So, How Do We Do This?

We all agree that Christ transitioned from the Passover Meal into what the New Testament normally calls the Lord's Table.   Christ, and particular the Apostle Paul, explains that the participants will use symbolically the elements of the bread and the cup to remember Christ, to proclaim His death, portraying His redemption for His people.  The participants claim that these benefits are theirs, by faith and they are in unity with all who so claim – all sharing in the blessings of the New Covenant.

Once Christ ascended and His Church continued the work that “... that Jesus began to do and teach” (Acts 1:1–2, ESV), we then ask the question, "How and when did the Apostles continue this celebration?"  This instruction is only found in one place, that being 1 Corinthians 11: 17-33.   It seems at the very basis of this discussion that the Lord’s Supper was "most likely eaten as, or in conjunction with"^[1] a meal of some sort. We not only gather this presumption from this text but also from Acts 2:42, 46; 20:7, 11; and Jude 12.  Whatever was going on we read such issues as:

“For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal. One goes hungry, another gets drunk.” (1 Corinthians 11:21, ESV)

“For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal. One goes hungry, another gets drunk.” (1 Corinthians 11:21, ESV)

“So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another— if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home—so that when you come together it will not be for judgment. About the other things I will give directions when I come.” (1 Corinthians 11:33–34, ESV)

Now, whatever is going on, it seems quite different in application to most Christian denominations.  By my experience the Communion service is accomplished as part of the regular service of the Church – normally.  This Lord's Table seems to part of a meal.  It would seem that Paul's agitation with the Church is how they were conducting themselves at that meal before the Lord's Supper.   If we work at separating ourselves from tradition and current practices and simply ask how did the early Church celebrate the Lord's Table, there is but one answer:  A social meal was connected in some way with this celebration.  In other words the ceremonial aspect of the Lord's Table was combined with a common meal.

There may be a hint (as previously noted) that this "common" meal was called a "love feast" (“These are hidden reefs at your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear, shepherds feeding themselves; waterless clouds, swept along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted;” (Jude 12, ESV).   If this is correct we surmise by New Testament evidence that the communal meal was the context for the Communion Celebration.   This gives incredible poignancy to the words of Paul: “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.” (1 Corinthians 11:26, ESV)

It appears that this was a weekly occurrence but it would be presumptuous to be dogmatic.   Luke implies that when he writes, “On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread . . .” (Acts 20:7, ESV).  It actually appears in post-Apostolic literature that this weekly joint meal continued at least until the time of Justin Martyr where it was attached to what we know to be the preaching service.

To envision what seems to going on in the early church, I wonder if we can deduce that on a weekly basis they would gather for a fellowship meal and before the communal feast concluded they would use two of the elements (the bread and the cup) to "remember the Lord's death until He comes"?  Many of our current practices seem as far removed from the early practice of the Church as does the culture and geography.  

Previous Blogs:

#1.  The Table of the Lord. Dare I Ask?
#2.  What's In A Name?
#3.  The Bread
#4.  The Cup
#5   So What Are We Saying In All This?

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^[1] Fee, G. D. (2014). The First Epistle to the Corinthians. (N. B. Stonehouse, F. F. Bruce, G. D. Fee, & J. B. Green, Eds.) (Revised Edition., p. 588). Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.