Traditions: Luke; Corinthians Motif: Bread and cup remembered by a community Connection verdict: Related liturgical tradition with different settings Article status: Expanded Date: 2026-10-30
Summary
Luke narrates a meal before the arrest; Paul passes on bread-and-cup words while correcting the Corinthians’ gatherings.
Read the two scenes
Luke narrates a meal before the arrest; Paul passes on bread-and-cup words while correcting the Corinthians’ gatherings. Luke places the words amid Passover and disciples’ conversation; Paul addresses humiliating divisions at an actual communal meal. Textual witnesses for Luke’s cup wording differ, so precise comparisons should name an edition. In Paul, reenacting the meal is inseparable from treating one another rightly. Read Luke 22:14-20 beside 1 Corinthians 11:23-26; their different literary settings are part of the evidence, not interchangeable background.
What connects—and what does not
Luke places the words amid Passover and disciples’ conversation; Paul addresses humiliating divisions at an actual communal meal.
Textual witnesses for Luke’s cup wording differ, so precise comparisons should name an edition. In Paul, reenacting the meal is inseparable from treating one another rightly.
Why read them side by side?
A remembered final meal can become a test of how a later community actually eats together.
Sources and reading notes
- Luke 22:14-20 — Read the named verses in their literary context and compare translation choices.
- 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 — Read the named verses in their literary context and compare translation choices.
Research limit
A named parallel can establish literary reuse or related tradition; a general resemblance alone cannot prove borrowing. Linked editions and translations vary. Where a source is identified as secondary orientation, the comparison does not claim direct close reading of that tradition’s primary text.