Jesus Christ established what we commonly call ”the Lord’s Supper” on the night He was betrayed. This beautiful event was recorded for us by four New Testament authors as they were guided by the Holy Spirit. The accounts may be found in I Corinthians 10 and 11, Matthew 26, Mark 14, and Luke 22. All four accounts clearly show, all reputable commentators agree, and all original language studies prove that only one cup was used in the establishment of this great feast. Only the most unwise individual would dispute the fact that only one cup was used in the establishment of “the Lord’s Supper”.

As time passed, men began to corrupt the celebration. This corruption resulted in the Apostle Paul’s strong rebuke of the brethren at Corinth and his admonishment to return to the true pattern as established by the Lord Jesus. A careful study of the 10th and 11th chapters of I Corinthians will reveal in detail the errors these brethren made and just as clearly will reveal the true way they were to follow. Alas, the Corinthian letter did not end the corruption of “the Lord’s Supper” forever.

In 1894, a physician named John G. Thomas was issued a patent for individual communion cups. A copy of the patent issued by the United States Patent Office can be found in the addendum to this article. In the years prior to 1894, men famous in medical history such as VanLeeuwenhoek and Pasteur had discovered the amazing world of creatures far too small to be seen with the unaided eye and made the connection between these creatures and infectious diseases. The “Germ Theory of Disease” was born and man began the battle that has resulted in cures for many diseases and vaccines for many others. The idea that diseases were spread from person-to-person was clearly established and Dr. Thomas felt that the shared communion cup might contribute to the spread of infections. He invented the individual communion cup set as shown in the patent and introduced it into the Presbyterian Church where he was also a minister. These devices became popular in many denominations and companies that marketed them often emphasized the “sanitary” qualities they were presumed to exhibit.

In the early 1900’s, a Church of Christ preacher, G. C. Brewer, began fighting to get the individual communion cups into the Lord’s Church. A paragraph from his own book, “Forty Years On the Firing Line”, gives details of his intense efforts to bring this error into the Church. A copy of the pages with this paragraph bracketed is in the addendum. Please read this paragraph and notice how he claims victory in the last sentence. Well, evil has NOT won! Men of faith still battle falsehood and corrupt practice with zeal and God’s Truth.

In today’s world, teachers of Truth must battle not only the false prophets but also the corrupting influence of modern advertising. The makers of paper cups and mouthwashes implant the idea that all manner of disease-causing bacteria and viruses lurk in the human mouth that must be eliminated and certainly not passed along to others by sharing drinking vessels. False teachers have a much easier task when they have the subconscious fear of infection already planted for them by the outside world and they can play on that fear when trying to convince people that the number of cups used in the Lord’s Supper makes no difference. But God and Christ knew about bacteria and viruses long before man even dreamed that such tiny creatures could even exist (see John 1). Because God and Christ knew more than any man, they chose the perfect drink element for the Lord’s Supper - grape juice. With this “fruit of the vine” to represent to us the blood of the Savior, God provided safety to all who participate.

Our conviction must be, as Christians, that God and our Savior would never have designed a process that would harm us and then command us to follow it. Faith demands an unswerving trust in God. However, the gainsayer must be convinced and babes in Christ must be strengthened and therefore we offer these words of encouragement.

   Only a few well-controlled, scientific studies have ever been conducted with communion and communicants as specific subjects. Brothers James Orten and Alton Bailey reprinted and reviewed several of these experiments in a booklet entitled “Sanitation in Communion, Second Edition” which was published in 1993. Rather than reproduce their entire work, only the conclusions of the experiments are cited. Please refer to the bibliography for the complete reference information. Although the conclusions reached by the scientists contradict what the advertising world would have us to believe, there is a simple reason - grape juice. After the experiments’ conclusions, the explanation for them will be provided.
   1 The Hobbs, Knowlden and White study’s basic conclusion: The risk of transmission of                disease is very small, and probably much smaller than that of contracting infection by
        other methods in any gathering of people.
   2 The Burrows and Hemmens study’s basic conclusion: Sitting in the room with the
        infected person is more dangerous than drinking from the communion cup.
   3 The Konowalchuk and Speirs study’s basic conclusion: The wine remaining after             communion has been tested and found to be, in all practical respects, sterile.
   4 The Gill Review study’s basic conclusion: The risk of infection via the communion
        cup is negligible. No episode of disease attributable to the shared communion cup
        has ever been reported. * There is no scientific evidence supporting the                abandonment of the shared communion cup.

