Christians are either in one of two conditions, walking in the Spirit so as not to fulfill the lusts of the flesh, or walking in the flesh and fulfilling the lusts thereof. We cannot be both things at the same time. What characterises the first is that they obey the Word of God, and can say, "truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ." Jno.1:3. The characteristics of the second are one of disobedience to the Word of God. This may not be intentional, but it is usually done by an attitude that can be described, as doing what one thinks is right. Judges.21:25. What then can we do to walk in the Spirit? First of all we must come to the conclusion that, "in me, (that is in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing" Rom.7:18. That statement can only come from a revelation by the Holy Spirit who convicts us as to just what we are, sin. Every born again soul has that inward desire to love and serve the Lord, but somehow we are so easily led away from Him. We may ask, what is the answer? Well one of the answers is in the Breaking of Bread. In these notes we will look at what it should be, and what our thoughts should dwell on. This is, of course, should be on the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, and not ourselves. He did say "this do in remembrance of Me." 1Cor.11:24.

It is important because it is at the heart of our christian lives. It was not commanded by the Lord just for His satisfaction, which it is, but it is for our edification. It is the central energy building block in our christian lives, and it is vital to our spiritual well-being. To disregard it, as some do, is spiritually devastating, and is the completely wrong. That such a vitally important activity could be relegated in our estimation or even misunderstood is indeed sad. Let us look at that which is central, vital, and essential to our spiritual lives.

As we study the act and meaning of the breaking of bread we will come to see that it is indeed the very centre of all christian activity. One can say, not only the centre of activity, but also it is central to the whole christian life. We will come to see that from it, and what it represents springs our spiritual strength.

We read "For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us:" 1Cor.5:7, which must surely lead us to study the type brought before us. When we do we will see that the saints of the Old Testament looked forward to the work of Christ on the cross just as we, saints of the church age, look back on His work and what it means. The Passover speaks of the lamb slain and the blood that saved was shed. The Breaking of Bread speaks of the death of Christ.

The Passover makes much of the blood of the lamb as the Breaking of Bread makes much of the blood of Christ. This subject is covered in the accompanying notes entitled the "Passover", and it is not intended to go over them again. What is intended is to point out the attitude of those who partook of that divinely appointed feast.

Every human being from Adam to the very last person ever saved will be saved by faith, and faith alone. Eternal salvation is only ever by faith in the work and person of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that to the exclusion of everything else that ever should come into the human mind. "There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death." Prov.14:12, Prov.16:25.

This being so we then are led to wonder at the statement "And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread: and with bitter (herbs) they shall eat it." Ex.12:8. Again concerning the Passover we read, "Thou shalt eat no leavened bread with it; seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread therewith, even the bread of affliction..." Deut.16:3. In the first verse above and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. We note that the word "herbs" is not in the original and it simply means that the feast is to eaten in bitterness of heart. We are led to ask why? Before answering let us note "the bread of affliction" where affliction means misery.

To be quite truthful this would seem absolutely stupid to the normal person. The feast signified the people's deliverance from slavery of the worst kind, and yet it was to be eaten in bitterness and misery. Why was there not joy and celebration? Well firstly because they're God, redeeming God had said so. Would they all have understood why the sad and miserable attitude? Of course not, but there were some who would have readily understood, and would have felt this bitterness. Later in their history the prophets would enlighten them.

Those who were sorrowful would have understood the prophecy in Genesis chapter 3, "I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise His heel." verse 15. Again Psalm 22 would have living meaning to them, the seed of the woman, the Lord Jesus Christ, must be bruised, the bulls would compass Him, His bones would be out of joint, they part His garments among themselves. Who is He that cried "My God, My God why hast thou forsaken me". It is the Lord Himself

The Israelite who looked forward to the Saviour's coming knew that He would suffer for sin, their sin. They would have slain the innocent lamb and placed its blood on the doorposts. They would read the prophets and find, "Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He hath put Him to grief: when thou shalt make His soul an offering for sin," Isa.53:10. Each Israelite knew why the Lord would suffer; He would ay for their sins. They were the cause of the Messiah's suffering the feast of the Passover was not joyous as their mind looked forward to their Saviour's suffering

There was most certainly joy for the Israelite. He had the feast of First Fruits that was not held in Egypt or in the wilderness, but it was a feast for the land. It was a land that provided their every need, and the first fruits were offered to God. It spoke of the resurrection of Christ, and that indeed would call the shouts of praise.

