The Breaking Of Bread

Feature 2 –March 2019 – Grace & Truth Magazine

The Breaking Of Bread

The Breaking of Bread was one of the main activities of the early church in Jerusalem after Pentecost. “And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers” (Acts 2:42 ESV ). First century Christians continued breaking bread each Lord’s Day, or Sunday, which soon became an established church practice (20:7). In one form or another, Christian believers have followed this good tradition for centuries.

It is essential that any local church should have Christian fellowship together. Christian fellowship is defined in 1 John 1:1-3 (consider the apostle’s fellowship, Acts 2:42). Therefore, biblical church life consists of at least three main meetings or services: (1) teaching the apostles’ doctrine, (2) the Breaking of Bread, and (3) prayer. The apostles’ teaching defines and regulates the fellowship, breaking of bread expresses the fellowship, and prayers sustain the fellowship.

Names
Various names are used by Christians for the Breaking of Bread service. Another scriptural name for it is “The Lord’s Supper” (1 Cor. 11:20). Some churches call it “Holy Communion,” a name which is taken from wording of 1 Corinthians 10:16 in the King James Version. Other gatherings call it “The Eucharist,” a Greek word for “thanksgiving,” such as is found in 1 Corinthians 14:16. To “break bread” describes the main activity of the service and is the common term used by Christians. The Lord’s Supper means that He is the Host and we are privileged to be His invited guests. Communion shows that believers have fellowship with Him and with each other – all jointly participate in accordance with the apostles’ teaching. The giving of thanks highlights that believers respond to the Lord and praise Him for dying for us.

Symbols
The Lord Jesus defined the use of a loaf of bread and a cup of wine. He stipulated their symbolic meaning. “The Lord Jesus on the night when He was betrayed took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it, and said, ‘This is My body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of Me.’ In the same way also He took the cup, after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me’” (11:23-25). These symbols are physical, visible reminders that His death was a sacrifice for our sins. When we break and eat the bread and then drink from the cup we affectionately bring to mind the Lord Jesus, who gave Himself for us. The Breaking of Bread is something to do, but it is more: it is Someone to remember.

Observation
During the 1600’s, Scottish Covenanters met secretly in Glen Trool to observe the Lord’s Supper. At the agreed time on Lord’s Days they emerged from the surrounding forests and quietly broke bread. There was no hymn singing. As soon as anyone had partaken of the bread and the wine, he or she left the gathering and disappeared again into the trees. The pursuing British government forces made it too dangerous for them to do anything else. The Breaking of Bread was celebrated in all its simplicity just as the Lord Jesus had instructed His disciples.1

Instructions on how to observe the Lord’s Supper are given in 1 Corinthians 11:23-26. Believers gather together “as a church” (v.18) and unto the Lord’s name (Mt. 18:20) for fellowship together in the Lord’s Supper at the Lord’s Table. They discern, or perceive, the Lord’s body and blood by breaking the bread and drinking from the cup of wine. A formal prayer of thanksgiving for each symbol is offered to the Lord by one of the brothers in the local assembly. The Breaking of Bread should be held regularly, proclaiming the Lord’s death until His coming again for His people at the rapture.

Christian Fellowship
First Corinthians 10 says, “I speak as to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say. The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread ... You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons” (vv.15-17,21). These verses inform us that Christian fellowship2 is an important aspect of observing the Lord’s Supper. All share together: the cup is communion in His blood and the bread is communion in His body. His blood is the basis of our fellowship. We have fellowship with one another only because the blood of God’s Son cleanses us from all sin (1 Jn. 1:7). By breaking bread in assembly we recognize the oneness of His body, the Church. “Because we, being many, are one loaf, one body; for we all partake of that one loaf” (1 Cor. 10:17 JND). Christian fellowship is therefore all-inclusive: Every true Christian believer has the right to participate (1:2,9). But it is also exclusive: No one else has any right to participate in it, especially in the actual Breaking of Bread service. Christians are not to get involved in non-Christian fellowships because our Lord is a jealous God (10:20-22).

Verse 16 presents a further feature of the Lord’s Supper. The cup becomes for us a cup of blessing, and that means we can, and do, bless God the Father (see Eph.1:3, 2:13,18). To bless God is to worship Him, and worship of the Father is another important part of the Breaking of Bread service. We thank the Lord Jesus for dying for us when we give thanks for the bread and for the cup, but we also thank, praise and worship the Father for sending His Son to bring us into relationship with Himself (see Jn. 17:26; Heb. 2:11-13).

