“For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, ‘Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.’ In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.’
“For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till He comes.”
1 Corinthians 11:23-26
The Lord’s Supper has been instituted by Jesus, as the means by which we are to remember Him, in dying for the sins of the world. It is variously called communion (from 1 Corinthians 10:15-22), the breaking of bread (from Acts 20:7), and the Lord’s Supper (1 Corinthians 11:20).
The Institution
The Lord’s Supper was instituted on the night Jesus was betrayed, during the Passover feast. There is a correlation between the the Passover and the Lord’s Supper (discussed below), but they are not one and the same.
The account in Matthew reads,
“And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, ‘Take, eat; this is My body.’
“Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father's kingdom,’” Matthew 26:26-29.
Paul’s account from above gives us additional information, that it’s done as a remembrance.
The Bread and the Cup
The Supper consists of two elements, the bread and the fruit of the vine. The bread is unleavened; as they were eating the Passover when the Lord instituted it, it was unleavened bread that Jesus used. The fruit of the vine is the juice of the grape, whether fermented or unfermented.
The bread is taken first, and is broken off by each person as they partake of it. This is because, “He broke it and said, ‘Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you,’” and, “The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?” 1 Cor 11:24, 1 Cor 10:16. Then the cup is partaken of.
It must also be taken of with sober reverence, for if it is done carelessly with no thought as to what we’re doing, or the state of our heart, there is a heavy price,
“For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till He comes. Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord's body,” 1 Cor 11:26-30.
This is not to say we should fear doing it, only that we need to be sure that our heart and attitude are right when we do partake of it.
The Frequency
We partake of it every first day of the week, every Sunday. The two relevant verses are 1 Cor 11:25, “This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me,” indicating that it is to be taken on a continuing basis, and Acts 20:7, “Now on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread,” showing that it was on the Lord’s Day (the first day of the week) when they partook of it.
The Passover and the Lord’s Supper
“For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us,” 1 Cor 5:7.
There is a correlation between the Passover and the Lord’s Supper, but they are not the same thing. The Passover is the type, the shadow, and the Lord’s Supper is the antitype, the substance.
The Passover was instituted on the night the Jews left Egypt, when the firstborn of Egypt were killed, but the firstborn of the Jews were “passed over.” It was kept as a remembrance year by year, to remember the freeing of Israel from the land of bondage.
The Lord’s Supper is a remembrance that is kept week by week, to remember our being freed from the bondage of sin. In the day of judgment, we will be passed over, spared the destruction of the unrepentant world.