Get links to my best stuff in your inbox

 

Home

The Broken Body Of Christ — A Question

A querist asks, “During communion, when we pray regarding the bread, sometimes we say that this represents the broken body of our Lord. When the soldiers came to Christ as He hung upon the cross, they did not break any of His bones because He was already dead (John 19:32-33). Thus, what is the meaning of the phrase, ‘broken body’?”

In 1 Corinthians 11:23-24 NKJV, the inspired writer Paul recalls the words of the Lord as He instituted the Lord’s Supper.

Regarding the bread, Paul states:

For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me” (emphasis mine).

Since the Bible is its own best commentary, let’s turn to Luke 22:19 NKJV, and see what words our Lord used regarding the bread:

And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me” (emphasis mine).

The bread that is broken during the Lord’s Supper obviously “represents” or “signifies” the body of our Lord and Savior, so in that sense, His body is “broken” when the bread is “broken.” But His body is also “given” for us spiritually speaking, “representing” or “signifying” the offering of His body as the perfect sacrifice for our sins (Hebrews 10:4-14 NKJV; cf. Isaiah 53:10-12 NKJV).

Now, let’s look at the text in Hebrews 10:10 NKJV regarding the offering of Christ’s body:

“By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (emphasis mine).

The text here states that we are “sanctified” or set apart by the will of God (see Hebrews 10:7 NKJV and  Hebrews 10:9 NKJV), and notice the phrase, “Your will, O God”).

In John 17:19 NKJV, in speaking of His apostles, our Lord said:

“And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth” (John 17:19 NKJV; cf. John 17:17 NKJV).

In his commentary regarding the word “sanctify” in John 17:19 NKJV, Brother Burton Coffman writes:

“Sanctify here does not refer to being made more holy, because such a meaning could not have pertained to Jesus. Thus, another meaning of “sanctify,” which is “to consecrate,” is intended (English Revised Version margin). Jesus was in the act of consecrating himself as the one great sacrifice for sin. “The truth,” the evident means of Jesus’ consecration, was the word of God, which was the source of motivation and power for Jesus as he moved toward the cross. By opening up, through his death, the way of salvation for all, Jesus made it possible for the apostles also to be sanctified in truth, that is, by the same word of God.“

In essence, we (like the apostles) are “sanctified” or “set apart” by the perfect sacrifice of the body of Christ by the “will of God.”  The accomplishing of God’s will embraces the whole gospel plan of salvation or as Jesus put it, “sanctified by the truth” (John 17:19 NKJV; John 17:17 NKJV).

And as Brother Burton Coffman so plainly states in his commentary on Hebrews 10:10 NKJV):

“The principle here is that Christ as man’s representative obeyed God perfectly, doing his will completely, as promised in the words, “I come to do thy will.” In Christ, therefore, man stands before God as obedient. The perfect compliance with divine law as required by the Eternal has thus been provided in the person of Christ whose marvelous obedience is on behalf of all people. Through man’s acceptance of the truth of the gospel, and upon his being baptized into Christ, the person so doing is thereby accounted a part of the spiritual body of Christ and becomes a beneficiary of the perfect obedience of the Son of God.“

Thus, when we as baptized believers partake of the bread which represents Christ’s body that was “broken” or “given for you” (cf. 1 Corinthians 11:24 NKJV; Luke 22:19 NKJV), we need to reflect on the fact that we have been “sanctified” (set apart”) through the offering of Christ’s body by the will of God (Hebrews 10:5-10 NKJV; cf. John 17:19 NKJV – “sanctified by the truth”).

Through our obedience to the will of God through the saving gospel of Christ, we become priests of God, “sanctified” or “set apart” to “offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2:5 NKJV).

As members of “a royal priesthood,” let us “proclaim the praises of Him who called you [us] out of darkness [sin] into His marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9 NKJV; cf. Acts 26:16-18 NKJV; 2 Corinthians 4:3-4 NKJV – the gospel light) as we faithfully “commune of the body of Christ” in the eating of the “broken” bread (1 Corinthians 10:16 NKJV).

Related Articles:

• Why We Observe The Lord’s Supper Every Sunday!
• “…. In Remembrance Of Me”
• The Importance Of The Blood Of Christ