THE PRECISION OF THE SCRIPTURES IN DISTINGUISHING BETWEEN THE LORD'S SUPPER AND THE EUCHARIST

THE PRECISION OF THE SCRIPTURES IN DISTINGUISHING BETWEEN THE LORD'S SUPPER AND THE EUCHARIST

 

 

 

lb. This point is made necessary because a large part of professing Christendom uses the term "Lord's Supper" to refer to the Eucharist of the bread and the cup.

Somewhere in the annals of the Church, a time that dates back hundreds of years, the term "Lord's Supper" was transferred from the meal to the bread and the cup, and the meal was almost universally dropped from the practice of the Church. It is just my opinion that this took place during the years of Roman Catholic domination when priests found it inconvenient to practice a whole meal and at the same time to introduce a mass which placed them in power over the laity.

This undoubtedly took place within the Catholic Church long before the reformation, and has persisted with Protestintism after the reformation without any real attempt made to investigate its validity.

But there is evidence to the effect that some of the denominations of Protestantism continued the meal for many years, and only dropped it during the last 150 to 175 years ago. But Brethren people have been insistent on following the apostolic practice to this very time. And we can be sure that there are some who will not relinquish this form regardless of what others may do.

2b. The scriptures, however, make it clearly evident that the Lord's Supper is not to be confused with the Eucharist of the bread and the cup. While there are many scriptures that support this fact, I want to cite two: one from the Gospels, and the other from the Epistles.

The Gospel of Luke, chapter 22 and verses 20 "Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the New Testament in my blood, which is shed for you".

Quite literally this reads in the Greek text ­"Likewise also the cup" "After the to have eaten supper"

This makes it absolutely certain that generally they had finished the supper, and now Christ turns to another detail, namely, the bread and the cup.

The Book of 1st Corinthians chapter 11, verse 25: -‑ "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".

You will be interested to know that the words of this text-- "When he had supped" translate exactly the same words as in the Luke account "After supper".

These words then should be literally rendered into English "After the to have eaten supper".

This means that the Lord's Supper was a full meal, and the bread and cup came after this meal, and are not to be confused with it.