问题47：主的晚餐对基督的救赎工作有什么补充吗？
答：不，基督只死一次，就成就了一切。主的晚餐是庆祝基督赎罪工作的立约之餐，也是当我们仰望祂时增强我们信心的一种方式，还是对将来筵席的预尝。但那些怀着不悔改的心参与的人，却是在吃喝对自己的审判。
儿童版：不，基督只死一次，就成就了一切。

Question 47: Does the Lord’s Supper Add Anything to Christ’s Atoning Work?
Answer: No, Christ died once for all. The Lord’s Supper is a covenant meal celebrating Christ’s atoning work; as it is also a means of strengthening our faith as we look to him, and a foretaste of the future feast. But those who take part with unrepentant hearts eat and drink judgment on themselves.
For Kids: No, Christ died once for all.


歌谱 Lead Sheet

经文

《彼得前书》3 章18 节：

　　因基督也曾一次为罪受苦，就是义的代替不义的，为要引我们到神面前……

注解

莱尔

　　让我们牢记在心，圣餐并不是用来使人称义或使人归主的。它不是在没有恩典的地方赐下恩典，或在罪未得赦的时候赦罪。人若没有在神面前悔改和对主耶稣基督的信心，是不可能通过圣餐来弥补的。这个圣礼是为那些已经悔改、归信的人准备的，而不是那些还没有悔改、归信的人。尚未转变归主的人以为领圣餐是上天堂的一条捷径，使他不必走悔改和信心的老路，但总有一天他会吃到苦头，发现自己完全被骗了。圣餐并不能赐予人恩典，而只是加增和坚固一个人已经得着的恩典。它绝不是用来使我们与神和好、使人称义或使人归主的。

　　最简单地说，一个忠实的信徒通过领受圣餐得到的好处就是灵魂的稳固与更新。信徒领受圣餐的益处主要是：更清楚地认识基督和祂的救恩，以及祂作为中保的角色；更加知道祂在十字架上替我们死已经使我们完全得救赎，知道神全然地接纳在基督里的我们；觉得更有必要追求深刻的悔改、活泼的信心和有基督样式的圣洁生活。以一个正确的态度吃饼喝杯的人会发现自己与基督的关系变得更加亲密，也觉得对祂的认识和了解得更多了……

　　通过领圣餐，有正确态度的人会更深地悔改，他的信心会增强，认知会扩大，圣洁生活会得到巩固。他的内心会更多地感受到基督「真实的同在」。因着信，吃主的饼、喝主的杯，他会感到与基督的身体和血有更紧密的交流和联系；会更清楚地看到基督对他意味着什么，他对基督又意味着什么；会更透彻地明白何为「他与基督，基督与他联合」；会感到灵命的根得到了灌溉，恩典的工作在他的心里扎根、生长和繁茂起来。在一个活在自己罪性中的人看来，这些都很愚蠢，但对一个真正的基督徒来说，这些却是光明、健康、生命和平安。

默想

里奥·舒斯特

　　我最近看到一则餐厅广告，其实就是餐厅的名字「spiritual dining」（心灵餐厅）。这让我想到进食是很好的，不仅仅只是物质上的体验。这也让我想起圣餐，真属灵食物以及圣餐所能做的与不能做的。实际上，圣餐的果效体现在三个维度：过去、现在与未来。

　　当耶稣设立圣餐，就是最后的晚餐，祂告诉门徒：「你们也应当如此行，为的是记念我。」（路22:19）强调了祂敦促他们去做的，将会指向祂已经为他们所做的。记得耶稣为我们所做的，我们的生命是以祂为我们所完成的工作为根基的。圣餐不是一种你可以赚取救恩的方式，但对于那些得救的人来说是属灵上的进食。它并没有在基督一次性牺牲，所完成的工作上加添任何东西，但它确认并加强了我们在祂里面的信心。它成了一个简略表明福音的方式，正如一位古代作家写道，首先我们听到福音，然后我们品尝福音，所以福音在我们的生命中两腿并行着走。保罗在《哥林多前书》中写道：「你们每逢吃这饼，喝这杯，是表明主的死，直等到祂来。」（林前11:26）人们喝酒是为了忘记难处；而基督徒喝主杯是为了记念耶稣的胜利。这是圣餐过去的果效。

　　保罗在《哥林多前书》中提到，关于圣餐当下的维度：「我们所祝福的杯，岂不是同领基督的血吗？我们所擘开的饼，岂不是同领基督的身体吗？」（林前10:16）「同领」这个词，也可以被翻译为「团契」或「融为一体」（圣餐），这就是圣餐（communion）一词的来历。我们仔细想，圣餐并不只是象征性地提示耶稣为我们所做的，也是当下与耶稣并与其他人的联合相交。

　　知道饼与杯不会以任何方式改变是很重要的，耶稣不是以肉体的方式出现在圣餐中，当圣灵借信心向我们展示基督时，祂以属灵的方式与我们同在。对于那些不属灵的人而言，圣餐是呼召他们接受基督，而不是去吃那顿饭。通过基督徒的见证，他们能听到耶稣爱的呼召：「我就是生命的粮，到我这里来的，必定不饿，信我的，永远不渴。」（约6:35）当我们基督徒借着信心领取主餐时，耶稣与我们相会，把我们联成教会，以祂自己来滋养我们，使我们更加爱祂并顺从祂。这是圣餐现在的果效。

　　当耶稣将杯递给祂的门徒时，祂说：「从今以后，我不再喝这葡萄汁，直到我在我父的国里同你们喝新的那日子。」（太26:29）祂用这句话将圣餐指向未来的维度。这是一个象征，指向将来预定的那个大日。这是预尝羔羊的婚宴，在永恒中与主一同在荣耀中喜乐的信徒，因罪败坏了的创造物，借着基督破碎的身体而重新得以完全。在今生，我们会在堕落的状态中持续经历破损，但圣餐未来的维度为我们带来了希望。在那天，我们将变得彻底完全；当我们与我们的救主和其他人一同享用饮食时，那将是极其美好的。

祷告

　　战胜死亡的主，我们领受圣餐来庆祝祢做成的大工。这是我们信仰的告白。我们虽然不配，但已经与基督的生命联合。愿我们带着悔改的心来到祢的桌前，放下自己的骄傲和自负，来享受祢白白赐给我们的恩典。阿们。

Scripture

1 PETER 3:18

For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God. . . .

