1 Corinthians 11:24 - Printer Friendly

ESV: 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.”

NIV: 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.'

NASB: 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.'

CSB: and when he had given thanks, broke it, and said, "This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me."

NLT: and gave thanks to God for it. Then he broke it in pieces and said, 'This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.'

KJV: 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.

NKJV: and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”

Paul is reminding the Corinthians of what happened at the Last Supper. His purpose is re-teaching them why and how they should practice the Lord's Supper, also known as communion. He is telling the story of what happened on the night Jesus was betrayed by Judas. This event happened in a private upper room for the Passover meal (Matthew 26:26–28).

Jesus took a loaf of bread and gave thanks in prayer. He then broke the bread and distributed it to the disciples reclining around the table. Jesus said that the bread was His body, which was "for them." He commanded the disciples to do the same: to break and consume bread, as a way of remembering Him.

At that moment, the disciples did not grasp how Jesus' body would be broken for them—for their sin and ours—the very next day and night on the cross. During Christian communion, when bread is broken and distributed, followers of Jesus are meant to remember His sacrifice.

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.

Accessed 4/29/2024 11:48:07 AM