1 Corinthians 11:25 - Printer Friendly

ESV: 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."

NIV: In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me."

NASB: In the same way He also 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.'

CSB: In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, and said, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me."

NLT: In the same way, he took the cup of wine after supper, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant between God and his people — an agreement confirmed with my blood. Do this in remembrance of me as often as you drink it.'

KJV: After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.

NKJV: In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”

Paul is reminding the Christians in Corinth about the purpose of observing the Lord's Supper. They seemed to have forgotten the point and turned the celebration into a raucous party at which the poor were treated unequally (1 Corinthians 11:17–22). Paul proceeds to relate the institution of communion, in an account he says he "received from the Lord" (1 Corinthians 11:23). In that event, the Last Supper, Jesus first broke and distributed bread to the disciples. This was a representation of His broken body (Matthew 26:26–28).

After this, Jesus similarly distributed wine. In Scripture, wine and blood are frequently connected through symbolism (Isaiah 63:3; Revelation 19:15). Deuteronomy even refers to wine as "the blood of the grape" (Deuteronomy 32:14). After the supper ended, Jesus raised the cup and commanded this disciples to remember Him whenever they drank from it, as part of the communion remembrance.

The disciples must have been confused by this, though they were used to hearing Jesus say hard-to-understand things. Jesus would soon shed His blood and die for the sins of all who trust in Christ. He would become the final sacrifice. Hebrews 9:22 says that without the shedding of blood there can be no forgiveness from sin.

Jesus referred to this as the "cup of the new covenant." God had made the Old Covenant with His people Israel during the time of Moses. It was also sealed with blood, that of sacrificial animals (Exodus 24:1–8). The new covenant is between God and all those He has called to faith in Christ (Hebrews 9:14–15).

First Corinthians 11:17–34 contains Paul's rebuke of the church in Corinth for their application of the Lord's Supper. They had turned it into a gathering at which the wealthy ate and drank too much, leaving the poorer Christians hungry and humiliated. Paul warns that communion should be a time of sober self-reflection about our sin and Christ's sacrifice, as well as a time to unite the body of Christ, the church, while taking in representations of the blood and body of Christ. Some in Corinth were sick and others had died as part of God's judgment for participating in communion in an unworthy manner.

Paul confronts two issues the church in Corinth was failing to practice correctly. First, some women were not wearing head coverings while praying or prophesying in their meetings. Paul insisted they must do so, and that men must not, based on mankind's relationship to God and the social implications of that covering. Second, Paul describes the reasons for observing the Lord's Supper and how it should be done. The Corinthian Christians had brought God's judgment on themselves for practicing communion in a way which dishonored Christ's sacrifice for sin and humiliated the poor among them.

After concluding his teaching on meat offered to idols, Paul turns to two issues the church in Corinth was getting wrong. The first was head coverings when praying or prophesying in their meetings. Differences between men and women in that regard are because of both spiritual and social reasons. Paul also corrects the disastrous way in which they were practicing the observance of the Lord's Supper. They were dishonoring Christ's sacrifice for sin as well as the poor in the body of Christ, the church. Despite having more to say on communion, Paul will move on to the topic of spiritual gifts in chapter 12.

First Corinthians is one of the more practical books of the New Testament. Paul writes to a church immersed in a city associated with trade, but also with corruption and immorality. These believers are struggling to properly apply spiritual gifts and to resist the ungodly practices of the surrounding culture. Paul's letter gives instructions for real-life concerns such as marriage and spirituality. He also deals with the importance of unity and gives one of the Bible's more well-known descriptions of love in chapter 13.