1 Corinthians 11:24

My Notes

What Does 1 Corinthians 11:24 Mean?

"And 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." Paul recounts the institution of the Lord's Supper, received directly from the Lord (v. 23: "I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you"). The words are the most repeated words in Christianity: given thanks, broken, this is my body, for you, in remembrance. Every element is loaded: thanksgiving precedes the breaking. The breaking precedes the giving. The body is specifically for you — not generically for humanity. And the purpose: remembrance. Not magic. Memory.

The command "this do" (touto poieite — keep doing this, present tense continuous) means: don't stop. Every time you do this, you remember. The meal sustains the memory. The memory sustains the faith.

Reflection Questions

• 1.When you take communion, do you experience it as remembrance (personal, vivid, connected) or routine?
• 2.What does 'for you' (personal, specific) change about how you receive the bread?
• 3.How does Jesus giving thanks before the breaking model gratitude in the face of suffering?
• 4.What would 'this do in remembrance of me' (don't stop, keep doing this) look like practiced with fresh intention?

Devotional

This is my body. Broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me. The most repeated words in two thousand years of Christian worship — spoken first at a Passover table, recorded by Paul for the Corinthians, and echoed every time believers break bread together.

When he had given thanks. The first action is gratitude. Before the breaking. Before the body-language. Before the dying. Thanks. Jesus gives thanks for the bread that represents his death — thanking the Father for the plan that requires his breaking. The thanks precedes the cross. The gratitude precedes the agony. The meal starts with the posture that says: what's about to happen is worth being thankful for.

He brake it. The bread is broken. The body will be broken. The breaking isn't accidental or regrettable. It's deliberate — performed by Jesus' own hands. He breaks the bread the way he'll submit to the cross: voluntarily, consciously, with his own hands participating in his own undoing.

This is my body. The most debated four words in Christian theology: is, is, is, is. Is the bread literally transformed? Is it symbolically representative? Is it mystically present? The debate has divided churches for centuries. But the words themselves are simpler than the debate: Jesus holds bread and says 'this is my body.' Whatever the mechanism, the message is: when you eat this bread, you're participating in my body. The eating is the communion. The bread is the medium.

Which is broken for you. For you. Not for humanity in the abstract. For you — the specific person holding the bread. The body broken on the cross was broken for the specific hand receiving the bread at the table. The atonement is personal before it's universal. For you.

This do in remembrance of me. The purpose is memory. The meal sustains the memory. And the memory sustains the faith. Every time you break bread and drink the cup, you remember: a body was broken. For you. By the one who gave thanks before the breaking.

The most repeated act in Christian worship is an act of memory. And the memory is of the most significant act in cosmic history. Every communion table is a portal to the upper room. Every broken bread is a broken body. And every 'for you' is as personal as the night it was first spoken.

Commentary

Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.

Cross References

Related passages throughout Scripture