“Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.”
My Notes
What Does Luke 22:20 Mean?
"Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you." Jesus identifies the Passover cup as the new covenant — sealed not with animal blood but with his own. "New testament" (kainē diathēkē) fulfills Jeremiah 31:31-34: God promised a new covenant that would replace the old one. And the sealing agent is "my blood, which is shed for you." The blood isn't symbolic. It's shed (ekchynnomenon — poured out, emptied). The cup they're drinking represents a life being emptied for their benefit.
The phrase "for you" (hyper hymōn) makes the atonement personal: not for the world in the abstract. For you. The disciples at the table. And by extension, everyone who drinks the cup in remembrance.
Reflection Questions
- 1.What does 'new covenant' mean for your daily relationship with God versus the old covenant of performance?
- 2.How does 'shed for you' (personal, directional) change how you receive communion?
- 3.What does the upgrade from animal blood to Jesus' blood tell you about the cost and quality of the new covenant?
- 4.When you take the cup, do you experience covenant renewal — or has it become routine?
Devotional
This cup is the new covenant. In my blood. Shed for you. Jesus holds the Passover cup — the cup that commemorated Israel's liberation from Egypt — and gives it a new meaning: this blood isn't from a lamb. It's from me. And it seals something new.
The new testament. Jeremiah prophesied it (31:31): a new covenant, different from the one made at Sinai. The old covenant was written on stone and broken by the people who received it. The new covenant would be written on hearts and sustained by God's Spirit. And Jesus says: this cup — right now, in my hands, at this table — is that covenant. The thing Jeremiah predicted six hundred years ago is being inaugurated over supper.
In my blood. The old covenant was sealed with animal blood (Exodus 24:8: Moses sprinkled blood on the people and said, "Behold the blood of the covenant"). The new covenant is sealed with Jesus' blood. Not a bull's blood. Not a lamb's blood. His blood. The upgrade from animal to human to divine — the covenant sealed by the blood of God's Son — is the most costly seal available in the universe.
Which is shed for you. Poured out. Emptied. The word describes a container being completely emptied of its contents. Jesus' blood isn't dabbed. It's poured out — every drop, completely, holding nothing back. And the pouring is directional: for you. The blood flows toward the people at the table. It's not shed into the void. It's shed for specific people. For the disciples. For you.
Every time you take communion — every time the cup is raised and the words are spoken — you're participating in the moment Jesus held the cup and said: this is new. This is my blood. This is for you. The table isn't a ritual. It's a covenant renewal. The cup isn't wine. It's the new testament in his blood. And the blood was shed for you.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
But behold the hand of him that betrayeth me,.... By the "hand" is meant, not figuratively the counsel, contrivance, and…
This cup is the new testament in my blood - Perhaps it might be better to paraphrase the passage thus: This cup which is…
What a hopeful prospect had we of Christ's doing a great deal of good by his preaching in the temple during the feast of…
the new testament Hence the name of the New Testament. The word Diatheke(Heb. Berith)means both a will, and an agreement…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture