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NASB | 1 Corinthians 10:16 Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ? |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | 1 Corinthians 10:16 Is the cup of blessing which we bless [at the Lord's Supper] not a sharing in the blood of Christ? [Indeed it is.] Is the bread which we break not a sharing in the body of Christ? [Indeed it is.] |
Subject: How is comunion only symbolic? |
Bible Note: Jesus expected His disciples to take His words at the Last Supper in their figurative sense. The bread and wine did not change, but were symbols of His body and blood. The following arguments support this view. There is no indication in the Gospel accounts of the Last Supper that the Lord’s disciples thought that the bread and wine changed or that they worshiped them as divine. No reasonable person present at the Last Supper would have taken Jesus’ words to mean that He was now both at the table and on the table (and later under the table as crumbs were scattered). The Lord frequently used figurative language in His teachings even using the same verb translated “is” in His words “This is My body” (see John 6:48; 8:12; 10:9,11; 11:25 14:6; 15:1). Immediately after the Lord said of the wine, "This is my blood" (Matthew v 26:28), He said, “I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom” (Matthew 26:29). If the wine had changed into blood by His first statement, Jesus would not have referred to it in the second statement as “this fruit of the vine.” At the conclusion of the Last Supper, Jesus told His disciples, “These things I have spoken to you in figurative language” (John 16:25). There is nothing in the Book of Acts indicating that the first Christians believed the bread and wine changed. Neither do the Epistles of the New Testament speak of any change. One interpretation requires the eating of human flesh and drinking of human blood. This is strictly forbidden by Scripture (Leviticus 17:10-14; Acts 15:29). Scripture never ascribes more than one location at any given time to Christ’s bodily presence. According to the Bible, He is now enthroned in heaven. Christians are awaiting His Second Coming. He is not, therefore, bodily present in thousands of churches around the world. There is no precedent in Scripture for a miracle in which God expects the faithful to believe that something supernatural has happened despite all outward evidence indicating that nothing has happened. God has never dealt with people in this manner. |