The true bread of communion

The Lord did most of His ministry near the Sea of Galilee in northern Israel. On the occasion of one of His crossings of it, many people followed Him (Jn 6). He saw the great multitude and asked His disciple Philip where they could buy bread to feed them. This question was just a test for Philip, because Jesus already knew what He was going to do (Jn 5:5-6). Philip looked at the earthly situation and replied that the money they had would not be nearly enough to buy the needed bread. Andrew said there was a boy who had 5 barley loaves and 2 fish, but what good was that among so many people? The Lord told them to have everyone sit down in groups, so they sat in groups of hundreds and fifties (Mk 6:39-40). There were about 5,000 adult men (Mt 14:21), so there were probably at least 20,000 people there. Jesus took the bread and fish, broke it, and told the disciples to pass it out to the multitude, and they all ate until they were full. The Lord then told His disciples to gather up the leftovers, and there were 12 baskets full.

Afterward, Jesus sent the disciples over the Sea, but He stayed behind. At least 4 of the disciples were professional fisherman, and their business was on this very sea (Mt 4:18-22). A strong wind blew up as they were crossing the sea. When they had rowed about 3 miles (Jn 6:19), within a few hours of sunrise, Jesus came to them walking on the water (Mt 14:25). At first, they thought He was a ghost and were afraid, but He told them who He was and to not be afraid (Mt 14:26). Peter asked the Lord to call him to walk on the water that if it was Him, and He did. When Peter began to look on the waves, he was afraid and began to sink. He cried out to Jesus to save him, and He did. As soon as they got into the boat, the wind stopped (Mt 14:32-33). They worshipped Him and made it safely to the other side of the sea.

Then follows an account that only appears in John 6:22-67. In the morning, the people that Jesus had fed the day before crossed the sea to find him. He told them that they were seeking another free meal, but they should seek the bread that will give them eternal life (Jn 6:26-27). The Lord told them to believe. They challenged Him to prove who He is by giving them a sign. These were the same people who had just seen Him feed them miraculously the day before, and He did many other miracles during His ministry, yet they did not believe (Mt 12:39-41, Mt 16:4). They quoted Exodus 16 where God gave the Israelites manna in the wilderness. This may have been an attempt to provoke Him to make more bread rather than to substantiate who He is. Jesus said that the Father was offering them the true bread of heaven, which is Himself. They were still thinking carnally and asked Him to give them that bread (Jn 6:34). The Lord said that He is the bread from heaven, but they did not believe. Those who believe will have eternal life. They murmured about Him saying He came down from heaven when they knew His earthly family. Jesus reiterated that He is the living bread, and unless they ate His flesh and drank His blood, they could not have eternal life. They again interpreted His words literally instead of symbolically, which should have been obvious. This was the same mistake people including His disciples made repeatedly. He continued by saying the way to dwell in Him is by eating His flesh and drinking His blood (Jn 6:51-58).

Many of His disciples failed to understand that He was talking in spiritual terms and not literally (Jn 6:59-62). Jesus clarified this by saying, "It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life (Jn 6:63)". Sometimes there is a key verse in a passage that helps provide the correct understanding. One example is 1Corinthians 14 which is about spiritual gifts, particularly tongues and interpretation of tongues. The last verse, verse 40, provides the main reason for this chapter. "Let all things be done decently and in order." The church at Corinth was very active in spiritual gifts, but they needed some guidelines to keep everything in order. The speaking in tongues that occurred in the book of Acts (Acts 2:4, Acts 10:46, Acts 19:6) was different than what Paul was writing about in 1Corinthians 12-14. In Acts, they were speaking in tongues as the initial outward sign of receiving the Holy Ghost. In 1Corinthians, Paul was writing to people who were already born again of water and the Spirit (Jn 3:5). We can tell this difference by the guidelines Paul gave in 1Corinthians 14. In a gathering of Christians, they were to speak in tongues by no more than 3 at at a time (1Cor14:27), and they were to pray for an interpretation so the whole group could be edified (1Cor 14:12-13). In Acts, there were more than 3, and there was no interpretation.

A foundational rule of interpreting the Bible is context. One of the most frequent mistakes is not factoring in the context of the passage, the book, and the whole Bible. The context of John 6 is the feeding of the 5,000 and their seeking fleshly food instead of spiritual. The context shows us the idea that Jesus meant for us to literally eat His flesh and drink His blood is unscriptural. At the end of Moses' life, he called the Israelites to speak his final message. Its contents are the book of Deuteronomy, which means second law. Moses was mostly reiterating things they had already heard. In chapter 8, verse 3, he reminded them how God deprived them of regular food and instead gave them the daily miracle of manna (Ex 16, Num 11). God did this to direct their focus away from the natural to the spiritual - to teach them to look to Him for their needs. Even more importantly, God wanted them to seek the spiritual bread which is His word. Jesus quoted Deuteronomy 8:3 when He was tempted in the wilderness by the devil to turn stones into bread (Mt 4:4). Deuteronomy 8:3 is an important contextual key to understanding John 6.

