More than a Cup of Juice: Part 2

More than a Cup of Juice: Part 2

In my previous post, "More than a Cup of Juice: Part 1", I answered a few questions concerning communion. Specifically,  I answered what communion is, the different names it has been called and the differences between them, and who communion is for (past Christians or current Christians). In this post I'm going to answer a few more inquiries about communion and hopefully it will all make sense in the end. As I said in my last post, feel free to correct me, ask questions, or make other comments.

Wine vs Grape juice and Crackers vs Unleavened Bread. Is it wrong to use one or the other?
During my discussion of communion, the topic was brought up of how back in the day when taking communion Jesus used real wine and unleavened bread, but now a days we use a cup of grape juice and a cracker (although, I have taken communion with many different types of bread). (This wasn't uncommon back in Jesus' day, especially during Passover.) The Bible doesn't lay out clear directions about what we should use when taking communion. If it did I probably wouldn't be answering this question. So since it doesn't lay out a clear direction, we must refer to different parts of the Bible to see and make context connections.
Bread: Scripture does not specify what bread or wine Jesus used during the Lord's Supper. Since it was a time of Passover, scholars have concluded that Jesus himself used unleavened bread. If we look at history we can also conclude the bread Jesus used was made from the grain harvested that year before, as required by the old covenant law. (See Lev. 23: 10-14). Also, the Bible doesn't talk about the importance of they type of flour; wheat or barley, nor if it was leavened. In all of the Scriptures about the Lord's Supper I have read, it uses the word bread. Nothing more, nothing less. A common word for a common food. In John 6:51, Jesus calls himself the "bread of life." As far as I know he didn't specify if He was wheat or barley, leavened or unleavened. (That was a joke....but really, he doesn't specify.) The point he was making is, He is the sustenance of eternal life, just as bread (a common base of a diet) is the basis of physical life.
Wine: The wine Jesus used was most likely red, and fermented from the previous year. Scripture doesn't mention any specifics about the wine but instead says, "fruit of the vine." We can only assume the cup was filled with wine because of customs of that time, but the Bible doesn't go into much detail about it all. It is mostly referenced to as the cup. In 1 Corinthians 11: 25 Paul states that during his experience with the Lord's Supper, after picking up the cup Jesus said, "This cup is the new covenant of my blood..." When Jesus picked up the cup, he didn't institute requirements for the type of wine or liquid used, he instead used the wine and cup as a metaphor.
Jesus didn't pass out a Do's and Don'ts list of how communion should be taken. If he did I would like a copy. He instead used the words for common food and drink. So overall I don't believe its wrong to use a cracker or leavened bread and grape juice. I also don't think its wrong to use wine and unleavened bread. This is simply up to the person who is taking communion. Just remember what really matters is why Christians take communion, not the substances being used.

Can Non-Christians participate in communion? 
This question is particularly hard for me to answer. My immediate answer is no, non Christians can't take communion. (I mean they physically can.) The only Bible reference I can refer to this question is 1 Corinthians chapter 11. I'm specifically going to look at one verse in particular, actually one word. (I recommend you read this entire chapter so you know what I'm talking about.) In this section Paul is trying to correct an abuse of the Lord's Supper. "So then, whosoever eats the bread or drinks this cup..." Note the word, whosoever. Paul isn't saying you guys are guilty, he is saying whosoever drinks unworthily is guilty. We find the word whosoever several times throughout the Bible.
- Whosoever shall call upon the Lord shall be saved. (Romans 10:13)
-Whosoever drinks of the water that I give him will never thirst. (John 14:4)
-Whosoever confess that Jesus is the Son of God... (1 John 14:5)
The question here is who is Paul referring to? Who is the whosoever? Is whosoever everyone and everyone or does Paul mean only nonbelievers. But in these other passages whosoever means all people. At first I was so torn at who Paul was talking about. So I looked at the context of the story. Paul is talking to Christians who are abusing the Lord's Supper and goes into saying that if you take it in an unworthy manner you will be guilty. So by whosoever I think he means both non-Christians and Christians who are abusing the Lord's Supper.  So to answer this question, no. Non-Christians shouldn't participate in communion. Its not that they are unworthy, nobody is worthy, but they are eating and drinking unworthily. They are not valuing what Christ has done for them because they have not accepted Christ.

Why should Christians take communion? Why is it Important? 
Communion can mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people. But which idea is right? Well lets just stroll right over to our handy dandy Bible and see what its got to say.
-For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes. (1 Corinthians 11:26)
-And when He had given thanks he broke it, and said, "This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me." In the same way also He took the cup, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me." For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes. (1 Corinthians 11: 24-27)
Just within these two verses we can get a few reasons to take communion. We should take it in remembrance of Jesus. How He died for our sins and salvation. For the ultimate sacrifice of love. We remember the new covenant through Jesus' blood. (See Hebrews 9: 18-28.) Also we are proclaiming the Lord's death until He returns. There are many reasons why we should take communion, but to go into them all would take a really really long time. So I encourage you to keep looking into it. These are just a few of the main reasons why Christians should take communion, and why we are commanded to.

Does communion have anything to do with salvation?
Now that we have established that Christians should take communion, what about the Christians who don't or can't? Whether you take communion or not rid or of salvation, nor will it give you salvation. The only way to receive that is through Jesus Christ. "For God so loved the world He have his only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life." (John 3:16) Let's say a man is on his death bed and doesn't get the chance to take communion but still accepts Jesus as his Lord and Savior and repents of his sins and has a serious heart change. He is still going to go spend eternity with Jesus, whether or not he takes communion. But Christians who have the opportunity are commanded to take communion (see everything I have written about communion.) Therefore Christians should take it, but it isn't necessary, but you should still do it.

