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TODAYS MESSAGE

Communion – Then and Now


Communion, as observed in Churches and in some Messianic Assemblies today, has become a part of service where the congregants participate in a sacrament involving eating a piece of cracker or wafer and sipping a small cup of juice or wine symbolic of the Last Supper of Christ or Messiah.


Webster’s Dictionary defines communion as a Christian sacrament in which consecrated bread and wine are consumed as memorials of Christ's death, or as symbols for the realization of a spiritual union between Christ and communicant, or as the body and blood of Christ. The sacrament is that which is believed to have been ordained by Christ and that is held to be a means of divine grace or to be a sign or symbol of a spiritual reality.

  • Is communion, as observed today, what Messiah intended when He shared His last supper with His disciples on the night He was betrayed?
  • Is the observance of communion today how the disciples understood what Yeshua meant then, and therefore to be practiced until He returns?
  • What did Yeshua do and how was it understood and practiced by His disciples in their day?

These and other pertinent questions will be addressed in this teaching to help us get an understanding of how communion was interpreted then and how we should interpret communion now.


Those of you, who received an email from us, were asked to watch or review last week’s Teaching in preparation for this Teaching because I would be picking up from that Teaching.


Matthew, who was an eyewitness and was present with Yeshua at the time wrote:

(Please NOTE: Communion is not stated in either of the verses.)

  • Mt 26:26 And as they were eating, Yeshua took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. 
  • Mt 26:27 And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; 
  • Mt 26:28 For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. 
  • Mt 26:29 But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom. 

When would that day be?

Mark also wrote:

(Please NOTE: Communion is not stated in either of the verses.)

  • Mk 14:22 And as they did eat, Yeshua took bread, and blessed, and brake it, and gave to them, and said, Take, eat: this is my body. 
  • Mk 14:23 And he took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them: and they all drank of it. 
  • Mk 14:24 And he said unto them, This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many. 
  • Mk 14:25 Verily I say unto you, I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine, until that day that I drink it new in the kingdom of God.

 

When would that day be?

Yeshua spent forty days with His disciples after the resurrection.

Ac 1:1 The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, 

Ac 1:2 Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen: 

Ac 1:3 To whom also he showed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:

Peter and others ate and drank with Yeshua after He rose from the dead.


Peter wrote:

Ac 10:38 How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him. 

Ac 10:39 And we are witnesses of all things which he did both in the land of the Jews, and in Jerusalem; whom they slew and hanged on a tree: 

Ac 10:40 Him God raised up the third day, and showed him openly; 

Ac 10:41 Not to all the people, but unto witnesses chosen before of God, even to us, who did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead. 

Ac 10:42 And he commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is he which was ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead. 


How did what Yeshua did the night He was betrayed become communion? 

It was an interpretation or invention of the Catholic Church.

Some people incorrectly state that Paul started the Christian church.

The truth of the matter is, the Catholics started the Christian Church. The Pope claims his authority from Peter NOT Paul.

Christianity, Sunday Mass/Church, Christmas, Easter, and Communion are all products of the Catholic Church.

For more than 1400 years the only church that existed was the Catholic Church.

Communion was invented by the Catholic Church and practiced for hundreds of years.

They claimed their practice to be what Jesus instituted at the Last Supper and what He meant when Peter was instructed to feed His sheep, feed His lamb.

The people eat from the hands of those who feed them the communion wafer/cracker and give them drink from the communion cup of Christ.

The Protestant Reformation began in the early 1500s, and as a result of the reformation, we have all of the various denominations today.

Communion as defined by the Church is different than the communion defined by Scripture.

The Protestant Church inherited its definition of communion from the Catholic Church.

The word communion is used four times in the New Testament.

  • 1Co 10:16 The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Messiah? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Messiah? 
  • 1Co 10:17 For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread.
  • 2Co 6:14 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? 
  • 2Co 13:14 The grace of the Lord Yeshua Messiah, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen.

