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What is the Lords supper?
        LORD'S SUPPER or HOLY COMMUNION
        is the ordinance which commemorates the dying love and sacrifice of Christ for the sins of the world. Christians are commanded to observe it till he shall return in glory. It was instituted in the night preceding the crucifixion. The Lord Jesus, after eating the paschal supper with his disciples, took bread and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said. Take, eat, this is my body, which is broken for you; this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup, and gave thanks and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; for this is the new covenant in my blood, which is shed for many for the remission of sins; this do ye as oft as ye drink it in remembrance of me. Matt 26:19-30; Mark 14:16-26; Luke 22:13-20; 1 Cor 11:23-26. Nothing can surpass the touching simplicity and appropriateness of this memorial service, which has always been regarded in the Christian Church as the holy of holies of worship and communion with the crucified and ever-living Saviour. In course of time, as the development of the doctrine of the ordinance became the subject of theological controversy, three different explanations of the words of institution led to three different theories -- the Roman Catholic dogma of transubstantiation, or the miraculous transformation of the sacramental elements into the body and blood of Christ; the Lutheran doctrine of the co-existence of the real body and blood of Christ in, with, and under the elements during the time of sacramental transaction, and their participation by all communicants; and the figurative explanation of the words of institution with the idea of a spiritual fruition of Christ by faith only, as held in the Reformed Churches. It is a sad reflection that the ordinance of the Lord's Supper -- this feast which should bind all pious hearts to Christ and to each other and fill them with the holiest and tenderest affections -- has been the innocent occasion of the bitterest and most violent passions and the most uncharitable abuse. The eucharistic controversies, before and after the Reformation, are among the most unrefreshing and apparently fruitless in Church history. Happily, the blessing of the holy communion does not depend upon the scientific interpretation and understanding of the words of institution, however desirable this may be, but upon the promise of the Lord and upon childlike faith. And therefore even now Christians of different denominations and holding different opinions can unite around the table of their common Lord and Saviour, and feel one with him and in him. With respect to the views held by the various evangelical Protestant churches, at least, the chief elements of reconciliation, when subordinate differences and scholastic subtleties are yielded, may be found in the following propositions. The Lord's Supper is, 1. A commemorative ordinance, a memorial of Christ's atoning death; 2. A feast of living union of believers with the Saviour, whereby we truly, though spiritually, receive Christ, with all his benefits, and are nourished with his life unto life eternal; 3. A communion of believers with one another as members of the same mystical body of Christ.


Bibliography Information
Schaff, Philip, Dr. "Biblical Definition for 'lords supper' in Schaffs Bible Dictionary".
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