1 Corinthians 11:25

In like manner also the cup, after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood: this do, as often as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink the cup, ye proclaim the Lords' death until he come.

After supper ... This phrase is invaluable in that it shows why two cups were mentioned, one before the bread and the other afterward, in Luke 22:17-20. The first cup Luke mentioned was the fourth cup of the simulated Passover meal, which Paul here called "supper" with the strongest implications that it was in no sense the Passover itself (except by accommodation), the same being called the "cup of joy." Both the bread and the wine of the Lord's Supper were given "after supper," and in that order, the bread first, the cup afterward. See my Commentary on Luke pp. 467,468.

This cup is the new covenant in my blood ... This means the same thing as "This is my blood of the covenant" (Matthew 26:26); and in Paul's statement here, it is absolutely clear that the meaning in Matthew in no sense favors the crass literalism of such doctrines as transubstantiation or consubstantiation, no semblance of any such thing being suggested here. The student should consult the sacred text and the comments in the other three New Testament reports of this event: my Commentary on Matthew, pp. 429ff; my Commentary on Mark, pp. 306ff; and my Commentary on Luke, pp. 467ff.

Regarding the superstition that the emblems of the Lord's Supper are, in their consecration, literally changed to the body or flesh and blood of Christ, Hodge gave this pertinent comment:

It is only by denying all distinctions between, matter and spirit, and confounding all our ideas of substance and qualities, that we can believe that wine is blood, or bread flesh.[48]

For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink the cup ... Regarding the proper time of observance for the Lord's Supper, the New Testament teaches that it was observed upon the first day of the week, the first day of EVERY week, and "not upon any other days of the week." This passage is therefore no permit to take it any time we please. See my Commentary on Acts, pp. 385,386, and 517.

Eat this bread and drink this cup ... Apostolic practice makes it certain that communion under one kind, that is, taking EITHER the bread or the wine without the other, was never encouraged or allowed in the New Testament. Furthermore, Paul's use of "or drink this cup" in 1 Corinthians 11:27 is not a denial of this. As Farrar said, "What he meant there was that it was possible to partake in a wrong spirit either of the bread or of the cup."[49]

Ye proclaim the Lord's death until he come ... As Dummelow said, the Lord's Supper is "a living sermon."[50] Thus the instructive nature of this solemn rite is stressed. See Nature of the Lord's Supper, below. The word for "proclaim" here is [@katangello]. Morris gave the meaning as "announce" or "proclaim," saying that "It means that the solemn observance of the service of Holy Communion is a vivid proclamation of the Lord's death."[51]

Till he come ... The Lord's Supper faces in two directions, back to Calvary and forward to the Second Advent, being retrospective in regard to one and prospective with regard to the latter. The Second Advent is a major doctrine of Christianity; and it is fitting that it should be honored in this pivotal ordinance.

[48] Charles Hodge, op. cit., p. 225.

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

[50] J. R. Dummelow, Commentary on the Holy Bible (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1937), p. 912.

[51] Leon Morris, op. cit., p. 162.