1 Corinthians 11:23-26

The Lord’s Supper proclaims the death of Christ until He comes.

The Lord’s Supper is a covenant meal that remembers Christ’s sacrificial death and publicly proclaims the gospel until His return.

1. 11:1 Paul gives a transition exhortation, calling the Corinthians to imitate Him as He imitates Christ.
2. 11:2-16 Paul addresses headship, honor, and visible conduct in worship, especially as it relates to men and women praying or prophesying. He appeals to creation order, glory language, interdependence, propriety, and accepted practice among the churches.
3. 11:17-22 Paul sharply rebukes the Corinthians for their conduct when they come together. Their gatherings do more harm than good because divisions and humiliating class distinctions corrupt what should be the Lord’s Supper.
4. 11:23-26 Paul recounts the dominical tradition of the Lord’s Supper, grounding the church’s practice in what He received from the Lord: the bread and cup signify Christ’s body and the new covenant in His blood, and the meal proclaims the Lord’s death until He comes.
5. 11:27-34 Paul warns that eating and drinking in an unworthy manner incurs guilt concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Believers must examine themselves, discern the body rightly, and understand present weakness, sickness, and even death among them as divine discipline. He closes with practical directives about waiting for one another and eating at home if hungry.

• The Lord’s Supper does not repeat Christ’s sacrifice but remembers and proclaims the once-for-all work accomplished at the cross.
• The bread and cup function as covenant signs pointing to Christ’s body and blood rather than transforming into them.
• The meal is not merely symbolic remembrance but a proclamation of the gospel within the gathered church.
• Participation in the Supper must remain connected to the unity and love of the church rather than individual ritualism.
• Do not treat the Lord’s Supper as a merely symbolic or casual ritual.
• Do not disconnect the Supper from the historical death of Christ.
• Do not interpret the passage as teaching a repeated sacrifice of Christ.
• Do not detach the Supper from its communal proclamation of the gospel.
• Do not overlook the future orientation of the Supper toward Christ’s return.

• The Lord’s Supper centers the church on the gospel of Christ’s death.
• Participation in the Supper should cultivate reverence and gratitude for Christ’s sacrifice.
• The ordinance proclaims the gospel visibly within the gathered church.
• The Supper reminds believers of the new covenant established through Christ’s blood.
• Christian worship holds together remembrance of the cross and anticipation of Christ’s return.

• Covenant Significance : The chapter explicitly identifies the cup as the new covenant in Christ’s blood, making the Supper a covenant meal of remembrance, proclamation, and participation in the church’s identity under the crucified Lord. The gathered church must therefore embody covenantal fidelity, mutual regard, and holy order.
• Old Testament Foundation : Genesis 1:26-27
• Old Testament Foundation : Genesis 2:18-24
• Old Testament Foundation : Exodus 24:8
• Old Testament Foundation : Jeremiah 31:31-34
• Thematic Parallel : Luke 22:19-20
• Thematic Parallel : 1 Corinthians 10:16-17
• Thematic Parallel : Hebrews 12:5-11
• Thematic Parallel : James 2:1-9
• Thematic Parallel : Ephesians 4:1-6