Communion – 2842 κοινωνία koinonia {koy-nohn-ee'-ah} 

Meaning:  1) fellowship, association, community, communion, joint participation, intercourse 1a) the share which one has in anything, participation 1b) intercourse, fellowship, intimacy 1b1) the right hand as a sign and pledge of fellowship (in fulfilling the apostolic office)

1c) a gift jointly contributed, a collection, a contribution, as exhibiting an embodiment and proof of fellowship 

Usage:  AV - fellowship 12, communion 4, communication 1, distribution 1, contribution 1, to communicate 1; 20

Communion is also known as:

  • The Lord’s Supper
  • The Last Supper (Not in the Bible)
  • The Lord’s Table

A careful examination of what Paul wrote clearly informs us that what the Corinthian’s were doing was NOT communion or the Lord’s Supper. 

In fact, Chapter 11 of 1 Corinthians is a rebuke:

  • 1Co 11:17 Now in this that I declare unto you I praise you not, that ye come together not for the better, but for the worse. 
  • 1Co 11:18 For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you; and I partly believe it. 
  • 1Co 11:19 For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you. 
  • 1Co 11:20 When ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's supper. 
  • 1Co 11:21 For in eating every one taketh before other his own supper: and one is hungry, and another is drunken. 
  • 1Co 11:22 What? have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? or despise ye the church of God, and shame them that have not? What shall I say to you? shall I praise you in this? I praise you not. 

1Co 11:23 For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: 

What did Paul deliver? 

1Co 15:3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; 

1Co 15:4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:

When did he deliver this? 

When he visited them in Acts, Paul stayed with them a year and a half.

Ac 18:11 And he continued there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.

 

Take note of this, in the most famous of passages about communion, communion is not even mentioned.

1Co 11:23 For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: 

1Co 11:24 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. 

Yeshua’s body was not broken; this was unlike the other two men who were crucified that day.  Their legs were broken. Yeshua’s legs were not broken because He had already given up the Ghost and died.

The bread was broken.

1Co 11:25 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.

Catholic Church Communion is a Mass. The Mass is the central liturgical rite in the Catholic Church, encompassing the Liturgy of the Word (Mass of the Catechumens) and the Liturgy of the Eucharist (Mass of the Faithful), where the bread and wine are consecrated and become the Body and Blood of Christ.

According to assistant professor Ronald Kunkel “Mass is said every day around the world and it is a habit of many Catholics in the United States to receive the Eucharist daily. But that was not always the case.”

“Daily Mass was certainly not the practice in the time after Jesus’ death”, said Father Ronald Kunkel, assistant professor of dogmatic theology at the University of St. Mary of the Lake in Mundelein.

“The Eucharist would have been celebrated exclusively on Sunday,” he said. “That would have been the privileged day on which the Christian community — the brothers and sisters in the Lord — gathered together in people’s homes to pray, to engage in fellowship and to celebrate the Lord’s supper, to celebrate the Eucharist in fulfillment of the Lord’s command ‘Do this in remembrance of me.’”.

Some time in the second century, Catholics began to celebrate Mass on days other than Sundays.

Today, churches vary greatly in their frequency of communion. Some offer communion as part of every service, while others do so only monthly or quarterly. 

Christian Church Communion involves serving crackers and grape juice and seemingly always on Sunday

Biblical communion is found in Acts 2.

Ac 2:41 Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls. 

Ac 2:42 And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship/(koinonia communion), and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. 

Ac 2:42 And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. 

Ac 2:43 And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles. 

Ac 2:44 And all that believed were together, and had all things common; 

Ac 2:45 And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need. 

 

How often?

Ac 2:46 And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, 

Ac 2:47 Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.

Weekly after the Sabbath concluded:

Ac 20:7 And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight.


The Conclusion of the Matter:

Yeshua, the Word made flesh… 

Jn 1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

Jn 6:54 Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. 

Jn 6:55 For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. 

Jn 6:56 He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.

Jn 6:63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

Where two or more are gathered together, Yeshua is in communion with us when we commune with one another.

 Mt 18:20 For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.


Last Updated on October 18, 2021 by Arthur Bailey Ministries

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