The spiritual meaning of the feeding of the 5 ,000 was reiterated when Jesus later fed 4,000 (Mt 15:32-39). The disciples still didn't get it, even after seeing the 5,000 fed. We shouldn't be too hard on them because too often we are just like that. Again, later the disciples forgot to bring bread. Jesus said, "Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees (Mt 16:6)". They again thought the Lord was speaking literally when He was speaking spiritually. Jesus asked them how they still didn't understand. He reminded them how he had fed 5,000 and 4,000. He asked them how it was that they didn't understand that He was not talking about physical bread. Then they finally understood that He was talking about the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

Another example of Jesus using bread as a spiritual symbol is when He was at the well of Samaria (Jn 4:32)". The disciples again misunderstood and questioned if someone else had brought Him food. He replied, "My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work (vs 34)". Jesus then spoke of the grain harvest metaphorically (vs 35-38). Bread is used metaphorically in other places as well (Ps 80:5, Ps 127:2, Prov 4:17, Prov 20:17, Prov 31:27, Is 30:20, Mt 15:26, 1Cor 5:8, 1Cor 10:17).

God is against human sacrifice (Jer19:5, Jer 32:35). Pagan worship sometimes involved human sacrifice, but it was an abomination to God (Lev 18:21, Deut 18:10, 2Ki16:3, 2Ki 17:7, 2Ki 21:6, 2Ki 21:10, Eze 16:21, Eze 20:26 & 31). Even when God tested Abraham to see if he would offer Isaac, He stopped him before could actually do it (Gen 22). This also had symbolic meaning and represented God sacrificing His only Son for us (Heb 11:17-19). This is the only human sacrifice that was in the plan of God, and it was God Himself in Christ (Jn 1:1-14, Jn 14:7-11, 2Cor 5:19, Col 2:9, 1Tim 3:16), although the divine did not die, just the humanity. He planned to provide the perfect sacrifice for sin even before He created the heaven and the earth (Jn 17:5 & 24, 1Cor2:7, Eph 1:4, 2Tim 1:9, Titus 1:2, 1Pet 1:20, Rev 13:8). He did this willingly and not by force (Mt 26:53, Jn 10:15-18). Once this was accomplished by Jesus, there is no need of any further sacrifice (Heb 9:23-28, Heb 10:1-18). He offered Himself once and for all. There is no need for further sacrifice for sin. There is no need for us to punish ourselves for our sins, and there is no need to reenact His sacrifice for us. Communion is not reenacting the death of Jesus. It is a commemoration of it (Lk22:19, 1Cor11:20-34). There is no prescription in the Bible for how often to commemorate the death of Christ other than "as oft as ye do it (1Coir 11:24-25)". There can be a danger in doing things too repetitiously in that they can become an empty religious ritual (Mt 6:1-18).

The communion cup and drink do not literally become the body and blood of Jesus Christ. Drinking blood was forbidden in the dietary laws of Moses (Lev 3:17, Lev 7:26, Lev 17:10-14, Lev 19:26, Deut 12:16 & 23, Deut 15:23). Drinking blood is part of Satanic and cultic rituals. At first, the church was all Jewish people. After Acts 10, Gentiles became part of the church as well. As the Gentile church population grew, questions arose. One that came to a head in a conference in Jerusalem was whether or not Gentiles needed to be circumcised (Acts 15). The decision was that they did not, but they should "abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood (Acts 15:20)". This was not meant to be exhaustive, as in murder is not on the list so Gentiles can do it. It addressed some key issues for the Gentiles who had left their pagan religion to become Christians.

The communion the Lord calls us to is spiritual, not just religious or ceremonial. It is more than just what we might call a communion service wherein we commemorate His death. It is an abiding relationship with Him through keeping His commandments and doing His will (Mt 7:21, Lk 6:46, Lk 22:42, Jn 7:17, Jn 9:31, Jn 14:15, Acts 22:14, Heb 13:21, 1Jn 5:14). The word translated communion means fellowship, association, community, communion, joint participation, intercourse; a benefaction jointly contributed, a collection, or a contribution according to Thayer’s Lexicon. The bread He offers us is not His flesh. He already died once for all and rose again. We can partake of communion with Him by keeping His commandments. He is the Word made flesh (Jn 1:1-14, Rev 19:13). Jesus is more than a religion. That word only appears 5 times in the Bible (Acts 26:5, Gal 1:13-14, Jam 1:26-27). People can make up their own religious practices including meat and drink, but if they are not based in the Bible, they will serve no real purpose (Col 2:8-12 & 16-24). Communion is much more (1Cor 10:16, 2Cor 6:14-18, 2Cor13:14). It is knowing Him and doing His will (Phil 3).