1 Corinthians 11 · Verse 26

1 Corinthians 11:26

For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come.
1 Corinthians 11:26, King James Version

1 Corinthians 11:26 in other translations

BSBFor as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.
WEBFor as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
ASVFor as often as ye eat this bread, and drink the cup, ye proclaim the Lord’s death till he come.
YLTfor as often as ye may eat this bread, and this cup may drink, the death of the Lord ye do shew forth--till he may come;
DARBYFor as often as ye shall eat this bread, and drink the cup, ye announce the death of the Lord, until he come.
BBEFor whenever you take the bread and the cup you give witness to the Lord's death till he comes.
WebsterFor as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he shall come.

What does 1 Corinthians 11:26 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
26. For--in proof that the Lord's Supper is "in remembrance" of Him. show--announce publicly. The Greek does not mean to dramatically represent, but "ye publicly profess each of you, the Lord has died FOR ME" [Wahl]. This word, as "is" in Christ's institution (1Co 11:24, 25), implies not literal presence, but a vivid realization, by faith, of Christ in the Lord's Supper, as a living person, not a mere abstract dogma, "bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh" (Ep 5:30; compare Ge 2:23); and ourselves "members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones," "our sinful bodies made clean by His body (once for all offered), and our souls washed through His most precious blood" [Church of England Prayer Book]. "Show," or "announce," is an expression applicable to new things; compare "show" as to the Passover (Ex 13:8). So the Lord's death ought always to be fresh in our memory; compare in heaven, Re 5:6. That the Lord's Supper is in remembrance of Him, implies that He is bodily absent, though spiritually present, for we cannot be said to commemorate one absent. The fact that we not only show the Lord's death in the supper, but eat and drink the pledges of it, could only be understood by the Jews, accustomed to such feasts after propitiatory sacrifices, as implying our personal appropriation therein of the benefits of that death. till he come--when there shall be no longer need of symbols of His body, the body itself being manifested. The Greek expresses the certainly of His coming. Rome teaches that we eat Christ present corporally, "till He come" corporally; a contradiction in terms. The showbread, literally, "bread of the presence," was in the sanctuary, but not in the Holiest Place (He 9:1-8); so the Lord's Supper in heaven, the antitype to the Holiest Place, shall be superseded by Christ's own bodily presence; then the wine shall be drunk "anew" in the Father's kingdom, by Christ and His people together, of which heavenly banquet, the Lord's Supper is a spiritual foretaste and specimen (Mt 26:29). Meantime, as the showbread was placed anew, every sabbath, on the table before the Lord (Le 24:5-8); so the Lord's death was shown, or announced afresh at the Lord's table the first day of every week in the primitive Church. We are now "priests unto God" in the dispensation of Christ's spiritual presence, antitypical to the HOLY PLACE: the perfect and eternal dispensation, which shall not begin till Christ's coming, is antitypical to the HOLIEST PLACE, which Christ our High Priest alone in the flesh as yet has entered (He 9:6, 7); but which, at His coming, we, too, who are believers, shall enter (Re 7:15; 21:22). The supper joins the two closing periods of the Old and the New dispensations. The first and second comings are considered as one coming, whence the expression is not "return," but "come" (compare, however, Joh 14:3).

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Barnes' Notes
Verse 26. For as often. Whenever you do this.

Ye eat this bread. This is a direct and positive refutation of the doctrine of the papists, that the bread is changed into the real body of the Lord Jesus. Here it is expressly called bread--bread still--bread after the consecration. Before the Saviour instituted the ordinance he took "bread"--it was bread then; it was "bread" which he "blessed" and "brake;" and it was bread when it was given to them; and it was bread when Paul here says they ate. How, then, can it be pretended that it is anything else but bread? And what an amazing and astonishing absurdity it is to believe that that bread is changed into the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ!

