1 Corinthians 11:24

And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, This is my body, which is for you: this do in remembrance of me.

Had given thanks ... In Matthew and Mark, reference to this act says, "Having blessed it"; but Luke has it as here. As Hodge declared: "The two expressions mean the same thing. Both express the act of consecration, by a grateful acknowledgment of God's mercy and invocation of his blessing."[46]

He brake it ... From this it is clear that "the breaking of the bread ought not to be abandoned, as in the case when WAFERS are used."[47] Some have supposed that breaking the bread contradicts (by symbolism) the fact that not a bone of Jesus was broken (John 19:36)! but the breaking of a bone is not the same as the breaking of the body. The spear that pierced Jesus' side certainly broke his "body," but did not break any bone. The KJV, of course, has "This is my body which is broken"; and the meaning is certainly in the passage, deriving from "he brake it." Thus the meaning is true, despite the fact of the word "broken" not being in the best manuscripts.

This do in remembrance of me ... For more explicit comment on the commemorative aspect of the Lord's Supper, see Nature of the Lord's Supper, under verse 34.

[46] Charles Hodge. op. cit., p. 224.

[47] F. W. Farrar, op. cit., p. 365.