What Is Communion? The Lord's Supper Explained
Bread, cup, and remembrance — the meal Jesus left his church, and what Scripture says it means.
Communion — the Lord’s Supper — is the meal Jesus instituted on the night of his betrayal: bread as his body, the cup as “the new testament in my blood,” taken “in remembrance of me” (1 Corinthians 11:24–25). In it the church proclaims “the Lord’s death till he come,” shares fellowship with him and one another, and feeds faith on the gospel made tangible.
Instituted at the last supper
The oldest written account is Paul’s, received “of the Lord”: on the betrayal night, Jesus took bread, gave thanks, broke it — this is my body, broken for you — and the cup, the new covenant in his blood. He embedded the gospel in a meal so that the church would taste it, not merely hear it, until he comes. Every communion is a tolling of that phrase: till he come.
For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.
For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come.
Communion is common-union
Paul’s word koinonia — communion — is fellowship: the cup a communion of Christ’s blood, the bread of his body, and the many partakers “one bread, and one body.” The Supper is vertical and horizontal at once: shared life with Christ, shared table with his people. That is why the Corinthian abuses — some feasting while others hungered — struck Paul as a contradiction of the meal itself.
The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread.
And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.
Taken worthily
Paul’s “unworthily” warning has frightened the wrong people for centuries: it addressed careless feasting, not tender consciences. His remedy is self-examination and discernment, then eating — “let a man examine himself, and so let him eat.” The table is for sinners who trust Christ; the only people it excludes are those who see no need of him. Come honest, come hungry.
But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.
And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.
The reality behind the sign: Christ himself, the bread of life.
Quick answers
- How often should communion be taken?
- Scripture says “as often as ye do it” without fixing frequency — the early church broke bread frequently, even daily at first (Acts 2:46). Weekly, monthly, and quarterly patterns all aim at the same remembrance.
- Who may take communion?
- Baptised believers who trust Christ and examine themselves (1 Corinthians 11:28). Churches order the details differently, but the table belongs to the Lord, and his invitation is to all who are his.
- Is the bread literally Jesus' body?
- Christians have differed for centuries — real presence, spiritual presence, memorial. All agree on Paul’s core: real communion with Christ (1 Corinthians 10:16), real remembrance, real proclamation of his death till he come.
