His victory, His ascension His triumph. Regard it, show it forth, not simply as a death, but a conquering death.

(3) Plead this death with God.

(4) Plead this death against sin and Satan. Show it against every charge. Can the sins of men be stronger to condemn than the blood of God is to save?

4. Humbly.

(1) Consider in this representation what we should have suffered.

(2) Consider the deplorable misery wherein we were. How deeply were we sunk into the mire that nothing could pluck us out but the Son of God!

5. Thankfully. Such mercies as the death of Christ require high and raised thanksgivings.

(1) Blessing God for His love in offering up His Son to death.

(2) Blessing Christ for His love in dying.

(3) The costliness of this redemption by the death of Christ should excite us to show it forth with thankfulness.

(4) The gain we have by it should excite us to it. Death was bitter to Him, but comfortable to us. By His blood are the promises sealed; by His blood all the treasures of grace, mercy, peace, happiness, riches of glory, are gathered together for us.

Use:

1. If the Supper be a showing the death of Christ, it is then no sacrifice, but the commemoration of a sacrifice. Sacrifices imply some kind of expiation and atonement; this is a natural notion. But the Supper is not intended as an expiation of sin or a satisfaction to God. In a sacrifice something is offered to God, in a sacrament something is exhibited to us.

2. How should the death of Christ run much in our thoughts and our affections be raised! The Lords Supper is to be frequently celebrated and participated of. As often, implying, it ought often to be done.

For explication.

1. How often is not determined.

2. Nor can there be a constant time fixed for every particular person. Because there are varieties in the cases of good men, who may by some emergency find themselves hindered one time and not another.

3. It was anciently often participated of. Some think every day from that of Act 2:46.

4. Yet to be frequent in it is agreeable to the nature of the ordinance and necessary for the wants of a Christian. The too much deferring cloth more hurt than the frequent communicating. The oftener we carefully and believingly communicate the more disposed we shall be for it.

It ought not to be neglected upon these reasons,

1. Because of the Author. It is a feast of Gods providing. The great God appointed not any trifling ordinance; His wisdom appoints none but what His power can make worthy instruments; His goodness will appoint none but what His love will make highly beneficial; the contempt of it is a slighting both of His wisdom and grace. If Jordan be appointed for the healing Naamans leprosy (2Ki 5:10), the waters of Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, shall never be medicinal. When God appointed lamps for the defeat of the Midianites (Jdg 7:20), had Gideon slighted them as too weak, and assaulted them with his numerous host, he had received a rout instead of a victory.

2. The time when Christ instituted it shows it is not worthy of our neglect. It was a little before His death (1Co 11:23).

3. The ends of it declare the unworthiness of neglecting it.

(1) The remembrance of Christ. How can we say we love Him if we do not mind Him? What value have we for Him if He be not in our thoughts? Well, but we may remember Christ otherwise without this ceremony. We may, but do we?

(2) It is a seal of the covenant. This is the common nature of a sacrament to be a seal of the righteousness or justification with God by faith in Christ (Rom 4:11). It is not only a sign which represents, but a seal which confirms the benefit.

(3) It is a renewing our covenant with Him.

(4) It is a communion with God.

4. The benefits of this ordinance require frequency. These benefits are many.

(1) Weakening of sin. Not physically, but morally. The lively representation and consideration of the death of Christ with all its circumstances is a strong incentive and assistant to the mortifying sin in us.

(2) Nourishment of the soul.

(3) Increase and exercise of grace. Christ is the storehouse and fountain of all the treasure of life and peace, but His ordinances are the channel.

(4) Sense and assurance of love often comes in by it.

(5) Union with Christ is promoted.

Use:

1. How much is the neglect, if not contempt, of this institution to be bewailed!

(1) It concerns such to inquire whether the reasons of their neglect be valid against a positive command.

(2) Was it appointed to be neglected? Did Christ take such care to institute it and we take care to avoid it?

(3) How can such free themselves from unworthy reflections upon Christ? It is either an act of wisdom or folly in Him. If of wisdom, why are we so foolish as not to observe it? If of folly, why do we at all believe in Him whom we count a foolish Saviour?

(4) Is it neglected because the elements are so mean and the thing so easy in itself? Had any Israelite neglected to turn his eye upon the brazen serpent the poison in his blood had digged his grave.

(5) Or do we think Christ is come again that we neglect it?

(6) Why doth any one neglecter of it who hath faith observe any other command or institution?

(7) Or is it unfitness that is the cause of the neglect? Hath any man heard of repentance and faith and holiness, and yet hath nothing of them? What a miserable case is this!

(8) Consider what you lose and what danger you incur.

2. Use: Is of exhortation to observe it and that frequently. Though a dying Saviour is remembered, yet a living Saviour is sought for in it; and shall not we be as ready to seek a living Christ in the sacrament as the women were to seek a dead Christ in the sepulchre? (Mat 28:1). Let us consider some questions.

(1) Will any believer be guilty of disobedience to the Author of his faith?

(2) Is Christ so mean a Friend as not to be remembered? The memory of a good friend should be very precious.

(3) Why should we not often be in those ways where we may meet with our best Friend?

(4) Have you no graces that need strengthening?

(5) Why will any true believer gratify Satan? The motions to hinder those that are gracious must either be from God or Satan. From God they cannot be, who is no enemy to the ordinance He hath appointed for them.

(6) Why should any believer deny to pay Christ the debt of thankfulness for His great love in that way which He hath appointed? It is a thanksgiving, a thankful remembrance, therefore anciently called the Eucharist. We have handled two doctrines from the words. There is one more yet behind concerning the duration of this ordinance. You show the Lords death till He come. There is especially a twofold coming of Christ mentioned in Scripture.

1. His coming in the flesh.

2. His coming to judgment.

The doctrine then is–the Lords Supper is a lasting and continuing institution, not to be put down at the pleasure of any man. It will not be repealed till Christ come. Another gospel is not to be expected (Gal 1:6-7, etc.), and therefore while the gospel endures the appendixes, the institutions annexed to it will endure. The ordinances of Christ are like the pillar of fire and the cloud which guided the Israelites in their journey through the wilderness, and did not withdraw from them till they entered into Canaan.

1. All the ordinances of Christ are to continue in His Church, then certainly this.

2. Sacraments were thought by God needful for men in all their several states in the world. Sacraments were judged necessary by God in innocent nature. The Tree of Life had a sacramental signification of life upon Adams obedience. Much more in lapsed nature have we need of those sensible things for the support of our faith in the promises of God. After the Fall there were various institutions brought in by degrees. Adam and Abel and Noah had their sacrifices as significant of the Messiah promised to them and expected by them. Abraham had an addition of circumcision. The Passover and other rites were added under Moses. And God always had some conduit-pipes through which to pour out the blessings of His grace upon the souls of His creatures.

3. All laws once settled are of force till they be repealed by that authority which did enact them.

4. The covenant is perpetual, and therefore the seals are perpetual.

5. The state wherein we are requires the continuance of it and of other ordinances.

(1) In regard of our constant decays. Our bodies would moulder to dust were they not daily nourished; and is there not as much need of nourishment for our souls?

(2) In respect of our weakness, some intercourse there must be between God and us if we be happy.

Use:

1. Christ will always have a Church in the world. A Church is the seat of ordinances.

2. It is in no mans power to add to or detract from Christs institutions. Not a pin in the temple He will have altered till He gives order. God is a jealous God, and careful of His sovereignty.

3. See Christs love and bounty. Christ would not leave His people without a durable legacy.

4. This ordinance must not be contemned. The passover was to be observed, much more the Supper settled by Christ. (Bp. Hacket.)

The Lords Supper a showing forth of Christs death

I. The manner of His death, its violence and painfulness. The first promise spoke of a bruised Saviour. The patriarchal and Levitical sacrifices represented Him as a slain victim; and the prophets described Him in a similar way. And if we look into heaven, it is the same. He is adored there as one who has been slain. So we rightly regard this ordinance as setting forth, not Christs death only, but His violent death on the Cross.

II. Its efficacy. The institution of this ordinance by Christ is a declaration by Christ that He has removed the Divine displeasure from His people, and brought them within the full sunshine of the Divine favour. He would not call on us to celebrate continually a work which is not accomplished, or only half accomplished. This would be like a vaunting general ordering a column to be raised for a victory that was never won. It is like a continual echo of His own dying cry, It is finished. And our celebrating this sacrament becomes in consequence a repetition on our part of this cry, a declaration that we believe in the full sufficiency of His atonement.

III. The necessity of its particular application to ourselves. We do not merely look at the sacred elements of the Lords Supper, we eat and drink them. Without eating and drinking we might show the manner and efficacy of Christs death; but this partaking becomes an emblem of that faith which applies the sacrifice of Christ to the soul. In His own strong language, it eats the flesh of the Son of Man and it drinks His blood. Conclusion: Learn–

1. That a knowledge of the gospel itself is needful for a right understanding of this sacrament. It is a picture of the gospel: an embodying of its great truths in visible things. If we understand the gospel, we find no difficulty in understanding this sacrament. And then in its turn it illustrates the gospel, enabling us to understand it better. But unless we understand the gospel, we shall be in the same situation with many of the ignorant Jews under the law. The shadows of good things will take the place of those good things themselves, carnal ordinances will be confounded with spiritual blessings, and the emblems of a dying Saviour will be more to us than that dying Saviour Himself. Go through Roman Catholic countries–there is the crucifix, the elevated host, adored; the great Saviour Himself practically despised, and His gospel scarcely heard of or known.

2. That Christs gospel must be highly valued and loved by us before we can rightly attend to His holy Supper.

3. That the Lords Supper should be celebrated by us frequently. Is it a showing of His death? Then the more frequently His death is shown forth in this world of sinners the better.

4. That this sacrament is to be celebrated perpetually. It is to be a standing ordinance in the Church, unlike circumcision or the Jewish sacrifices and feasts which have passed away. It is to be celebrated till the heavens are opened and the Son of Man is revealed. Then the sacrament will have done its work. We see now a picture only; but when Christ comes, we shall see the original. (C. Bradley, M.A.)

The Lords death

1. These words seem contradictory. If He was Lord, how could He die? If He died, how could He be Lord? Why show forth the memory of the Lords death? Why not say as little about it as possible? Is it not keeping up the memory of His shame? Why not show forth His birth? He never said a word about that. He founded no birthday festival. Why not forget His death in His resurrection?

2. Note that for historical purposes the event is always called His crucifixion, but for religious purposes His death. We do not say about a man who is hanged that he died, but that he was killed. And so on the Lords side it is always said that Christ died, on mans side that He was slain.

I. The Lord Himself always magnified the event. He never treated it as part of the common lot, or availed Himself of the consolation of despair, saying, it can come but once–the sooner come, the sooner done. His martyrs often said that. Christ made it the supreme fact in His history. It is easy for you who are getting on towards seventy to talk about your death. What is it to die at thirty, when you are quite strong–perfectly well? What is it at thirty–to make death the supreme thought of the mind–the meridian of your calculations? You cannot enter into it. But this is what Christ did.

II. The Lord never spoke of His death as a fact complete in itself. Now we do: we say the end cannot be far off. But Jesus never referred to His death as a full stop. He always connected it with His resurrection. He was always talking about coming back again. His life is a beautiful whole–not to be broken into parts, or studied in fragments, else the results of His ministry would be humiliation, victory of the enemy. What am I to make of this April day? At six it was so mild and beautiful; and at nine it was drizzling. And then, after ten, it was so bright; and just now it was so dark I could see nothing but for the gas, and presently it will be teeming with rain. Do not break the day off at any of these points, and say, What do you think of that? God says, Let it alone; take the whole year, and see what I make of it. And so Christ says, Say nothing of this till the Son of Man be risen from the dead. The last fact explains the preceding facts.

III. The Lord made the celebration of His death the one festival in the Church. There have been some poor black days in your life–you say let them be forgotten. Christ does not say so–nay, in view of this black day in His life, He boldly said that except men did eat His flesh and drink His blood, they had no life in them. He never spoke of His death as a disaster. He came upon it as from eternity, travelling in the greatness of His strength. Other men celebrate their triumphs–this Man His Cross; other conquerors tell of the banners they have wrested from the hand of the enemy–this Man celebrates His overthrow.

IV. The Lord never asked His tormentors to be pitiful, or in any way to mitigate the agony of His crucifixion. And this would be the less remarkable but for the fact that He did ask His Father if it were possible to let the cup pass from Him. So He was not insensible to pain. But when He comes to men, He asks no favour. Nay, when people lament His fate, He says, Weep not for Me. And it is the more remarkable, because Pilate set the door open, and said in effect, Here is a way of escape; art Thou the King of the Jews? He put his question in a tone that offered deliverance. And yet this very self-same man, whom we have seen in this agony of blood, avails not Himself of the door so opened. Truly such a death had a meaning in it. Conclusion: Now in view of these facts, it becomes a serious question whether the reason given for this commemoration is equal to the necessities of the case. Why do you celebrate His death instead of His birth–His resurrection–the triumphal parts of His history? I answer–He was delivered for our offences. Why keep up the memory of His death? I answer, He was bruised for our iniquities. Why keep up the memory of His Cross? I answer, while we were yet sinners, He died for us. Will you, after hearing these answers, tell us, on the other hand, why we should leave such a death uncelebrated? (J. Parker, D.D.)

Practical influence of the death of Christ

To show forth here means to pro-claim. In communicating we set forward the death of Jesus, according to the views we may entertain of it. The most important views will be brought before us if we consider it as it is described in Scripture–

I. As the foundation of all our hopes of Gods favour and of eternal life. In it we see One who was Gods equal suffering in His human nature as the only means by which sin could be expiated and sinners saved. We cannot doubt that this atonement is sufficient, and see, therefore, in the death of Christ the complete removal of all barriers to our salvation, and a way thrown open for our restoration to blessedness.

II. As the source of the motives by which our conduct ought to be regulated.

1. What could be more fitted to make us feel deeply and realise strongly our obligation to devote ourselves to Gods service than this gift of Gods love?

2. Is there any sin which the contemplation of Christs death should not prompt and enable us to subdue–any grace which it is not fitted to implant and to cherish? Are any of you disposed to be proud?–then think of Him who humbled Himself. Are any of you disposed to be selfish?–then think of Him who submitted to a cruel and shameful death for the good of those who had no claim upon His regard. Would any one see an example of compassion and fortitude–of love to God and love to man, in circumstances well fitted to touch his heart and to produce decided imitation?–let him look to the death of Christ.

III. As the great ground of our consolation amid trials and afflictions.

1. That the Captain of our salvation was made perfect through suffering reminds us of the important and salutary place which suffering holds in the moral government of God, and cordially reconciles us to the great principle that it is by much tribulation that we must enter the kingdom.

2. Christ, having endured the Cross, being now set down at the right hand of God, is an encouragement to His people to bear their trials with resignation, and to press on with diligence–Christs success having ensured theirs, and the result in His case being substantially a pattern of what is to be the result in ours.

