---
title: Matthew 26:26
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/matthew-26-26/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/matthew-26-26.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: Matthew 26:26
testament: NT
section: Gospels
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# Matthew 26:26

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> While they were eating, Jesus took bread, spoke a blessing and broke it, and gave it to the disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is My body.”

## NWT Wording of the Key Phrase

- NWT (2013 revision): "As they continued eating, Jesus took a loaf, and after saying a blessing, he broke it, and giving it to the disciples, he said: 'Take, eat. This means my body.'"

## JW Usage

Matthew 26:26 anchors the Watchtower's annual Memorial. The bread is read as a symbol — Christ's body represented but never made present — and the rendering "this means my body" is taken to forbid any sacramental or real-presence reading. The cup and bread are then restricted to the 144,000 anointed; the rest of the Witnesses pass the emblems untouched. Jesus's "Take, eat" is treated as an instruction to the original eleven only, applicable to the anointed remnant ever since.

## Protestant Usage

The "Take, eat" command is given by Jesus to his disciples without any restriction in the text — there is no asterisk identifying a sub-class of partakers. Pair Matthew 26:26 with Matthew 26:27 ("Drink from it, all of you") and 1 Corinthians 11:26 ("as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes"). The proclamation IS the eating and drinking, and the Watchtower's restriction makes 99.88% of Memorial attendees spectators at the very meal Jesus instituted as participation. Protestants disagree among themselves on the precise nature of Christ's presence in the bread and cup, but they agree with the historic church against the Watchtower that the table is for all who belong to Christ.

## NWT Issue

The NWT renders Greek touto estin to sōma mou as "this means my body" rather than the standard "this is my body." The substitution is doctrinally load-bearing: rather than letting Jesus's verb of identification carry whatever weight it carries, the NWT pre-decides the eucharistic debate by translating an interpretation directly into the text. The same substitution appears at Mark 14:22 (parallel) and at Luke 22:19-20. Standard English translations preserve "is" because Jesus's word — touto estin — is the verb of identification, not of symbolic equivalence. The "means" rendering forecloses sacramental and real-presence readings before exegesis begins.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [The Communion Denial](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/communion-denial.md) — Matthew 26:27 — 'Drink from It, All of You' [Salvation]
- [This Is, Not This Means](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/this-means-my-body-eucharist.md) — Matthew 26:26 — The Greek Verb Estin at the Last Supper [NWT Translation]
- [When 'Is' Becomes 'Means'](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/is-to-means-broader-pattern.md) — The NWT's Pattern of Paraphrasing the Greek Copula [NWT Translation]