Commentary

J. C. RYLE

Let us settle it firmly in our minds that the Lord’s Supper was not given to be a means either of justification or of conversion. It was never meant to give grace where there is no grace already, or to provide pardon when pardon is not already enjoyed. It cannot possibly provide what is lacking with the absence of repentance to God, and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ. It is an ordinance for the penitent, not for the impenitent, for the believing, not for the unbelieving, for the converted, not for the unconverted. The unconverted man, who fancies that he can find a shortcut road to heaven by taking the Sacrament, without treading the well-worn steps of repentance and faith, will find to his cost one day that he is totally deceived. The Lord’s Supper was meant to increase and help the grace that a man has, but not to impart the grace that he has not. It was certainly never intended to make our peace with God, to justify, or to convert.

The simplest statement of the benefit which a truehearted communicant may expect to receive from the Lord’s Supper . . . is the strengthening and refreshing of our souls. Clearer views of Christ and His atonement, clearer views of all the offices which Christ fills as our Mediator and Advocate, clearer views of the complete redemption Christ has obtained for us by His vicarious death on the cross, clearer views of our full and perfect acceptance in Christ before God, fresh reasons for deep repentance for sin, fresh reasons for lively faith, fresh reasons for living a holy, consecrated, Christ-like life,—these are among the leading returns which a believer may confidently expect to get from his attendance at the Lord’s Table. He that eats the bread and drinks the wine in a right spirit will find himself drawn into closer communion with Christ, and will feel to know Him more, and understand Him better. . . .

In eating that bread and drinking that cup, such a man will have his repentance deepened, his faith increased, his knowledge enlarged, his habit of holy living strengthened. He will realise more of the “real presence” of Christ in his heart. Eating that bread by faith, he will feel closer communion with the body of Christ. Drinking that wine by faith, he will feel closer communion with the blood of Christ. He will see more clearly what Christ is to him, and what he is to Christ. He will understand more thoroughly what it is to be “one with Christ, and Christ one with him.” He will feel the roots of his soul’s spiritual life watered, and the work of grace in his heart established, built up, and carried forward. All these things may seem and sound like foolishness to a natural man, but to a true Christian these things are light, and health, and life, and peace.

Devotional

LEO SCHUSTER

I recently saw a restaurant advertisement that simply had the name of the restaurant and the words spiritual dining. It made me wonder about whether dining, at its best, is more than a mere material experience. And it made me think about the Lord’s Supper, the spiritual meal, and what it does and doesn’t do. There are actually three dimensions to what the Lord’s Supper does: past, present, and future.

When Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper, he told his disciples, “Do this in remembrance of me” (Luke 22:19), underscoring that what he was urging them to do would point back to what he had done for them. When we remember what Jesus did for us, we ground our lives in his finished work. The Lord’s Supper isn’t a way you can earn your salvation; it is spiritual dining for those who are saved. It doesn’t add anything to the finished work of Christ’s once-for-all sacrifice, but confirms and strengthens us in him. It becomes a sort of gospel shorthand where, as an ancient writer put it, first we hear the gospel, then we taste the gospel, and so the gospel goes forward in our lives on two legs. As Paul put it in 1 Corinthians, “For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes” (11:26). As Christians we eat and drink to remember Jesus’s triumph. That’s the past dimension.

Paul points to the present dimension of the Lord’s Supper when he writes in 1 Corinthians, “The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?” (10:16). That word participation could also be translated “fellowship” or “communion.” It’s where we get the term communion. Think of what that means—the Lord’s Supper is not only a symbolic reminder of what Jesus has done for us; it’s also a present communion with one another and with Jesus.

It’s important to note that the bread and wine don’t change in any way. Jesus isn’t present physically, but he’s present spiritually as the Holy Spirit exhibits him to us by faith. Now for those who are spiritually unresolved, the Lord’s Supper is a call to them to receive Christ rather than to participate in the meal. By witnessing Christians partaking, they’re encouraged to hear the echo of Jesus’s loving call: “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst” (John 6:35). And when we as believers take communion by faith, Jesus meets with us, uniting us as a community, nourishing us with himself, and strengthening us to love and obey him. That’s the present dimension.

When Jesus gave his disciples the cup he said, “I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom” (Matt. 26:29). With these words he directed them to the future dimension of the Lord’s Supper, as a sign pointing forward to the great day of anticipation. It’s a foretaste of the marriage supper of the Lamb and the everlasting feast believers will enjoy with Christ in glory. Now we’re broken creatures due to sin. Through Christ’s broken body we’re made whole again. Yet in this life we continue to experience the brokenness of our fallen condition. The future dimension of the Lord’s Supper points us forward in hope to a day when we will be made completely whole and when we’ll enjoy, with our Savior and with one another, dining at its very best.

Prayer

Conqueror of Death, we celebrate your finished work when we take the Lord’s Supper. May our eating be a confession of faith, that though we are unworthy, we have been joined together with the worthiness of Christ. May we come to your table with repentant hearts, putting away pride and self-sufficiency, enjoying the free grace you offer to us. Amen.