Noordzij — Ecclesiology
The Lord’s Supper as Covenant Meal
Christians regularly gather for the Lord’s Supper (cf. 1Cor. 11:20). Catholics call this ceremony a eucharist and Protestants a communion service. Both regard the ceremony as something holy, as a sacrament. The meaning of this gathering lies not in outward signs, but in spiritual reality: the actual eating and drinking of Christ in spirit and truth (John 6:51-58).
The significance of the Lord’s Supper is that it represents the transition from the old covenant to the new. At Passover the Jews commemorated their liberation from Egypt (Ex. 13:3, Deut. 16:3). A lamb was slaughtered and its blood provided miraculous protection. God established a covenant with His people at that time: He promised to bring them to a free and better land. On the evening Jesus and His disciples ate the Passover meal, the Lord began to speak of a “new” covenant, a covenant in His blood. He, the Lamb, would be slaughtered and His blood would truly set free (Rev. 1:5, Gal. 5:1). He is the Way to the true Promised Land, the Kingdom of Heaven (Heb. 10:19-23).
The Church as New Covenant Community
The church is therefore the inheritor of the old covenant community, but transformed in spiritual dimension. Not limited by natural rituals and traditions, but leading in “spirit and truth” (John 4:24). The “land of slavery,” “Egypt,” symbolizes the “slavery” of the “flesh.” God now desires our redemption, our liberation from the power of the “flesh,” to serve Him in spirit and truth (Rom. 7:24).
The community accepts this liberation through “the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” (1Cor. 5:6-8). This means laying aside “old leaven”: all low, earthly, traditional religiosity—the “old” rite and interpretation—and focusing entirely on Christ. Paul is clear about this meaning:
Our Passover lamb has been sacrificed: Christ. Let us therefore celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, or with leaven of wickedness and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth (1Cor. 5:6-8).
Jesus’ Elevation of the Passover Meal
When Jesus established the Lord’s Supper, He elevated the “old” rite to a “new,” personal experience.
He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying: This is My body, which is given for you. And this cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is poured out for you. Do this in remembrance of Me (Luke 22:19-20).
Jesus gave spiritual reality in place of the shadow. He said: “I am now your Passover lamb. Eat Me and drink My ‘wine’. How? ‘New!‘” If we do this, then we too are freed from the slavery of the flesh, now (Rom. 7:24).
A shadow is two-dimensional, flat, lifeless — like photographs. That is how the “old” relates to the “new.” The “old” is perfect in foreshadowing the “new,” like a photo album (Heb. 10:1). Jesus makes everything “old” radically “new,” including laws and rites (1Cor. 15:46, 2Cor. 4:18, Rev. 21:5).
The Body and Blood: Spiritual Realities
At His last Passover Jesus spoke three crucial words: “This is My body,” “this is My blood,” and “do this in remembrance of Me.” Earlier He had said: “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:53-56).
The “blood” points to the soul-life with its desires and longings. Jesus poured out His soul-life in death (Isa. 53:12). He refused to be led by human-soulish needs and focused so completely on God that He could experience His Father’s feelings. That is the “blood” He offers His own to drink. Thus through the Lamb we are freed from the fleshly-soulish disposition of Egypt and the “firstborn” remains alive in us (John 8:36, Rev. 14:3).
The Forgotten Feasts of the Lord
The feasts of the Lord have been greatly neglected in the church’s history. Passover was not observed by any king of Israel and Judah until Josiah (2 Kings 23:21-23). The first Christian communities believed they should observe the feast seasons of the Lord from Leviticus 23. However, Bishop Sixtus of Rome decided in AD 122 not to do so, under political pressure. The Council of Nicaea made the decision in 321 that anyone who commemorated Jesus’ death on the Jewish Passover would be expelled from the church. Over time all the “feasts of the Lord” were forgotten, replaced by church festivals with a pagan tinge.
Paul was concerned not with visible signs, rites and customs but with the current spiritual reality:
Let no one disqualify you in matters of food and drink, or with regard to a festival, a new moon, or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of what is to come, but the substance belongs to Christ! (Col. 2:16)
The Daily Spiritual Reality of Communion
Passover was never replaced by the Lord’s Supper or by the Eucharist. It was fulfilled in Jesus and elevated by Him to a daily spiritual experience (cf. Col. 3:4, John 6:57-58).
To His own He says:
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 (cf. Rev. 3:20).
The church experiences that His flesh is the “bread” that gives the spiritual energy to keep following the Lamb. And that His blood is the “wine” that enables believers to know the Father. This is the reality of the gathered community in continued spiritual communion with Christ.
Notes
The ecclesiology in this source concentrates on the church as a sacramental community around the Lord’s Supper and the transition from old to new covenant. Absent are themes such as church structure, office/ministry, and the gifts of the Holy Spirit.