3. The death of Christ is peculiarly fitted to afford believers encouragement and consolation in looking forward to their own encounter with the last enemy. The King of terrors is indeed a formidable foe, but Christ, by dying, has deprived him of all power to hurt; and when we know this we shall no longer be subject to bondage through the fear of death, but shall be enabled to say, O Death, where is thy sting? etc. Conclusion: These are some plain views of the death of Christ as set before us in the Scriptures. As often as ye eat that bread, and drink that cup, you show them, and thereby pledge yourselves to hold them forth more fully in the whole tenor of your conversation. (W. Cunningham, D.D.)

The ordinance of the interval between Christs going and Christs coming

Christians–

1. Represent Christ. They defend and declare His truth; uphold and make known His honour; illustrate and maintain His laws.

2. Copy Christ. All He is, they desire to be. All He has, they expect to share. All He requires, they are glad to do.

3. Commemorate Christ. He is the tie which binds them all together; the light which gives to each his colour; the circle which prescribes to each his course. Before He left them He said, Do this in remembrance of Me. And till He returns He continues to say, Ye do show the Lords, etc.

I. Of what does this ordinance consist?

1. What is it that is fed?

(1) Not the body only. If any man hunger, let him eat at home (chap. 11:34).

(2) But–

(a) The memory, because it goes back to the Cross.

(b) The faith, because it goes up for the grace.

(c) The heart, for it goes forward to the glory.

2. What is it on which the faithful feed? Not on the material Christ. The natural body and blood of our Saviour Christ are in heaven, and not here. The food is not on an altar to satisfy the claims of God, but on a table to satisfy the soul of man. To man physical, the things taken are bread and wine. To man spiritual, the things appropriated are the body and blood of Christ.

II. To what does the ordinance refer?

1. It is a doctrine solidified into an act. It is a profession published by a feast. It is a sign as to the past, and is a seal as to the future. Like a milestone by lifes wayside, it has two faces: one tells whence we come; the other, whither we are going. It is the old oath in which the great army of the Cross have sworn fealty to their Lord. It is the old well, at which all the pilgrims have rested and been refreshed on their way to Zion. It is the old cry, by which, in gloom or joy, the saints encourage one another to go on. It is the old challenge, by which the true men distinguish friends from foe.

2. It represents His death; for the broken bread and the poured-out wine find their parallel only at the Cross.

3. It implies life; for only living souls can feed together on that bread from heaven.

4. It promises immortality; for they who really feed upon the living Christ, in their living spirits, by a living faith, have this prospect given: If any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever (Joh 6:51).

III. To what does the ordinance point? Till He come.

1. To the glory of Jesus. Intelligent love delights in the Masters honour, His glorified body, His grand espousals, His many crowns.

2. To the gathering of the redeemed in the heavenly banqueting house.

(1) For the perfect communion.

(2) In the presence of the ever-loving Lord.

3. But if at the table we show the Lords death, what do we show in the world?

(1) Servants of the Crucified, are we dead with Him?

(2) Saved by His dying love, are we severe to living men?

(3) Talking of the dawn, are we walking in the dark?

(4) Pointing to heaven, are we cleaving to earth? (J. Richardson, M.A.)

The sacrament of the Lords Supper a standing ordinance

God often appointed standing memorials to perpetuate great and extraordinary events. Aarons rod and the pot of manna; the stones taken from Jordan; the Passover, etc. And the apostle tells that the Lords Supper was appointed to commemorate not Christs birth, temptation, etc., but His death.

I. Why the sacrament was designed to commemorate Christs death in particular. Because–

1. It was the most striking scene that ever took place with respect to Him or any other being. It was rendered so by many singular circumstances.

2. It was the strongest expression of His marvellous love to this sinful and perishing world. Greater love hath no man than this, etc. But Christ suffered death for sinners, and that in a most painful and humiliating way.

3. It alone made atonement for the sins of the world, and laid a foundation for the pardon and salvation of all penitent, believing sinners. All Christ did before His death, and all He has done since, and all He ever will do hereafter, depends upon His death, and without it would be of no avail.

II. Reflections.

1. This exhibition of a crucified Saviour is a solemn address to our understandings, and calls for our most serious and fixed contemplation upon the most glorious truths which can employ the minds of heavenly intelligences.

2. This significant ordinance addresses your hearts, as well as your understandings, and calls for the most grateful affections to the Father and Son.

3. As the ordinance reminds you of Christ giving Himself for you, so it equally reminds you of your obligations of renewedly giving yourselves to Him.

III. Improvement. Since the sacrament was appointed to be a memorial of Christs death, then–

1. Christians with good reason experience much comfort and derive much benefit from it.

2. Those who never find any satisfaction in it have reason to fear that they are enemies to the Cross of Christ.

3. None are duly prepared to observe it who do not cordially approve of the vindictive justice of God. It was this which rendered the death of Christ necessary, and which it was the design of His death to display.

4. It is of great importance to maintain this sacred ordinance. The continuance of the Christian religion in the world greatly depends upon the continuance of the memorial of Christs death.

5. If the sacrament be a standing memorial of Christs death, then we may see how little the gospel is prized by the great body of the Christian world. (N. Emmons, D.D.)

A persuasive to frequent communion

I. For the perpetuity of this institution, implied in those words, For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show forth the Lords death till He come: or the words may be read imperatively and by way of precept, show ye forth the Lords death till He come. So that it is a vain conceit of the enthusiasts concerning the dispensation of the Holy Ghost, when, as they suppose, all human teaching shall cease, and all external ordinances and institutions in religion shall vanish, and there shall be no farther use of them. Whereas it is very plain from the New Testament, that prayer, and outward teaching, and the use of the two sacraments, were intended to continue among Christians of all ages. And if this be the end and use of this sacrament, to be a solid remembrance of the death and sufferings of our Lord during His absence from us, that is, till His coming to judgment, then this sacrament will never be out of date till the second coming of our Lord. The consideration whereof should mightily strengthen and encourage our faith in the hope of eternal life so often as we partake of this sacrament.

II. The obligation that lies upon all Christians to the frequent observance and practice of this institution, I shall briefly mention a threefold obligation lying upon all Christians to frequent communion in this holy sacrament.

1. We are obliged in point of indispensable duty, and in obedience to a plain precept and most solemn institution of our blessed Saviour, that great Lawgiver.

2. We are likewise obliged hereunto in point of interest. The benefits which we expect to be derived and assured to us by this sacrament are all the blessings of the new covenant.

3. We are likewise particularly obliged in point of gratitude to the careful observance of this institution. Can we without the most horrible ingratitude neglect this dying charge of our Sovereign and Saviour, the great Friend and Lover of souls? A command so reasonable, so easy, so full of blessings and benefits to the faithful observers of it.

III. Third particular I proposed, which was to endeavour to satisfy the objections and scruples which have been raised in the minds of men, and particularly of many devout and sincere Christians.

1. That the danger of unworthy receiving being so very great, it seems the safest way wholly to refrain from this sacrament, and not to receive it at all. But this objection is evidently of no force if there be as great or greater danger on the other hand, viz., in the neglect of this duty. Nay, of the two it is the greater sign of contempt wholly to neglect the sacrament, than to partake of it without some due qualification. And indeed scarce any man can think of coming to the sacrament but he will by this consideration be excited to some good purposes, and put upon some sort of endeavour to amend and reform his life. But, on the other hand, as to those who neglect this sacrament, there is hardly anything left to restrain them from the greatest enormities of life, and to give a check to them in their evil course: nothing but the penalty of human laws, which men may avoid and yet be wicked enough. For if this be a good reason to abstain from the sacrament for fear of performing so sacred an action in an undue manner, it were best for a bad man to lay aside all religion, and to give over the exercise of all the duties of piety, of prayer, of reading and hearing the Word of God, because there is a proportionable danger in the unworthy and unprofitable use of any of these. I cannot more fitly illustrate this matter than by this plain similitude: he that eats and drinks intemperately endangers his health and his life, but he that to avoid this danger will not eat at all, I need not tell you what will certainly become of him in a very short space. There are some conscientious persons who abstain from the sacrament upon an apprehension that the sins which they shall commit afterwards are unpardonable. But this is a great mistake. To draw to a conclusion of this matter: such groundless fears and jealousies as these may be a sign of a good meaning, but they are certainly a sign of an injudicious mind. For if we stand upon these scruples, no man perhaps was ever so worthily prepared to draw near to God in any duty of religion but there was still some defect or other in the disposition of his mind, and the degree of his preparation. But if we prepare ourselves as well as we can, this is all God expects. We cannot surely entertain so unworthy a thought of God and our blessed Saviour as to imagine that He did institute the sacrament not for the furtherance of our salvation, but as a snare, and an occasion of our ruin and damnation.

2. Second objection, which was this.

That so much preparation and worthiness being required to our worthy receiving, the more timorous sort of Christians can never think themselves duly enough qualified for so sacred an action.

1. That every degree of imperfection in our preparation for this sacrament is not a sufficient reason for men to abstain from it. For then no man should ever receive it. For who is every way worthy? The graces of the best men are imperfect. And if we will neglect the use of these means, it is to no purpose for us to pray to God for His grace and assistance.

2. The total want of a due preparation, not only in the degree but in the main and substance of it, though it render us unfit at present to receive this sacrament, yet does it by no means excuse our neglect of it. One fault may draw on another, but can never excuse it. We will not do our duty in other things, and then plead that we are unfit and unworthy to do it in this particular of the sacrament.

3. The proper inference and conclusion from a total want of due preparation for the sacrament is not to cast off all thoughts of receiving it, but immediately to set about the work of preparation, that so we may be fit to receive it.

IV. Fourth and last thing I proposed, viz., What preparation of ourselves is necessary in order to the worthy receiving of this sacrament. Which I told you would give me occasion to explain the apostles meaning in the last part of the text, But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup. I think it very clear from the occasion and circumstances of the apostles discourse concerning the sacrament that he does not intend the examination of our state, whether we be Christians or not, and sincerely resolve to continue so; and consequently that he does not here speak of our habitual preparation by the resolution of a good life. This he takes for granted, that they were Christians and resolved to continue and persevere in their Christian profession. But he speaks of their actual fitness and worthiness at that time when they came to receive the Lords Supper. But let a man examine himself, that is, consider well with himself what a sacred action he is going about, and what behaviour becomes him when he is celebrating this sacrament instituted by our Lord in memorial of His body and blood, that is, of His death and passion. But some will say, Is this all the preparation that is required to our worthy receiving of the sacrament, that we take care not to come drunk to it, nor to be guilty of any irreverence and disorder in the celebration of it? I answer in short, this was the particular unworthiness with which the apostle taxeth the Corinthians, and which he warns them to amend. It is of great use for Christians by way of preparation for the sacrament to examine themselves in a larger sense than in all probability the apostle here intended. And because this work of examining ourselves concerning our state, and of exercising repentance towards God and charity towards men is incumbent upon us as we are Christians, and can never be put in practice more seasonably and with greater advantage than when we are meditating of this sacrament, therefore besides our habitual preparation by repentance and the constant endeavours of a holy life, it is a very commendable custom in Christians before their coming to the sacrament to set apart some particular time for this work of examination. The best preparation for the sacrament is the general care and endeavour of a good life. And he that is thus prepared may receive at any time when opportunity is offered, though he had no particular foresight of that opportunity. (J. Tillotson, D.D.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 26. Ye do show the Lord ‘s death] As in the passover they showed forth the bondage they had been in, and the redemption they had received from it; so in the eucharist they showed forth the sacrificial death of Christ, and the redemption from sin derived from it.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

From hence it appears, that the bread and wine is not (as papists say) transubstantiated, or turned into the very substance of the flesh and blood of Christ, when the communicants eat it and drink it. It is still the same bread and cup it was. The end of the institution is but to commemorate Christs death; and upon that account the waiting upon God in this ordinance, will be a standing duty incumbent upon Christians, until Christ shall come to judgment. Some think, show ye, is a better translation of the verb, than (as we translate it)

ye do show; wherefore so behave yourselves at this ordinance, as those who know what they have to do in it, that is, to show forth the death of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

26. Forin proof that theLord’s Supper is “in remembrance” of Him.

showannouncepublicly. The Greek does not mean to dramaticallyrepresent, but “ye publicly profess each of you, the Lordhas died FOR ME”[WAHL]. This word, as “is”in Christ’s institution (1Co 11:24;1Co 11:25), implies not literalpresence, but a vivid realization, by faith, of Christ in theLord’s Supper, as a living person, not a mere abstract dogma, “boneof our bone, and flesh of our flesh” (Eph5:30; compare Ge 2:23); andourselves “members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones,””our sinful bodies made clean by His body (once for alloffered), and our souls washed through His most precious blood”[Church of England Prayer Book]. “Show,” or”announce,” is an expression applicable to newthings; compare “show” as to the Passover (Ex13:8). So the Lord’s death ought always to be fresh in ourmemory; compare in heaven, Re 5:6.That the Lord’s Supper is in remembrance of Him, implies thatHe is bodily absent, though spiritually present, for we cannot besaid to commemorate one absent. The fact that we not only show theLord’s death in the supper, but eat and drink thepledges of it, could only be understood by the Jews, accustomed tosuch feasts after propitiatory sacrifices, as implying our personalappropriation therein of the benefits of that death.

till he comewhen thereshall be no longer need of symbols of His body, the body itself beingmanifested. The Greek expresses the certainly of Hiscoming. Rome teaches that we eat Christ present corporally, “tillHe come” corporally; a contradiction in terms. The showbread,literally, “bread of the presence,” was in the sanctuary,but not in the Holiest Place (Heb9:1-8); so the Lord’s Supper in heaven, the antitype to theHoliest Place, shall be superseded by Christ’s own bodily presence;then the wine shall be drunk “anew” in the Father’skingdom, by Christ and His people together, of which heavenlybanquet, the Lord’s Supper is a spiritual foretaste and specimen (Mt26:29). Meantime, as the showbread was placed anew, everysabbath, on the table before the Lord (Le24:5-8); so the Lord’s death was shown, or announcedafresh at the Lord’s table the first day of every week in theprimitive Church. We are now “priests unto God” in thedispensation of Christ’s spiritual presence, antitypical to the HOLYPLACE: the perfect and eternal dispensation, which shall notbegin till Christ’s coming, is antitypical to the HOLIESTPLACE, which Christ our High Priest alone in the flesh as yethas entered (Heb 9:6; Heb 9:7);but which, at His coming, we, too, who are believers, shall enter(Rev 7:15; Rev 21:22).The supper joins the two closing periods of the Old and the Newdispensations. The first and second comings are considered as onecoming, whence the expression is not “return,” but “come”(compare, however, Joh 14:3).

