The Cup and Wafer of Communion - a Symbol or Literal Event?
Definitely a symbol!
Just as the animal sacrifices of the Old Testament could never take away sins but were a symbol of Jesus' sacrifice of Himself for our sins, neither is the communion bread and wine/juice the literal body and blood of Christ as some teach! It is only a symbol of a spiritual event!
As the Apostle Paul says so eloquently;
1 CORINTHIANS 11:23-30
23 For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread;
24 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.’
25 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.’
26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.
27 Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.
28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup.
29 For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.
30 For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep.
I think that my two favorite apostles are Paul and James. Both had a habit of being blunt and
straightforward in their teachings, and Paul could hardly be more clear on this issue than he is
here. Note that Jesus commanded us to do this in remembrance of Him. It is given to us as a
reminder of what Jesus did for us. He also said, ‘For as often as you eat this bread and drink
this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.’ (Verse 26 above)
Just as the sacrifices of the Law were symbolic reminders of sin and atonement, the Communion Covenant we celebrate is a symbolic reminder of sin and the everlasting atonement of the blood of Jesus Christ.
In the doctrine of "transubstantiation" the Roman Catholic Church teaches that the priest calls down Jesus Christ into the wafer (Eucharist) in a "bloodless sacrifice", which then becomes the literal body of Jesus; the cup of juice or wine becomes the literal blood of the Lord (even though the elements (wafer and wine / juice) remain physically unchanged), and the people eat the wafer and drink of the cup.
There are several problems with this concept.
First of all, if the wine or juice is the literal blood of Jesus as they teach, then this is in direct violation of God's commandment concerning the eating of blood, in which He says;
GENESIS 9:1-4
1 So God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the Earth.
2 And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be on every beast of the Earth, on every bird of the air, on all that move on the Earth, and on all the fish of the sea. They are given into your hand.
3 Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herbs.
4 But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood.’
LEVITICUS 3:17
17 ‘This shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwellings: you shall eat neither fat nor blood.’
LEVITICUS 7:26-27
26 ‘Moreover you shall not eat any blood in any of your dwellings, whether of bird or beast.
27 Whoever eats any blood, that person shall be cut off from his people.’
LEVITICUS 17:10-14
10 ‘And whatever man of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who dwell among you, who eats any blood, I will set My face against that person who eats blood, and will cut him off from among his people.
11 For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.’
12 Therefore I said to the children of Israel, ‘No one among you shall eat blood, nor shall any stranger who dwells among you eat blood.’
13 ‘Whatever man of the children of Israel, or of the strangers who dwell among you, who hunts and catches any animal or bird that may be eaten, he shall pour out its blood and cover it with dust;
14 for it is the life of all flesh. Its blood sustains its life. Therefore I said to the children of
Israel, ‘You shall not eat the blood of any flesh, for the life of all flesh is its blood. Whoever
eats it shall be cut off.’
This as such an abomination before God that He repeated the warning 4 times!!
Even the apostle James reiterated this when the Gentiles who had accepted Jesus through the preaching of Paul sought to know what commandments they needed to keep. As he told the rest of the apostles and the gathered brethren of the early church;
ACTS 15:19-20
19 Therefore I judge that we should not trouble those from among the Gentiles who are turning to God,
20 but that we write to them to abstain from things polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from things strangled, and from blood.
Note: Strangling an animal does not remove the blood from the carcass, therefore eating strangled animals was forbidden.
Next, no man has the power to call Jesus Christ into a wafer. This would make Him weak and subject to the priest(s) who perform the ceremony.
It would also bring Him down from Heaven, in violation of the Scriptures, in which Peter said;
ACTS 3:19-21
19 Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord,
20 and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before,
21 whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.
Unless I've missed something, the promised restoration has yet to happen, and Scripture is clear that Jesus must remain in Heaven until the appointed time. He can't be with us until then, which is why we have the Holy Spirit with us today, to be with us until He comes for us.
When we accept Jesus, we are cleansed of our sins by His blood. Does this mean we are literally cleansed with His blood? When we put on the armor of God as found in Ephesians 6, do we literally wear armor?
The answer to both questions is no! Our spirit is cleansed by the blood of Jesus, and our spirit wears the armor! Therefore the communion covenant is a spiritual event represented by a physical symbolic act, just as baptism is a symbol of our being buried with Jesus and being resurrected with Him.
Just as there are no more sacrifices for sin because Jesus has fulfilled the Law and became the
true sacrifice, so also the communion covenant cannot be a real "non-bloody" sacrifice. And
unless it was symbolic how could Jesus have given His disciples His body and blood if he
was still with them at the Last Supper?
The Scriptures also plainly state that Jesus was sacrificed once for all time.
HEBREWS 10:12-14
12 But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God,
13 from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool.
14 For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.
HEBREWS 9:24-28
24 For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us;
25 not that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood of another.
26 He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.
27 And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment,
28 so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.
The continuous offering of the wafer and wine (or juice) as the real body and blood of Christ in the Mass indicates that the Catholic Church must believe that the original sacrifice wasn't sufficient, but must be repeated often, in clear violation of the Scriptures as shown above.
The Communion Covenant is a most sacred covenant between God and Man, and is not to be taken lightly, for if we take this lightly, we take the sacrifice of Jesus lightly also. We must also be careful to examine ourselves before we partake of the Communion Covenant to be certain that we are free of sin, for there is a curse upon us if we fail to do so.
Scripture shows plainly that Jesus meant for the Communion Covenant to be a symbolic representation, reminder and celebration of His atoning sacrificial death, a sacrifice to be performed once for all time. And if God intends for it to be a symbolic event, who are we to change what He has already set down as an unchangeable law?
As I have shown from Scripture, teaching and celebrating the Communion Covenant as a literal re-enactment of Jesus' sacrificial death on the cross, even as a "non-bloody sacrifice" clearly violates Scripture. Those who partake of it in belief that it is a literal re-enactment of the original sacrifice are guilty of drinking blood, and are guilty of unbelief that His atoning death was enacted once for all time.
There is also a belief among people that a minister or priest is the only one who can perform the Communion Covenant. There is nothing in Scripture that states this. Any believing Christian can partake of, or lead others in the celebration of the Communion Covenant, and God will honor the event as long as it is done in accordance with His commandments. We can do it together as a group in church, or as individuals in our own homes.
The Communion Covenant is a personal encounter with Jesus, in which we individually honor Him and remember His redeeming death, His taking our guilt and sin within Himself, and paying the price with His blood that God's justice demanded for our atonement.
So let us not only examine ourselves in regards to our worthiness to partake of Communion, but let us also examine how we perform the Communion Covenant to ensure that we do it in accordance with Scriptural commandments, lest we bring a curse upon ourselves for our disobedience!
And may God the Father grant us the understanding and discernment we need through the grace of Jesus Christ His Son, so that we may celebrate His Communion Covenant in a manner acceptable to Him!
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