Someone posed a question as to whether it would be biblically permissible to use a fruit juice blend for communion instead of grape juice alone. The drink specified by Jesus as he instituted the Lord’s Supper or communion is “the fruit of the vine” (Matthew 26:29; Mark 14:25; Luke 22:18). Likewise, the bread available in the house (because of “the feast of the unleavened bread” Matthew 26:17) at the time Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper was limited to unleavened bread.
The Bible is the final, absolute standard of authority that God has provided and preserved for mankind. That authority is conveyed through explicit commands, approved examples and implications. In some instances, biblical authority specifies the details pertaining to its instruction. Regarding other topics, biblical authority does not specify details respecting its instruction and we may refine those details without opposing what God has authorized.
An example of the latter is Mark 16:15, “…Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” While it is obligatory to “Go into all the world, and preach the gospel,” what kinds of conveyances (i.e., walking, riding an animal, by wagon, by car, by bus, by boat, by airplane, by train, etc.) are not specified and mankind can opt for himself whichever means of travel he deems to be expedient. Further, how the Gospel is preached (e.g., before an audience, by radio, by television, through literature, etc.) is not specified and mankind can opt for himself whichever means of proclamation he deems to be expedient.
Jesus provided an example respecting the observance of the communion, in which the specific items that represent his body and blood are specified: “unleavened bread” and “the fruit of the vine.” This biblical example, then, provides authority for the use of “unleavened bread” and “the fruit of the vine” when observing the Lord’s Supper. Since the emblems of that observance are specified, only they are authorized and man is not left to make his own decisions in this matter. It is sinful to substitute any unauthorized emblems (e.g., Twinkies and Dr. Pepper, as I read after one who used these items and personally thought they constituted the most spiritual communion he had ever experienced).
The phrase “the fruit of the vine” refers exclusively in the biblical context applicable to this discussion to grape juice, which is the product of the vine. That is what Jesus used and what, through its specification, is authorized and only what is authorized. “Unleavened bread” is a baked (was broken versus pinched off as one would dough) flour and water mixture in which there is no leaven (e.g., yeast, baking powder). Only “unleavened bread” is authorized in the observance of the Lord’s Supper. Anyone truly interested in biblical authority will heed only what the Bible authorizes, and regarding the emblems in communion, that remains grape juice and unleavened bread.