The full meaning of Christian fellowship is brought out in the term “the Lord’s Table” (1 Cor. 10:21). It is the spiritual place where Christians worship God whenever they have fellowship with Him (Heb. 9:24, 8:1-2). The Lord’s Table3 is a spiritual truth, describing all the spiritual blessings He provides for those at His spiritual table – in the same way as the manna and the rock were spiritual food and drink for Israel (1 Cor. 10:3-4). Israel’s altar (v.18) is called “the Lord’s table” in Malachi 1:7,12 – the altar in their temple where they worshiped Him. However, 1 Corinthians 10:16-17 teach that the bread and the wine are always the most prominent items. Therefore, it is by breaking bread together that believers most properly express their fellowship with each other. Take careful note that verse 21 emphasizes the rights of the Lord over those who partake of His Table.

Preparation
Prior to the Lord Jesus’ instituting this method of our remembering Him, He instructed His disciples to prepare the Passover (Lk. 22:7-13). In like manner, proper preparations for the Breaking of Bread service must be made. For most assemblies, a meeting place is designated for the exclusive use of the local church, but the loaf of bread and the wine must be prepared or purchased and the meeting room made ready. There is also the more fundamental requirement for the Breaking of Bread to be an integral, advertised part of the formal services held by the local church. When possible, it should be the first and primary activity in the weekly cycle of any local assembly and be held at least every Lord’s Day.

Each member of the local church should be both morally fit and spiritually prepared to participate in breaking bread together. As we have seen from 1 Corinthians 10, believers have moral responsibilities regarding Christian fellowship. Specifically, their lives must not involve any activities or associations that are inconsistent with the death of the Lord Jesus.

They also must be spiritually prepared so when they partake of the bread and wine in the communion service they do so in the intended manner. That is, they understand that the bread represents the Lord’s body and that the cup represents His blood. This preparation is a matter of self-examination (11:27-31).

Furthermore, every brother in the local church should be spiritually exercised to be ready to contribute at the Lord’s Supper as led by the Spirit of God. First Corinthians 14 indicates these contributions would consist of prayers of thanksgiving, praise and worship; hymns4 to be sung by the congregation; and readings from Scripture, possibly with suitable devotional comments. Primarily, everybody (both brother and sister) should have the desire of heart to respond to the Lord’s request to remember Him in His death and to act as priests, who offer up spiritual worship to God (see 1 Pet. 2:5). John 12:1-3 shows how great an impact the sisters have in determining the spiritual tone of the meeting.

If we are prepared in these ways, then the Breaking of Bread services will be ongoing experiences of true Christian fellowship with each other. They will be occasions of true worship of the Lord Jesus; and through Him true worship of His Father by the Spirit.

ENDNOTES
1. Mt. 26:17-29; Mk. 14:12-25; Lk. 22:7-20.
2. See Grace & Truth Magazine, January 2007 for more teaching on this subject.
3. The Lord’s Table must not be confused with the piece of church furniture on which the loaf of bread and the cup of wine are placed at the Communion service.
4. A hymnbook which contains hymns appropriate for use at the Breaking of Bread service and hymns of worship to God the Father should be used.

By David Anderson

It is remarkable that the two great abiding ordinances of Christianity – baptism and the Lord’s Supper – both point to our union with our Lord who has died. Baptism is connected with our outward position in the world. Therefore, it is strictly personal. Although, as in Acts 2, 3,000 souls may have been baptized at once, yet for each one baptism was a personal matter. They have no fellowship therein one with another. On the other hand the Lord’s Supper, although it too is for this earth, is connected with our inward position as the body of Christ. Therefore fellowship is an important characteristic here. It would be an absolute contradiction to the Word of God for an individual to take bread and wine to celebrate the Lord’s Supper by himself. Then too, the apostle Paul, who was given the special commission to reveal the truth of the assembly and her oneness with Christ, said, “For Christ has not sent me to baptize” (1 Cor. 1:17 JND), although he himself was baptized and had occasionally baptized others. But in the same epistle he said that he had received a special revelation from the Lord regarding the Lord’s Supper (11:23), and he devoted two chapters to this subject.

That which is personal has a large place in Scripture. Every man must be personally converted, must personally come to God, must personally believe on the Lord Jesus and His blood, and must personally take the place of rejection with the crucified Lord in baptism. But in Scripture, great blessings are connected with fellowship too. — Hendrik L. Heijkoop, Beginning With Christ