There are three positions on the meaning of communion - the literal, mental and spiritual.
The literal is that there is some transformation of the bread and wine into the body and blood of Jesus. Those who think that, base it on the word “is”, when Jesus said on the institution of this table, “this bread is my body, and this cup is my blood shed for you.” So, in this strictly literal understanding is the idea that the bread in Jesus hands, he was holding his body. • This literal view has been rejected on many grounds – it is fantastically unreal. It would mean cannibalism • and was repugnant to Jewish people to eat and drink blood • Drinking blood was further rejected at the Jerusalem council in Acts 15.
The second idea is that it is only a mental aid to help us to remember Jesus’ death and sacrifice for us. It is a made to be a memorial meal and nothing more. • This is weak. • It is merely an object lesson, which we could take from a drawing or a sketch as easily as by ingesting the cup and bread. The third position is deeper and profoundly spiritual for it involves the ministry of the Holy Spirit actively applying the grace of Christ’s death and suffering to our souls. • The first goes to the stomach. • The second goes to the memory of the brain. • The third goes to the soul and works in the inner man of the believer in Christ.
This is done by feasting upon the Lord as the lamb of God by declaring Christ to be our personal Lord and Saviour. There is nothing mechanical or physical about this, it is singularly spiritual and must be the work of faith from the soul. Within your soul.
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Ordained to the Gospel ministry in 1981 after studying at The Whitefield College of the Bible in Northern Ireland, Pastor Ian Goligher was the pastor of the Free Presbyterian Church in Cloverdale, B.C. Canada, since pioneering the church there in 1984 until his retirement in...
