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NASB | Acts 2:42 They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Acts 2:42 They were continually and faithfully devoting themselves to the instruction of the apostles, and to fellowship, to eating meals together and to prayers. |
Bible Question:
Acts 2 42 They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 1 Corinthians 10 16 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? 1 Corinthians 11 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. 27 Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. 28 A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. 29 For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself. 30 That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. 31 But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment. 32 When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world. 33 So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for each other. 34 If anyone is hungry, he should eat at home, so that when you meet together it may not result in judgment. And when I come I will give further directions. Many churches have reduced the Lord's Supper to a monthly or even semi-annual event. Although scripture doesn't give a direct command to partake every week, it seems the early church did it quite often. It appears to offer a spiritual benefit of giving one a chance to judge himself, and possibly a physical health benefit (1 Cor 11:30). Any thoughts on why some choose not to enjoy this priviledge? |
Bible Answer: Delprad, I can not adress why other churches do not have communion more regularly. I can address why the Catholic Church offfers daily and weekly Holy Communion. "The Eucharist is 'the source and summit of the Christian life.' "The other sacraments, and indeed all ecclesiastical ministries and works of the apostolate, are bound up with the Eucharist and are oriented toward it. For in the blessed Eucharist is contained the whole spiritual good of the Church, namely Christ himself, our Pasch." "The Eucharist is the efficacious sign and sublime cause of that communion in the divine life and that unity of the People of God by which the Church is kept in being. It is the culmination both of God's action sanctifying the world in Christ and of the worship men offer to Christ and through him to the Father in the Holy Spirit." Finally, by the Eucharistic celebration we already unite ourselves with the heavenly liturgy and anticipate eternal life, when God will be all in all. In brief, the Eucharist is the sum and summary of our faith: "Our way of thinking is attuned to the Eucharist, and the Eucharist in turn confirms our way of thinking." It is called 'Holy Communion,' because by this sacrament we unite ourselves to Christ, who makes us sharers in his Body and Blood to form a single body. We also call it: the holy things (ta hagia; sancta) - the first meaning of the phrase 'communion of saints" in the Apostles' Creed - the bread of angels, bread from heaven, medicine of immortality, viaticum.... ' " The Catechism Emmaus |