What is communion (the Lord's Supper)?

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Short answer

Communion is the sharing of bread and cup that Jesus instituted at the Last Supper, the night before he was crucified. He gave the bread and the cup to his disciples and told them to keep doing it in remembrance of him (Matthew 26:26; Mark 14:22; Luke 22:19; 1 Corinthians 11:23; 1 Corinthians 11:24; 1 Corinthians 11:25).

Every Christian tradition practises it. It goes by several names, and the name a church uses often signals how it understands the meal: the Lord's Supper, Communion, the Eucharist (from the Greek for giving thanks), the Lord's Table, or the breaking of bread.

What Christians disagree about is what happens in it, and specifically in what sense Christ is present. Those views are set out below, and none is endorsed here.

Question

What is communion (the Lord's Supper)?

Analysis

What is agreed across traditions

Point	Where Scripture speaks
Jesus instituted it, and told his followers to continue it	Luke 22:19; 1 Corinthians 11:24; 1 Corinthians 11:25
The cup is tied to the new covenant in his blood	Luke 22:20; 1 Corinthians 11:25; Jeremiah 31:31
It looks back to his death and forward to his return	1 Corinthians 11:26
It is an act of the gathered church, not a private one	1 Corinthians 10:17; 1 Corinthians 11:33
Taking it carelessly is a serious matter	1 Corinthians 11:27; 1 Corinthians 11:28; 1 Corinthians 11:29
The earliest Christians did it regularly	Acts 2:42; Acts 20:7

Where the traditions differ

View	What the bread and cup are	Held by
Transubstantiation	At consecration the bread and wine become the actual body and blood of Christ; what remains of bread and wine is their appearance	Roman Catholic
Real presence, undefined mechanism	Christ is genuinely and truly present in the elements; the church declines to explain the manner as a mystery	Eastern Orthodox
Sacramental union	Christ's body and blood are truly present in, with and under the bread and wine, which remain bread and wine	Lutheran
Spiritual real presence	Christ is truly present, but spiritually, and received by faith; the elements remain bread and wine	Reformed; Presbyterian; many Anglican
Memorial	The bread and cup are symbols; the meal is an act of remembrance and proclamation	Baptist; most Pentecostal; many non-denominational

The texts the debate turns on

Jesus' own words at the table, in all four accounts (Matthew 26:26; Matthew 26:28; Mark 14:22; Mark 14:24; Luke 22:19; Luke 22:20; 1 Corinthians 11:24; 1 Corinthians 11:25). Whether "this is my body" is to be read as identity or as figure is the heart of the disagreement, and both readings have been held since the earliest centuries.
Paul's warning about discerning the body (1 Corinthians 11:27; 1 Corinthians 11:29), read by some as discerning Christ in the elements and by others as discerning the church as Christ's body, since the surrounding passage is about a congregation humiliating its poorer members (1 Corinthians 11:21; 1 Corinthians 11:22).
The bread of life discourse (John 6:53; John 6:54; John 6:63), where Jesus speaks of eating his flesh and then says that the Spirit gives life and the flesh counts for nothing. Traditions weigh those two statements differently.

Who may take it

Practice varies and the differences are pastoral as well as doctrinal. Some churches practise open communion, welcoming any baptized believer; others practise close or closed communion, restricted to members of that church or tradition. The shared concern behind both is Paul's instruction that a person examine themselves first (1 Corinthians 11:28).

How often

Scripture sets no interval. Practice ranges from every gathering to a few times a year, and the New Testament records it as a regular part of church life without prescribing a frequency (Acts 2:42; Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 11:26).

Sources, trace every one

Every cited verse, in full. Tap any reference to open it in the reader.

Matthew 26:26bsb
While they were eating, Jesus took bread, spoke a blessing and broke it, and gave it to the disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is My body.”
Mark 14:22bsb
While they were eating, Jesus took bread, spoke a blessing and broke it, and gave it to the disciples, saying, “Take it; this is My body.”
Luke 22:19bsb
And He took the bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body, given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”
1 Corinthians 11:23bsb
For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night He was betrayed, took bread,
1 Corinthians 11:24bsb
and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”
1 Corinthians 11:25bsb
In the same way, after supper He took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”
Luke 22:20bsb
In the same way, after supper He took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is poured out for you.
Jeremiah 31:31bsb
Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.
1 Corinthians 11:26bsb
For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.
1 Corinthians 10:17bsb
Because there is one loaf, we who are many are one body; for we all partake of the one loaf.
1 Corinthians 11:33bsb
So, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another.
1 Corinthians 11:27bsb
Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord.
1 Corinthians 11:28bsb
Each one must examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup.
1 Corinthians 11:29bsb
For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body eats and drinks judgment on himself.
Acts 2:42bsb
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
Acts 20:7bsb
On the first day of the week we came together to break bread. Since Paul was ready to leave the next day, he talked to them and kept on speaking until midnight.

On contested questions we show every major view, attributed and cited, and pick no winner. Answers are synthesized from primary sources, truth you can trace, not opinion.