Spiritual Life through the Communion
Why did our Lord call a loaf of
bread his body and a cup of drink his blood? Why did he command us to eat his
body and drink his blood, and say, "my flesh is food indeed, and my blood
is drink indeed" (John )?
What the Lord has established and
commanded us to receive is called a sacrament. Sacraments--which includes
baptism, footwashing, and the Holy Communion-- are actions in which God effects
salvation on the believer through the use of physical elements. When we partake
of the Holy Communion, we actually eat of Christ's body and drink of his blood
(1 Corinthians ).
But the body and the blood that
our Lord spoke of are not his physical body and blood; Instead,
he was referring to the spiritual life that comes to us when we partake of the
Holy Communion.
The spiritual effect of the
sacrament is based on the Lord's own words. "Truly, truly, I say to you,
unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no
life in you; he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I
will raise him up at the last day...He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood
abides in me, and I in him" (John 6:53-56).
Through the Holy Communion, Christ
lives in us and we in him. With the life of Christ in
us, we have eternal life and will resurrect on the last day. Therefore, all
believers of Christ must partake of the Holy Communion.
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