Broken 4 U

Over the past year I have come to read I Corinthians 11 23-26 in a totally different manner. These 3 verses are an exert of Paul correcting the Corinthians on sacrement of communion. In verse 24 Paul quotes Jesus as saying, "this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me." It is this phrase I have come to see in a new light.

I've always thought this quote was referring exclusively to the ripping and tearing of Christ's flesh as he endured the crucifixion. Then one night as I was taking communion I began to think about who "Christ's body" is. Every where's else, that I can think of, in Scripture when we read about "The Body of Christ" it is a reference to The Church.

So without trying to read something into Scripture that isn't there I think Christ was referring to two things in this sentence.
1. I would agree Jesus is referring to the shredding and tearing of his flesh that occured in the crucifixion.
2. I would like to suggest when Jesus referred to "my body" in this passage he was also referring to The Church.

The first reason I would suggest this is for the previous mentioned reason of everywhere else "The body of Christ" refers to The Church. The next reason would be context. In chapter 11 Paul has been correcting the Corinthians about proper worship and in the next chapter goes into the proper use of spiritual gifts and how they are for the edifying of "The body", referring to The Church.

So what are the implications if I am right that Jesus was referring to the church in this passage.
Well, if I am right (and I think I am or I wouldn't be writting this post) then we need to consider how different Translations translate the this verse.

The NIV translates this sentence as, "This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me." which would mean we, The Church, are for each other.

NLT translates the sentence as, "This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.". This would mean we are given to each other.

KJV records the sentence "this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me." .

I think the KJV translated this sentence the most accurate (I'll tell you if I'm right after I finish my Greek classes). I lean toward the word "broken" being the most accurate because Paul makes a point prior to this of saying Jesus broke the bread. So if we are Christ's body what does it mean for us to be "broken for you"?

I would like to suggest the deeper point Jesus was trying to drive home is when God breaks us(gets us to that place of "whatever you want Lord") it isn't soley for our personally "betterment", but it is for the edifying or betterment of the whole body.

In other words, the sanctification of the individual is for the rest of us too.