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup,…. Not any bread, or any cup: but what is ate and drank in an ordinance way, and according to the institution and appointment of Christ, and with a view to the end proposed by him; and though there is no set fixed time for the administration of this ordinance, yet this phrase seems to suggest that it should be often: and very plainly signifies, that the bread and wine, after the blessing or thanksgiving, remain such, and are not converted into the real body and blood of Christ; but are only outward elements representing these to faith;

ye do show the Lord’s death till he come; or rather, as it may be rendered in the imperative mood, as an exhortation, direction or command, “show ye the Lord’s death till he come”; since everyone that eats and drinks at the Lord’s table does not show forth his death, which is the great end to be answered by it; for the design of the institution of it is to declare that Christ died for the sins of his people: to represent him as crucified; to set forth the manner of his sufferings and death, by having his body wounded, bruised, and broken, and his blood shed; to express the blessings and benefits which come by his death, and his people’s faith of interest in them; and to show their sense of gratitude, and declare their thankfulness for them; and all this, “till he come”; which shows the continuance of this ordinance, which is to last till Christ’s second coming, where the carnal ordinances of the former dispensation were shaken and removed; and also the continuance of Gospel ministers to the end of the world, to administer it, and of churches to whom it is to be administered: this assures of the certainty of Christ’s second coming; as it leads back to his coming in the flesh, suffering and dying in our stead, and thereby obtaining redemption for us; it leads forward to expect and believe he will come again, to put us into the full possession of the salvation he is the author of; when there will be no more occasion for this ordinance, nor any other, but all will cease, and God will be all in all. The apostle here refers to a custom used by the Jews in the night of the passover, to show forth the reason of their practice, and that institution to their children; when either u

“the son asked the father, or if the son had not understanding (enough to ask), then the father taught him, saying, how different is this night from all other nights? for in all other nights we eat leavened and unleavened bread, but in this night only unleavened; in all other nights we eat the rest of herbs, but in this night bitter herbs; in all other nights we eat flesh roasted, broiled, and boiled, in this night only roasted; in all other nights we wash once, in this night twice; and as elsewhere w it is added, in all other nights we eat sitting or lying, in this night all of us lie; and according to the capacity of the child, the father teaches him,”

particularly he was to inform him what these several things showed forth, or declared x; as that

“the passover , “declared”, or “showed forth”, that the Lord passed over the houses of our fathers in Egypt; the bitter herbs “showed forth”, that the Egyptians made the lives of our fathers bitter in Egypt; and the unleavened bread “declared” that they were redeemed; and all these things are called , “the declaration”, or showing forth:”

and there is a treatise called , “the showing forth of the passover”; in which, besides the things mentioned, and many others, it is observed y, that it was commanded the Jews , “to declare” the going out of Egypt, and that everyone that diligently declares the going out of Egypt, is praiseworthy: now the apostle observes this end of the Lord’s supper, to show forth his death, in opposition to the notion of the “judaizing” Christians at Corinth, who thought of nothing else but the showing forth of the passover, and the declaration of that deliverance and redemption wrought for the people of Israel; whereas the true and only intent of it was to show forth the death of Christ, redemption by him, and the greatness of his love expressed therein, and which is to be continued till his second coming; whereas the time was come when it should “be no more said, the Lord liveth, that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt”, Jer 16:14.

u Misn. Pesach. c. 10. sect. 4. Haggadah Shel. Pesach. p. 5. w Maimon. Chametz Umetzah, c. 8. sect. 2. x Moses Kotsensis Mitzvot Tora prec. aff. 41. y P. 5, 6. Ed. Rittangel. & Seder. Tephillot. Ed. Basil. fol. 243. 1.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Till he come ( ). Common idiom (with or without ) with the aorist subjunctive for future time (Robertson, Grammar, p. 975). In Lu 22:18 we have . The Lord’s Supper is the great preacher () of the death of Christ till his second coming (Mt 26:29).

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

Ye do shew [] . Rev., better, proclaim. It is more than represent or signify. The Lord ‘s death is preached in the celebration of the Eucharist. Compare Exo 13:8, thou shalt shew. In the Jewish passover the word Haggadah denoted the historical explanation of the meaning of the passover rites given by the father to the son. Dr. Schaff says of the eucharistic service of the apostolic age : “The fourteenth chapter of first Corinthians makes the impression – to use an American phrase – of a religions meeting thrown open. Everybody who had a spiritual gift, whether it was the gift of tongues, of interpretation, of prophecy, or of sober, didactic teaching, had a right to speak, to pray, and to sing. Even women exercised their gifts” (” Introduction to the Didache “). See, further, on ch. 14 33.

Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament

1) “For as often as ye eat this bread.” (hosakis gar ean estiete ton arton touton) “For as often as” – the frequency is indefinite, but generally considered to be no less frequent than the specified annual observance of the Passover. “Ye (you all, the church assembled) eat this bread.”

2) “And drink this cup.” (kai to poterion pinete) “And the (of the) cup y e drink.” What Paul had received in both order or procedural and doctrinal content, regarding the Lord’s Supper, was in harmony with the accounts of the Gospel writers.

3) “Ye do shew the Lord’s death, till he come.” (ton thanaton tou kuriou katangellete shri ou elthe) “The death of the Lord ye (you all) do shew, declare, or pictorially display until He comes.” It is an evil notion and doctrinal error that an earthly priest may say “hoc es corpus meum” (this is my body) or “hoc es haima meum,” (this is my blood) and thereby secure the change of the Lord’s Supper elements into the literal blood and body of Jesus Christ, by which the partakers may receive or acquire saving grace or saving efficacy. Breaking and partaking of the bread and the taking and partaking of the cup are to be in devout memory, sacred remembrance, of the mangled body and shed blood of Jesus Christ both for the individual sinner and the church, Act 20:28.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

26. For as often as ye shall eat. Paul now adds what kind of remembrance ought to be cherished — that is, with thanksgiving; not that the remembrance consists wholly in confession with the mouth; for the chief thing is, that the efficacy of Christ’s death be sealed in our consciences; but this knowledge should stir us up to a confession in respect of praise, so as to declare before men what we feel inwardly before God. The Supper then is (so to speak) a kind of memorial, which must always remain in the Church, until the last coming of Christ; and it has been appointed for this purpose, that Christ may put us in mind of the benefit of his death, and that we may recognize it (697) before men. Hence it has the name of the Eucharist. (698) If, therefore, you would celebrate the Supper aright, you must bear in mind, that a profession of your faith is required from you. Hence we see how shamelessly those mock God, who boast that they have in the mass something of the nature of the Supper. For what is the mass? They confess (for I am not speaking of Papists, but of the pretended followers of Nicodemus) that it is full of abominable superstitions. By outward gesture they give a pretended approval of them. What kind of showing forth of the death of Christ is this? Do they not rather renounce it?

Until he come As we always need a help of this kind, so long as we are in this world, Paul intimates that this commemoration has been given us in charge, until Christ come to judgment. For as he is not present with us in a visible form, it is necessary for us to have some symbol of his presence, by which our minds may exercise themselves.

(697) “ Que de nostre part le recognoissions;” — “That we, on our part, may recognise it.”

(698) From, εὐχαριστήσας, ( having given thanks,) which is made use of by Paul, and also by the Evangelists, (see Harmony, vol. 3, p. 205, n. 1,) in their account of the original appointment of the Supper. The term is at the same time expressive of the spirit of the institution, in respect of thanksgiving. — Ed

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

(26) For as often as ye . . .The previous verse concluded the account of the institution as conveyed by Christ to St. Paul, and the Apostle himself now again speaks. All this being the true account of the origin of this Supper, as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup (as distinct from other bread and wine) you proclaim the Lords death until He come. The Greek word for ye show is that used for making a public oral proclamation. The passage does not imply, as some have suggested, that the Lords Supper was a living sermon or an acted discourse, but, as is still the custom, that when the bread and wine were consecrated to this sacred use, there was an oral declaration made (perhaps in the very words the Apostle here used, 1Co. 11:22-25) of the facts of the original institution. The imperative form given in the margin of the Authorised version is quite inadmissible.

In the pathetic words until He come we may find an expression of the belief, perhaps largely due to the hope, that the Second Advent was not far distant.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

26. As often In some periods of the Church, daily communion has been the practice. But a wiser Christian custom is to consider it as more an extraordinary event than the Sabbath service. The monthly period preserves the medium between making it too ordinary and too unfrequent.

Bread As the bread of the passover was appointed by God with a significant purpose to be unleavened, there was some show of reason for using such bread by the Roman Church, but no show of reason for the Greek and Roman Churches making the use a matter of fierce contention. As it is a matter of mere inference, fixed by no definition or command, the Protestant Churches (except the Lutheran) have considered it a matter of indifference.

Cup See our note on Mat 26:27.

Show Literally, ye announce, as a messenger or herald, to the world. The act, with its surrounding circumstances and utterances, proclaims to the world Christ’s atoning death, and the believer’s acceptance of its avails.

Till he come When the entire system of sublunary Church and probation will be closed. Thus the communion is a chain whose links connect the first and second advents of Christ. This corrects the error of the Quakers, who, aiming at too naked a spirituality, have rejected all ordinances, and have thus made their religion a soul without a body. It is, doubtless, owing to this cause that they are fading from existence as a Christian body. Neglecting the great injunction to show forth the Lord’s death, they have become (1Co 11:30) weak and sickly, and are apparently going to sleep.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

‘For as often as you eat this bread, and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till he come.’

And in their participation of Him in this way they should also recognise that they were proclaiming His death, in which they were participating, something they would continue to do until His coming again. This feast would go on and on being celebrated and would never cease until His return at His second coming. Through it they would continue to proclaim the Lord’s death, and all that it signified, until that coming again. Thus the Lord’s Supper was to be both a looking back to His death and resurrection (a proclaiming of His death and a recognition that we have been crucified and raised with Him – Gal 2:20; Eph 2:6), a present participation in His death (reckoning ourselves daily as having died with Him and having risen again – Rom 6:11), and a looking forward to the final fruits of His death and resurrection when He would come in glory to be revealed as Lord of all (chapter 15). And it was an expression of His total oneness together with His people.

‘You proclaim the Lord’s death till he come.’ Some see this as signifying that the proclaiming is not in the act of the meal, but a proclaiming that takes place while the meal is going on. But both are surely part of each other. The meal certainly proclaims His death, and no doubt verbal proclamation also took place. But it does emphasise that central to both is the proclamation of Jesus Christ and Him the crucified One (1Co 1:17-18; 1Co 2:2). It may be that some of the Corinthians were seeing other symbols from the meal than that of Jesus Christ in His death for them, possibly in terms of a magical reception of divine power and enlightenment. So Paul again emphasises the centrality of ‘the word of the cross’ (1Co 1:18).

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Worthy and unworthy communicants:

v. 26. For as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord’s death till He come.

v. 27. Wherefore, whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.

v. 28. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup.

v. 29. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning” the Lord’s body.

The apostle now gives the Christians of Corinth and of all times some rules as to the proper preparation for, and celebration of, the Holy Communion. One of its purposes, as just stated by Paul, was that it should serve for the commemoration of the Lord. But frequency of celebration and familiarity with the Eucharist was not to blunt the reverence for its sanctity. Therefore the apostle says: For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, the death of the Lord you proclaim until He comes. Every celebration of the Eucharist is an open proclaiming, a publishing of the death of the Lord, of the fact that by the giving of His body and by the shedding of His blood He has wrought redemption. Of course, the right attitude toward the Sacrament is that in which the heart is fully conscious of the blessings which the mouth confesses. That fact will make every communicant both humble and eager for the wonderful grace of God, as given in the Holy Communion. Until He comes, until He returns in glory, the Sacrament of His body and blood is to be the means of communication from Him to us.

But the wonderful content and purpose of the Holy Communion demands, at the same time, a most careful preparation on the part of the communicant: So that whoever eats the bread, or drinks the cup of the Lord, unworthily, guilty is he of the body and blood of the Lord. To eat unworthily is to be in such a spiritual condition or to conduct oneself in such a manner as to be out of harmony with the dignity and the sanctity of the heavenly meal. Should a person come to the Lord’s Supper as he would go to any other meal, considering his actions to be the mere eating of bread and the mere drinking of wine, if he feels neither desire for the grace of God nor devotion at the prospect of partaking in the miracle feast, then such a person will be guilty, not merely of a thoughtless eating and drinking, but of desecration of the body and blood of the Lord. He will show that he has neither a conception of his sinful-ness nor a longing for the grace of God; and thus his guilt will consist in his hindering the grace of God in the Sacrament, which is ready to bestow upon him forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation.

It follows, then, for every earnest Christian: But let a man examine himself, make a careful test of his own mind and attitude, explore all the secret recesses of his heart, not, as some commentaries say, to see whether he is religiously and morally qualified, personally worthy of being a guest of the Lord’s, but, as our liturgical formula very properly says, to see whether he heartily repents of his sins, believes in Jesus Christ, and sincerely and earnestly purposes to amend his sinful life. Having made this examination, preferably with the aid of the questions in the Fifth Chief Part, in the Table of Duties, and in the Christian Questions offered in our Small Catechism, a Christian may come and partake of God’s meal of grace. The purpose of the admonition, therefore, is not to deter and scare away such Christians in whom self-examination reveals many sins in thoughts, words, and deeds, but to stimulate the right desire for the grace of God, the need, of which this self-exploration has shown to exist. “Therefore we should here learn diligently and mark that such persons do not receive the Sacrament unworthily as say and confess they are poor sinners, feel various temptations. If you did not want to receive the Sacrament unless you were free from all sins, it would follow that you would never go to the Sacrament. But they that knowingly continue in sins receive the venerable Sacrament unworthily; as, murderous hatred of their neighbor, murder, fornication, adultery, and other, similar public transgressions, and do not purpose to discontinue them. For the Sacrament has been instituted by Christ the Lord, not that people should remain in sins, but that they should obtain forgiveness and grow in sanctity. I can speak with authority of what results follow if a person abstains from the Sacrament for a time; I have also been in such fire of the devil that I became estranged from the venerable Sacrament, and that I attended with the greater unwillingness, the longer this lasted. Be sure to beware of this and get into the habit of going often, especially if you are fit to go, that is, if you find that your heart, on account of your sins, is heavy and shy, in order that you may not forget our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, but remember His sacrifice and death; for otherwise He asks nothing of us.”

But of the unworthy the apostle says: For he that eats and drinks unworthily, judgment, condemnation, he eats and drinks to himself, because he does not discern, discriminate, the body of Christ. He makes no distinction between an ordinary meal and this heavenly meal; he does not realize that the true body and blood of his Savior are here present, and that for this reason a thoughtless use of the Sacrament is blasphemy and results in the final righteous punishment of God. For he that approaches the table of the Lord in such a spirit of frivolousness will indeed also receive the body and blood of Christ in, with, and under the bread and wine, but not as that of his Redeemer, rather as that of his Judge, who will, on the last day, demand an account of him with sharp reckoning, since the outward behavior is only an indication and demonstration of the unbelief of the heart. “We teach, believe, and confess also that there is only one kind of unworthy guests, those namely who do not believe, concerning whom it is written, Joh 3:18: ‘He that believeth not is condemned already,’ And this judgment becomes greater and more grievous, being aggravated by the unworthy use of the Holy Supper, 1Co 11:29.”

