Day 29 • Question 79
79
Why
then
does
Christ
call
the
bread
his
body
and
the
cup
his
blood,
or
the
new
covenant
in
his
blood,
and
why
does
Paul
speak
of
a
participation
in
the
body
and
blood
of
Christ?
Christ
speaks
in
this
way
for
a
good
reason:
He
wants
to
teach
us
by
his
supper
that
as
bread
and
wine
sustain
us
in
this
temporal
life,
so
his
crucified
body
and
shed
blood
are
true
food
and
drink
for
our
souls
to
eternal
life.
1
But,
even
more
important,
he
wants
to
assure
us
by
this
visible
sign
and
pledge,
first,
that
through
the
working
of
the
Holy
Spirit
we
share
in
his
true
body
and
blood
as
surely
as
we
receive
with
our
mouth
these
holy
signs
in
remembrance
of
him,
2
and,
second,
that
all
his
suffering
and
obedience
are
as
certainly
ours
as
if
we
personally
had
suffered
and
paid
for
our
sins.
3
Footnote 1
John 6:51
I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh."
John 6:55
For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.
Footnote 2
1 Corinthians 10:16-17
The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.
1 Corinthians 11:26
For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.
Footnote 3
Romans 6:5-11
For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.