BIBLE QUESTION
How should we understand "This is my body"?
Jesus meant the bread to truly represent his body given for the disciples, and Christians have read it as literal, sacramental, or symbolic depending on their tradition.
Answer
The words of institution sit at the center of the Eucharist. Jesus takes bread, blesses it, breaks it, and declares, "This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me." The verse itself does not explain the mechanism; it only asserts an identification between the bread and the body that is "given," linking the act to the cross that follows and to the disciples' ongoing memory of him.
Christian tradition has read this identification in three main ways. Catholic and Orthodox teaching (often called Real Presence or transubstantiation) holds that the bread truly becomes Christ's body, even while keeping the appearance of bread. Lutheran teaching affirms a real sacramental union: Christ is truly present "in, with, and under" the bread. Reformed and many evangelical traditions teach a symbolic or spiritual presence, in which the bread points to the crucified body and the Holy Spirit nourishes faith through it. Each tradition appeals to the plain force of Jesus' words and to the church's ongoing practice.
Context
Luke 22:19 is one of four New Testament accounts of the words of institution (see also Matthew 26:26, Mark 14:22, 1 Corinthians 11:24). The verse sits inside the Passover meal Jesus shares with the Twelve, the night before his crucifixion. Luke pairs the bread with the cup "after supper," which becomes "the new covenant in my blood" (v. 20), framing the meal as both a memorial and a participation in Christ's death.
The passage does not settle how the bread "is" the body. It records Jesus' words as spoken, assumes the disciples will repeat the act ("this do"), and leaves later readers to weigh language, sacrament, and symbol. Honest interpretation begins by noticing what the text affirms (real identification, real gift, real remembrance) and what it does not define (the mode of presence).
Related scriptures
- Luke 22:19 The reference verse itself, where Jesus identifies the bread with his body "given for you" and commands ongoing remembrance. Any doctrine of the Eucharist must be tested against this plain declaration.
Common questions
Did Jesus mean the bread literally became his body?
Luke 22:19 records the words as spoken without explaining the mode. Catholic and Orthodox traditions read them literally as transubstantiation; Lutherans as a real sacramental union; Reformed and evangelical traditions as a spiritual symbol that nevertheless truly mediates Christ. The text demands a real identification, but does not by itself prescribe a philosophy of change.
What does "in remembrance of me" mean?
The phrase makes the Eucharist an ongoing act of the church. It is not only a recollection of past events but a present proclamation of Christ's death until he returns (cf. 1 Corinthians 11:26). Memory here is liturgical and communion-shaped, not merely mental.
Is the Lord's Supper a sacrifice?
The text calls it a memorial and links it to the new covenant in Christ's blood (Luke 22:20). Some traditions therefore speak of the Eucharist as a sacramental participation in Christ's once-for-all sacrifice; others limit it strictly to a memorial meal. The verse itself presents the Supper as the church's obedient repetition of what Jesus commanded, rooted in his self-giving on the cross.