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

1Co 11:26. As often as ye eat this bread It is no wonder that a text, in which this element is so plainly called bread, after consecration, should be urged against the popish doctrine of transubstantiation: it signifies little for the favourers of that opinion to plead, that the Scriptures sometimes call things changed by the name of the thing out of which they were made, (as Adam is called dust, Gen. iii 19. Aaron’s serpent a rod, Exo 7:12.) or call them according to their sensible appearance (as Jos 5:13. Mar 16:5.); for these instances rather turn against them, by proving that where the literal interpretation is evidently absurd, we must have recourse to the figurative. Nothing can be more unreasonable than to refer the last clause of this verse, as the Quakers do, to the time when Christ should come, by his spiritual illumination on their minds, to take them off from carnal ordinances; for, not to insist upon it, that we have at least as much need of the Lord’s supper as the primitive Christians had,not having many advantages which they had, such as the miraculous gifts, &c.it is evident that the grand coming of Christ by the Spirit was, when it was poured out on the day of Pentecost; an event many years prior to the date of this Epistle. See Doddridge, Stillingfleet, and Tillotson.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

1Co 11:26 . Not still words of Christ (Ewald), [1865] in citing which Paul glides involuntarily into the form into which they had by this time become moulded in the church; for against this view there is (1) the unsuitableness in itself of such a in the expression (especially after 1Co 11:23 ); (2) the fact of the words being linked to the preceding by , which is less in keeping with the tone and direct form of the words of institution, but, on the other hand, naturally marks the apostle himself again beginning to speak; and (3) the fact that Luke has nothing of a similar kind in his account of the Supper. The common view is the right one, that Paul proceeds here in his own person . But what he gives is neither a further reason assigned for in 1Co 11:22 (so Hofmann, in connection with his incorrect interpretation of in 1Co 11:23 ), nor is it an experimental elucidation of the last words of 1Co 11:25 (the ordinary view), for the contents of 1Co 11:26 stand rather in the logical relation of consequence to the foregoing narrative of institution. No; is to be taken here (comp on 1Co 11:22 ) in its inferential sense, and made to refer to the whole preceding account of the origin of the Supper. We may paraphrase thus: Such, then, being the facts of the original institution, it comes to pass that as often as ye , etc.

] the bread prescribed according to this appointment of Christ; : the cup now spoken of, the eucharistic cup .

] ye proclaim the Lord’s death, i.e. ye declare solemnly in connection with this ordinance, that Christ has died for you. This cannot without arbitrariness be taken as merely a declaring by action (so commonly ); it can only be taken as actually oral . [1867] How it took place, we do not know. The Peschito (the Vulgate has annuntiabitis ) rightly took . as indicative (so also Theophylact, Beza, Bengel, de Wette, Osiander, Kahnis, Neander, Maier, Rckert in his Abendm. p. 211, Hofmann), which Grotius and others ought not to have changed into annuntiare debetis ; for the proclamation in question was an essential thing which took place at the Supper, and therefore an admonition to it would have been inappropriate. Even in the case of unworthy participation the referred to was not omitted; the admonition, therefore, could only have respect to the worthiness of the participation, with which that was connected; and, in point of fact, such an admonition follows accordingly in 1Co 11:27 f. We must reject therefore the view commonly taken by other interpreters (and necessarily adopted by Ewald in accordance with his view of the verse as given above), namely, that . is imperative . See, besides, Rodatz in Lcke and Wieseler’s Vierteljahrschr . I. 3, p. 351.

] until He shall have come ; for the apostle was convinced that the Parousia was close at hand, and therefore future generations could not have been present to his mind in writing thus; but to apply his words to them is historically necessary and right.

stands without (see instances in Lobeck, a [1868] Phryn. p. 15 f.), because the arrival of the Parousia is conceived as absolutely certain, not as conditioned by any contingencies which might possibly delay it (Hermann, part. , p. 109 ff.). In Gal 4:19 also, Paul, in the earnestness of his love, conceives the result as equally certain (against Rckert’s objection). After the Parousia the Lord Himself is again there. Theodoret: , . To eat with Him will then be a new thing (Mat 26:29 ); but until then the proclamation here spoken of is not to be silenced. How that thought was fitted to keep constantly before their minds the solemn responsibility of an unworthy participation in the Supper (see 1Co 11:27 )! In this way Paul links to the of the communicants the fear and trembling of the Maran atha , 1Co 16:22 .

[1865] In the Constitt. ap. too (viii. 12. 16) they are placed in Christ’s mouth, but with the change of , .

[1867] is always an actual proclamation , never a mere giving to be known by deeds. Were the latter the meaning here, Paul would be using a poetical expression (something like in Psa 19:1 f.), which would be not at all suitable in view of the context. I regret that Hofmann has been so hasty in censuring my assertion of the necessity of the above interpretation, as if it carried absurdity on the face of it. We do not know in what forms a liturgical element had already developed itself in connection with a rite which had now been observed for some quarter of a century. And have not the eucharistic liturgies up to this day, even the oldest that we are acquainted with (in Daniel, Codex liturg. ), as for instance the “Liturgia Jacobi,” essential parts, which are a of the Lord’s death? Comp. too the explicit confession prescribed at the Jewish feast of the Passover, Exo 12:27 ; Exo 13:8 .

[1868] d refers to the note of the commentator or editor named on the particular passage.

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

DISCOURSE: 1978
THE DESIGN AND IMPORTANCE OF THE LORDS SUPPER

1Co 11:24; 1Co 11:26. This do in remembrance of me .. for as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lords death till he come.

THE Corinthians had shamefully profaned the Lords supper. St. Paul reproves them, and rectifies their views of that ordinance.

I.

The design of the Lords supper

Our ungrateful hearts are prone to forget the richest mercies. To keep up the remembrance of his death, Christ instituted his last supper. When we celebrate that ordinance, we shew forth his death
[The passover was a memorial of the deliverance vouchsafed to the Jews from the sword of the destroying angel. At every returning celebration of it the reason of that ordinance was declared [Note: In reference to Exo 12:26-27. a custom obtained among the Jews that a child should ask the meaning of the passover, and that the person who presided should then give an account of its intent and origin, that so the remembrance of Gods mercy might be transmitted to their latest posterity: and this was called the declaration or shewing forth. Dr. Gill on the text.]. Christ in his death has effected a greater deliverance for us. In partaking of the bread and wine we shew forth his death: we shew forth the manner of it as excruciating and bloody [Note: The breaking of the bread and the pouring out of the wine seem well calculated to impress this idea.]: we shew forth the end of it as a sacrifice for our sins [Note: In this light it is represented by St. Paul, 1Co 5:7 and by our Lord himself, Mat 26:28.]: we shew forth the sufficiency of it for our full salvation [Note: We express our affiance in his blood as the Jews did in the blood of the Paschal Lamb, when they sprinkled their door-posts with it, and eat of the flesh that had been roast with fire.].]

We shew forth his death till he come
[Christ will, in due season, come again to judge the world; then his people will no longer need such memorials as these. They will incessantly enjoy the brightest vision of his person, and the richest fruits of his death; but till then the remembrance of his dying love, and the expectation of his future advent, must be thus preserved. Such was Christs end in instituting, and such should be our end in observing it.]
To enforce the observance of this ordinance, we will proceed to shew,

II.

The necessity of attending it

The duty of commemorating our Lords death is much neglected; but a neglect of it involves us in the deepest guilt. It implies,

1.

Rebellion against the highest authority

[Christ, the Supreme Governor of heaven and earth, has said, Do this; yet the language of too many is, I will not. But they who disregarded the passover did not go unpunished [Note: If a man had contracted any ceremonial defilement, or were on a journey, he might omit eating the passover at the appointed time; only he must eat it a month afterwards. But if he forbore to eat of it without any such impediment, God said concerning him. That soul shall be cut off, that man shall bear his sin. Num 9:7-11.]; much less shall they who slight the invitations to Christs supper [Note: Luk 14:24.]. Surely it is no less than madness to persist in this rebellion.]

2.

Ingratitude towards our greatest Benefactor

[Christ has even given his own life a ransom for us; and shall we disregard his dying command? On the same night that he was betrayed, did he institute these memorials of his death. Had he at that season such a concern for us, and can we refuse to do so small a thing in remembrance of him? The Jews went thrice every year up to Jersusalem, from the extreme parts of Juda, to commemorate their deliverance. And shall we turn our backs on the table when it is spread before us? Shall not God visit for such ingratitude as this [Note: Let such conduct be expressed in words; Thou didst indeed give thy body to be broken, &c. for me; and only requirest me to eat bread, &c. in remembrance of thee; but I account even that too much to do for thee: Who could dare to utter such language? Or who would endure it if spoken by his servant or his child? Yet such is the language of our actions.]?]

3.

Contempt of the richest mercies

[To communicate, without discerning the Lords body, can profit us nothing; but to approach the table in humility and faith is a sure mean of obtaining all spiritual blessings. Christ sometimes reveals himself in the breaking of bread, to those who had not so fully discovered him in the ministration of the word [Note: Luk 24:30-31.]. And do they not manifest a contempt of these mercies, who will not use the means of procuring them? How may the Saviour take up that lamentation over them [Note: Mat 23:37.]!]

4.

A renunciation of our baptismal covenant

[In baptism we covenanted to renounce the world, &c and to serve God: this covenant we ought to renew and confirm at the Lords table. But our refusing to confirm it is a tacit renunciation of it. And can we hope that God will fulfil his part while we violate ours? Will he be our God when we refuse to be his people?]

We shall conclude with answering some excuses

[I am not prepared. How then can you be prepared to die [Note: Is not this acknowledgment the strongest reason for immediate repentance?]? I am afraid of eating and drinking my own damnation. Are you not afraid of damnation for neglecting your duty [Note: In neglecting duty you ensure condemnation; in practising it as well as you can (to say the least) you may avert it.]? I am afraid of sinning afterwards, and thereby increasing my guilt. If sins after receiving the Lords supper were unpardonable, none should receive it till the last moment of their lives [Note: If you really desire strength, where would you so soon obtain it? But if you determine to live in sin, your condemnation will be equally sure whether you come or not.]. The time of administering it interferes with other engagements. To those who cannot deny themselves in any thing, we say with Paul [Note: Rom 3:8. whose damnation is just.]; but where the difficulties are insurmountable, God will accept the will for the deed [Note: Mat 12:7.]. They however, who are at liberty, should attend as often as they can; only they must be careful to communicate with reverence, humility, faith, and gratitude.]

Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)

26 For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come.

Ver. 26. Ye do show ] We need no other crucifix to mind us of Christ’s passion. Hence this sacrament was by some ancients termed a sacrifice, viz. representative and commemorative, but not properly, as the Papists make it.

Till he come ] There shall be a Church then, and the pure worship of God, till the world’s end, maugre the malice of tyrants and heretics.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

26. ] gives an explanatory reason for . ., viz. that the act of eating and drinking is a proclamation of the death of the Lord till His coming . The rendering of imperative , as Theophyl.?, Luth., Grot., Rckert, is evidently wrong. The Apostle is substantiating the application of the Lord’s words by the acknowledged nature of the rite. It is a proclamation of His death : and thus is a remembrance of Him . It is so, by our making mention of in it, and seeing visibly before us and partaking of, His body broken, and His blood shed .

] The . is addressed directly to the Corinthians , not to them and all succeeding Christians ; the Apostle regarding the coming of the Lord as near at hand, in his own time, see notes on 2Co 5:1-10 . Thdrt. remarks, , , , ( ) .

The has been inserted from not being aware that its absence implies the certainty of the event. See examples in Lobeck on Phrynichus, pp. 15, 16, note.

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

1Co 11:26 . Familiarity helped to blunt in the Cor [1762] their reverence for the Eucharist; hence the repeated : “for so many times as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you are proclaiming the Lord’s death, until He come”. has its proper explicative force: Christ bade His disciples thus perpetually commemorate Him (1Co 11:24 f.: , “go on to do” sustained action), “for it is thus that you publish His death, and in this form the testimony will continue till He comes again.” (see parls.), on this view ind [1763] , is the active expression of : “Christus de beneficio mortis suae nos admonet, et nos coram hominibus id recognovimus” (Cv [1764] ). The ordinance is a verbum visi-bile , a “preaching” of the entire Church in silent ministry: “Christi sanguis scripturarum omnium sacramento ac testimonio effusus prdicatur ” (Cyprian, quoted by Ed [1765] ). states the terminus ad quem given in the words of Jesus at the Table, Luk 22:18 , Mat 26:29 . The rite looks forward as well as backward; a rehearsal of the Passion Supper, a foretaste of the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. Paul thus “associates with the of the celebrants the fear and trembling that belong to the Maranatha of 1Co 16:22 ” (Mr [1766] ). The pathos and the glory of the Table of the Lord were alike lost on the Corinthians.

[1762] Corinth, Corinthian or Corinthians.

[1763] indicative mood.

[1764] Calvin’s In Nov. Testamentum Commentarii .

[1765] T. C. Edwards’ Commentary on the First Ep. to the Corinthians . 2

[1766] Meyer’s Critical and Exegetical Commentary (Eng. Trans.).

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

shew = proclaim. App-121.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

26.] gives an explanatory reason for . ., viz. that the act of eating and drinking is a proclamation of the death of the Lord till His coming. The rendering of imperative, as Theophyl.?, Luth., Grot., Rckert, is evidently wrong. The Apostle is substantiating the application of the Lords words by the acknowledged nature of the rite. It is a proclamation of His death: and thus is a remembrance of Him. It is so, by our making mention of in it, and seeing visibly before us and partaking of, His body broken, and His blood shed.

] The . is addressed directly to the Corinthians, not to them and all succeeding Christians; the Apostle regarding the coming of the Lord as near at hand, in his own time, see notes on 2Co 5:1-10. Thdrt. remarks, , , , () .

The has been inserted from not being aware that its absence implies the certainty of the event. See examples in Lobeck on Phrynichus, pp. 15, 16, note.