So we see the true Israelite had times of sad reflection, and also of times joy. Is the Christian today any different? No not at all, and as we will see everything has its right place. We, as Christians, no longer deal with shadows of things to come, but we have the full light of the scriptures brought to us by the power of the Holy Spirit. As we bow to the authority of the Word of God we find everything has its right place.

This is a larger subject than younger christians might at first see. It is of vital importance, and it is most grievous to see large numbers of christians teaching and being taught that we do not have to Break Bread. There are even some who cannot distinguish between the meal "break bread" and the "Breaking of Bread". This is so simple because the context in every case make it quite clear as to which is which. Let us now study this subject.

Now three questions may be asked: what about the Lord Jesus Christ? What was the Last Supper? What is the Breaking of Bread? We will now address three good questions that have been taken from the writer's notes on "The Passover".

The last supper is recorded in three gospels, and reference is made to it in 1Cor.11. This subject is important as many mistakes are made by christians in not understanding the scriptures, and not "rightly dividing the word of truth." 2Tim.2:15.

"Now the first day of the feast of unleavened bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying unto Him, where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the Passover?" Mat.26:17. Please notice that they were to eat the Passover that, as we have seen, is a meal of lamb roast with fire. In verse 21 we read "And as they did eat" that is eating the "lamb roast with fire, and unleavened bread", Ex.12:8, certain events took place. We will look at this closely both here and in the other gospels.

For our study notice verse 26, "and as they were eating, Jesus took the bread, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples", this happened during the course of the meal, and not before or after it. Then immediately after the bread He took the wine of which ALL partook. The action of the breaking of the bread and the drinking of the wine is a separate event during the eating of the Passover. It would appear that soon after breaking the bread and taking the cup they went to the Mount of Olives.

In Matthew the order of the events regarding the last supper were:

1. The disciples make preparation, at an appointed place, for the Passover

2. They commence the Passover meal

3. During the meal the Lord broke bread and took the cup as a SYMBOL of His body and blood

4. They all continued the meal

5. They then went to the Mount of Olives.

Again in Mark 14:12 preparations are made for the Passover meal in the large upper room furnished and prepared. In verse 18 it quite specifically states that, "they sat and did eat". The Passover meal had commenced. It is during the meal that He indicates that Judas will betray Him, which is difficult to imagine that under these circumstances Judas would carry out his intention to sell the Lord. Note again in verse 22-24, "and as they did eat, Jesus took bread, and brake it, and gave it to them and said, take eat this is my body. And He took the cup, and when He had given thanks, He gave it to them: and they all drank of it. And He said unto them this is my blood of the new testament which is shed for many."

1. The disciples make preparation for the Passover meal

2. They commence the Passover meal

3. During the meal the Lord breaks bread and takes the cup

4. They continue the meal

5. They sang a hymn

6. They went to the Mount of Olives

This is a description of the same event that we looked at in Matthew and Mark above. In verses 7 to 12 the disciples are told to prepare the Passover for the Lord. Now particularly notice verse 15, "with desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer". We are looking at the phasing out of one dispensation, the law and its ordinances, and the phasing in of another, the church age. He makes a flat statement in verse 16, "I will not any more eat this Passover with you before I suffer."

This was a flat statement of truth that is followed by His request for all to drink the wine in verse 18, "For I say unto you I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come." This is a very special thing for the Lord knew that His hour had come. Fellowship as the disciples knew it, was coming to an end, there would never be another Passover feast to the Lord. He loved His disciples, and He loved them unto the end, and He could look forward to a future association with them.

A new era was about to commence. He was the true Passover lamb about to be offered and also to be the offeror. We read, "How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" Heb.9.14.

This drinking of the wine, verse 17, is in no way associated with the Passover or the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord. It had to do with the ushering in of the kingdom. It looked forward to the time when He would return as the rightful king of Israel and rule over the earth. The connection is later made in verse 29-30, "And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as My Father hath appointed unto me; that ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel." In due course these words would be of great comfort to the disciples.

