[Steve Myers] In one of our recent dailies, a question came up: why communion isn't a viable name for the Passover ceremony in the New Testament. You know, what is the New Testament Passover and how does it relate to what most religion calls communion—or some say the Lord's Supper or even the Eucharist? Well, you know, that's not a viable, biblical name for this ceremony.

When you peel back the surface of what the Bible really says, you'll be able to see some things on a deeper level. And so, let's take a look at where that idea may come from. From 1 Corinthians chapter 10, the Apostle Paul writes this, he says, "The cup of blessing, which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?" (1 Corinthians 10:16). And so just at face value, on the surface, it looks like—well, communion should be fine.

What's wrong with that? Well, when you associate all the different things that are involved with what most religion calls communion, it just becomes something that's a ritual that they go through every week—sometimes once a month. They do it as often as they like, rather than what the biblical reasons behind this Passover ceremony is all about.

Now, when you tear off that top and you get below the surface, look at this word 'communion'. Now, in the Greek, it literally means participation or sharing or fellowshipping. So we put those synonyms into this sentence and we begin to see, the cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the sharing of the blood of Christ or participating in the blood of Christ? The same with the bread, participating or sharing in the body of Christ.

Now, how do we do that? By just taking a little wafer or just taking a little sip of wine? You see there's so much significance, so much symbolism behind that, that we are in a sense taking Christ's sacrifice on ourselves—applying that to ourselves. Christ died for us. We're symbolizing that fact and that we are showing, we are accepting that. We are fellowshipping with Christ so that His sacrifice takes our place so that we don't have to die, Christ died in our place and His perfect, total sacrifice of both His body and His blood covers our sin.

Now that is so much more than just a superficial communion, or Eucharist, or Lord's Supper—this is something that God says we do once a year as a memorial.

So in the next chapter, chapter 11 He says, "Take, eat. This is My body which is broken for you." This is in verse 24. "Do this in remembrance of Me"—as a memorial (1 Corinthians 11:24). So once a year, we take the New Testament Passover as we recommit ourselves to God and we rededicate ourselves. And we recommit ourselves accepting that sacrifice of Jesus Christ so that we recommit ourselves to live by Him, to live His way, to think His way, to do the things that He would do. And then show by our actions that Jesus Christ is living in us and is living through us.

Now that's a meaningful application of what the New Testament Passover is all about. So, I encourage you, peel back the surface. Read what the source actually says and I think you'll begin to see some amazing things just beyond the surface, deep in the heart of what the Bible really has to say.

That's BT Daily. We'll see you next time.