Fuente: The Greek Testament

1Co 11:26. , the death of the Lord) the death, by which Christ was sacrificed for us [and His blood was separated from His body. Hence he says separately, This is my body; and separately, This is my blood.-V. g.] So also, He is mentioned in the Apocalypse as a lamb, that had been slain.-, ye announce [show]) The Indicative, with the for, is to be referred to the, I have delivered, 1Co 11:23. He convicts the Corinthians from their own practice, such as it was. New things are announced [shown forth], and the death of the Lord ought always to be new [fresh] in our memory; Exo 13:8, , and thou shalt show [announce]; referring to the passover; whence the paschal lesson is called , the annunciation. The Syriac version also has the indicative.- , until) Paul derives this from the particle , Mat 26:29, whatever seems to be lost to us by Christs going away, is compensated by the Lords Supper as by a kind of equivalent, so that from the time of the Lords departure from the sight of believers to His visible and glorious coming, we still have Himself, whom for a time we do not see. What was conspicuous in our Redeemer has passed into the sacraments; Leo the Great, Serm. 2 on the ascension. On this account it is said in remembrance of Me: and of this mode of remembering there was no need, as long as He was in person with His disciples; consequently He did not institute the Supper sooner, but on that night, on which His being betrayed broke off the visible intercourse with Jesus upon the earth; but He instituted it then, lest He should also be forgotten, when no longer seen. It may be asked, why did He not institute the Supper, during the forty days that elapsed between His resurrection and ascension? Ans. 1. Because it chiefly relates to the remembrance of His death. 2. The Sacred Supper is a specimen as it were of communion at the same heavenly banquet with Christ in heaven, but after His resurrection, Christ did not eat and drink with His disciples, but merely ate with them, and only for the purpose of convincing them of His being truly raised from the dead and of His actual presence with them. This remembrance is of the closest and most vivid kind, such as is the remembrance of children towards their parents, of a wife towards her husband, of a brother towards a brother, united with faith, love, desire, hope, joy, obedience, and comprehending the whole of the Christians present condition. This relation to Christ is in force from the close of His last feast with His disciples till His coming again, Mat 26:29. This mystery joins the two closing periods of the two Dispensations, the Old and New.-) at whatever time His coming may take place.[102] Then it will be drunk new, Mat 26:29.-, come) in glory, 1Co 4:5. It is not called a return; comp. Act 1:11, note.

[102] Nay, but the margin of both editions, with consent of the Germ. Ver., implies rather that we should omit this particle , if we follow the copies.-E. B.

ABCD corrected later, G omit . Rec. Text has none of the oldest authorities on its side in reading .-ED.

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

1Co 11:26

1Co 11:26

For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink the cup, ye proclaim the Lords death till he come.–From this we learn that it was a memorial institution to keep in memory the heroic deeds of Jesus in dying to redeem man. Monuments are designed to commemorate the worthy deeds of those in whose memory they were built, with the hope that future generations, when they learn the deeds commemorated by the monument, will be inspired with the same spirit, and be led to emulate those worthy deeds. Just so this memorial institution was ordained to perpetuate the memory of the self-denying spirit and heroic deeds of Jesus Christ for the good of man. It is done with the view that those who see these memorials of the deeds and death of Jesus will drink into the same spirit, and be led to emulate his life and deeds of self-sacrifice for the good of others. Man builds monuments of marble and granite; he seeks the imperishable; but despite all his precautions they molder and crumble. God, through Jesus, selected the perishable bread and volatile fruit of the vine as the material out of which he would build a monument that would endure with perennial freshness through all time. No mortal would ever seek to build an imperishable monument out of material so perishable as bread and the fruit of the vine. God only could breathe into it a spirit that would render it immortal, that would cause it to continue in its freshness till Jesus comes again.

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

Proclaiming the Lords Death

For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink the cup, ye proclaim the Lords death till he come.1Co 11:26.

1. The Apostle Paul sustained to the Corinthian Church the relation of a father to his child. By him the Gospel had been first preached in the rich and sensual city; by his instrumentality the first converts had been won to Christ; and with all a fathers yearning did he watch over their welfare, counsel them in their ever-recurring perplexities, and guide the heedless footsteps which were too prone to go astray. To his fatherly care for their interests we owe the circumstantial account which he has given us in this chapter of the institution of the Lords Supper, in the celebration of which, among the Corinthians, certain abuses had crept in. His account of it, here recorded, is a valuable and welcome revelation. He was not present in the Upper Room. He was not among the awe-stricken company who were thrilled with horror by the announcement that amongst them was a foul betrayer, and who, scarce recovered from the shock of such sad tidings, were invited to join in the tender and prophetic feast; and yet he had not been left to the hazard of a traditional knowledge, nor had he received his impression of the scene from the glowing descriptions of another. He distinctly repudiates the thought that he had either received it or been taught it of man, and expressly states that he had received it directly of the Lord. So distinguishing was the honour put upon the Apostle of the Gentiles, and so important the institution itself, that there was given to him a new revelationthat its Divine paternity might be placed beyond all cavil, and that it might be authenticated by yet weightier evidence, and more firmly homed in the hearts of believers, in the perpetuity of its obligation to the end of time.

2. The words of the text are, As often as ye eat this bread, and drink the cup, ye proclaim the Lords death till he come. The eating and drinking are a proclamation. It is surprising that, notwithstanding these words, this aspect of the Sacrament of the Lords Supper receives so little emphasis. We give the Sacrament names. We call it the Eucharist, drawing attention to the element of thanksgiving; or the Communion, in order to recognize in it that fellowship which it offers with Christ Himself and with one another; or simply the Lords Supper. But here, after repeating the words of the institution, St. Paul does not speak of the giving of thanks or the fellowship as the great purpose of the institution, but says that that purpose is fulfilled when we proclaim the Lords death till He come.

As often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew. I cannot tell why our translators preferred this verb to proclaim or announce, which would have seemed the more obvious one. But should we have expected either word? Are we not speaking of a Communion, of a participation in something? Can an ordinance which possesses that character be described as showing, announcing, declaring? It is safer to let the Apostle explain himself than to insist that he shall follow a course which we have prescribed for him. I believe he will tell us hereafter more about communion and participation than we should ever find out for ourselves; but I doubt whether we shall profit by his teaching, if we stumble at this phrase and wish to get rid of it. Do you think that any ordinance of Christ can have reference merely to the advantage or enjoyment of those who submit to it? Did He come from heaven to enjoy or to suffer; to be ministered unto or to minister? If the eating of the bread and the drinking of the wine imports any communion with Him, any sympathy with Him, can this point of communion and sympathy be wanting? Did He not come to show forth or declare a truth to men into which only some would enter? If we are not willing in all our acts and services to make this a primary object; if we are thinking of some selfish end as above this; can we be like Him? Let us grasp this thought steadfastly. If this feast does not show forth or declare something to the world; if we seek in it only for some benefit to ourselves; it cannot be a communion in the body or in the mind of Jesus Christ.1 [Note: F. D. Maurice, Lincolns Inn Sermons, iv. 99.]

Let us see, then, what this proclamation consists of, and (in conclusion) how it may be made. It will be found on consideration to consist of three things:

I.A Remembrance of the Past.

II.A Recognition of the Present.

III.A Regard to the Future.

I

A Remembrance of the Past

Ye proclaim the Lords death.

1. St. Pauls words give prominence to the truth that the Sacrament was intended primarily as a memorial or remembrance of the Saviour. Nothing could be simpler or more human than our Lords appointment of this Sacrament. Lifting the material of the Supper before Him, He bids His disciples make the simple act of eating and drinking the occasion of remembering Him. As the friend who is setting out on a long absence or is passing for ever from earth puts into our hands his portrait or something he has used or worn or prized, and is pleased to think that we shall treasure it for his sake, so did Christ on the eve of His death secure this one thing, that His disciples should have a memento by which to remember Him. And as the dying gift of a friend becomes sacred to us as his own person, and we cannot bear to see it handed about by unsympathetic hands and remarked upon by those who have not the same loving reverence as ourselves, and as when we gaze at his portrait, or when we use the very pen or pencil worn smooth by his fingers, we recall the many happy times we spent together and the bright and inspiring words that fell from his lips, so does this Sacrament seem sacred to us as Christs own Person, and by means of it grateful memories of all He was and did throng into the mind.

It is no uncommon thing in the history of nations to commemorate events of national importance by expressive symbolism. Medals are struck to celebrate a victory or to perpetuate the prowess of a hero. The statues of the wise and of the valiant are niched in their countrys templescolumns rear their tall heads on the mounds of world-famed battlefields, or on some holy place of libertyprocessions and pageants of high and solemn festivity transmit from generation to generation the memory of notable days and deeds. And it is right that it should be so. These things are expressions of something great and true, and by how much they are invested with imposing grandeur, by so much is the likelihood that they will be fastened upon the memory and the heart. There is hope of a nation when its gratitude lives, though the exhibitions of that gratitude may be extravagant and unseemly.

If we come from the national to the individual, how memory clings round some relic of sanctity bestowed on us by some far-off friend, some dear gage of affection; the gift, perhaps in the latest hour, of the precious and sainted dead. As we gaze upon themmute but eloquent reminders of a past that has fled for everhow closely they seem linked with our every conception of the giver, and in what an uncounted value we hold them for the givers sake.1 [Note: W. M. Punshon.]

In the Highlands of Scotland, in a wild region, there is a spring at which Prince Albert once stopped to quench his thirst. The owner of the spring fenced it in and built a tasteful monument, making the waters flow into a basin of hewn stone, on which he placed an inscription. Every passing stranger stopping to drink at this fountain reads the inscription and recalls the memory of the noble prince whom it honours. Thus the spring is both a memorial and a blessing; it keeps in mind the great man, and it gives drink to the weary and the thirsty. The Lords Supper is a memorial to Christ, but it is food and drink to every one who rightly receives it.2 [Note: S. Marriott, On Playing the Game, 190.]

Jesus Christ could not bear the thought of being forgotten by His people. God and man long to be remembered. This is one point of fellow-feeling at which the Divine heart touches the human. One of the greatest calamities in the sight of God which can befall the wicked is that his memory shall be cut off. I know of nothing within the covers of this Book more touching than the way in which the prophets represent God and His peoplethe One truthfully, and the other untruthfullyas bringing the charge of forgetfulness against each other. Zion said, The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me (Isa 49:14). In these words we find the awful charge of unfaithfulness and forgetfulness brought against God Himself by the people of His choice. This suspicion must vanish, or the relationship must cease. On the other hand, there comes from the fatherly and infinitely tender heart of God a broken sigh which has the undertone of desolation in it, My people have forgotten me days without number (Jer 2:32); and the answer which He gives to their accusation is, Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Thus, in Gods relationship with His people, all is made to hinge upon this one word forget. Blot me not out of the book of thy remembrance, exclaims man to God; Blot me not out of the book of thy remembrance is the mysterious and pathetic appeal of God to man! Now this longing to be remembered, so Divine and so human, is found with cumulative force and intensity in the man Christ Jesus, and is inseparably associated with the institution of the Lords Supper. He instituted it so as to make it supremely difficult for His followers to forget Him.1 [Note: D. Davies.]

2. What is it that we are to remember? It is the Lords deathHis death, not His life, though that was lustrous with a holiness without the shadow of a stain; His death, not His teaching, though that embodied the fulness of a wisdom that was Divine; His death, not His miracles, though His course was a march of mercy, and in His track of blessing the world rejoiced and was glad. His death! His body, not glorious but broken; His blood, not coursing through the veins of a conqueror, but shed, poured out for man. On the summit of the Mount of Transfiguration, when the hidden Divinity broke for a while through its disguise of flesh, and Moses and Elias, those federal elders of the former time, came down in conference, and the awe-stricken disciples feared the baptism of the cloud, they spake of his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem. His death! Still His death! Grandest and most consecrating memory for both earth and Heaven.

See Him set forth before your eyes,

That precious bleeding Sacrifice!

His offerd benefits embrace,

And freely now be saved by grace.

Ye do proclaim the Lords death.That is the central message. The mortal is the vital here. It is not, He was born, was made Man, lived, wrought, taught, blessed the poor sinful world by the touch of His feet, and the look of His fair countenance, and the words such as man never spoke before. It is that He died. It is that Gethsemane and Golgotha were that for which, above all things, He came. He gave his life a ransom for many. He poured out his soul unto death. He was lifted up from the earth. He endured the cross. That he might sanctify his people with his own blood, he suffered, without the gate. Without shedding of blood was no remission; He loosed us from our sins in his own blood. He came again from the dead, in the blood of the everlasting covenant. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain!1 [Note: H. C. G. Moule, Thoughts for the Sundays of the Year, 172.]

3. To proclaim the Lords death is not merely to announce our belief that Jesus Christ died upon the Cross some eighteen hundred years ago. That, an infidel might do; or, at least, a man who denies the inspiration and authority of Holy Scripture, and puts the sacred narrative on a level with other books, might do. That, certainly, a sinful man might do; or a mere worldling, a man totally careless about living a life of faith in the Son of God. All these persons might accept and credit the fact of the Saviours dying, and might be willing to proclaim their acceptance; and some of them would probably avow their persuasion that the Being who hung upon the Cross was no ordinary person, but the Prince of glory, the Lord of life, the incarnate Son of God Himself. And yet such confession as this would not be Christian confession. It would not be what the Apostle here means by showing the Lords death. No! The Apostle means by this expression the proclaiming of that death as an event, as a fact, upon which all our hopes of access to God and all our hopes of life, of salvation, and of blessedness depend; and the proclaiming of it, too, as a thing that was done for ourselves. Then do we fully show the Lords death, when by word, and by significant action, and by the whole course and tenor of our life, we announce our confident persuasion, that that dying upon the Cross was a dying for us.

4. We are not to understand the Apostle as limiting the remembrance rigidly to the actual Passion. The form of the memorial is fitted to recall the life of our Lord as well as His death. It is His body and blood we are invited by the symbols to remember. By them we are brought into the presence of an actual living Person. Our religion is not a theory; it is not a speculation, a system of philosophy putting us in possession of a true scheme of the universe and guiding us to a sound code of morals; it is, above all, a personal matter. We are saved by being brought into right personal relations. And in this Sacrament we are reminded of this and are helped to recognize Christ as an actual living Person, who by His body and blood, by His actual humanity, saved us. The body and blood of Christ remind us that His humanity was as substantial as our own, and His life as real. He redeemed us by the actual human life He led and by the death He died, by His use of the body and soul we make other uses of. And we are saved by remembering Him and by assimilating the spirit of His life and death.

St. Paul says, the Lords death. If he had not said so, if this expression, the Lord, did not stand written in his Epistle, there are many who would have called it hard and cold. The Saviour, they would have said; the Divine Bridegroom, the ineffable Sacrifice that is offered to us in this feast. How can you speak of the Lord like some writer of the Old Testament? I fancy that the Hebrew of the Hebrews used that Hebrew phrase because he deemed it not to be obsolete for any, because he knew that it was not obsolete for him. He wanted sympathy and fellowship. He wanted also to be guided and governed. The Incarnation had not lessened but deepened his reverence for the unseen Guide of his heart and reins. His belief in a brother of Man did not make him remember less or rejoice less that He is the Lord of men. There were times when he delighted to call Him our Lord. There were occasions when the Lord expressed more fully the universality of His dominion. This was one of them. He is speaking of the bread and wine as testifying, not to him or to his brethren, but to all men, of One whose Kingdom was in the midst of them, of One who had proved Himself to be the King and Shepherd, by dying for them.1 [Note: F. D. Maurice.]

