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Is Communion merely symbolic?
We all love partaking of the Lord's Supper together. We consider the bread and the wine a great blessing, as we remember the Lord's death until He comes. But many people have raised a very important question: "Is the Lord's Supper merely a symbol? Or is there actually grace communicated to us when we partake of it?" Please join me as we think through the answer to this critical question.
Two Thousand years ago, the Word of God came to Earth in a physical, material body. The body of Jesus was made of the same substances as yours and mine: water, salt, carbon and calcium, as well as many other everyday chemicals. And as with you and me, there was nothing special about these material substances in and of themselves. And yet, when God Sovereignly ordained those bits of material to be formed into the living body of the Son of God, they became very special indeed. And certainly, none of Christ's apostles looked at His physical body and said, "That body is just a symbol of Jesus." On the contrary, when they were looking at His body, they were looking at Christ Himself. In the first verse of John's first epistle, the apostle wrote about Christ, "which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched". As he wrote in John 1:14, "The Word became flesh."
And that is not the only way God has supernaturally attached Himself to this material world. Like Christ Himself, this Bible I hold in my hand is also called "The Word of God". Some people would say that I hold a mere stack of paper in my hand, soiled with common ink. And yet I boldly call it by the Name of the Second Person of the Trinity. Before this particular book was bound, there was nothing special or unique about the paper and ink. It could have been used to make a cookbook or a dime-store novel. But God had other plans for it. God Sovereignly chose to use this particular paper and this particular ink to bear His Holy Words. Thus, God chose to supernaturally attach Himself to this book – to this very paper and ink I hold in my hand today. And believe me, there is real power in this book. God promised in Isaiah 55:11 that His Word will never return to him void, but will always accomplish what God desires and will achieve the purpose for which He sent it. God's Word is always effective! Whether it brings about grace or judgment, it always accomplishes God's desire. And of course that level of power is not normally present in physical, material things such as the paper and ink of this Bible, the mouth of a preacher, the ear of the hearer, or even the air through which the sound waves travel. But whenever these simple physical materials are Sovereignly consecrated to be a conduit of His Word, the printed page and spoken word become the very Instruments of God. The Second Person of the Trinity attached Himself to the physical world by taking a human body, and He has also Sovereignly attached Himself to the physical world by bringing about the Bible, which is called by His own Name, even though the materials themselves be but paper and ink.
In John 1:1, Jesus is called the "Word" of God. A physical body was prepared for Him, as we see in Hebrews 10:5, and He called it His "body". All Scripture is God-breathed, and so the Bible is called "the Word of God". Jesus ordained a sacrament of bread, and said "This is my body". He also ordained a sacrament of wine, and called it His "blood".
The Word of God was physically present when He walked this earth with human flesh. The Word of God is physically here in my hand, printed on paper in human language. And the Word of God is also present before us, at this table from which we all partake of the Lord. Under any other circumstances, this would be nothing more than bread, and nothing more than wine. But just as this Bible in my hand is not "just a book", and Jesus Himself was not "just a human", so this Supper we take is not "just bread and wine". Physically, it is bread and wine. But Christ is here. He has Sovereignly chosen to attach Himself to the physical world, just as He did with His human body, and just as He does with this paper and ink in my hand. This bread is His Body, and this wine is His Blood. Jesus is present. The wine still remains wine, and the bread still remains bread, but Jesus is spiritually there.
In 1 Corinthians 10, the apostle Paul draws an antithesis between the Lord's table, and the table of demons. Now, when people partake of sacrifices during demon worship, I doubt that anyone here would say that something merely "symbolic" is going on. No, even though the sacrifice doesn't magically change into something other than meat, there is still an evil presence. And Paul speaks about these things in the same breath! So, if we can readily admit a spiritual presence in an unholy meal, then we should have no trouble admitting that there is a real spiritual presence in a holy meal like this one. As Paul said in 1 Corinthians 10, this cup we drink is a participation in the blood of Christ, and this bread we eat is a participation in the body of Christ.
Did Christ refer to the Lord's Supper in John 6? Let's take a look at verses 54-58: Jesus said, "Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Our forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this bread will live forever."
Whether or not the Lord's Supper is specifically in view, I do believe these words in John 6 best protray what is actually going on during the Lord's supper. We are feasting on Christ. Now there are some people who would say, "I feast on Christ in my heart, and that's what really counts. But when I partake of bread and wine in the Lord's Supper, it is just a symbol, merely to remind me of what I am really doing spiritually."
But that kind of thinking strikes me as odd. Just for a moment, please consider two different couples:
The first couple gets married, but never consummates their marriage. You ask them why, and they say that they are trying to just "concentrate on the spiritual side of their marriage, because that's the only thing that's really important anyway." They spend lots of time together, and are very good to one another, and they are the best of friends. But by never consummating their marriage, they never experience one particularly important emotional, intimate, spiritual connection with one another. Ironically, by concentrating too much on the so-called spiritual-side of their marriage, they miss out on an important facet of spiritual intimacy with one another. And furthermore, while this couple may be married, it is clear that they will never have children. Their marriage will never bear fruit.
Now consider the second couple:
They are no less concerned with the "spiritual side" of their marriage than the first couple. They too spend lots of time together, are very good to one another, and are the best of friends. But they physically consummate their marriage as well. And they do so quite often. Unlike the first couple, there is no facet of their relationship with one another that they are leaving out. Thus their spiritual and emotional intimacy has the ability to reach the highest point possible. And it is very likely that this couple will have children. Their marriage will bear fruit.
The moral to the story is simply this: Spiritual intimacy is harmed when we neglect physical intimacy.
Now, we know that the Scriptures compare marriage to the relationship between Christ and the Church. So why should the Church think that physical intimacy with Christ is any less important than physical intimacy in marriage? True, it is critically important to internally believe and trust in Christ. It is important to hear the Word of God and to meditate upon it. It is important to pray. But it is also very important to feast upon the body and the blood of Jesus in the Lord's Supper. And that is exactly what we are doing. God has Sovereignly chosen to communicate Christ to us through the physical means of this Edible Word of God, and Liquid Word of God. Just as your heart is nourished by the hearing of God's Word, so is your soul nourished by the eating and drinking of God's Word. This sacrament truly provides communion with God: It is the Word of God in visible, tangible form.
The Apostle Paul refused to call the Lord's Supper a mere "symbol". In 1 Corinthians 10:16, he says, "Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ?" Note that Paul says communion is a "participation" in the blood and body of Christ, and not merely a "symbol" of it. When we partake of the Lord's Supper, we actually participate in His body and in His blood. Christ Himself is truly present.
As the Westminster Confession states in chapter 29, section 7:
"Worthy receivers, outwardly partaking of the visible elements in this sacrament, do then also inwardly by faith, really and indeed, yet not carnally and corporally, but spiritually, receive and feed upon Christ crucified, and all benefits of his death: the body and blood of Christ being then not corporally or carnally in, with, or under the bread and wine; yet as really, but spiritually, present to the faith of believers in that ordinance, as the elements themselves are to their outward senses."
Taste and see that the Lord is good. As we eat this bread, and drink this wine, let us take great joy in feasting upon the body and blood of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!
--- Article by Joseph M. Gleason - June, 2005
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