Was Jesus’ body broken for you?
In this season of life I sit in the pew rather than stand behind the pulpit. I come ready to be fed, to experience the Body of Christ coming before the throne of God and to glorify the sovereign Lord. Yet the former seminary student, pastor, and educator slips in and distracts me - I find myself critical of what is being said or how something is being said. To some degree I want to receive the message and examine it in Scripture (see Acts 17:11). For me I have to wrestle with examining Scripture and being critical. So my hope here is to examine the often said, “Jesus’ body broken for you” – without being critical of those who say it.
In my examination of Scripture I would say there are three reasons we might want to refrain from saying, “Jesus’ body broken for you.” First, and by far the greatest reason, is that this phrase confuses prophecy about the Messiah. When Jesus is crucified the religious leaders want to hurry up the process so they could “enjoy” the Sabbath (see John 19:31ff.). So the Jews ask “that their legs might be broken…” (v. 31). The breaking of the legs would quicken the certain death awaiting those on the cross. The soldiers broke the legs of the two criminals being crucified with Jesus but when they came to Jesus he was already dead. The soldiers did not break Jesus’ legs but to confirm that he was dead they pierced his side (see v. 34).
The fact that Jesus’ legs were not broken is significant because it is a fulfillment of prophecy. John goes on to say, “For these things took place that the Scriptures might be fulfilled: ‘Not one of his bones will be broken.’” (v. 36). John rightly sees this aspect of Jesus death as being a fulfillment of prophecy. Specifically, that Jesus is our Passover lamb and the eating the Passover lamb requires that none of the lamb’s bones are broken (see Ex. 12:46 & Num. 9:12). When we come to the Lord’s table we are partaking of the Passover lamb which is Jesus. To say he was broken confuses the fulfillment of prophecy that God sovereignly brought about.
Second, saying “Jesus’ body broken for you” confuses the imagery. It has been pointed out that saying Jesus body was broken is figurative. Some have noted that Job says, “I was at ease, and he broke me apart” (Job 16:12a) – we have no reason to believe God actually broke any of Job’s bones…we realize this is poetic language. So is it okay to think of Jesus being broken for us – figuratively? When we refer to something “breaking us” we tend to mean emotionally or spiritually. Most often when we think of being broken we think of being broken emotionally. I don’t know that I am instantly comfortable with Jesus being broken emotionally for us – it was much more than that. I don’t think Jesus was spiritually broken for us at least not in the way we use the word. We might refer to a physical trainer or physical therapy breaking us, but here we usually just mean wiped out – again what Jesus did was more than that. We are in danger of using words that might lessen what Jesus actually did for us at the cross. “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed” (1 Peter 2:23).
Third, saying “Jesus’ body broken for you” confuses what Scripture actually says. Here is where you can disagree with me. The Authorized King James Bible (which some believe is the only true Bible) says, “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” (1 Corinthians 11:24). If you look at most every other translation the phrase “which is broken for you” is absent. The oldest manuscripts omit broken – meaning it is not there. Some translations have added broken for clarity, other older manuscripts have “given for you” which matches Luke’s account (see Luke 22:19). If you believe the Authorized version is the only true Bible then the Scripture does in fact say “Jesus’ body broken for you” but the original Greek text and manuscripts seems to lean more toward given than broken.
My declaration that saying “Jesus’ body broken for you” confuses what Scripture says, seems a little harsh if in fact the old KJV does say it. I think when we stick to our traditional words and practices even when modern scholars would overwhelming say – the text doesn’t say that, we confuse our tradition with what Scripture actually says. I mean why do so many people say it? Because that what they grew up with, that’s what my pastor said, that’s the way it has always been done etc. Each of us should look to be changed by Scripture even when it interferes with our traditions or probably more importantly especially when it interferes with our traditions.