The Lord's Supper

 A.C.Pike

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​“And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. 20) Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.” (Luke 22:19,22).

Should the bread and the wine used in Churches be unleavened bread and red wine? Or should they be leavened bread and none alcoholic pasteurized fruit juice?

It seems that most modern Churches have adapted the use of fruit juice and leavened bread in their services when celebrating the Eucharist. As Jesus commands us to observe the practice of breaking bread and drinking of the cup (Luke 22:19) then we are to obey his command. It makes me think of the Temple Priests of old who sacrificed lame and sick animals on the altar when God asked them to sacrifice perfect ones (Malachi 1:12-14). It was very important that the Jews follow this practice very carefully, as the unblemished sacrifices represented Jesus’ perfect sinless sacrifice on the cross where none of his bones were broken (Psalm 34:20 and John 19:31-37).

So where did the practice of substituting red wine and unleavened bread for fruit juice and leavened bread come from? The practice of substituting alcoholic wine in the Lord's Supper started with the ‘Temperance Movement' and the seventh century Eastern and Western churches replaced unleavened bread with leavened bread in the Lord's Supper. The Temperance Movement that advocated the abstinence from alcohol began in Australia in 1830. It spread to other countries, even as far wide as Europe (the UK). It wasn’t until 1869 that Thomas Welch invented the pasteurization grape juice. This allowed Christians to use ‘grape juice’ in their communion. Up until this point (1830’s) all the major Christian denominations (Catholics, Anglicans, Lutherans, Calvinists, and Anabaptist) ‘ALL’ used alcohol in their communion services!

When Jesus instructed his followers to meet in the upper room to part take of the bread he did this on the “feast of unleavened bread” (Matthew 26:17 ). Although we no longer partake of the ancient Jewish festival of unleavened bread (Exodus 12:8), the principle of using unleavened bread at the Lord's Supper is of an important significance. The use of unleavened bread was a physical representation of purity. In Mark 8:15 Jesus mentions that the “leaven” of the Pharisees as being evil and then this equates this with their unrighteousness. The Apostle Paul in Galatians 5:9 talks about “a little leaven” spoiling “the whole lump”, in other words all of our good deeds can be cancelled out by one wrongdoing. Leaven is associated with sin*. The reason why a Christian partakes of unleavened bread at the Last Supper is because the unleavened bread represents Christ’s sinless body; therefore, his body contained no leaven (sin) in it. See also 1 Corinthians 5:7, 8 with regards to spiritual yeast.

But what of the wine? After Jesus had instructed his followers to partake of the Lord's Supper (Matthew 26:26-28) he mentioned drinking from the vine with his followers in his Father’s Kingdom (Matthew 26:29). Some Christians have taken this scripture to mean ‘grape juice.’ Whilst the Greek word “γενματος της αμπελου” (TR15550) can be translated “generating from the vine” it could be seen to refer to either ‘wine’ or ‘grape juice’, but not ‘other fruit juices.’ It should however be noted that at the traditional Jewish Passover several small cups of wine (about three or four according to the Jewish Talmud Pesachim 10:1) were consumed. Another argument made against the drinking of fruit juices (grape juice) was the fact that by the time the grapes were harvested to the time of the Passover grape juice would have gone off! So we can be sure that Jesus used wine and not grape juice.

oSme might object though and say that the wine used in the bible was ‘non-alcoholic wine.’ But is this true? It might surprise people to learn that Jesus’ first miracle was turning water into wine (John 2:1-11). The Greek word used here is “ovons.’ This is the very same Greek word used by the Apostle Paul when he advocated Timothy to drink wine for his upset stomach (1 Timothy 5:23).

Do we want to be like the people of old (Malachi 1:12-14) who change the Lord’s sacraments to please themselves, or do we want to please the Lord and follow his Word to the letter?


Additional Notes
*I must state that it is not a sin to eat leavened bread; a Christian can eat leavened bread at anytime (as long as it is not apart of the Christian Passover).

References
All Bible quotations are taken from the ‘Authorised Version’ of the bible.

TR1440 (The 1550 Stephanus New Testament).
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The Jewish Talmud Pesachim.