5. When Christ said, Do this in remembrance of me, He meant that His people to all time should remember that He had given Himself wholly to them and for them. The symbols of His body and blood were intended to keep us in mind that all that gave Him a place among men He devoted to us. By giving His flesh and blood He means that He gives us His all, Himself wholly; and by inviting us to partake of His flesh and blood He means that we must receive Him into the most real connection possible, must admit His self-sacrificing love into our heart as our most cherished possession. He bade His disciples remember Him, knowing that the death He was about to die would draw all men unto Him, would fill the despairing with hopes of purity and happiness, would cause countless sinners to say to themselves with soul-subduing rapture, He loved me, and gave himself for me. He knew that the love shown in His death and the hopes it creates would be prized as the worlds redemption, and that to all time men would be found turning to Him and saying, If I forget thee, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy. And therefore He presents Himself to us as He died: as One whose love for us actually brought Him to the deepest abasement and sorest suffering, and whose death opens for us a way to the Father.

For the first time the Dorcas Street Sabbath School Teachers gift from South Melbourne Presbyterian Church was put to usea new Communion Service of silver. They gave it in faith that we should require it, and in such we received it. And now the day had come and gone! For three years we had toiled and prayed and taught for this. At the moment when I put the bread and wine into those dark hands, once stained with the blood of cannibalism, now stretched out to receive and partake the emblems and seals of the Redeemers love, I had a foretaste of the joy of Glory that well-nigh broke my heart to pieces. I shall never taste a deeper bliss, till I gaze on the glorified face of Jesus Himself.1 [Note: John G. Paton, ii. 222.]

In 1861 a brave volunteer turned his back upon loved ones in his little home, nestling among the hills of the Blue Ridge and the spurs of the Alleghanies, in Craig County, Va., and went to the battlefield to fight for what he believed to be right. On the 3rd of July 1863, in that fatal charge made by Pickett, he was shot down, and there gave his life for his country. On the following day (4th July) a son was born. As this son grew in stature and in knowledge, his mother would point to a photograph, and tell him that that was his father. He grew to be a man, and at last had the privilege of walking over the ground that had been made sacred with the blood of a father. He cannot express to you his feelings as he stood upon that holy ground; the acute conception of fancy with the vivid flights of imagination would be inadequate to the task. When he returned to his home, and looked again upon the picture as it hung upon the wall, he remembered that his mother had told him that it was his father. He has never seen him; but some time he hopes to see him face to face, and then he will no longer need the picture, for he shall see him as he is.1 [Note: W. H. Book.]

II

A Recognition of the Present

As often as.

1. It is manifest from the solemnity of its inauguration, and from the singular reverence with which it was regarded by the early Christians, that the Lords Supper was not intended to be a thing of one generation, but to be a precious and hallowed memorial to the end of time. So broad and deep was the impression of its perpetual obligation that in every age of the Church, alike when it was crushed by persecution, and when it had degenerated into worldly alliance and conformity, the continuity of this great festival sustained no interruption; it remained in general acknowledgment through all external changes. This perpetuity of the Sacrament seems to stamp it as a confirming ordinanceconfirming mans faith in God, confirming Gods fidelity to man.

2. These symbols were appointed to be for a remembrance of Christ in order that, remembering Him, we might renew our fellowship with Him. In the Holy Sacrament there is not a mere representation of Christ or a bare commemoration of events in which we are interested; there is also an actual, present communion between Christ and the soul.

We may not climb the heavenly steeps

To bring the Lord Christ down:

In vain we search the lowest deeps,

For Him no depths can drown.

Nor holy bread, nor blood of grape,

The lineaments restore

Of Him we know in outward shape

And in the flesh no more.

He cometh not a king to reign;

The worlds long hope is dim;

The weary centuries watch in vain

The clouds of heaven for Him.

Death comes, life goes; the asking eye

And ear are answerless;

The grave is dumb, the hollow sky

Is sad with silentness.

The letter fails, and systems fall,

And every symbol wanes;

The Spirit over-brooding all

Eternal Love remains.

And not for signs in heaven above

Or earth below they look,

Who know with John His smile of love,

With Peter His rebuke.

In joy of inward peace, or sense

Of sorrow over sin,

He is His own best evidence,

His witness is within.

No fable old, nor mythic lore,

Nor dream of bards and seers,

No dead fact stranded on the shore

Of the oblivious years;

But warm, sweet, tender, even yet

A present help is He;

And faith has still its Olivet,

And love its Galilee.1 [Note: Whittier.]

3. There are three distinct things that stare us in the face here: first, the advent of our Lord in the days of His humiliation; secondly, the coming advent of our Lord in His glory; and between the two, a distinctive sacramental riteAs often as ye eat this bread, and drink the cup (that is, in this present), ye proclaim the Lords death (that is, in that past) till he come (that is, in the anticipation of that future). Now, we may be certain of this, that this is not a mere artificial arrangement; there must be something in the Sacrament which makes it fit to stand between the advent consummated in Christs redemptive death and the advent of His coming glory. What is that connecting thing? The one thing that marks out the Sacrament as being what it is amidst Christian rites, is that, in a special sense, it is the sphere of our Lords presence. Our Lords presence and His humanity are revealed to us under three distinct conditions. First, He has been present in the days of His historical life under conditions of bodily humiliation. Secondly, He will be present after His second coming under conditions of glorification. But between these two conditions He is present with His people in a spiritual manner.

How deep is our obligation to our own Liturgy for bringing out so distinctly, through the means of Holy Communion, the reality of Christs spiritual presence, and the verity of our communion with Him in this Holy Sacrament. It has preserved for us the true doctrine in this particular as perfectly as it has done justice to the truth first considered, namely, the memorial of the death of Christ. For instance, He hath given His Son our Saviour Jesus Christ not only to die for us, but also to be our spiritual food and sustenance in that Holy Sacrament;For as the benefit is great, if with a true penitent heart and lively faith we receive that Holy Sacrament (for then we spiritually eat the flesh of Christ, and drink His blood; then we dwell in Christ, and Christ in us; we are one with Christ, and Christ with us), so is the danger great, if we receive the same unworthily. Grant us, therefore, gracious Lord, so to eat the flesh of Thy dear Son Jesus Christ, and to drink His blood, that our sinful bodies may be made clean by His body, and our souls washed through His most precious blood, and that we may evermore dwell in Him, and He in usAlmighty and everliving God, we most heartily thank Thee, for that Thou dost vouchsafe to feed us, who have duly received these holy mysteries, with the spiritual food of the most precious Body and Blood of Thy Son our Saviour Jesus Christ; and dost assure us thereby of Thy favour and goodness towards us; and that we are very members incorporate in the mystical body of Thy Son, which is the blessed company of all faithful people.1 [Note: Canon Furse.]

4. The past, however sweet and precious, is not enough for any soul to live upon. And so this memorial rite, just because it is memorial, is a symbol for the present. That is taught us in that great chapterthe sixth of St. Johns Gospelwhich was spoken long before the institution of the Lords Supper, but expresses in words the same ideas as it expresses by material forms. The Christ who died is the Christ who lives, and must be lived upon by the Christian. If our relation to Jesus Christ were only that Once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself; and if we had to look back through lengthening vistas of distance and thickening folds of oblivion, simply to a historical past, in which He was once offered, the retrospect would not have the sweetness in it which it now has. But when we come to this thought, that the Christ who was for us is also the Christ in us, and that He is not the Christ for us unless He is the Christ in us; and His death will never wash away our sins unless we feed upon Him, here and now, by faith and meditation, then the retrospect becomes blessedness. The Christian life is not merely the remembrance of a historical Christ in the past, it is also the present participation in a living Christ with us now.

He is near each of us that we may make Him the very food of our spirits. We are to live upon Him. He is to be incorporated within us by our own act. This is no mysticism, it is a piece of simple reality. There is no Christian life without it. The true life of the believer is just the feeding of our souls upon Himour minds accepting, meditating upon, digesting the truths which are incarnated in Jesus; our hearts feeding upon the love which is so tender, warm, stooping, and close; our wills feeding upon and nourished by the utterance of His will in commandments which to know is joy and to keep is liberty; our hopes feeding upon Him who is our Hope, and in whom they find no chaff and husks of peradventures, but the pure wheat of Verily! verily I say unto you; the whole nature thus finding its nourishment in Jesus Christ.

We proclaim the Lords death. By the very fact of so doing we proclaim also His glorious present life, His victory over the grave, His spiritual presence with His people, His gift of Himself to be their life indeed. Never, let us be quite sure of this, would the first believers have kept festival over their Masters death, had not that death been followed by a triumph over the grave which at once and for ever showed His dying work to be the supreme achievement which it was. Only the risen Christ can explain the joy of the Lords Supper. Without Him it would have been a funeral meal, kept for a while by love in its despair, and then dropped for ever. From the very first till now it has been a feast of life and of thanksgiving. It is a contemporary and immortal witness to the risen One. And the risen One is alive for ever more. And in His eternal life He is our life, here and now. Feed on Him as such, feed everywhere and always upon Him. Eat Him and drink Him, that you may live because of Him. Such is the message of the festal Meal of the Church, spoken straight from her Lord to the heart of every member of His Body.1 [Note: H. C. G. Moule, Thoughts for the Sundays of the Year, 173.]

What would be the value of the Holy Supper if it were simply a memorial of a Divine visitation long ago, and not a pledge and a discovery of the Lords abiding presence? John Knox called it a singular medicine for all poor sick creatures, a comfortable help to weak souls; and he utterly condemned the vanity of those that affirmed sacraments to be nothing else but bare and naked signs. I fear there are few among us in these days who thus esteem them. The truth is that the Sacraments are the very heart of Christian worship, and their neglect, their perfunctory and slovenly administration, is a sore impoverishment of the Church, and proves how very low the tide of our spiritual life has ebbed. True worship is essentially sacramental, and I warmly sympathize with old Gilbert of Sempringham, the friend of St. Bernard of Clairvaux, when he says: All doctrine is suspect with me, and surely despised, which introduces no mention of Christ, which neither renews me with His Sacraments, nor informs me with His precepts, nor inflames me with His promises.2 [Note: D. Smith, Christian Counsel, 39.]

A communion was held at Pesth, in Hungary, on the 1st of January 1843, being the Lords Day. We met in an upper room, at night and in secretfor fear of the Jews, and to escape the eye of an intolerant Government. From the moment that the service began, the place where we were assembled seemed to be filled with a mysterious presence. Indeed, the risen Lord had entered by the closed door, and stood, as at Jerusalem, in the midst of His disciples. Deep silence fell on the little company as they realized His nearness, a silence interrupted only at intervals by the deep-drawn sigh of some bursting heart. The dividing wall which separated heaven and earth seemed for the time removed, and that fellowship between both was experienced which is the fullest blessedness of earth, and anticipates the glory of heaven.1 [Note: Memoir of John Duncan, 334.]

III

A Regard to the Future

Till he come.

1. The Sacrament of the Lords Supper not only proclaims to us the Gospel of the Passion, it also proclaims to us that great Gospel which is the centre and basis of all Christian hope: the Gospel of the second coming of Jesus Christ our Lord. And since this holy rite is in creed and in action, they who preach it look back upon the first Advent and recognize and confess its redemptive aspect, and they look forward to the second Advent and recognize it and confess it as being the one great act in which that redemptive work on Calvary will reach to its full and to its glorious climax. And in this present, the gaze of our faith is fixed upon the redemption consecrated in Christs first coming; the eyes of our hope are fixed on the glorious consummation of His work in His second coming, and in the meantime we wait with the repose of love, giving ourselves up to His sweet ministries, in the conviction that as often as we eat this bread, and drink the cup, we proclaim the Lords death till he come.

In the original words of the institution our Lord Himself makes reference to the future; till I drink it new in the kingdom of God. And in the text here, the Apostle provides for the perpetual continuance, and emphasizes the prophetic aspect, of the rite, by that word, till he come. His death necessarily implies His coming again. The Cross and the Throne are linked together by an indissoluble bond. Being what it is, the death cannot be the end. Being what He is, if He has once been offered to bear the sins of many, so He must come the second time without sin unto salvation. The rite, just because it is a rite, is the prophecy of a time when the need for it, arising from weak flesh and an intrusive world, shall cease. They shall say no more, The ark of the covenant of the Lord; at that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the Lord. There shall be no temple in that great city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the Temple thereof. So all external worship is a prophecy of the coming of the perfect time when, that which is perfect being come, the external helps and ladders to climb to the loftiest shall be done away.

Of all earthly signs and tokens, there is none which seems so wonderfully ordained to prepare us for the last Day, and keep us in mind of it, as the Sacrament of the Lords Supper, the holy Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ. Holy Scripture expressly connects the one with the other; the Communion with the Day of Judgment. For after St. Paul had put the Corinthians in mind of what he had always taught them concerning that Sacrament, how that our Lord ordained it, the same night in which He was betrayed, to be done, or sacrificed, in remembrance of Him after He was gone, lest they should imagine that it was only the Apostles who had to perform this service, seeing that they alone were present with our Lord when He commanded it, the Apostle goes on and declares, For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink the cup, ye proclaim the Lords death till he comeas much as to say that this mode of remembering our Lords Death, and setting it forth before God and man, should never cease, while the world should stand. One generation after another will perish from the face of the earth; cities and empires will fade away; the wisdom of the wise, and the understanding of the prudent will be forgotten; customs, manners, languages may change, and the outward face of things be ever so different: but still this holy memorial of God made Man and crucified for us will go on being offered, and the holy Feast will go on to be received, from time to time, in all Churches of all lands, until that last morning break upon the earth, and the very meaning and substance of that Sacrament, the Body of our Lord Jesus Christ, shall appear openly in the eyes of men.1 [Note: J. Keble.]

When you go to put flowers upon a grave, what is the motive that prompts you?to keep memory green? Doubtless; but is that all? Why do you wish to keep memory green? It is because you are looking forward as well as backward. You are convinced the old days will come again. If it were not for that hope, you could not plant your flower; you would rather let memory wither. Some have written of the pleasures of memory, and some of the pleasures of hope. But has it occurred to either that the pleasures of memory are the pleasures of hope? Has it occurred to either that these are twin sisters, who cannot live apart? When hope dies, memory cries out to be killed; she cannot abide alone. When memory goes with her flowers to the grave, hope calls from the shadowy land, Occupy till I come. If she did not hear that call, she could not plant her flower. My Lord tells me that when I build to His past I am prompted by His future. It is the light of Easter morn that leads me to the sepulchre; it is the gleam of resurrection that conducts me to the broken body, As often as ye eat this bread, ye proclaim the Lords death till he come.1 [Note: G. Matheson, Searchings in the Silence, 223.]

(1) The sacrament confirms our faith in the certainty of His coming. He shall come; the Church is not for ever orphaned of His presence; the disciples need not mourn over a dead Christ; the weeping Virgin may dry her tears, for her Son liveth, glorified, exalted, King of kings and Lord of lords.

