What is communion and what does it mean?

On the night before His crucifixion, Jesus gathered His disciples for a Passover meal and transformed it into something new. Taking bread, He broke it and said, this is my body, which is for you, do this in remembrance of me. Taking the cup, He said, this cup is the new covenant in my blood (1 Corinthians 11:23-25; Luke 22:19-20). From that night forward, this meal became a defining practice of the Christian church.

Communion is not something the early church invented on its own initiative. It comes directly from Christ's own words and instruction, which is why it has been observed continuously by believers for two thousand years, across every culture and continent.

The phrase new covenant would have struck Jesus's disciples with tremendous force. Centuries earlier, the prophet Jeremiah had promised a coming day when God would make a new covenant with His people, one in which He would forgive their sin and write His law on their hearts rather than merely on tablets of stone (Jeremiah 31:31-34). By using this exact language over the cup, Jesus was declaring that the long-awaited new covenant was being inaugurated that very night, sealed not by the blood of bulls and goats but by His own.

The timing was not accidental either. Jesus chose the Passover meal, the very meal Israel had eaten for centuries to remember their deliverance from slavery in Egypt through the blood of a spotless lamb (Exodus 12:1-13). By instituting communion during Passover, Jesus was declaring Himself the true Passover Lamb, whose blood would accomplish a far greater deliverance, freedom from sin and death itself (1 Corinthians 5:7).

At its heart, communion is an act of remembrance. The bread represents Christ's body, broken for us. The cup represents His blood, poured out to establish the new covenant, forgiveness of sins made possible through His sacrificial death (Matthew 26:28). Every time believers take communion, they are looking back to the cross and rehearsing, together, what it cost to save them.

This remembering is not simply mental recall, like remembering a historical date. It is a physical, tangible act, tasting bread and drinking from a cup, that engages the whole person in recalling the gospel.

The breaking of the bread also carries meaning. Just as the bread is torn apart before it is shared, Christ's own body was broken for our sake, His suffering physical, real, and substitutionary. Believers taking communion are not merely recalling an abstract theological idea, they are remembering that a real body was broken and real blood was shed so that they could be forgiven (Isaiah 53:5).

Paul adds another dimension: as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes (1 Corinthians 11:26). Communion looks backward to the cross, but it also looks forward to Christ's return. It is a meal shared in hope, anticipating the day when believers will feast with Christ face to face (Revelation 19:9).

This is why communion is never a somber, morbid ritual alone. It holds together sober remembrance of a costly death and genuine hope in a promised future.

There is also a horizontal dimension to this proclamation. Communion is not a private devotional exercise done in isolation. It is shared with the gathered church, a visible expression of unity, since we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread (1 Corinthians 10:17). Sharing the same loaf and the same cup binds the congregation together as one family, united by the same Savior.

Christians have historically differed on exactly what occurs when believers take communion. Some traditions, often called memorialist, hold that the bread and cup remain ordinary bread and juice or wine, purely symbolic reminders. Reformed traditions often teach a spiritual presence, that believers feed on Christ spiritually by faith as they partake. Lutheran and Catholic traditions teach a fuller physical presence of Christ in the elements, though they understand that presence differently from one another.

Regardless of where a church lands on this question, all agree communion is not to be taken lightly, and all point believers back to the same cross and the same Savior.

Paul warns believers to examine themselves before eating and drinking, because taking communion in an unworthy manner, without genuine faith or with unrepentant sin, brings judgment rather than blessing (1 Corinthians 11:27-29). This is not a warning meant to frighten sincere believers away from the table, but a call to approach it thoughtfully, with honest self-examination and genuine faith in the One it points to.

Practically, this self-examination does not need to be a lengthy, anxious ritual before every service. It simply means pausing to confess any known, unrepented sin, extending forgiveness to anyone who has wronged you, and refocusing your heart on what Christ accomplished at the cross before you eat and drink. If you come to the table trusting Christ, even imperfectly, you are welcome there. The table was never meant for the flawless, only for the forgiven.

Communion is a gift, not a hurdle. It is Christ's own invitation to remember, proclaim, and anticipate, together with His people, everything His death and resurrection accomplished.