In 1 Corinthians 10:17 Paul says, “Seeing that there is one bread, we who are many are one Body; for we all partake of the one bread.” Partaking of (that is, eating—vv. 28-30) the one bread identifies us with it. This indicates that our partaking of Christ, our enjoying of Christ, identifies us with Him, making us one with Him.
The one bread signifies the one Body of Christ. We all are one Body because we all partake of the one bread. Our joint partaking of the one bread makes us all one. This indicates that our partaking of Christ makes us all His one Body. The very Christ of whom we all partake constitutes us His one Body.
When we jointly partake of the bread, which symbolizes the individual body of Christ, it comes into us to make us one bread, which signifies the corporate Body of Christ. On the one hand, the bread signifies the Lord’s physical body that He gave for us on the cross in order to impart His life into us. On the other hand, the bread signifies the Lord’s mystical Body constituted of many members regenerated through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, having been enlivened with the Triune God’s life and brought into an organic union with the Triune God. Therefore, the bread indicates that the Lord sacrificed His physical body in order to bring forth His mystical Body.
In 1 Corinthians 10:17 the bread is a symbol of an organic composition, a corporate body, the Body of Christ. In this sense the bread signifies that which issued from the Lord in resurrection. Before His death the Lord Jesus was a single grain of wheat, but what issued out of His death in His resurrection was much fruit, a corporate entity, a loaf, the bread, a corporate Body. This implies that as the one grain of wheat, Christ fell into the ground and died, and grew up in resurrection to bring forth many believers as many grains for the producing of the one bread, which is His Body, the church. All the believers, the many grains (John 12:24), are ground into fine flour and then blended together to form one loaf. In this one loaf we see that all the children of God are one; all the members of Christ’s mystical Body are represented in the loaf. The loaf is no longer the individual Christ; it is now the corporate Christ (1 Cor. 12:12), including the Head and the Body, that is, Christ and all His believers. The Lord fell into the earth and died as a grain of wheat and then in resurrection became a loaf composed of many grains. Therefore, at His table we enjoy not only the Lord Jesus but also the believers. In other words, we enjoy Christ and the church. Both Christ and the church are our enjoyment.
The bread signifies not only our participation in the life of Christ but also the fellowship of the Body of Christ. On the one hand, we enjoy the Lord by receiving the body which He gave for us on the cross in His death. On the other hand, we enjoy the mystical Body, which He produced through His resurrection from the dead, by fellowshipping with all the saints in this mystical Body and by testifying of the oneness of this mystical Body. By partaking of the same bread, we fellowship with all the members of the Body of Christ.
The Lord’s body, signified by the bread, and the Lord’s blood, signified by the cup, compose the table of the Lord. In 1 Corinthians 10:21 Paul goes on to say, “You cannot drink the Lord’s cup and the demons’ cup; you cannot partake of the Lord’s table and of the demons’ table.” To partake of a table is to eat of it. To drink the Lord’s cup and partake of the Lord’s table is to identify ourselves with the Lord. Eating is related to enjoyment. On the one hand, eating is for our enjoyment, because whenever we eat something, we enjoy it. On the other hand, we become what we eat. In the same principle, to partake of the Lord’s table is to enjoy this table and to become one with it, that is, to enjoy the Lord and become one with Him.