“The Lord’s Supper”–these words occur at the conclusion of 1 Corinthians 11:20, and refer to one of the three symbolic ordinances given to the Church in the New Testament. I would like to ask you to consider what I believe to be an accurate translation (not a paraphrase, but a translation) of these words, which will shed much light on this ordinance which is so precious to our Lord Jesus Christ, and to His own.
The word, for “Lord” in this phrase, is not the proper noun, “Lord,” in the possessive case: “Lord’s”. It is a special form of the name, “Lord,” used only twice in our New Testament. It is a descriptive adjective, and, as has been pointed out by various translators, is “an adjective for which no exact English equivalent is available.”
Therefore, we must coin a word to translate it; and, as I mentioned in the title, I believe the word, “Lordian,” is the nearest I can suggest in this verse, as well as in the only other occurrence of it in the New Testament, as translating the word, kuriakon (an anglicized spelling of the Greek word used here). The other place in the New Testament where this adjective form of the word “Lord” occurs is Revelation 1:10, which we will consider later.
It is His Feast: He is the Host
The “Lordian Supper” would include the thought that it is His. After all, He instituted it and delivered it to His disciples to keep in remembrance of Him. Paul, as the one who laid the foundation (as to the teaching of the truth) of the Church, declared he was confirming this for the observance by the churches until the end of this age (“till He come,” 1 Cor. 11:23, 26). At that table He is the Host, and we are the invited guests. Yes, it is “The Lord’s Supper” or “Feast.” What an honor to be there!
It is About Him: He is the Subject
The adjective “Lordian” would go beyond the fact that it is His. It is Lordian because it is all about Him. Of the bread He said, “This is My body,” and of the cup containing the fruit of the vine, He said, “This is My blood.” Then He added, “This do in remembrance of Me.” At this table any other subject than the Lord Himself is out of place. All that is said, sung, or prayed is to “call Him to mind,” as J. N. Darby literally translates and explains in his footnote on 1 Corinthians 11:24. The last clause, “This do in remembrance of Me” reads, literally, “For the calling of Me to mind.” The word translated ‘remembrance’ has an active signification of ‘recalling’ or ‘calling to mind’ as a memorial (cf. Heb. 10:3).
No wonder the saints who are gathered in His Name at that table do not preach sermons to edify the church nor preach the gospel to the unsaved, nor pray, pleading concerning the various needs of the people nor of His work in the world. Their hearts and minds focus on that one Great Object–the Lord Jesus Himself. This is the one gathering of the Lord’s own that consists of pure worship, and nothing else.
It is for Him: He is the Recipient
The expression, “Lordian,” would include the thought that not only is it His feast, and that it is all about Him, but the wonderful fact that it is for Him. Notice when He chose to give this institution to the church: it was that dark night, “the same night in which He was betrayed,” when He delivered this ordinance to His own. What weight He put upon it, in making it, as it were, His last request before His suffering and death.
He Appreciates our Appreciation
And, those words, “Do this, in remembrance of Me,” make it so obvious that He appreciates our appreciation. Divine, yet so human! In this we see He is like us: how we appreciate it when those on whom we bestow our love show their appreciation! How He delights in our hearts’ calling Him to mind and telling Him and the Father how much we appreciate the glories of His Person, and of His work, “finished” forever for us upon that cruel cross.
See His appreciation, as one leper of the ten returned to fall at His feet and worship Him. He asks, “Were there not ten cleansed? Where are the nine?” And, when that dear lady in faith touched the hem of His garment, He asks, “Who touched My clothes?” In the midst of that mob all around Him, He noticed that one who truly believed in Him, and pressed though the crowd to just touch Him. Oh, to be one of those who meet around His table, who truly “touches” Him in praise and adoration, remembering Him at Calvary! So, the question is not, “What do I get out of that time of worshipping Him?” Rather, it should be, “What does He get from me, as I behold Him?”
Often the words are said in all sincerity, “We do not have the authority to bless these emblems, so we ask His blessing upon them.” But we read, “The cup of blessing which we bless” (1 Cor. 10:16), and in 1 Corinthians 14:16 “…when thou shalt bless with Thy Spirit…” Yes, when we see Him portrayed in those emblems and how much He loved us even to the death of the cross, then we can tell Him how wonderful He is to us, and to His Father, then we bless Him.