Ye do shew the Lord's death. You set forth or exhibit, in an impressive manner, the fact that he was put to death; you exhibit the emblems of his broken body and shed blood, and your belief of the fact that he died. This shows that the ordinance was to be so far public as to be a proper showing forth of their belief in the death of the Saviour. It should be public. It is one mode of professing attachment to the Redeemer; and its public observance often has a most impressive effect on those who witness its observance.

Till he come. Till he return to judge the world. This demonstrates

(1.) that it was the steady belief of the primitive church that the Lord Jesus would return to judge the world; and

(2.) that it was designed that this ordinance should be perpetuated, and observed to the end of time. In every generation, therefore, and in every place where there are Christians, it is to be observed, until the Son of God shall return; and the necessity of its observance shall cease only when the whole body of the redeemed shall be permitted to see their Lord, and there shall be no need of those emblems to remind them of him, for all shall see him as he is.

(1) "ye do shew" "shew ye"

Albert Barnes, 1834 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 26 Ye do show the Lord's death - As in the passover they showed forth the bondage they had been in, and the redemption they had received from it; so in the eucharist they showed forth the sacrificial death of Christ, and the redemption from sin derived from it.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on 1 Corinthians 11:23-34

The apostle describes the sacred ordinance, of which he had the knowledge by revelation from Christ. As to the visible signs, these are the bread and wine. What is eaten is called bread, though at the same time it is said to be the body of the Lord, plainly showing that the apostle did not mean that the bread was changed into flesh. St. Matthew tells us, our Lord bid them all drink of the cup, ch. Mt 26:27, as if he…

Read the full comment on 1 Corinthians 11:23-34 →

1 Corinthians 11:26 in the original Greek

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

ὁσάκιςhosakisAs often asG3740
γὰρgarforG1063
ἐὰνeanwhenG1437
ἐσθίητεesthiēteyou shall eatG2068
τὸνton<the>G3588
ἄρτονartonbreadG740
τοῦτονtoutonthisG3778
καὶkaiandG2532
τὸto<the>G3588
ποτήριονpotērioncupG4221
τοῦτοtoutothisG3778
πίνητε,pinētemay drink,G4095
τὸνtontheG3588
θάνατονthanatondeathG2288
τοῦtouof theG3588
κυρίουkuriouLordG2962
καταγγέλλετεkatangelleteyou proclaimG2605
ἄχριachriuntilG891
οὗhouthatG3739
ἔλθῃ.¶elthēHe may come.G2064

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for 1 Corinthians 11:26

  • Hebrews 9:28

    So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.

  • Revelation 1:7

    Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.

  • John 14:3

    And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.

  • 1 John 2:28

    And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming.

  • Acts 1:11

    Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.

  • John 21:22

    Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me.

  • 2 Peter 3:10

    But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.

  • Jude 1:14

    And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,

  • Revelation 20:11-12

    And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

  • Revelation 22:20

    He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.

  • 1 Corinthians 15:23

    But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.

  • 1 Thessalonians 4:16

    For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
ye do shew. or, shew ye. till.
4:5; 15:23; Joh 14:3; 21:22; Ac 1:11; 1Th 4:16; 2Th 1:10; 2:2,3
Heb 9:28; 2Pe 3:10; 1Jo 2:28; Jude 1:14; Re 1:7; 20:11,12; 22:20

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • 1 Corinthians 11:25

    After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.

  • 1 Corinthians 11:26

    For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come.

  • 1 Corinthians 11:27

    Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.

Read all of 1 Corinthians 11

1 Corinthians 11:26 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Porque todas las veces que comiereis este pan, y bebiereis esta copa, la muerte del Señor anunciáis hasta que venga.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Car toutes les fois que vous mangez ce pain et que vous buvez la coupe, vous annoncez la mort du Seigneur jusqu’à ce qu’il vienne.
German
Elberfelder 1871		Denn so oft ihr dieses Brot esset und den Kelch trinket, verkündiget ihr den Tod des Herrn, bis er kommt.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Quotiescumque enim manducabitis panem hunc, et calicem bibetis, mortem Domini annuntiabitis donec veniat.