On June 14, 2016 By Steve Jeffery In Theology Like

What do we receive in the Lord’s Supper?

The debate about what exactly we receive at the Lord’s Supper, and how we receive whatever it is that we receive, is a long and complex one. Normally, it gets bogged down pretty quickly in some fairly flaky metaphysics from Roman Catholics and Lutherans, facing off against strident denials of almost everything from evangelicals, with the Reformed types sitting somewhere in the middle, uncertain quite which way to jump. One wonders whether there might not be a better way of approaching the question.

Fortunately, there is.

Let’s assume for a moment the fairly standard analogy between eating the bread and wine of the Lord’s Supper and participating in the sacrificial meals of the Old Covenant – along the lines that Paul assumes fairly clearly in 1 Cor 10:18, where he writes, “are not those who eat the sacrifices participants at the altar?”

So then, what exactly did “those who eat the sacrifices” receive?

Joshua 13 provides a fascinating insight into this question. In the course of detailing the inheritances allotted to the various Israelite tribes, Joshua explains in v. 14 that “to the tribe of Levi Moses gave no inheritance.” Why not? Because “the offerings by fire to the LORD God of Israel are their inheritance.” So the Levites don’t get land; they get the offerings.

But then we read on, and towards the end of the chapter (in the corresponding element of what looks at first glance like either an inclusio or a chiasmus; I’ve not checked), Joshua explains again why the Levites receive no inheritance, and this time the answer looks a little different: because “the LORD God is Israel is their inheritance” (v. 33).

Remarkable, isn’t it. What do the Levites receive? The offerings. And the LORD. Both.

Which is to say, in eating the sacrifices made to the LORD God, they are receiving the LORD God himself.

About the Author / Steve Jeffery

Steve is the Minister of Emmanuel Evangelical Church in London, England. He co-authored Pierced for Our Transgressions (IVP, 2007), a defence of the doctrine of penal substitutionary atonement, and The Cross (10 Publishing, 2012), an introduction to the message of the cross. He has lectured and debated in a variety of settings including universities and conferences in the UK, Europe and America. He has appeared on Premier Christian Radio and BBC Radio 4’s Beyond Belief, and he blogs at www.northlondonchurch.org. He and his wife Nicole have three children. His other loves include jazz, coffee, cricket, chess, scotch whisky, and Jonathan Edwards.