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Acts 2:42 is a summary statement of the first few weeks of the aftermath of Pentecost. “And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers” (KJV). I now move on to the third item, the breaking of bread.

communionThe translation of the term in KJV is correct. One paraphrase version, however, attempts to be helpful by translating it as “sharing in the Lord’s Supper” (NLT), but the phrase is not limited to that. The Amplified Bible translates it, “to the breaking of bread

[including the Lord’s Supper]…” which is closer to the truth. It refers to both a common meal and the Lord’s Supper, or Holy Communion or the Eucharist, depending on which tradition you come from. Often it depends on the context as to which meal is in sight, and in many commentaries we read that it may have been normal to have a common meal first with fellow believers and then observe the Lord’s Supper.

In many ways this third aspect of “continuing steadfastly” follows on from fellowship, as eating a meal together is a deeper expression of fellowship. In Eastern countries you had an obligation to be kind to strangers and to give them a meal before sending them on the rest of their journey. However, the master of the house would never sit down and eat with a stranger, though he would with his relatives and friends.

This custom gives new light to the Lord’s statement in Revelation 3:20, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me” (ESV). Here the divine guest becomes the host, as He is the Lord of all, and He becomes a friend or better still a relative.

In Acts 2:46 the same term is used of the common meal: “breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts.” In Acts 20:7, many years later, they seemed to have “gathered together to break bread,” in other words, to do what Jesus asked them to do in Luke 22:19. That verse reads, “And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

I was brought up in a tradition that never obeyed this command of the Lord, because it was felt that drinking wine was too great a temptation for recovered drunkards. (Don’t let the Word get in the way of what you do!) When I started attending other denominations around 20+ years old, I observed a special reverence by Christians in this part of the service. Later when training for the ministry, we were taught that the broken body of Jesus was for our physical healing and the shed blood was for our spiritual healing, and I still view it that way today. I like receiving the bread and thanking God for my healh and healing, and receiving the wine or grape juice and thanking God for my salvation and sonship privileges.

Some of the evangelical churches I’ve been involved with or visited have communion every Sunday, others once a month, and the most scriptural “as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes” (I Corinthians 11:26). “As often” means exactly what it says, “every time” (AMP, MSG, NET, NLT). In Acts 20:7 they met on the first day of the week (Sunday) and broke bread. So no legalistic rule is laid down for the church, apart from “every time” you do so remember his death and his second coming. It is “the link between His two comings, the monument of the one, the pledge of the other…” (Frédéric Godet).