1 Corinthians 11:25

After supper. Only Luke records this detail. It is added to mark the distinction between the Lord's Supper and the ordinary meal.

Testament [δ ι α θ η κ η]. Rev., correctly, covenant. See on Matthew 26:28. The Hebrew word is derived from a verb meaning to cut. Hence the connection of dividing the victims with the ratification of a covenant. See Genesis 14:9-18. A similar usage appears in the Homeric phrase orkia pista tamein, lit., to cut trustworthy oaths, whence the word oaths is used for the victims sacrificed in ratification of a covenant or treaty. See Homer, "Iliad," 2, 124; 3. 73, 93. So the Latin foedus ferire "to kill a league," whence our phrase to strike a compact. In the Septuagint proper, where it occurs nearly three hundred times, diaqhkh, in all but four passages, is the translation of the Hebrew word for covenant (berith). In those four it is used to render brotherhood and words of the covenant. In Philo it has the same sense as in the Septuagint, and covenant is its invariable sense in the New Testament.