It is after this that he broke the bread and took the cup. Who is to partake of it is not mentioned, but the epistles make that quite clear. He makes the statement, "this do in remembrance of Me." We shall see further light shed on this command in 1 Corinthians chapter 11. The believer today remembers the true paschal lamb that was without spot or blemish, shed His precious blood for us.

1. The disciples, Peter and John are named, go and prepare the Passover meal.

2. His desire to partake of this Passover is fulfilled

3. During the meal the Lord breaks the bread and takes the wine

4. He then indicates who is about to betray Him

5. A discussion between the disciples takes place as to who will be the greatest

6. He tells the disciples about their place in the coming kingdom.

7. Further discussion takes place

8. They go the Mount of Olives.

Points 5, 6, and 7 are not mentioned in the other gospels. Other than the statement "this do in remembrance of me" no other information is offered at that time about the breaking of bread. This is for good reasons.

1. It is to be exclusively an assembly activity

2. The Lord had not yet been crucified and the old order had not passed away

3. The church (assembly) was not yet formed.

4. The Holy Spirit is not given to direct the meeting, Acts 2

It was appropriate for the Lord to indicate that He should be remembered through the breaking of bread, and the Passover was a type of the true Passover Lamb. He was going away; He would give each believer the gift of the Holy Spirit who would lead into all truth. Furthermore the written word would be completed as the written guide.

1 "My time is at hand: I will keep the Passover at thy house with my disciples." Mat.26:18

2 Verily I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me, and they were exceeding sorrowful..."

Mat.26:21-22.

3 "The Son of Man goeth as it is written of Him," Mat.26:24

4 Then said Jesus unto them, "all ye shall be offended because of me this night; for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad." Mat.26:31.

5 "With desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before suffer." Luke 22:16

It is impossible to read these statements, and not be moved. Here is the true paschal lamb about to be slaughtered. He was to suffer for sin, He who knew no sin. The pains of hell would take hold of Him; and all God's wrath against sin would be poured out on Him. Yet His disciples did not understand.

He had a desire to eat the last Passover with them. He was about to pay the redemption price in His own blood. Above all He knew that his disciples, for whom He was about to die would be scattered, and be temporarily left without a shepherd.

Before the feast He had spent time with His disciples preparing them for His departure. In John 14 we read that He was going away to prepare a place for them, and that their heart should not be troubled. He promised to give them another Comforter, and He left them His peace. He was going to the Father, but He knew that they did not understand, and they would suffer great sorrow.

In chapter 16 He repeated His promise to send the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, who would enlighten them of far better things to come. He told them His departure is only temporary. This they could not understand, but were soon to learn. In chapter 17 we see His great concern for His disciples, and His prayer to the Father is for their preservation.

Before preceding any further we must be struck with His great love and concern for His disciples. That has never changed, but what is it that should bind us to Him? Nothing more than His great sacrifice for us. "Greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends." John 15:13. We then must be moved by this verse, "...while we were yet sinners Christ died for us." Rom.5:8.

For I have received of the Lord paralambano; to receive from another

that which also I delivered unto paradodomai; to give over, pass over

It is here we see the written direct commandments to the church in local testimony. Before we proceed we must be absolutely certain that we understand the context in which it is now given.

First it is given to the "church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours" 1Cor.1:2. This epistle is written first of all to the Corinthian church, and to all churches throughout all time. It is definitely not written to groups of christians who meet on any other ground than Matthew 18:20.

Second it is a written command for the church. In saying thus it is the individual responsibility to heed the leading of the Holy Spirit to gather together with other believers in a locality who are similarly drawn by the same Spirit to the person of the Lord Jesus Christ in obedience to His Word. That is the place where He dwells in the midst, and in that place only.

It is important to note that just because believers come together with a common purpose, or for any reason other than that which is described in the paragraph above, it does not constitute a church of God in that location. The church is Holy Spirit formed and centered in the Lord Jesus Christ.

this is my body which is (broken) broken is not in the original Greek

for you: this do in remembrance anamnesis; to bring to mind again of me recall

Here we have His body represented by the bread that He took and broke. It would appear that if there was any reference to "broken" it could only be to the bread, which had to be broken by each individual in order to partake of it. That His body was broken is flatly contradicted in scripture, "He keepeth all His bones: not one of them is broken." Psa.34:20; "A bone of Him shall not be broken." Jno.19:36. It would not appear to be scriptural to say that His body was broken.