There are a ton of more questions I could answer about communion, and if you have anymore feel free to contact me or leave a comment. Communion is obviously something important it and I don't think it should be ignored. Hopefully these two posts help answer and clear up the ideas of communion. Stay sweet fam.

More Than A Cup of Juice: Part 1

I never truly understood the reasoning behind communion (Lord's Supper) until earlier this year. My knowledge of the bread and the juice was simply; Christians take communion because Jesus told us to and we do it to remember his sacrifice. If that is the only reason, it doesn't seem very important or worth thinking about it. It wasn't until I met a young man that didn't practice communion, and in fact refused to take it while he was on Earth, that I truly was convicted to know the real reason behind communion and why it is more than just a cup of juice and piece of bread I take at church. In this two part series, I'm going to answer a few questions that came up during my recent debate. Feel free to correct me, add your opinion, or pose more questions. Also please note I jump through different versions of the Bible without referencing them. I encourage you to look at the passages referenced in the version of the Bible you typically use and then over versions to get more of a clear idea. This is just what I found through scripture and thoughts of other Christians.

Part 1-

What is the Lord's Supper ? 
Although I already know the basics of communion, I don't think this post would make sense without a quick description of the Lord's Supper and Communion.  The Bible references the Last Supper and the Lord's Supper in several difference places. I'm going to mainly focus on the book of 1 Corinthians chapter 11 verse 24-26 and Matthew 26 verses 26-29. It was during the time of passover and Jesus' disciples asked Him where they should make preparations for passover. Jesus tells them to go into the city and find a man and tell him they wanted to do passover at his house. (This actually strikes me as odd. Was this man just a random guy or did they know him or what? More questions for a later time.) Eventually they are all eating together when Jesus takes a moment to address his disciples for a serious moment.
Twelve disciples are gathered together with Jesus around a table. Each disciple is deep in talk of theology with their neighbor but Jesus remains silent. Silent until Jesus looks up and the chatter quickly stops. The mood from a pleasant gathering changes to a serious and almost uncomfortable mood. The disciples know Jesus is about to say something life changing.
Jesus enlightened them that one of the twelve of them was going to betray him.
Whispers filled the room,"No. Who? Me? No way, but what if?" Few dared to speak out, "Surely not I Lord?" Jesus answered, "The one who had dipped his hand in the bowl with me will betray me..." and boom. Judas who has kept his eyes down, his hands in his lap, and not even a breath has escaped his lips looks up and utters the words, "Surely you do not mean me, Rabbi?" Jesus looks at him with not angered eyes but loving and hurt ones, "You have said so." Silence falls but minds are racing. 
Jesus soon broke the science when he picked up the bread and said "Take and eat; this is my body for which is for you, do this in remembrance of me." After the disciples had done that, Jesus then took the cup and said "Drink from it; all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for the many forgiveness of sins do this I'm remembrance of me. I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until the day when I drink it new with you in my Father's Kingdom."
So the physical acts of the Lord's Supper is eating bread and drinking "wine" in remembrance of Jesus...but there is sooooo much more to the reason behind.

Is there a difference between Communion and the Lord's Supper? And what is Eucharist? 
Communion, Lord's Supper, and Eucharists are basically all the same thing. By calling the act the Lord's Supper some people are reminded that the meal was instituted by Jesus, aka Lord. By calling it Communion people are reminded that this act is intimate and sharing, making us one with Christ and part of the body of the church. Eucharist is a term that comes from the New Testament Greek meaning thanksgiving. This word can remind us to give thanks to God and remember all He has done for us. Throughout the Bible, communion is also referenced in other terms such as, breaking of the bread.
Whether you call it Communion, the Lord's Supper or Eucharist the meaning is the same. I prefer to call it Communion and the Lord's Supper, but keep in mind it isn't what it's called, it's what the meaning behind it is.

Did Jesus actually tell us to continue doing the act of the Lord's Supper/Communion, or was He only talking to His disciples at the time? 
Is is pretty clear that when Jesus called His disciples together on different occasions, it was to teach them things that were to be passed onto the church, and communion falls into that category. (Keep in mind Christians are references as the Church.) The Bible does not specially say, 'only you should take this in remembrance of me' nor does it say, 'go out and tell others to do this in remembrance of me.' Therefore we must look at other scripture to confirm that Jesus was changing the meaning of Passover for Christians. The Passover for the Jews is meant to be as a remembrance of their deliverance for Egypt.
If we look again at 1 Corinthians, we see that believers are supposed to take part in communion. "Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake in the one bread."-1 Corinthians 10:17 (ESV). Notice the  'we all partake', this is references believers. Also in verse 23 Paul says, "For I receive from the Lord what I also delivered to you..." he goes on to talk about the event of the Lord's Supper, and then continues to say, "For as often as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes." Now take a look at the 'for as often as you' segment. This is Paul talking to the believers saying continue do partake in communion. Also Paul stated that he is passing on the act of communion from when Jesus passed it on to him. I quickly want to point out something that I glanced over earlier. When Paul was describing the Lord's Supper to the church he was correcting, he stated that Jesus said, " This is the new covenant of my blood. Do this, as often as you drink, in remembrance of me." This is Jesus saying to continue doing this act aka the Lord's Supper aka Communion. Therefore it didn't just stop at the Last Supper but is supposed to continue on today. So did Jesus mean for all Christians today to take in communion? From evidence of Scripture I would say yes, and that Jesus called for us to do so.


Now that we have examined what Communion is and that believers are called to partake in it, we can now dive into why we should or the reason for communion. Which I will do in part 2, along with answer more questions and ideas about communion, because lets face it, this particular post as gone on for quite awhile...