For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night 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, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
1 Corinthians 11:23 - 26New International Version
Sun 31Aug2025 Wesley Methodist Church Kampar
In what manner should we take the Lord's Supper?
(A) We should avoid the Unworthy Manner
When we look closer into the short passage from verse 18 to verse22, and comparing them with verse 22, we see that taking the Lord's Supper in an unworthy manner can be characterised by the following behaviour in the Assembly of believers
- showing divisions in the assembly (v18), having differences with one another (v19)
- not waiting for one another to take the supper together (v21)
- some believers take too much, and get drunk, while others remain hungry because they do not get their share of the bread and wine (v21b)
- such a manner of taking the Lord's Supper despise the Assembly of God and humiliates those who have no food to eat (v22)
- those who do so have sinned against the body and blood of the Lord Iesus (v27)
(B) We should adopt the Worthy Manner
Verses 23 to 25 of today's passage go on to tell us about the worthy manner in which all believers should partake of the Lord's Supper in the Assembly:
- take it in the same manner as shown and as given by the Lord Iesus (v23 - 25)
- compare with Luke 22:19 - 20; Mark 14:22 - 25; Matthew 26:26 - 29
- the proper manner or order of taking the Lord's Supper was received from the Lord and was passed on to the believers in the Corinthian Assembly (v23), as follows:
- Take bread, give thanks, and break it (v23, 24)
- Recount the words of the Lord Iesus, "This is my body, which is for you, do this in remembrance of me" (v24)
- After taking the bread, take the cup in the same way i.e. give thanks, then distribute the wine to everyone (v25a)
- Recount the words of the Lord, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me" (v25)
Why is it necessary to take the Lord's Supper in a Worthy Manner?
We read in today's passage that both the bread and the cup is to be taken for one solemn purpose — to do it in remembrance of the Lord Iesus (v24b, v25b).
Each time we take the Lord's Supper together, eating the bread and drinking the cup, we are taking no ordinary bread and wine. Instead, we are proclaiming the death of our Lord Iesus.
Conclusion
The Lord's Supper is no ordinary supper. It is to be taken in the same manner as first given by the Lord Iesus to His disciples.
Each time we take it together, we do so in remembrance of our Lord. We proclaim His death.
The following are my thoughts on related topics, written over the last eleven years on this blog:
