Communion of the Saints Part 1

What do we mean when we confess that we believe in ‘the communion of saints’?

We believe that the communion of saints means that the Church is truly catholic or universal. The communion of saints occurs through the action of the Spirit which is present with all who gather in the name of the Triune God. This reality is tied particularly to the Lord’s Day and the Lord’s Supper or Holy Eucharist. The term ‘Lord’s Day’ is only used once in the New Testament in Revelation 1:10. St. John was “in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day”. However, the word for ‘Lord’s’ is used one other time in the New Testament in 1 Corinthians 11:20. There Paul says that the Corinthians do not come together to eat the ‘Lord’s’ Supper because of their bickering and infighting. Thus the meal of the Lord’s Supper is connected to the Lord’s Day lexically by the word ‘Kuraikos’. (Incidentally, ‘Kuraikos’ is the Greek word from whence we get the old English word Kirk. Which, in turn, gave us the word Church.) The fact of the Lord’s Supper which takes place on the Lord’s Day is the means and proof that we are in communion even if we go to different churches. “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we, though many, are one bread and one body; for we all partake of that one bread.”

Therefore the Spirit is not only how we worship or the means by which we worship, He is also the location where we worship. This is how millions of Christians worship together communing with one another, giving glory to God. Though miles and continents apart we, by the working of the Holy Spirit, gather together in one place as one body, partaking of one loaf and one cup, feeding upon Christ.