What is communion / the Lord's Supper? What does it mean?
The Lord's Supper is the bread and cup Jesus gave the church to remember His death "till he come" (1 Cor 11:26). The bread pictures His body given, the cup His blood shed. It is a memorial and a proclamation, not a re-sacrifice.
What the text states
Jesus instituted it the night He was betrayed: "this do in remembrance of me" (1 Cor 11:24). Believers examine themselves and partake (11:28), proclaiming His death until He returns. It is a remembrance, His one sacrifice was finished at the cross (Heb 10:10, 14), so the Supper looks back to it, not repeats it. It is one of two ordinances Christ gave the church, with baptism.
Rome holds the Mass re-presents the sacrifice and the elements become Christ's body; we hold, with the text, that His sacrifice was once for all and the Supper is a memorial and proclamation.
Go deeper
Checked 2026-09-29 by Darren. 62 Scripture citations verified against the KJV rows. Wave 5. 62 quoted fragments table-passed against the verses table, splitting at every ellipsis. FOUR CORRECTIONS, each to the KJV row: Acts 4:12 "in none other" is not contiguous, replaced with "none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved"; Deut 1:39 "have no knowledge" corrected to "had no knowledge"; Eph 3:2 "dispensation of grace" corrected to "dispensation of the grace of God"; Rom 11:23 "shall be graffed in again" corrected to "shall be graffed in" (the KJV runs "shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again").