The first thing that we need in the anticipation of our Lords second coming is to have the knowledge within us that were He to come to us now we should be found of Him in peace. Be diligent, says St. Peter, that ye may be found of him in peace. And the only peace in which we can be found, we who have our sins in the past, and our failures and imperfections in the present, is in the peace of the Divine reconciliation. And in this Sacrament, first of all, the consummated passion is preached to us through powerful sacramental action. Christ is evidently set forth as crucified among us. Through the union of the earthly action with our Lords continued intercession in heaven, we learn that that death thus died is at the present moment being pleaded for us in all its reconciling efficacy before the Father, and then, when we draw nigh to Him in this Sacrament, He comes and gives Himself to us. Doing what? Assuring us, thereby, of Gods goodness towards us, and that we are all members of the mystical Body of His Son, which is the blessed company of all faithful people. The Holy Eucharist is the sacrament of Christian assurance, and they who are hushed into the peace of God by the sacramental kiss of Christ of the Eucharist can anticipate without fear His coming, for they will be found of him in peace.2 [Note: Canon Body.]

The Feast has gone on; for it has been Gods, and not mans. It has had a power over Christendom which we cannot measure, but which we shall know one day. For it contains a promise which may sustain us when its influence appears to be weakest, when the Church appears to be most rent by the factions against which it is bearing its silent, awful protest. It is written, that as often as we eat this bread and drink this cup, we show forth the Lords death till He come. The Incarnation and Death and Resurrection of the Son of God were the fulfilments of all that men in the Old Dispensation were able to long for. The manifestation of Christ in the glory of His Father and of the Holy Angels is the highest object which we in this Dispensation are able to long for. It includes every craving for righteous government, for a perfect Society, for the adoption of our spirits, for the perfection of the faculties of our souls, for the full redemption of our bodies. It includes the fulfilment of every relationship, of all loving intercourse, which has been most imperfectly realized here, but which has been raised and sanctified by a diviner Communion. It includes the accomplishment of all earthly discipline and sorrow, fellowship with those whose faces we miss, but whose love must be far warmer than ever it was, because it is in more immediate contact with the perfect Love. It includes the apprehension of the order and beauty of Gods creatures, when the veil of death which covers them has been taken away. It includes the ever-deepening sense of the meaning and force of that death which revealed the whole mind of God, which was the perfect Atonement for Man 1:1 [Note: F. D. Maurice.]

(2) The second thing that is needed is this. If we are to be ready for Christs coming, we must be numbered with those who, in the language of the Book of Revelation, are sealed. And what is this sealing? A seal is that whereby an impress is made upon molten wax. And so it is here. There is a seal in which there is the image of Christ, and this image of Christ is to be imprinted on hearts that are melted in the furnace of contrition until they are all molten wax. There is a seal that bears the image of the King, and by the impress of that seal that image is stamped on those who are sealed. What is that seal if it be not that sacred rite in Christendom in which Christ Himself is present, in which Christ Himself impresses His own image upon the image of His elect? As often as ye eat this bread, and drink the cup, ye proclaim the Lords death till he come; for the Sacrament is not only the sacrament of assurance; it is the sacrament of increasing conformity.

The definition of a Sacrament seems to lack completeness, unless it be regarded not only as a sign but as a seala solemn federal act which involves mutual pledges, of fidelity on the one hand and of blessing on the other. The expression of the inner dispositions by appropriate symbol is by no means of uncommon occurrence in the sacred writings. When the Psalmist speaks of his own deliverances, and, in astonishment at their extent and magnitude, asks, What shall I render? he replies, as the most public and graceful utterance of his gratitude, I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord, and the next verse may be regarded as the translation of the symbol into language, I will pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all his people. And our participation of the Holy Communion must be thus regarded as the fresh act of our espousals, as the solemn renewal of our covenant; as our surrender, entire and unhesitating, to the service of the Lord. It is thus that we confess Christ and witness of Him to the world. If we eat and drink without discerning this great purpose, we eat and drink unworthily; if we repudiate such purpose, either in thought or in act, we crucify in our measure the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.

(3) And last of all, what do we need as we are living now between this first and second Adventlooking for the coming of the Lord? Is it not the grace of perseverance, the power to hold on our way, and day by day to act more and more firmly? And does not He who came to save us, and is coming to raise us up to be partakers in His glorydoes not He Himself come to us in this Sacrament to give to us this grace of perseverance? Is it not true of us what is said of Elijah in the mystical language of old? God said to him, Arise and eat; and he arose and did eat and drink, and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb the mount of God. And so it is still. God says to us: Wearied in lifes journeying, burdened with lifes burdens and anxieties and woes, eat, O friends; drink; yea, drink abundantly, O beloved; and we draw nigh and eat of Him whose flesh is meat indeed, and drink of Him whose blood is drink indeed; and through His love we find strength in weakness and refreshment in weariness. And through the sacrament of perseverance, receiving into ourselves the blessing of the first Advent, we wait in confident hope for the second coming of the Lord.

I will give a brief parable to those who live in continual ebullitions of love, in order that they may endure this disposition nobly and becomingly, and may attain to a higher virtue.

There is a little insect which is called an ant; it is strong and wise, and very tenacious of life, and it lives with its fellows in warm and dry soils. The ant works during summer and collects food and grain for the winter, and it splits the grain so that it may not become rotten or spoiled, and may be eaten when there is nothing more to be found. And it does not make strange paths, but all follow the same path, and after waiting till the proper time they become able to fly.

So should these men do; they will be strong by waiting for the coming of Christ, wise against the appearance and the inspiration of the enemy. They will not choose death, but they will prefer Gods glory alone and the winning of fresh virtues. They will dwell in the community of their heart and of their powers, and will follow the invitation and the constraint of Divine unity. They will live in rich and warm soils, or, in other words, in the passionate heat of love, and in great impatience. And they will work during the summer of this life, and will gather in for eternity the fruits of virtue. These they will divide in twoone part means that they will always desire the supreme joy of eternity; the other, that by their reason they will always restrain themselves as much as possible, and wait the time that God has appointed for them, and so the fruit of virtue shall be preserved into eternity. They will not follow strange paths or curious methods, but through all storms they will follow the path of love, towards the place whither love shall guide them. And when the set time has come, and they have persevered in all the virtues, they shall be fit to behold God, and their wings shall bear them towards His mystery.1 [Note: M. Maeterlinck, Ruysbroeck and the Mystics, 132.]

Not so in haste, my heart!

Have faith in God and wait;

Although He linger long,

He never comes too late.

He never comes too late,

He knoweth what is best;

Vex not thyself in vain:

Until He cometh, rest.

Until He cometh, rest,

Nor grudge the hours that roll;

The feet that wait for God

Are soonest at the goal;

Are soonest at the goal

That is not gained by speed;

Then hold thee still, my heart,

For I shall wait His lead.1 [Note: Bayard Taylor.]

And the coming of the Bridegroom is so swift that He is always coming, and that He dwells within us with His unfathomable riches, and that He returns ever anew in person, with such new brightness that it seems as if He had never come before. For His coming is comprised beyond all limit of time, in an eternal Now; and He is ever received with new desires and a new delight. Behold, the joys and the pleasures which this Bridegroom brings with Him at His coming are boundless and without limit, for they are Himself. And this is why the eyes of the spirit, by which the loving soul beholds its Bridegroom, are opened so wide that they will never shut again. For the contemplation and the fixed gaze of the spirit are eternal in the secret manifestation of God. And the comprehension of the spirit is so widely opened, as it waits for the appearance of the Bridegroom, that the spirit itself becomes vast as that which it comprehends. And so is God beheld and understood by God, in whom all our blessedness is found.2 [Note: M. Maeterlinck, Ruysbroeck and the Mystics, 152.]

Conclusion

In conclusion, let us see to whom the proclamation is to be made.

1. It is to he made to ourselves.The Lords Supper is a presentation to our own minds of the great work of redemption. If it was said to the Galatians that before their eyes Christ, whom they had not seen in the flesh, had been evidently set forth crucified among them (Gal 3:1), so may it be said to us that, not only by the preaching of His Word, but by visible signs before our eyes, and spiritual realities to our hearts, Christ is set forth in the Holy Communion, in all His love and grace and mercy.

The Lords Supper may be celebrated without any spectators. It should be in public where it can be; but if there are none to look on, it may be otherwise. In Venice, in Milan, in Paris, and in other cities where Romanism prevails, five or six of us have met together in our room at our hotel, and we have had the true Lords supper there, though there were none to look on; and probably if there had been, in some cities where we have partaken of it, we might have been amenable to the law. Tis a showing forth of Christs death to ourselves. We see the bread broken, and see the wine poured out, and we ourselves see here, in symbol, Christ crucified; and we see as before our eyes, when we eat and drink, our interest in the sacrifice offered upon Calvary.1 [Note: C. H. Spurgeon.]

2. It is to be made to one another, as members of the Body of Christ.As instituted, the holy Service is nothing if not social, mutual. Scripture knows nothing of a solitary Eucharist. Therefore the rite has a mutual significance; it has some sacred thing to say, all round the circle, Christian to Christian. By his presence, by his partaking, each is then a herald to the rest, telling it out that Jesus did indeed die, to rise again.

When at the Table of our Lord

In silence all we kneel

With broken bread and wine outpourd

To share the heavenly Meal;

Few though we be, and though the few

Are feeble at the best,

Yet each is here, if God is true,

A prophet to the rest.

We to each other show the Death

Of that slain Lamb we love,

Until He come (the Scripture saith)

In glory from above.

Yes, gathering here, each other all

With solemn cheer we warn

Of the Archangels thunder-call

And resurrection-morn.

Blest Sign of Christs own victory won,

Thy prophecies we prize;

Oh, with what joy the eternal Sun,

Thus heralded, shall rise.2 [Note: H. C. G. Moule, In the House of the Pilgrimage, 56.]

3. It is to be made to the world.The Lords Supper is a confession before men of our faith; a testimony as to whose we are and whom we serve. So long as this ordinance exists in the Church of God, the world will not be left without a testimony for Christ. It is a sermon always in course of being preached. Its text is Christ, its argument is love; its appeal is, Come unto me, all ye, etc. It preaches not only to those who draw near to it, Eat, O friends, yea, drink, etc. (Son 5:1), but also to those who turn their back upon it, Will ye also go away?

All the provinces of China in the month of May are astir with pilgrim crowds, moving up and down the rivers, and along the intersecting ways. It is the red-letter day of the ancestral cult, and is called the Feast of Manifestation. Hundreds and thousands of miles are traversed to show filial regard for the last resting-place of the departed forefathers. After the viands have been presented, all weeds hoed up from the grave, and the ground trimmed, three or four sheets of white paper, kept in position by a stone, are placed on the apex of the mound, to show that the grave has a living guardian, and no one must dare to turn the soil to common uses. The symbolic act is recognized in all the courts of law. In the absence of that simple but effectual sign the peasant might drive his plough across the grave-plot and enlarge the border of his rice field, and no one would resist him. The little sign asserts an inviolable heritage.1 [Note: T. G. Selby.]

We gather to the sacred board

Perchance a scanty band;

But with us in sublime accord

What mighty armies stand!

In creed and rite howeer apart,

One Saviour still we own,

And pour the worship of the heart

Before the Fathers throne.

A thousand spires oer hill and vale

Point to the same blue heaven;

A thousand voices tell the tale

Of grace through Jesus given.

High choirs, in Europes ancient fanes,

Praise Him for man who died;

And oer our boundless Western plains

His name is glorified.

Around His tomb, on Salems height,

Greek and Armenian bend;

And through all Laplands months of night

The peasants hymns ascend.

Are we not brethren? Saviour dear!

Then may we walk in love,

Joint subjects of Thy kingdom here,

Joint heirs of bliss above!1 [Note: Stephen Greenleaf Bulfinch.]

Proclaiming the Lords Death

Literature

Arnold (T.), Sermons, iv. 228.

Bonner (H.), Sermons and Lectures, 193.

Book (W. H.), Columbus Tabernacle Sermons, 183.

Brown (J. B.), The Sunday Afternoon, 219.

Calthrop (G.), Pulpit Recollections, 207.

Church (R. W.), Village Sermons, iii. 101.

Clementson (C.), These Holy Mysteries, 107.

Cunningham (W.), Sermons, 335.

Davies (D.), Talks with Men, Women and Children, ii. 52.

Davies (T.), Philippians, 350.

Jerdan (C.), For the Lords Table, 306, 379.

Keble (J.), Sermons for the Christian Year: Advent to Christmas, 469.

Lawlor (H. J.), Thoughts on Belief and Life, 71.

Lewis (F. W.), The Work of Christ, 181.

Maclaren (A.), Christs Musts, 87.

Matheson (G.), The Spiritual Development of St. Paul, 269.

Maurice (F. D.), Lincolns Inn Sermons, iv. 97.

Moule (H. C. G.), The Pledges of His Love, 14.

Moule (H. C. G.), Thoughts for the Sundays of the Year, 170.

Pope (W. B.), Discourses on the Lordship of the Incarnate Redeemer, 311.

Punshon (W. M.), Lectures and Sermons, 345.

Randolph (B. W.), The Threshold of the Sanctuary, 129.

Smith (D.), Christian Counsel, 37.

Spurgeon (C. H.), Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, l. (1904) No. 2872; li. (1905) No. 2942; lv. (1909) No. 3151.

Walpole (G. H. S.), in Sermons for the People, New Ser., iii. 222.

Watson (F.), The Christian Life: Here and Hereafter, 90.

Watt (L. M.), The Communion Table, 23.

Webster (F. S.), In Remembrance of Me, 69.

Whiton (J. M.), Reconsiderations and Reinforcements, 113.

Christian World Pulpit, ii. 42 (Minton); xlii. 333 (Body).

Church of England Pulpit, xxxv. 25 (Hobson), 76 (Reid).

Churchmans Pulpit: General Advent Season: i. 179 (Keble), 183 (Woodford).

Churchmans Pulpit: Holy Week: vi. 497 (Furse), 500 (West), 503 (Owen).

Clergymans Magazine, i. 283 (Richardson); New Ser., viii. 367 (Youard).

Fuente: The Great Texts of the Bible

ye do show: or, shew ye

till: 1Co 4:5, 1Co 15:23, Joh 14:3, Joh 21:22, Act 1:11, 1Th 4:16, 2Th 1:10, 2Th 2:2, 2Th 2:3, Heb 9:28, 2Pe 3:10, 1Jo 2:28, Jud 1:14, Rev 1:7, Rev 20:11, Rev 20:12, Rev 22:20

Reciprocal: Exo 29:33 – eat those Num 6:15 – drink Psa 45:17 – I will Zec 7:6 – did not ye eat for Mat 26:26 – Take 1Co 10:17 – that Gal 3:1 – Jesus Christ Rev 2:25 – till

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

TILL HE COME

For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lords death till He come.

1Co 11:26

So St. Paul sums up his teaching about Holy Communion. He has shown that this sacred ordinance is in no way left to mans ideas or fancies, either in its origin or mode of celebration. He has told us its source, whence it comes. Our warrant is Christs own institution. It is a memorial feast designed not by man but by the Lord Himself, Who knows our needs. It is a feast; it is a memorial. And as he tells us its origin and its nature, so too he tells us its durationtill He come.

