In the New Covenant church, as revealed in Scripture, there are few rituals, making those that are present particularly significant. Among these, the breaking of bread during Passover stands out as a vital practice instituted by God. The bread, a central symbol in the Passover meal, represents the body of Christ and carries profound meaning tied to fellowship and life. In ancient cultures, bread was a staple, synonymous with food itself, symbolizing sustenance and the providence of heaven. The act of breaking bread became a gesture of friendship and sharing in divine provision, reflecting the unity found in partaking of the one bread, which is Christ. Scripture emphasizes that bread supports life, strengthening and refreshing the heart. God's promise to lead Israel to a land where they would eat bread without scarcity signifies abundant sustenance for a good life. Yet, God also teaches that physical bread alone cannot satisfy, pointing to a deeper, spiritual bread that comes from Him and truly sustains. Christ identifies Himself as this living bread, symbolizing His sinless life offered to His followers. When we partake of the bread at Passover, we are joined to His living, sinless existence, becoming one with the Savior and with others who share in this fellowship. The bread at Passover is overwhelmingly a symbol of life, not death. Christ describes it as enduring to everlasting life, the bread of God, and the living bread that sustains spiritually. Partaking of this bread represents an ongoing relationship with Him, focusing on eternal life through knowing Him and the Father, rather than solely on atonement. It strengthens us spiritually, as physical bread does physically, equipping us to serve and fulfill what God requires. Just as Christ, after partaking of the Passover, served by washing the disciples' feet and completed His work on the stake, we too are strengthened through this ritual to carry out God's will, often in ways that challenge human desires but align with divine purpose. The observance of Passover, including the breaking of bread, must be approached with deep appreciation and mindfulness. To partake in an unworthy manner, without meditating on the significance of the bread, risks rendering the practice empty of the meaning and effect God intends. The bread unites us in thankful and peaceful fellowship with God and each other, reminding us of Christ's sinless life that enables our acceptance by God. It is a forward-looking ritual, pointing to the future fulfillment in the Kingdom, where the full implications of Christ's life and sacrifice will be realized.

The phrase "Christ's broken body" is not found in Scripture; it derives from Paul's wording in I Corinthians 11:24, and only Luke's account deviates by using "given." This fits Jesus' words in John 6:51, "the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world." Jesus said the bread represents His body, not that His body was broken. Appealing to a Greek text that contains "broken" creates a grammatical problem, since the verb (klao or klazo) is present passive, implying His body was being broken at that very moment, which it was not. Nor can the scourging and crucifixion, which broke His skin, justify the term, because klao/klazo is used in Scripture only for dividing bread into pieces at a meal. Stretching it to mean breaking a layer of skin tortures the word. The literal bread was broken so the Twelve could all share it, and Jesus was speaking of sharing His life. But His body was not broken, and the distinction matters because the fulfillment of several scriptures depends on it. John records that when the soldiers came to Jesus He was already dead, so they did not break His legs, and "Not one of His bones shall be broken" was fulfilled (Psalm 34:20).

The word "broken" does not appear in the oldest and best Greek manuscripts of I Corinthians 11:24, and the Synoptic Gospels make no reference to a broken body. Luke 22:19 reads, "This is My body which is given for you," so the bread still represents Christ's body without standing for a broken one. The bread was broken simply so it could be shared (compare Matthew 14:19; Acts 2:46; 27:35; I Corinthians 10:16-17). Christ's actual body was not broken. The soldiers broke the legs of the two felons but found Jesus already dead and did not break His legs, fulfilling Psalm 34:20 and John 19:36. His bones stayed intact for two reasons beyond identifying Him as the Righteous Man. First, God required that the bones of the Passover lamb remain unbroken (Exodus 12:46; Numbers 9:12), and Jesus is our Passover. Second, His death coincided with the day and time of the covenant with Abraham in Genesis 15, in which God swore a self-maledictory oath, passing between divided animals to pledge that He would be cut asunder if He failed His promises. Had Christ's body been divided, it would have implied that the Covenant-Maker was paying the price for failure. His blood had to be shed to seal the New Covenant, yet His body had to remain unbroken to satisfy His promises to Abraham.

The bread of the Passover is broken only so it can be shared, and it does not picture a broken body. Christ's body was unbroken: He was marred beyond recognition and His bones could be counted, yet He was not conquered, and His death was a supreme victory that fulfilled every offering. In I Corinthians 10:16-17, Paul calls the bread a communion, meaning sharing, participation, and fellowship, and says that though we are many, we partake of "one bread" and are "one body." The bread remains one loaf because it represents Christ's undivided body, which we gather to share. Throughout Scripture bread symbolizes the substance of life, vitality, and strength, and even the "bread of affliction" points to life, though an unpleasant one. In John 6 Jesus repeatedly calls Himself the bread of life, the living bread that gives eternal life, and says the bread is His flesh given for the life of the world. The bread is therefore living flesh, not a dead body. Though the wine and the slain lamb picture death, the bread pictures the sinless, devoted life Christ gave. Eating it joins us to that life, so that the living Savior abides in us and we in Him. Only a body undefiled by sin has blood that can pay the death penalty, so we take in His perfect life at Passover to stay connected to Him and to one another.