Why should communion be so much safer than anything else we do when we come together? The grape juice! Many infectious disease are spread via the air we breathe or via direct contact with one another. This is why the investigators concluded that being in the same room with an infected person was more dangerous than sharing communion with that person. Very few dangerous disease are spread via contact with environmental surfaces. And NO bacteria or virus can be contracted via communion because of the grape juice. God and Christ knew exactly the correct drink element to use to represent the Savior’s blood. Grape juice contains three types of chemicals that kill bacteria and inactivate viruses. The phenolic compounds, tannins and ascorbic acid present in grape juice make it deadly for these creatures.

Modern agricultural chemistry has proven that grapes are an excellent source of phenolic compounds and tannins (see addendum). In an article on naturally occurring antioxidants, the authors noted “grapes, wines and grape by-products contain large amounts of phenolic compounds at high concentrations” (5). Phenols and tannins work against bacteria and viruses by binding to the proteins in their outer shells. This binding is immediate and as soon as a bacteria or virus comes in contact with the grape juice it is rendered harmless. The immediate and irreversible binding properties can easily be demonstrated in laundry situations. Notice how difficult grape juice stains are to remove from an article of clothing even if attempts to remove them are begun immediately. Bacteria and viruses have no way to remove the phenols and tannins from themselves. In the bound situation they cannot penetrate the body’s natural defenses and then when swallowed are destroyed by the stomach acids. Ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) is well known as a preservative and is used for that purpose in many prepared foods that we purchase.

* Although this study was published in 1988, my personal review of medical literature since that time has uncovered no reported cases of infection spread via the shared communion cup. Even with the vast increase in medical literature made available from worldwide sources, no article has come to light claiming such an event has taken place. gkb

Phenolic compounds, tannins and ascorbic acid are found in all types of grape juice. In the United States the juice of the Concorde grape is commonly used in communion. The dark purple color of the juice comes from the skin of the grape where the highest concentrations of these chemicals are found. In other countries, red or green grapes may be more common as the source of the juice used, but these also contain the preserving chemicals in abundance. Thus God has provided in all parts of the world the perfect drink element to represent the perfect blood of the perfect Savior. Let us strive for perfection as participants in the Lord’s Supper, never doubting the great grace and love shown by our loving Father. He has allowed us entry into the new covenant by the sacrifice of His Son so we need have no fear when we partake of the communion of the blood of Christ from that single cup which represents to us that covenant.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Hobbs, Betty C., Knowlden, Jill A., and White, Ann. “Experiments on the Communion Cup”, Journal of Hygiene, 65(1967), pp. 37-48.

2. Burrows, William and Hemmens, Elizabeth S. “Survival of Bacteria on the Silver Communion Cup”, Journal of Infectious Diseases, 73(1943), pp. 180-190.

3. Konowalchuk, Jack and Speirs, Joan I. “Virus Inactivation by Grapes and Wines”, Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 32)Dec. 1976), pp. 757-763. and “Antiviral Activity of Fruit Extracts”, Journal of Food Science, 41(1976), pp. 1013-1017.

4. Gill, O. Noel, “The Hazard of Infection from the Shared Communion Cup”, Journal of Infection, 16(1988), pp. 3-23.

5. Kanner, Joseph, Frankel, Edwin, Granit, Rina, German, Bruce, and Kinsella, John E., “Natural Antioxidants in Grapes and Wines”, Journal of Agricultural Food Chemistry, 42(1994), pp. 64-69.

INFECTIOUS DISEASE AND THE SHARED COMMUNION CUP

Adornando La Doctrina

La Confesión de Fe

Un Bautismo

El Ayuno

¿Cómo podemos violar la autonomía?

Un Nuevo Pacto, Parte X

Una Sola Copa

“Paciencia su obra completa…”

Un Nuevo Pacto, Parte IX

G. Keith Bullock