📖 Biblical Definition
Bread is the Bible's everyday miracle. It is the substance of daily prayer ("give us this day our daily bread," Matt 6:11); the sign of the covenant on the table of showbread in the tabernacle; the food God rained from heaven as manna in the wilderness; the loaves multiplied by Christ for thousands; the instrument He chose at the Last Supper — "this is my body" — to signify His incarnation and atonement. He is the "true bread from heaven" (John 6:32), "the bread of life" (6:35), without whom a man will starve eternally no matter how full His belly. The Church's foundational shared meal is the Lord's Supper: one loaf, many members, one body.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
BREAD, n.
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BREAD, n. [Sax. bread.] (1.) A mass of dough, made of the flour or meal of some species of grain, and baked; a staple article of food. (2.) Food in general; support of life, as in "our daily bread." In Scripture, bread is the perpetual emblem of God's provision: the manna of the wilderness, the showbread of the tabernacle, the multiplied loaves of the Lord, and the broken bread of the Supper by which His people proclaim His death till He come. Christ is Himself the true bread from heaven, the bread of life, which a man may eat and not die.
📖 Key Scripture
Matthew 6:11 — "Give us this day our daily bread."
John 6:35 — "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger."
Luke 22:19 — "And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.""
Deuteronomy 8:3 — "Man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Industrial bread has stripped the daily-dependence theology; a grocery shelf of 50 loaves hides how the ancient disciple prayed for tomorrow's.
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When Jesus taught His disciples to pray "give us this day our daily bread," the Greek word epiousios meant bread for the coming day — tomorrow's bread, which a laborer couldn't assume he would have. Modern abundance has obscured the theology. You have a freezer, a pantry, credit cards, and grocery delivery. The daily dependence built into the Lord's Prayer feels foreign. But the gospel still presses the question: do you receive your bread from the Lord, or from your job, or your savings, or the supply chain? The one who prays "daily bread" acknowledges that even his overflowing pantry is a gift. And at the Lord's Supper the Church breaks one loaf to remember: there is one Bread of Life, and we are His body only because He became ours.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
H3899 — lechem (לֶחֶם) — bread, food; G740 artos.
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H3899 — lechem (לֶחֶם) — bread; food generally; grain loaf. Bethlehem = "house of bread."
G740 — artos (ἄρτος) — bread, loaf; Christ's bread of life and the eucharistic loaf.
Usage
"Bethlehem means "house of bread." The Bread of Life was laid in a feeding-trough in the house of bread. Nothing about the incarnation was accidental."
"Abundance is the great obscurer of daily prayer. Keep praying "daily bread" while the freezer is full; you are training to remember who feeds you."