He was the bread of life yet He gave His life a ransom for us all. Again "For He hath made Him to be sin for us; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." 2Cor.5:21. We see Him bearing our sin in His own body on the tree. All this is together with His humanity; incarnation in particular is brought back to mind at this time. We then note that the Greek word for bread in this verse is "artos" the word for ordinary leavened bread.

After the same manner also he took hosautos; likewise

the cup, when He had supped saying deipneo; have a meal

drink it, in remembrance of me. namnesis; to bring back to the mind

It is of the utmost importance to note well the Greek word "anamnesis" which means to bring back to mind. The breaking of bread has nothing to do with being something in memory of the Lord, that is a memorial feast. Far from it, it is to affectionately bring back to our mind the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. What is to be brought back to the mind? It is the body and blood of the Lord.

The body is to be brought back to mind! Why is that so? Because we read, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" John 1:1. Here we have the Lord Jesus Christ as God in the beginning. We also read " and without Him was not any thing made that was made." verse 2. "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth." verse 14. "to wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself..." 2Cor.5:19.

Why was He given a body? "Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree" 1Peter 2:24. He, the perfect man, was the only one who could pay the penalty for my sins; He had none of His own. Every man born of woman is born in trespasses and sin. No man can save his brother. In view of this there is no other way. That is something that every born again believer should clearly understand.

Why did He die for us? That we might be reconciled to the Father, which was the Father's desire. This is indeed amazing. Now let us consider the reason for the creation of Adam. "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness". Why did God create man in His image? That He, God would be glorified in all that He did. This presents a problem to some christians as they cannot imagine how God is glorified. The answer to the problem is simple. Man who was placed in a perfect environment failed, and sinned. He has failed in every environment ever since. Yet God made man for Himself. There was no need for God to redeem man from our point of view since He could quite easily wipe out all mankind and start again. He did not. He displayed His infinite grace, never before seen, in devising a plan to save worthless man.

That was by the gift and sacrifice of His Son.

In this way God is justified in all things. His plan is perfect. His law is that the soul that sinneth it shall die. He cannot change His word and be righteous. Our sins have consigned us to an eternal lake of fire. We have broken His law, and the penalty must be paid. We cannot pay it. Our part is death. But God gave His Son, the perfect One, to take our place, and give His life for us. He spared not His Son and all the waves and billows of God's wrath against sin passed over Him. In this God is glorified, and it is visible to all creation.

Verse 26

For as often as ye eat this bread artos; ordinary leavened bread

and drink this cup, ye do shew katangello; proclaim

This verse reads, "As often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup ye proclaim the Lord's death till He come." That seems simple enough to understand, but in order to throw more light on this subject let us note the highlights in this chapter from verse 23 to 26. Verse 23 shows that what the apostle received to pass on to the church is linked with the night on which He was betrayed. That is remarkable in itself, as He could have instituted it at any time near the end of His ministry. Therefore special emphasis is placed on "the night that He was betrayed."

Verses 24 and 25 have another point of extreme interest, and that is that the eating of the bread and the drinking was the thing that was "in remembrance of me." This last phrase very especially means "do this to bring me back into your memory."

It is this bringing to mind the Lord in this way that answers to the Israelite eating the Passover with bitterness, and partaking of the bread of affliction. We are remembering a death and suffering, and there is certainly no joy in that. He suffered and died! This without question places great emphasis on His death, a body was prepared for Him, and He shed His precious blood. The mere fact of breaking bread with this attitude is a proclamation of His death.

At the Breaking of Bread His death is the preeminent thing that is to be brought before the occupied believer. We could ask how is a proclamation made? It can be made by a town crier with a bell and placard calling out his message. That message would be very plain and easily understood.

The proclamation at the Breaking of Bread is more powerful than that of the town crier, with the message proclaimed being, "His spotless person became sin for us. His precious blood was shed. He died for our sin". That indeed is the proclamation as stated in verse 26.

