Most people searching for Lord’s Supper verses are not doing academic study. They are getting ready — for a communion service on Sunday, for a lesson they have to teach, or because a line in 1 Corinthians 11 has been sitting uneasily with them since the last time the bread was passed.
This page gives the Bible Verses About the Lord’s Supper, King James text of every major passage, shows what each Gospel writer includes that the others leave out, and then deals plainly with the words in the KJV that have frightened more believers away from the Lord’s table than perhaps any other passage in Scripture.
Where the Name Comes From
The phrase “the Lord’s supper” appears exactly once in the entire Bible, and it appears as a rebuke:
1 Corinthians 11:20 — “When ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord’s supper.”
Paul is telling a church that what they are doing is not the thing they think they are doing. The name we use for this ordinance comes from a verse about doing it wrongly. That is worth sitting with before reading anything else on this page.
The other names come from the same letter:
1 Corinthians 10:16 — “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?”
1 Corinthians 10:21 — “Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table, and of the table of devils.”
Communion. The Lord’s table. The Lord’s supper. Breaking of bread. All four are KJV language, all four describe one meal.
The Four Accounts of the Institution
Four writers record the night Jesus instituted this meal. They agree, but each preserves something the others do not — and reading them side by side is more useful than reading any one of them alone.
Matthew 26:26-29
“And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”
Only in Matthew: the words “for the remission of sins.” Matthew alone states the purpose of the shed blood at the table itself.
Mark 14:22-25
“And as they did eat, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and brake it, and gave to them, and said, Take, eat: this is my body. And he took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them: and they all drank of it. And he said unto them, This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many. Verily I say unto you, I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine, until that day that I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”
Only in Mark: the small, human detail that “they all drank of it.” Mark records that the cup went all the way round the table — including, at that hour, to men who would abandon Him before morning.
Luke 22:14-20
“And when the hour was come, he sat down, and the twelve apostles with him. And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer… And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.”
Only in Luke: the command “this do in remembrance of me,” and the opening line “With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you.” Luke is the writer who tells us Jesus wanted this meal.
1 Corinthians 11:23-26
“For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. 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. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come.”
Only in Paul: the forward look — “till he come.” The Gospels record the meal; Paul records why the church keeps repeating it. It is not only memory. It is announcement, and it has an expiry date.
Five KJV Wordings That Change How This Passage Reads
The King James translators used vocabulary that has drifted in four hundred years. Five words in particular decide whether this passage comforts a believer or terrifies one.
“New testament,” not “new covenant.” Matthew 26:28, Luke 22:20 and 1 Corinthians 11:25 all read “the new testament in my blood.” Modern versions render the same word as covenant. Both are legitimate; the underlying word carries the sense of a binding arrangement that also functions as a will — something that takes effect through a death. The KJV wording quietly links the cup to Hebrews 9:16-17, where a testament is of force only after men are dead.
“Communion” (1 Corinthians 10:16). The KJV word means participation or sharing in common — not a private religious feeling. Paul’s point in the next verse is corporate: “For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread” (1 Corinthians 10:17).
“Shew” (1 Corinthians 11:26). Shew is simply the older spelling of show, and here it carries the force of publicly proclaiming or announcing. Taking communion is a public declaration of Christ’s death, not a private devotion done in company.
“Unworthily” (1 Corinthians 11:27). This is an adverb, not an adjective. It describes how a person eats — the manner — not whether the person is good enough. See the section below; this single word does more damage than any other in the passage.
“Damnation” (1 Corinthians 11:29). In 1611 English, damnation meant judgment or condemnation in a broad legal sense, not automatically eternal hell. Paul defines his own meaning three verses later: “But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world” (1 Corinthians 11:32). The chastening he describes is explicitly the opposite of being condemned with the world.
The Verse That Keeps People From the Table
1 Corinthians 11:27-32 — “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. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.”
Many sincere believers read this and quietly pass the tray on, reasoning that they are not worthy this week. That reading turns the passage upside down, for three reasons visible in the text itself.
First, no one is worthy. If worthiness were the entrance requirement, the meal would be empty. The first men to receive it included one who denied Christ within hours and one who had already agreed to sell Him.
Second, Paul says “examine,” not “exclude.” Verse 28 is a command to come to the table with self-knowledge: “But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat.” The sentence ends with eating, not abstaining. Compare 2 Corinthians 13:5, where the same apostle uses the word about testing whether faith is genuine.
