The Eucharist — also called the Lord's Supper, Communion, or the Breaking of Bread — is the covenant meal ordained by Christ on the night of his betrayal, in which believers participate in bread and cup as a proclamation of his death until he comes. Jesus instituted it as the fulfillment and replacement of the Passover: the bread is his body given, the cup is "the new covenant in my blood" (Luke 22:20). Paul's theology of the Eucharist in 1 Corinthians 10–11 grounds it in koinōnia — participation or fellowship in Christ's body and blood. It is simultaneously a memorial (anamnesis), a proclamation, a participation, and an anticipation of the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. All orthodox traditions agree it is real, transformative, and not merely symbolic — the dispute concerns the precise nature of Christ's presence therein.
EUCHARIST, n. [Gr. good, and thanks.] The sacrament of the Lord's supper; the solemn act or ceremony of commemorating the death and sufferings of Christ, in the use of bread and wine, as the symbols of his body and blood. The word properly signifies thanksgiving.
G2168 — eucharisteō (εὐχαριστέω): to give thanks; the verb used at the Last Supper and throughout Paul's letters; root of "Eucharist."
G2169 — eucharistia (εὐχαριστία): thanksgiving, gratitude; the attitude and act that names the entire sacrament.
G5463 — charis (χάρις): grace, favor; embedded in the word — the Supper is itself a gift of grace.
G2842 — koinōnia (κοινωνία): fellowship, participation — "The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation [koinōnia] in the blood of Christ?" (1 Cor 10:16).
• Luke 22:19–20 — "This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me…This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood."
• 1 Corinthians 11:23–26 — Paul's earliest account of institution; "you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes."
• 1 Corinthians 10:16–17 — Participation in the body and blood; the one bread making the many one body.
• John 6:53–56 — "Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you." The bread of life discourse as eucharistic backdrop.
• Acts 2:42 — The early church devoted to "the breaking of bread" — the Eucharist as foundational practice.
Two corruptions bracket the truth. On one side, Roman Catholic transubstantiation teaches that the bread and wine are physically converted into Christ's body and blood by priestly consecration — importing Aristotelian metaphysics into Scripture and elevating the Mass into a repeated sacrifice, which the book of Hebrews explicitly denies (Heb 9:25–28). On the other side, radical memorialism reduces the Supper to a mere mental exercise — a personal recollection with no real participation in Christ. Both errors impoverish the sacrament. Scripture presents a genuine, spiritually real presence and participation — not a physical repetition of Calvary, and not an empty symbol. The modern evangelical tendency to neglect the Supper or treat it as an afterthought inverts the apostolic pattern, where it was central, weekly, and formative. "Do this" was a command, not a suggestion.