BY WHAT AUTHORITY - THE LORD’S SUPPER?

Authority for the Lord’s supper comes by the direct command of Jesus himself In the same night in which he was betrayed, he gave bread and fruit of the vine to his disciples, after which he commanded: “Do this in remembrance of me” (1 Cor. 11:23-29).

It is important for us to recognize, however, exactly what this authorizes. In the very passage under consideration we find that the Christians at Corinth went beyond what Jesus commanded by enlarging the Lord’s Supper into a common meal (1 Cor. 11:20-22). It is clear that such violates a major principle of authority -- the condemnation of going beyond (2 Jn. 9).

The apostle Paul made it clear that we are not at liberty to alter the Lord’s Supper to satisfy our own hunger (1 Cor. 11:33-34). Similarly, we should strive in every way possible to assure that we do exactly what Jesus commanded to be done in His remembrance.

For example, the elements to be partaken are clearly bread and fruit of the vine (Mt. 26:

26-29). Any other elements would be wrong, as we saw in the case of the Corinthians.

This led to their “eating and drinking judgment unto themselves” (1 Cor. 11:29). There is no reason that anyone should add, subtract or substitute elements in the Lord’s Supper.

Another aspect of the Lord’s Supper is the specific time at which it is to be partaken. Some might reason that we are at liberty to decide this for ourselves. However, being specified by apostolic example takes this out of the realm of judgment (1 Cor 11:1).

It is clear that the Corinthians were partaking of the Lord’s supper “when ye come together in the church” (1 Cor. 11:19), and they were not criticized for this frequency of occurrence. In addition, Acts 20:7 shows that the very reason for Christians to assemble on the “first day of the week” was “to break bread.” This must refer to the Lord’s Supper, consistently with the apostolic practices stated in Acts 2:42.

The elements and the time of partaking of the Lord’s Supper are two aspects, which we can easily discern from God’s word. It behooves us to do the best that we can to comply with God’s word in all aspects of this great privilege of sharing which the Lord has offered us.