Third, the context is a specific abuse. Read verses 20-22. The Corinthian problem was not private sin brought to the table; it was rich members eating their own meals in front of hungry poor members — “one is hungry, and another is drunken” (v. 21). “Not discerning the Lord’s body” (v. 29) has a double edge: failing to discern what the bread signifies, and failing to discern the body of believers sitting beside you and going without.
The warning is real. It is a warning against contempt — treating a holy thing carelessly, or treating a fellow believer as beneath notice. It is not a warning against coming while you are still a sinner. If that were the rule, the table would have been abolished the night it was given.
The Lord’s Supper in the Early Church
The New Testament shows the ordinance already being practised, not debated.
Acts 2:42 — “And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.”
Acts 2:46 — “And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart.”
Acts 20:7 — “And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight.”
Three details worth noticing. It was tied to teaching and prayer, not isolated from them. It happened in houses as well as gatherings. And in Acts 20:7 it is the stated reason the church assembled on the first day of the week.
The Passover Roots
Jesus did not invent a new ceremony out of nothing. He took the oldest meal in Israel’s calendar and told His disciples what it had always been about.
Exodus 12:13 — “And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you, when I smite the land of Egypt.”
Exodus 24:8 — “And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which the Lord hath made with you concerning all these words.”
1 Corinthians 5:7 — “Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us.”
When Jesus lifted the cup and said “this is my blood of the new testament,” every man at that table knew the sentence He was echoing from Exodus 24. He was not adding a ritual. He was closing one.
The Meal That Is Still Ahead
Both Matthew and Mark record a promise that gets overlooked at most communion services: Jesus said He would not drink of the fruit of the vine again “until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom” (Matthew 26:29).
Revelation 19:9 — “And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.”
This is why Paul writes “till he come.” Communion looks backward to a death and forward to a supper. The bread on the tray is an interim arrangement.
Preparing Your Heart: A Short Self-Examination From the Passage Itself
Drawn only from what 1 Corinthians 11 actually asks, not from added rules:
- Am I discerning the Lord’s body? Do I know what the bread and cup represent, or am I taking them out of habit?
- Am I at peace with the believers in this room? Paul’s rebuke was about how the church treated one another at the table (vv. 20-22, 33).
- Is there anything I am refusing to confess? “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins” (1 John 1:9). Examination that ends in confession ends well.
- Am I coming with reverence or with contempt? That is the actual line the passage draws.
- Am I remembering, and am I proclaiming? “This do in remembrance of me” and “ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come.”
Then eat. That is where verse 28 ends.
FAQ on Bible Verses About the Lord’s Supper
What is the difference between the Last Supper and the Lord’s Supper?
The Last Supper is the historical meal Jesus ate with His disciples on the night of the betrayal. The Lord’s Supper is the ongoing ordinance the church observes in remembrance of it. Same origin, different words: one names an event, the other names a practice.
Does the KJV say communion is bread and wine or grape juice?
Scripture says “the fruit of the vine” (Matthew 26:29; Mark 14:25; Luke 22:18) and never uses the word wine in the institution accounts. Churches differ on the element used, and the phrase itself does not settle the question.
How often should the Lord’s Supper be observed
The New Testament gives a frequency principle rather than a schedule: “as oft as ye drink it” (1 Corinthians 11:25) and “as often as ye eat this bread” (v. 26). Acts 20:7 shows a first-day-of-the-week gathering for breaking bread. Congregations reach different practices from the same verses, and the text does not command a number.
Can I take communion if I have unconfessed sin?
The passage tells you to examine yourself and then eat, not to stay away. Confess what examination surfaces (1 John 1:9), and come. Judas is the warning at that table, and his problem was not weakness — it was a settled decision against Christ.
Does 1 Corinthians 11:30 mean God makes people sick over communion?
The verse says plainly, “For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.” Paul connects the Corinthians’ abuse of the table with real consequences in that congregation. Verse 32 frames those consequences as the chastening of a Father, not the sentence of a judge.
Do Christians agree on what “this is my body” means?
No, and they have not for centuries. This page reads the language of the KJV — “in remembrance of me,” “ye do shew the Lord’s death” — in its memorial and proclaiming sense. Other traditions read it differently. The disagreement is old, serious, and not resolved by a verse list.
Closing Thought
The verses on this page are short, and the church has argued about them for two thousand years. But the command at the centre of them is not complicated. Take. Eat. Remember. Announce His death until He comes back.
Everything else is commentary.
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