What Does Forgiveness Has To Do With Communion?

Sunday morning after talking about forgiveness and becoming a reconciling community we celebrated the Lord’s Supper. It was a powerful moment full of raw emotions and the Presence of God.

However, it also left some folks with questions as to the connection between forgiveness and Communion.

To this I must apologize for not making the connection clearer on Sunday…hopefully this post will help clear up any questions. (Granted, it could also generate questions…which, if it does, I implore you to ask in the comment field below or you can just email/call me). 🙂

Here is my thought process:

In the first century when you went to the temple to offer a gift at the altar of the Lord, you were coming to met with God and to remember who He was and what He had done for you (i.e. delivered your people, the Israelites, out of Egypt, gave them the promise land and became your God).

Communion has similar overtones as we celebrate the Lord’s Supper in remembrance of what Jesus did for us on the Cross (i.e. delivered us out of darkness, gave us the rest of the promise land and became our God [1 Cor. 11:17-34, book of Hebrews]).

Therefore, when I read Jesus’ words in Matthew 5:23-24 this week, I saw Him telling us to go and be reconciled to those who have anything against us before going and communing with Him. This thought continued to grow when I heard Jesus say that if we do not forgive others, He would not forgive us (Mt 6:15-16). Seeing how Communion is our remembrance of the forgiveness given to us by Jesus on the cross…well, it struck a cord with me Sunday…

I didn’t bring it up Sunday, but Paul says something along these lines in 1 Corinthians 11:27-20:

“So then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup. For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves.”

The “body of Christ” Paul is talking about here is the community of Believers – aka the church. This can be seen by looking at the chapters before and after this passage. Paul is encouraging the church in Corinth to stop getting drunk during communion and hogging all the food (11:18-22) and to start looking after each member of the church as everyone is the body of Christ (1 Cor 12:12-26).

Seeing this, I tend to read Paul’s words in chapter 11 along the following lines: Before you take communion, examine yourself and make sure you are right before God. Part of being “right before God” is allowing Him to be Lord over every area of your life and letting His forgiveness flow over and through you to others (i.e. Matthew 5 and 6 as referenced above).

Not easy words… they are hard words…hard in that they are hard to follow… I’m just thankful that the Lord gives us His Spirit and strength to walk them out because I could not do so on my own…

This brings us to another question that I think is very important:

What does one do while they are walking through the pain of trying to forgive? Or, to use different words, can a person take communion while still working through un-forgiveness?

Unfortunately, there is no black and white answer to this question as the biblical authors never address it straight out…For me personally; I think the main issue isn’t whether or not we have forgiven everyone or whether or not everyone likes us and has nothing against us.  Instead, I think the main issue is what state our heart is in… Have we given everything to Jesus? Are we allowing Him to work on our hearts and purge us of unforgiveness, bitterness, and sin?

I go back to the words of the man who, when asked by Jesus if he believed that Jesus could heal his son, replied: “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24).

I believe…help my unbelief…

Sometimes it is hard to forgive… sometimes the pain is too strong; too close… and I believe that Jesus recognizes that sometimes it takes time to fully forgive. This is why I think Paul said that we are to “examine ourselves” – are we constantly giving ourselves to Jesus? It is a constant battle in which Jesus is walking beside us and helping us through. Lord, I believe; help my unbelief.

8 thoughts on “What Does Forgiveness Has To Do With Communion?”

  1. Unfortunately you never answered if the communion service forgives our sins. Did the eating of the bread and drinking of the wine result in forgiving us our sins. If your church uses grape juice and a cracker or piece of bread makes no difference to me for each represents the blood and body of Christ. Tom

    1. Thank you Tom for your question. Forgiveness is a freewill action of a person; as such, a communion service can not give or deny forgiveness. When it comes to sin, only God can forgive as he is the one against whom we sinned. I know certain Christian groups believe that forgiveness and/or grace is given to the people through the communion service. However that is something I don’t see in the Scriptures. To me, the participation in communion is more along the lines of something one does in remembrance of the forgiveness given to us by God (i.e. you celebrate communion because you were forgiven, not to gain forgiveness). I hope this helps. Blessings.

      1. Interesting article. If the the bread and wine or juice actually become his body anf blood as Lutherans and others believe then its more then a remembrance. You would not get sick or die if taking part in any other worldly remembrance in the wrong way. There is a powerful supernatural element to it. And if you can get sick, why not healing and deliverence on the flip side?

        1. Thank you Daniel for your comment. Like you mention, the concept of transubstantiation has a long history within the wider Christian church. Though I understand how one might come to that point of view, I personally don’t believe the bread/wine actually become Jesus’ physical body and blood. Hence I see the Eucharist meal as one of remembrance akin to the Jewish Passover which remembers their deliverance from slavery.

  2. A better way is to realise that because of Jesus’ forgiveness of us and ours of each other we are in communion.

  3. The purpose and idea of communion is not for coming to the table asking for forgiveness your recognized sins but the purpose was in the remembrance of the Jesus we come together with the following commission to preach the gospel and and his death until he comes. Judging yourself the you recognize the church which is the body of Christ so communion is just not a feast but commitment towards church and recognition the work of Christ for the salvation of the mankind.

Comments are closed.