We have learned from the language involved and the meaning of the institution that Christ took one loaf of bread, concerning which he said, "This is my body" (Matt 26:26). Since there was a preexisting analogy between Christ and bread, Christ having previously said, "I am the bread of life" (Jno 6:35), it was only natural and reasonable for Christ to choose this essential, basic, and life-giving food to be "his body" in the Communion, There has been much controversy provoked for centuries over the meaning of the words "this is my body." The Catholics hold that the bread is transformed into the actual physical body of Christ, which doctrine they call Trans-substantiation. Christ was present at the giving of this ordinance, his physical body was with them, and the scripture calls that which he took "bread." It remains "bread," which is easily susceptible of proof. No chemical reaction takes place in the bread at the giving of thanks but it is "sanctified" and set apart as his body in the Communion. The Lutherans, desiring to be a little different from the Catholics, teach virtually the same doctrine under the heading Consubstantiation.

Some disciples of Christ, agreeing that neither the Catholics nor the Lutherans understand the meaning of the statement, argue among themselves over whether the word "emblem" should be used in connection with the elements of the Communion. I have found that usually the disputants agree in substance and are simply "striving about words to no profit" (2 Tim 2:14) because both agree that the bread is not Christ's physical body and both believe the statement he made with reference to it. But some of us, knowing that Christ also has a physical body and a spiritual body (the church), grope for a term to distinguish the bread, which is also his body, from the other two. There should be no offense because we agree.

It will be interesting and thought provoking for us to consider a study of the oneness manifested in type and antitype. While a type should not be conclusive proof of a truth, it should be recognized as contributing testimony and corroborative evidence confirming a truth or a proposition already established. I have already established the proposition that Christ took "one loaf" at the institution of the Communion and I now give corroborating evidence.

1. One Typical Body - The Paschal Lamb, used in the Passover, was a type of Christ. Christ is "our passover" (1 Cor 5:7). That lamb was "without blemish" (Ex 12:5). Christ "did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth" (1 Pet 2:22). That lamb was a "male" (Ex 12:5) and Christ was also (Lk 2:22-23). Concerning that lamb the Lord commanded, "Neither shall ye break a bone thereof" (Ex 12:46), and when Christ was crucified "they brake not his legs" (Jno 19:33) that the scripture should be fulfllled, "A bone of him shall not be broken" (Jno 19:36). John, when he saw Jesus coming, cried exultantly, "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world" (Jno 1:29), and in Revelation we learn that he was the "Lamb slain from the foundation of the world" (Rev 13:8). There were thousands of lambs killed throughout Israel every Passover but there was only one lamb for each Passover assembly, "A lamb for an house" (Ex 12:3), "In one house shall it be eaten" (Ex 12:46). In the Communion we have one loaf for each assembly. If I counted correctly, the pronoun "it" is used sixteen times in Ex. 12, referring to the lamb, but there were thousands of lambs throughout Israel. Now the children of Israel were not foolish enough to argue that because the singular "it" was used they were to use just one lamb for the entire nation. On the other hand they were not childish enough to disregard the "it" and say that because they could have many in the nation they could have more than one in one assembly. It was one lamb for one assembly. Now it is one loaf for one assembly.
2. One Physical Body - Christ had only one physical body to offer as a sacrifice on Golgotha for our sins. The Paschal lamb pointed forward in shadow and type to that body. Each Passover assembly had that type. The loaf on the Lord's Table points backward to that body and each assembly properly has only one, since there is but one Christ.
3. One Communion Body - As there was "one body" in shadow and type and "one body" in substance and reality there is "one body" exemplified in the "one loaf" of bread which Jesus took in the Communion. Today we follow the example set for us by Christ because we are not "wise above that which is written."
4. One Spiritual Body - "There is one body" (Eph 4:4). That body is the church (Col 1:18; Eph 1:22-23). There is to be no "schism" (1 Cor 12:25) or "division" (1 Cor 1:10) in that body but unity should prevail. There is an interesting connection between this "one body," the church, and the "one body," the loaf, in the Communion. Paul comments upon this in 1 Cor 10:17, "For we being many are one bread and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread." Paul, reasoning upon the accepted truth that there is but one loaf in the Communion, deduces another truth, "Because we all partake of that one loaf, we are one body." The fact that we all partake of one loaf symbolizes our unity in the one body. If we accept Paul's conclusion we must accept the premise upon which he reasoned to reach that conclusion. If we believe there is "one body," we must believe there is one loaf in the Communion.

Not a bone of the paschal lamb was broken and not a bone in Christ's body was broken. And the one body, the church, is to have no "schism" in it. Then WHY do brethren inject into this picture that which despoils it? Why do some insist on breaking that one loaf in pieces and distributing them? Would such point sensibly to Christ's body, or to the lamb? Would such be a symbol of unity in the church? As that loaf is one in cohesive union literally, so we, when we partake of it, indicate that we are one in spiritual union. But, when the one loaf is broken scripturally by a disciple who eats his portion, the one loaf, when passed to the next disciple, still possesses that literal cohesive union and still symbolizes the unity of the one body of which we are members and still is that of which Christ said, "This is my body."