Every Passage About the Lord’s Supper

I was talking with my friend the other day and he asked me a question. “Do you understand the Lord’s Supper to be primarily about justification or sanctification?”

What a great question!

In an effort to answer this question, I said something about not wanting to limit the effect of the Lord’s Supper to a narrow subscription, as it can be applied to both Justification and Sanctification. I think I said something about the Supper reflecting a Christian’s communion with God. That’s a trick answer, because communion with God certainly involves both justification and sanctification.

However, I mentioned to him that the Lord’s supper only occurs in a few places in the Scripture. Therefore, a lot of our talking about its meaning is based upon the church’s reflection upon those passages and the usage of the supper throughout the history of the church.

This article is short. I simply want to list all the verses in the Bible that speak about the Lord’s Supper as an institution. That means I won’t be including any reference to Passover, which was certainly typologically foreshadowing the institution of the Lord’s Supper. I also won’t be looking at passages like Isaiah 55, where people are told to come and drink wine without price (a glorious passage). This is strictly about the institution of the Lord’s Supper.

Here we go:

Matthew 26:26–29 (ESV)
26 Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” 27 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, 28 for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. 29 I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”

For something to be the Lord’s Supper, it requires 1) bread, 2) the cup (wine), 3) blessing, 4) giving, 5) eating/drinking, 6) proclaiming.

To take the Lord’s Supper requires that you have bread, wine, and other believers. You can’t take the Lord’s Supper by yourself because you cannot give something to yourself. You also cannot bless yourself (when you sneeze, other people bless you).

The other synoptic gospels record the event in a nearly identical fashion (see Mark 14:22-25; Luke 22:14-23).

1 Corinthians 10:14–22 (ESV)
14 Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. 15 I speak as to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say. 16 The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? 17 Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread. 18 Consider the people of Israel: are not those who eat the sacrifices participants in the altar? 19 What do I imply then? That food offered to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? 20 No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons. 21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. 22 Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?

Notice again the same elements. bread, cup, blessing (v16), other Christians (v17) , giving (v17), and proclamation (in this case, participation).

1 Corinthians 11:17–34 (ESV)
17 But in the following instructions I do not commend you, because when you come together it is not for the better but for the worse. 18 For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you. And I believe it in part, 19 for there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized. 20 When you come together, it is not the Lord’s supper that you eat. 21 For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal. One goes hungry, another gets drunk. 22 What! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I commend you in this? No, I will not. 
23 For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24 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.” 25 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.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. 
27 Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. 28 Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. 30 That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. 31 But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. 32 But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world. 
33 So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another— 34 if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home—so that when you come together it will not be for judgment. About the other things I will give directions when I come.

Notice that much of what we learn from the Lord’s Supper is learned from what it is not. We are not to fill up our own bellies, we are to prefer our brothers or sisters in Christ. We are not to think of ourselves, but the body. We are not to come independently of Chris, but through Christ. We are not to proclaim ourselves, but Christ through the Supper.

That’s it. Those are all the passages about the Lord’s Supper in the New Testament.

One may argue that Jesus’s words of John 6 are about the Supper. As an honorable mention, let me include them here.

John 6:47–61 (ESV)

47 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” 52 The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” 53 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. 55 For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. 57 As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” 59 Jesus said these things in the synagogue, as he taught at Capernaum. 

While there are similarities and parallels between what is stated here and what is stated in the passages about the supper, the difference appears to be in what Jesus says in v 47. It is believing in the Son that gives eternal life. Compare this with verse 54 that the one who has eternal life is the one who eats Jesus’s flesh and drinks his blood. I think that “eating the flesh and drinking the blood" is equivalent to “believing” as represented in verse 47. While there is certainly importance for the Lord’s supper (you should believe on Christ before you come to his table), I don’t think there is a direct mention of the Supper here in John 6.

Next, I plan to write about the importance of the Supper for understanding justification, sanctification, union with Christ, and the rest.