Simply put, the Lord’s Supper is the ordinance or sacrament of ongoing fellowship in the New Covenant assembly, the church.
But what do we mean by sacrament or ordinance? John Calvin helpfully describes a sacrament as “A testimony of divine grace toward us, confirmed by an outward sign, with mutual attestation of our piety toward him.”[1] An ordinance is another term for the same reality, highlighting that it was ordained by Christ during His earthly ministry.
Jesus Christ instituted the Lord’s Supper during the Passover celebration the night He was betrayed. This is Matthew’s account,
Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” 27 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, 28 for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. 29 I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”
He instituted it then to indicate that He was the fulfillment of the Passover Lamb. He was the true lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world and saves His people from death. The Lord’s Supper is simply the gospel in visible, tangible elements.
As such, it is a gift of Christ to the His people in three ways. First, it points us backward to His body broken, His blood shed. It directs us as His people to His once-for-all sacrifice on our behalf on the cross. It is a meal for sinners.
Second, it symbolizes our present fellowship with Christ and with one another. In the Lord’s Supper, Christ is inviting us to the dinner table, so to speak. As we partake, we have fellowship with Christ because we are no longer enemies, but sons of God in union with the Son, and therefore also brothers and sisters with one another. It is a meal for the faithful.
Third, it directs us to Christ’s return, to that eternal kingdom in which Christ will again be with us bodily! Then we will no longer partake of this sacrament, but of the marriage feast of the lamb (Rev. 19:9). It is a meal for pilgrims.
There is one more question we should deal with in this article – is there some special grace conferred by the Lord’s Supper accessible only there?
The answer is: No. The Lord’s Supper is the gospel in tangible form, and as such it presents the same Christ and the same grace as the gospel. Scottish reformer Robert Bruce said it well, “We get no other thing in the Sacrament than we get in the Word.”
However, if this is the case, why have it at all?
Bruce helpfully answers that question as well, in essence by saying it is not that we get a better Christ in the Supper, but we get Christ better. As we receive it by faith as a gift from Him (understanding the threefold signification), our faith is strengthened, our grip on Christ made more firm. What we heard in the word of the gospel, we now have presented to our other senses in the Supper.
[1] John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, IV.xiv.1.
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