Yet, in spite of the fact that we are not there to receive a blessing, we are blessed. That woman who touched the hem of His garment was blessed, and so are we when we “touch” Him. When we get through the crowd (the distracting sounds and scenes about us, the thoughts of work undone, and yet to be done, the “crowd” Satan will no doubt use to hinder our focusing on Him alone), we cry out as the bride in Song of Solomon, “Draw me!”
Then almost immediately, we say with that bride, “The King has brought me into His banqueting house, and His banner over me is love” (Song of Sol. 2:4). Further, she indicates she is at His table, and finally she concludes she is in His embrace.
A wonderful spiritual law is declared in 2 Corinthians 3:18: “We all with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror [and their mirrors, being only polished metal, gave only a limited image of the person] the glory of the Lord, are being changed into the same image from glory to glory, as by the Lord the Spirit.” Surely He had this in mind also when He gave us this feast. Occupation with Him makes us like Him!
I shall never forget the revelation of this my dear wife gave me, when I spoke to her in a sharp, unkind way, and she replied, “I wish you were the kind of husband at the end of the week that you are at the beginning of the week.” Yes, at the beginning of the week in obedience to His request, I view those eloquent emblems which speak of His wonderful Person and His glorious work at the cross for me. The result is that my heart is cleansed, in that I have to judge myself, fearful of mocking Him in telling Him I love Him and appreciate His work that cleanses me from all sin, and yet holding some unjudged sin in my heart (1 Cor. 11:28-291; Heb. 12:6). At the same time, seeing the infinite love that those emblems declare, makes my heart more tender. No wonder my wife saw a difference early in the week. I suppose, if she had her choice, she would like for us to remember Him this way in the middle of the week also, for her husband’s sake.
It Truly is a Feast
As you see, we have used the word, “Feast,” instead of the word, “Supper,” in translating this phrase, “the Lord’s Supper.” The writer was brought up in a home where the custom was to have the big meal, which was called “dinner,” in the middle of the day, and at night just a snack, which we called “supper.” Therefore, “supper” doesn’t appeal to me very much.
It is wonderful to see that the word deipnon translated “supper” is not at all “supper” as I knew it. W. E. Vine, in his Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, says of this word deipnon, it “…denotes the chief meal of the day…” In fact, this same word translated supper is used again and again to speak of a feast, a banquet! In Matthew 23:6 it is used, where the Lord accused the Pharisees of desiring the “chief places at feasts.” In Luke 14:16-17, we read of a man having prepared a great feast and inviting many to come to his “feast,” and the word for feast is again deipnon.
In Revelation 19:9, we read of “the marriage supper of the Lamb.” Again the word translated “supper” is deipnon. Do you think that will be just a “snack?” What a glorious banquet that must be! And this is the word translated “supper” in 1 Corinthians 11:20, which surely, accurately translated, would be “Feast.”
Truly, it is a wonder that little table doesn’t fall beneath the weight which is upon it. You might say, “Well, there’s no weight on it, just the bread and the cup.” But as the Spirit of God leads us in meditating upon Him in His varied personal glories, in the glory of His work of redemption for us and for God the Father who so delights in Him, and in His obedience unto the death of the cross, what a weight of wealth and blessing we enjoy! Yes, it is indeed “The Lordian Feast.” How could we ever miss being there? What a delight to obey His request to call Him to mind as we sit at His table!
The Lordian Day for the Feast
The only other occasion where this word “Lordian” is used in the New Testament is in Revelation 1:10. There it is “the Lordian Day,” where John says, “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s (actually, Lordian) Day.” Some have thought John was referring to “the Day of the Lord,” a phrase which occurs many times in the Old Testament and about 6 times in the New Testament, referring to “the great tribulation” and the final judgments on this world.
However, if that were the case, John would have used the usual possessive case of the noun, “Lord.” But, he did not. Instead, he used the adjective form of the name Lord, which we have translated, “Lordian,” obviously referring to the first day of the week. This was that special day in the believers’ minds, the day that Christ arose in victory from the dead, and the day which was prophesied in Leviticus 23 in “the feast of firstfruits,” the “birthday” of the Church (cf. Lev. 23:15-16; Acts 2:1).
How fitting, as we see in Acts 20:7, that Christians should be found on “The Lordian Day” at “The Lordian Feast,” remembering Him! What a high privilege! What a delight! What a blessing–“till He comes.”