In the church of which I am a member, we celebrate the Lord’s Supper weekly and our pastor almost always reads a short form explaining its meaning and proper use. This form also prescribes the words with which the pastor exhorts the congregation to partake. “Take, eat, remember and believe that the body of our Lord Jesus Christ was broken for the complete forgiveness of all our sins.” “Take, drink, remember and believe that the precious blood of our Lord Jesus Christ was shed for the complete forgiveness of all our sins.” While there is nothing objectionable in the words themselves, I believe that we should more frequently use the pattern of words given to us in the accounts of the institution of the supper in Matthew, Mark, Luke and 1 Corinthians.
When Jesus commanded his apostles, and through them the church, to partake of the bread, He said, “Take, eat. This is my body” (Matt.26:26). Mark 14:22 has the same, except that some manuscripts omit “eat.” Luke 22:19 says, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 1 Corinthians 11:24 has the same except for the word given. Some manuscripts have “broken.” Some have nothing, thus: “This is my body which is for you.”
Common to all of these accounts are the words, “This is my body.” That terminology has been a source of contention for the church at least since the time of the Reformation. Perhaps that is why some do not want to use it. Yet, it must be that the Lord Jesus spoke these words on the night when He was betrayed. He called attention not only to the sacrifice He was about to make but also to John 6:53: “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.” Should we not be reminded of this great truth in our partaking of the Lord’s Supper? “Take, eat. This is His body.” Or even, “Take, eat. This is His body which was given [broken] for you.”
The difference between our form and the words Jesus used in giving the wine is even more striking. Every one of the accounts mentions “the blood of the covenant.” Luke and 1 Corinthians call it the “new covenant.” This terminology refers firstly to Exodus 24:8: “Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the people, and said, ‘This is the blood of the covenant which the LORD has made with you.'” It also refers to Jeremiah 31:31-34: “Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. . .. This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD. . .. They all shall know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” Our Lord’s words were firmly rooted in the Old Testament and were a reminder that He fulfilled the covenantal promises of God by the shedding of His blood. We should not ignore that blessed reality. We are one with the believers of the Old Testament and have received what they knew only according to faith (Heb. 11:39-40). We are the beneficiaries of the new covenant in Jesus’ blood.