“For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.”
For
“For” shows a reason we repeat the Lord’s Supper on a regular basis. This is a new revelation beyond the Gospels.
as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup,
Eating is a picture of faith. Eating is a good analogy of faith because it pictures the assimilation of food into the body without merit. There is no merit in believing. Good people eat food, and bad people eat food. We cannot work for salvation; it is a work of grace. We earn hell but heaven is a gift.
you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.
Partaking in the Lord’s Supper preaches the gospel to others visually. The word “proclaim” is more than representation. It is a proclamation of death, a death that provides substitutionary forgiveness.
PRINCIPLE:
Participation in the Lord’s Supper is a visible sermon.
APPLICATION:
The Lord’s Supper is more than a memorial celebration of Christ’s body and blood; it is an anticipation of seeing Him again. We will not do this forever but only until He comes. One day we will see the Lord of glory and, oh, what a day that will be. All this puts into perspective any trifling with the Lord’s Supper.
1corinthians 11:26 “you proclaim the Lords death until He comes”
1] To whom is this proclamation made ?
2] Where is it done? in a church only?
3] By whom is this proclamation made?
John, the context is in the assembly of believers so the proclamation is to fellow Christians. The word “proclaim” means to announce, show or declare. It is in the present active indicative indicating that the showing or declaring is an ongoing process. The person who does the announcing is the believer who partakes of communion.
How often are we to partake of the lord’s supper or is there a particular time per year we’re only supposed to have it.
Charlotte, the explicit Scripture statement “as often as you…” implies that it needs to be regular but at no specific time.