What Does 1 Corinthians 11:24 Mean in the King James?
And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The verse makes remembrance something you eat: bread is broken, received, and shared as the body given for you.
THE MEANING
The body is named in the bread broken and eaten for you. Remembrance takes shape in a physical act of receiving, not only in a thought held privately. What is broken becomes food that reaches the reader and can be shared.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that remembrance is only private thought: here, remembering is a repeated act of taking and eating.
THE ROOT
ἔκλασεν
eklasen
GROWS FROM
κλάω (klaō), stem κλα-
Break, including breaking bread into pieces.
“brake” in this verse is eklasen. This word family names both the act of breaking and the fragments it produces. The breaking of the loaf makes it available in portions to be received and shared.
ALSO GROWS
klasis: breaking; breaking of bread
κλάσις
The same noun names the shared practice of “breaking of bread” in Acts 2:42.
klasma: fragment; broken piece
κλάσμα
A broken loaf becomes portions that can be distributed and eaten.
ἀνάμνησιν
anamnēsin
GROWS FROM
μιμνῄσκω (mimnēskō), remembering stem μνη-/μνα-
Remember, keep in mind, or call to mind; the noun here means remembrance.
This word family also includes words for reminding or calling something to mind. With “do this” attached, remembrance takes form in a repeated, bodily act of taking and eating, not only as private recollection.
ALSO GROWS
anamimnēskō: remind; call to mind
ἀναμιμνῄσκω
This related verb makes remembering an active bringing to mind, fitting a remembrance enacted through the meal.
hypomnēsis: reminder; recollection
ὑπόμνησις
The shared stem links remembrance with a reminder that brings what is remembered into present attention.
εὐχαριστήσας
eucharistēsas
GROWS FROM
χάρις (charis) within εὐχαριστέω (eucharisteō)
Favor; the related verb εὐχαριστέω means to give thanks.
“given thanks” in this verse is eucharistēsas. The thanksgiving verb carries the word-family of favor. Here, thanks comes before the breaking and eating, so the meal is received as a gift before it is shared.
ALSO GROWS
charis: favor
χάρις
The related word names favor, placing the act of thanks beside what is freely received.
eucharistia: thanksgiving; gratitude
εὐχαριστία
This noun names thanksgiving in the same word family as the action that begins the meal.
THE PATTERN
Remembrance takes bodily form in a meal that is repeated, received, and shared.
And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the LORD throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever.And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them.And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.THE THREAD
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?This verse uses the same Greek verb κλάω (klaō, “break”) as “brake” here, then names the bread as κοινωνία (koinōnia, “sharing in common”) in the body of Christ. It opens the taking and eating as participation in a shared body, so remembrance reaches beyond private memory.
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