Christ Given for You

Bethel Mennonite Church - Gladys VA

I Corinthians 11:24 reads, “This is my body which is broken for you,” but in the Gospels, Jesus’ statement reads something like, “This is my body which is given for you,” and has the idea, “This is my body which is for you.” Hebrews 9 and 10 say that one difference between the Old Testament offerings of bulls and goats and Christ’s offering is that Christ’s body represents Christ’s willing person. A major point in these verses is that Christ willingly offered His body for us—that He willingly gave His body/person as a sacrifice and shed His blood unto death for the forgiveness of sins, for the cleansing of the conscience. Christ’s body is for us in the sense that He gave His body, life, and life blood for our forgiveness of sins.

1 Peter 2:24 teaches that Jesus’ body is for us because He took our sins and human frailty into His body, and all of that died with Christ on the cross. This historical reality becomes a reality for us and in us when we trust in Christ as Savior and Lord. When we partake of the bread, we are acknowledging that we would be hopelessly bearing the guilt of our sins without Christ’s death and resurrection. In our acknowledgment of need, Christ’s redeeming power is present to us and working for us, in our person.

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