“…in remembrance of me…”
What does remembrance mean in the context of the Lord’s Supper? Just what we usually mean when we use the word “to remember” today? How it is decided hermeneutically which details are included in the meaning of a word?
“Do this in remembrance of me” (Luke 22:19) means that we “call to mind” and “recount” the high price of our salvation when we partake of the Lord’s Supper. Jesus offered up his body in death (Colossians 1:22; Hebrews 10:10; 1 Peter 2:24) and shed his blood (John 19:34; Romans 3:25; Colossians 1:20) to take away our sins. The Lord gives us his very body and blood in his holy Supper.
As we receive the Lord’s body and blood in, with, and under the bread and wine (1 Corinthians 10:16), we remember the high cost of the forgiveness of sins that we receive through this holy meal. More than being merely a memorial meal, the Lord’s Supper offers and gives us life and salvation.
Etymology can sometimes be helpful in arriving at the meaning of a word, but what best determines the meaning of a word is how the word is used. Context, then, becomes important: the immediate context and the wider context (how the same Bible writer or other Bible writers used that word elsewhere).