What does 1 Corinthians 10:16 say the cup and the bread are?
1 Corinthians 10:16 states that the cup of blessing we bless is the communion—the fellowship—of the blood of Christ, and the bread we break is the communion—the fellowship—of the body of Christ. It adds, 'For we being many are one bread.'
Les explains that in 1 Corinthians 10, Paul addresses the Lord's Table or communion service, which the Corinthians had made a problem by allowing things that should never have taken place in the church. Paul had just dealt with eating meats offered to idols, a cultural issue the Corinthians faced but we do not. Earlier they were suing one another in pagan courts. So the whole book deals with problems besetting the Corinthian church. In verse 16 concerning the Lord's table, Paul writes that the cup of blessing we bless is the communion, the fellowship, of the blood of Christ, and the bread we break is the communion, the fellowship, of the body of Christ. He adds, 'For we being many are one bread.' Les then notes that in chapter 12 Paul will compare the body of Christ to the human body, with various functions like fingers and toes, yet under one central nervous system centered in the head, the brain. So also is the body of Christ.
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?