Acts 20:11

And had broken bread, and eaten. — Better, broken the bread and tasted. In the early usage of the Lord’s Supper the bread was not made, as in the Latin Church, in the form of circular wafers, nor cut up into small cubes, as in most Reformed Churches. The loaf, probably a long roll, was placed before the celebrant, and each piece was broken off as it was given to the communicant. Stress is laid on this practice in 1 Corinthians 10:16, and indeed in the very term of “breaking of bread” as a synonym for the Lord’s Supper. (See Note on Acts 2:46.) Whether the next act of “eating” refers to the actual communion (we are obliged to use technical terms for the sake of definiteness), or to a repast, or Agapè, we have no adequate data for deciding. The use of the same verb, however, in “tasting of the heavenly gift,” in Hebrews 6:4, suggests the former, and it is probable that the portion of bread and wine thus taken, in the primitive celebration, would be enough to constitute a real refreshment, and to enable the Apostle to continue his discourse.

Even till break of day. — The whole service must have lasted some seven or eight hours, sunrise at this time of the year, shortly after the Passover, being between 5 and 6 A.M. The inconvenience of such a protracted service led, as has been stated (see Note on Acts 20:7), to the transfer of the Lord’s Supper from the evening of Saturday to the early morning of Sunday, a position which, with some moderate variations, it has retained ever since, till the introduction in recent times of the yet more primitive practice of an evening celebration.