It is Him that is brought to mind, it is not us. It is Him that we are occupied with, and not our blessings irrespective of how glorious they are. It is not a time of joy but of great sadness. Christ died, He suffered, His God turned His face from him, and the pains of hell took hold of Him. We might just cast our minds back to the time when we first "saw" Him on the cross, hanging there bearing our sin in His own body. We do not bring to mind the future in this case, but we bring the past back to our mind, back to that day when He was despised and rejected of men. This was the greatest event of all eternity. The Son glorified the Father, and will continue to glorify Him throughout all eternity in the highest heavens. As with the Israelite, is there a time for rejoicing? Yes most definitely yes, but not when we break bread. There are times of ministry and singing where we can express our joy. And what joy we have, our blessings bestowed upon us by an infinitely gracious God are obviously more than our finite minds can comprehend. Above all that, however, should be our joy when we read of our Lord Jesus Christ, "wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given Him a name which is above every name:" Phil.2:9.

Again, "...when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, and also that which is to come: and hath put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church," Eph.1:21-22.

Now let us be quite sure about one thing, if one can not really enter into the spirit of the breaking of bread in seeing the cost, first of all to the Father, and then to the Son then we can never understand why God hath highly exalted Him. We repeat again from the spirit of the Breaking of Bread comes almost everything in the spiritual life.

No doubt the ideal answer is, every born again christian. In this day of great declension most christians are not in the right position to do so according to His Word. The meeting to Break Bread was never recorded as occurring outside an assembly. It is not even contemplated. Please note Acts 20:7; 1Cor.11:17, 18, 20, 33; 1Cor.14:23, 26, which all indicate that the assembly broke bread. Bear in mind that in the early church there was only one meeting time with the Breaking of Bread taking preeminence, but later ministry and singing, Acts.20:7. 1Cor.14:26-33.

The question is then usually asked, where does the unsaved, and the believer who is a non-member stand? This is absolutely and positively outside the activities of the assembly as an observer. We read, "If therefore the whole church be come together into one place, and there come in those that are unlearned, or unbelievers, "1Cor14:23. First notice that the whole church is together, we repeat, the whole church has come together, and other people come in; plain simple English language differentiates between the whole church and the other two groups. The latter are not in it, that is in the church. They are observers taking note of the witness of the church.

It is vital the elders in the assembly get to know these people and teach them graciously. It certainly is one way those same elders can gauge the witness of the assembly in as much as they should hear from them (the non-members) that God is among you of a truth. May every assembly testimony be such.

The breaking of Bread meeting is very personal, and yet it is an assembly activity. It is here that I particularly bring to mind the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. He gave up His perfect human life, and shed His blood for me. How can I not bring this to mind? How can I not equate this with eating the Passover with bitter herbs? This is particularly so as it was my sin for which He died. Each one of us has this in mind when we partake worthily of the cup.

The breaking of bread is a time of adoration of the Lord as we have before us a graphic picture of His infinite love for the Father and for us. It is not a time for us to remember our sins for the new covenant has put away our sins forever. It is a time for the new creation in Christ Jesus that each believer has become at new birth to proclaim His death. "Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the Spirit: for the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life." 2Cor.3:6.

Finally the Breaking of Bread is not a place of self-occupation. That is it is not a time to consider our blessings, our future, our achievements, our sins, nor anything else connected with self. Self-occupation is one of the most miserable activities a christian can be engaged in. Let us consider that first of all we were nothing but sin, dead in trespasses and sins, and totally unacceptable to God. We certainly have nothing to be occupied about there.

What have we got personally to boast about since we were saved? Virtually nothing! Why is that? Simply because we have nothing of any good or value except what we have received. What is there for us to boast about in what we have been given? Absolutely nothing!!

Well then what about our service? Again there is nothing? We can achieve nothing for the Lord except He empowers us. Furthermore we are more disobedient and ignorant than we should be. That is if we are honest with ourselves. Well then WHOM should we be occupied with? The Lord!

When we remember His death it cuts to the quick. We are the guilty ones deserving death, but He who is over all, above all, died for us. He loved us with an everlasting love. Of course we have joy when we contemplate Him as the giver of the Holy Spirit who dwells within. Again when we consider His return we have joy. However when we consider His death we do not find joy, but sorrow in His suffering.

Having remembered Him in His death in the Breaking of Bread we find we are drawn closer to Him, and having done so we find even greater joy that we also long to express, but not at the Breaking of Bread

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