May Bread and Wine Be Called Emblems?

From: Questions and Answers on Scripture: From the Bible Treasury

Scripture Query and Answer: May Bread and Wine Be Called Emblems?

1 Corinthians 11:23‑28 • 1 min. read • grade level: 9

Question: 1 Cor. 11:23-28²³For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: ²⁴And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. ²⁵After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. ²⁶For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he come. ²⁷Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. ²⁸But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. (1 Corinthians 11:23‑28).—Is it justifiable to use the word “emblems” of the bread and wine, or to withdraw from fellowship because it is so used? J. M.

Answer: I see nothing in the expression to stumble a soul. No more, probably, was meant than the symbolic character of these material elements, which the Lord was pleased to constitute the representatives of His body broken and His blood shed for us. On the other hand, it appears to me weakness, not to say self-will, to make the use of such a word by another in the assembly a motive for abstaining from the Lord’s supper. The intention may have been upright; but the act of retiring on such a ground as this reveals a morbid spirit of criticism and a decided preference of one’s own thoughts and feelings to the precious words of Christ, “Do this in remembrance of me.” Whoever has yielded to it, ought to judge himself, with humiliation before the Lord and his brethren, “and so let him eat.”

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