I. This memorial of the Sacrifice of Calvary once offered is to sound forth along the whole course of time, repeated in the ears of generations yet unborn, carrying on into the future the sweet accents of the love of God and the condescension of our Lord Jesus Christ. Before the eyes of men in all coming time this picture of Christ crucified, the broken bread and poured-out wine, are to be set forth, that we may remember the exceeding great love of our Master and only Saviour Jesus Christ thus dying for us, and the innumerable benefits which by His precious blood-shedding He hath obtained for us. Within the reach of all Christians this feast is to be spread and the invitation go forth that they should draw nigh and eat and drink, and live for ever, until time shall have an end. Till He come, for then the last echoes shall die away, the picture will be needed no more, the doors of the banqueting hall shall be closed, for the Lord shall have come.

II. There was need that its duration should be plainly taught.The Apostle foresaw that the heresy would arise of denying the necessity of Holy Communion, saying it was only for a time, the need of it had but passed away. Till he come. There is reason in this as in all else which belongs to the religion of Christ. The Lord has gone away from us so far as His visible presence is concerned, but only for a time. And in His absence the dying gift He gave to His Church is very precious, His last bequest dear beyond all price, the picture of His death fashioned by His own hands in His love very sweet to look upon. As often as we eat this Bread and drink this Cup and show forth before the Father the Lords Death, all He has done for us comes back to us with a living freshness, as when first we heard it, and a lively remembrance of His Death is ours. But we shall not need it alwaysonly till he come; for then the need will disappear, when the Bridegroom Himself shall have come to His bride.

III. It is true, too, of the other ways in which Holy Communion is a memorial.We show the Lords Death before the world. It is our declaration to a careless, unbelieving world that we believe in the Crucified, but the world will not require this preaching of the Cross then, for every eye shall see Him and they also which pierced Him. We show the Lords Death before God. In Holy Communion we plead before the Father what Christ has done. In the very act and words of Christ Himself we pray for Jesus Christs sake. It is the highest form of prayer we Christians possess. But when he comes, prayer will be changed into praise! Instead of pleading the Sacrifice of Jesus for our own sins and the sins of the whole world, we shall adore Him that sitteth upon the throne.

IV. Holy Communion is more than a memorial: it is a feast.Not only refreshment to the mind, but food for the soul; not only a calling to remembrance what Christ has done for us, but a partaking of Christ; not only a gazing upon, but eating and drinking. And what are its benefits which are thereby conveyed to us? We are told in the Prayer of Humble Access. Strengthening and cleansing, these are the blessings offered to us. Well, then, this Holy Communion can only be for a timeTill He come. Yes, we shall not always need thus to be strengthened or cleansed; strengthening is for the weak, cleansing for the sinning. But when the Lord shall come we shall be made strong, our weakness made perfect in His strength. We shall need no more cleansing, for our baptismal robe shall be washed white in the Blood of the Lamb, never again to be stained with sin in that holy place where there shall in no wise enter anything that defileth.

V. What, then, is the practical lesson for each one of us?Not surely to stand aloof from this Blessed Sacrament, as do so many, and neglect to use it. Nay, but just as the Coming of the Lord is a real event, as we look and wait, and pray for it, as each Advent season here points onwards to and reminds us of the day when He shall come, this Holy Communion, the witness of His Coming, must be very precious to us. It is given to us by our loving Lord for our sustenance in this earthly pilgrimage through which we are journeying, and each true-hearted servant must count it his chiefest privilege frequently, reverently, and regularly to shew the Lords Death till He come.

Bishop C. J. Ridgeway.

(SECOND OUTLINE)

THE HOLY EUCHARIST

Many controversies have gathered around that quiet place of peace, the holy table. To-day we will shut out all these, and ask our Master to meet us. The first Lords Supper livesidentical and immortalin the Lords Supper of to-day. And in it lives all He did, all He said, all He was and is, and is to be.

I. Ye do proclaim the Lords death, i.e. the tidings of it, to one another. As instituted, the holy service is nothing if not social, mutual. Scripture knows nothing of a solitary Eucharist. The rite has a mutual significance.

II. The Lords death.That is the central message; the mortal is the vital here. The broken bread, the poured-out wine, the institution, all take us to the Cross. Every communion draws afresh the sacred life of atoning blood around all our hopes, all our life.

III. We proclaim His glorious life by the very fact of proclaiming His death. Never would the first believers have kept festival over their Masters death, had not that death been followed by a triumph over the grave. Only the Risen Christ can explain the joy of the Lords Supper. He is alive for evermore, and He is our life. Feed on Himeverywhere and always upon Him.

IV. Till He come.As the Supper is our witness to the part of the finished course and to the presence of the Risen life, so it is our infallible prophecy of the coming glory. Even so, come, Lord Jesus, adored and longed for.

Bishop H. C. G. Moule.

(THIRD OUTLINE)

THE LORDS DEATH

The Lords Supper commemorates Christs Death. No Life was like Christs: none ever was so full of light and love and sweetness. But Our Lord Himself, and the Evangelists four, and the Apostles besides laid the emphasis on His Death. The Lords Supper was ordained in remembrance, not of His Incarnation, but of His Death. There is a legend in the Lives of the Saints that the devil once appeared to St. Martin in the likeness of the Lord, and demanded from him obedience. If thou art my Lord, show me thy wounds, replied the saint.

I. Christ was Divine.He was God. The finished Sacrifice of Calvary was a Divine Sacrifice.

II. His death was voluntary.Love nailed Him to the Cross. Christ offered Himself (Heb 9:14).

III. To suffer for the guilty is precisely what generous and noble natures long to do.

IV. In this wondrous death we see

(a) Gods love.

(b) Gods wisdom.

(c) Gods power.

It is the story of the Crucified Saviour that melts human hearts and transforms human lives.

Rev. F. Harper.

Illustration

A boy ran away from his home. His father told him never to come back again, as he did not want to see his face any more, and his son said he never would. But the mother did not forget her boy so soon. Her mothers heart could not give up her boy, and she began to pine about him. Well, it came at last to a bed of sickness, which presently proved to be a bed of death. The father went to his wifes bedside, and asked her, Is there anything I can do for you? At first there was no answer, but he pressed her again, to see if there were anything he could possibly do for her. No, she said, nothing, except thisbring me back my boy. But he had said that he should never come back, and he was not going to give in. No; he would not do this. The next day the same request being put to her, she gave the same answerBring me back my boy. The father then wrote to his son, who was away, and said, Charlie, your mother wants you to come back. No, replied the boy, not until father wants me to come back will I return. Again the request was made of his wife as to what could be done, and again the answer was, Bring me back my boy. Then the father wrote to his son, Charlie, your mothers dying; come home. He took the first train to come home to his mother, and when he arrived, he went into her room and stood on one side of her dying bed. The father came in, and stood at the other side. They looked at each other, the son at the dying mother, and the husband at the dying wife. They spoke to her, but not to each other. The dying woman at length said, Father, wont you speak to Charlie? No. Then she asked her boy, Charlie, wont you speak to your father? No, replied he, he must speak to me first. She pleaded with them, and besought them with her dying breath to be reconciled, but they would not. Then, raising herself from her bed, she took the hand of the boy and the hand of the father, and placing one inside the other, she fell back on her pillow dead. That father looked into the eyes of the boy, and the boy looked into the eyes of his father, and they both commenced to sob like little children. The father said, Charlie, I forgive you; will you forgive me? Yes, said Charlie, and, with clasped hands, they were reconciled over the dead body of the mother. It is a picture, and a very beautiful picture of reconciliation. Here you may be reconciled over the body of the Crucified One, over the Crucified at Calvary. But the picture does not hold in this respect: your Father is not unwilling to be reconciled to you, but He is pleading with you. I was going to say that His Heart is breaking for you.

Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary

1Co 11:26. Often is not used in view of the frequency of the observance of the Lord’s Supper, for Act 20:7 and 1Co 16:1-2 settles that question, and shows it is to be done once each week. The term means that each time the institution is observed it is for the one purpose, namely, to show (“proclaim publicly” Thayer) the Lord’s death. A common speech that may be heard at the table is as follows: “We now come to the Lord’s Supper in which we will commemorate the death, burial and resurrection of Christ.” Such a statement is not only unscrip-tural but is foolish. It is evident that anything that represents the death of Christ could not also represent his life. The life of all creatures is in the blood, and when the body and blood are separated, that body is bound to be dead. Likewise, when the guests see the fruit of the vine in one vessel, and the bread in another place on the table, it represents the separation of the body and blood, and in such a condition it “shows” or represents the death of Christ. Till he come signifies that the Lord’s Supper is to be perpetuated until the end of the world.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

1Co 11:26. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink the cup,[1] ye proclaim the Lords deathhold it forth as, to you, a certain facttill he come.[2] This clearly shows not only that the observance of this ordinance was designed to continue from the very time of its first institution till the second appearing of the Lord Jesus, but that the belief of the one as the great accomplished fact of the past, and of the other as the great expected fact of the future, wasas the substance of all Christianityproclaimed by every participant of the Lords Supper, and the faith of the one and the hope of the other are the two wings as eagles, on which the Christian mounts up heavenward.

[1] The oldest MSS. want this here.

[2] The scholar should observe that before is justly omitted in the best text (including the oldest MSS.) Its presence in the received text obscures the certainty of the event, which its absence conveys.

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

Vv. 26. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink the cup, ye do show the Lord’s death till He come.

It seems that in order to connect this verse with the foregoing, therefore or so that would be required, and not for or indeed. To explain the difficulty, Ewald has taken 1Co 11:26 as the continuation of the discourse of Jesus, which is, of course, inadmissible. Hofmann applies the for to the words of 1Co 11:22 : I praise you not, which is equally inadmissible. Meyer, usually so rigorous, suffers here from a sort of philological faint; as the German word denn has sometimes the meaning of therefore, he translates: in consequence of this institution by the Lord, see therefore what you do when you celebrate the communion. But what so great difficulty is there in preserving the literal sense of ? All that is needed is to connect it with the words: in remembrance of me: If Jesus so expressed Himself, it is because in fact the action you perform every time you celebrate the Supper is a memorial of His person. For the meaning of the action is to show His death. The idea of the action thus stated is really the reason of the manner in which Jesus instituted it.

In spite of all Holsten may say, the verb is indicative: Ye show, not imperative: Show! For it is the essence of the action which is thus expressed. If were the imperative, the would be inexplicable; or would have been required, therefore or so that. With the practice which was becoming established at Corinth of making this feast a social act, a supper seasoned with agreeable conversation, Paul contrasts the moving memory, the celebration of the death.

The term show, , vividly recalls the word Haggadah, which denoted in the Jewish Passover the historical explanation of the meaning of all the rites of the Paschal feast which the father, in answer to the eldest son’s ritual question, gave to his family. Perhaps the narrative of the Lord’s death was similarly rehearsed at the Holy Supper. In any case, every believer celebrated its efficacy in his heart, and his grateful cry mingled in the hymns of the assembly with that of his fellow-believers. The Doctrine of the Twelve Apostles implies that free course is left at this juncture for the words of the prophets present at the assembly. Paul therefore understands by the , announce, the individual and collective proclamation of Christ’s love in His sacrifice, and of the glorious efficacy of this act. Each one confesses that he owes his salvation to this bloody death.

The , this, of the Greek text after , is to be rejected according to the Alex. and Greco-Lats. The words: till He come, are connected with the idea of the , remembrance. Remembrance ceases when the Lord reappears. Holsten here finds the idea: that then the Lord’s death will have brought to an end the exercise of its salutary efficacy. I see in the text no trace whatever of this thought. Paul means that the Holy Supper is the Church’s compensation for the visible presence of Christ. It is, so to speak, the link between His two comings: the monument of the one, the pledge of the other. Thus Paul simply reproduces the meaning of the words of Jesus preserved by Luke (Luk 22:18): I say unto you, I will not drink from henceforth of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God shall come. If we read , it indicates the uncertainty of the time when Jesus shall come.

Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)

For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink the cup, ye proclaim [inwardly and outwardly] the Lord’s death till he come. [Thus the supper looks forward, as well as backward. The constant observance of this feast through the centuries is one of the strongest of the external evidences of the truth of gospel history. By a chain of weekly links it will connect the first and second comings of our Lord; after which there will be no further need of symbols.]

Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)

26. As often as you may eat this bread and drink this cup, you do show forth the death of the Lord until He may come. Hence we see the sacrament of the Lords Supper is to be perpetuated until He returns to the earth, since it is a memento of our absent Lord. It is a valuable means of grace, perpetuatory of our membership in the visible church, as our baptism is initiatory.

Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament

Paul continued Jesus’ explanation. Participation in the Lord’s Supper dramatizes the gospel. The service becomes a visual as well as an audio setting forth of the death of Christ and its significance.

"The Eucharist is an acted sermon, an acted proclamation of the death which it commemorates; but it is possible that there is reference to some expression of belief in the atoning death of Christ as being a usual element in the service." [Note: Robertson and Plummer, p. 249.]

Paul may have referred to "the cup" rather than "the wine," which would have been parallel to "the bread," to avoid the direct identification of the wine in the cup with blood. The idea of drinking blood was revolting to most people in the ancient world, particularly the Jews. [Note: Barrett, p. 268.] On the other hand, he may have viewed both elements symbolically, the cup being a symbol of one’s lot in life, particularly judgment, and the bread a symbol of what sustains life.

The Lord’s Supper is not only a memorial celebration looking back to Jesus Christ’s first advent. It is also an anticipatory celebration looking forward to His second advent. Evidently when the Lord returns to set up His earthly kingdom He will establish a new form of worship that will include the offering of certain animal sacrifices (Ezekiel 40-46). These will be similar to the animal sacrifices the Jews offered under the Old Covenant. However since Jesus Christ has made a final sacrifice these animal offerings will evidently be memorial and entirely for worship, not for the expiation of sin. Another possibility is that they will have some role in restoring fellowship with God then. [Note: See Jerry M. Hullinger, "The Problem of Animal Sacrifices in Ezekiel 40-48," Bibliotheca Sacra 152:607 (July-September 1995):279-89.]

"The Communion is not supposed to be a time of ’spiritual autopsy’ and grief, even though confession of sin is important. It should be a time of thanksgiving and joyful anticipation of seeing the Lord!" [Note: Wiersbe, 1:607.]

In this section Paul reviewed and expounded the significance of the Lord’s Supper so his readers would value and celebrate it appropriately.

"In short, Paul is doing one thing and one thing alone. He is impressing on the Corinthians the tremendous importance of doing just this: eating this bread and drinking this cup. It is, after all, a matter of celebrating the Lord’s death." [Note: Troels Engberg-Pedersen, "Proclaiming the Lord’s Death," in Pauline Theology. Vol. II: 1 & 2 Corinthians, p. 116.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)