The Prayer Book: X

The Holy Eucharist

"Holy and gracious Father: In your infinite love you made us for yourself, and, when we had fallen into sin and become subject to evil and death, you, in your mercy, sent Jesus Christ, your only and eternal Son, to share our human nature, to live and die as one of us, to reconcile us to you, the God and Father of all...
...He stretched out his arms upon the cross, and offered himself, in obedience to your will, a perfect sacrifice for the whole world. On the night he was handed over to suffering and death, our Lord Jesus Christ took bread; and when he had given thanks to you, he broke it, and gave it to his disciples, and said, "Take, eat: This is my Body, which is given for you. Do this for the remembrance of me." After supper he took the cup of wine; and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, and said, "Drink this, all of you: This is my Blood of the new Covenant, which is shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Whenever you drink it, do this for the remembrance of me...
...Therefore we proclaim the mystery of faith:

Christ has died.
Christ is risen.
Christ will come again...

...We celebrate the memorial of our redemption, O Father, in this sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving. Recalling his death, resurrection, and ascension, we offer you these gifts...
...Sanctify them by your Holy Spirit to be for your people the Body and Blood of your Son, the holy food and drink of new and unending life in him..." (The 1979 Book of Common Prayer; The Holy Eucharist: Rite II).

The Eucharist: Body & Blood

The Book of Common Prayer affirms the teaching of Christ, the Apostles, the Fathers and the early Reformers that the Eucharist is the true Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, in which he is truly present. This was the consistent teaching of the church throughout the world for the first 1500 years+ of the church.

The Eucharist - The Real Presence; The True Body and Blood of Jesus Christ

"Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf" (1 Corinthians 10:16-17).

The Lord’s Supper

The Lord’s Supper is the ongoing Sacrament that marks the life of a disciple of Jesus Christ. This is the event in which we remember the sacrifice of our Lord and seek our most intimate fellowship with him. This event is referred to as the Lord’s Supper in scripture (1 Cor. 11:20). It is also commonly called Communion, from the Greek word koinonia, which can be translated as “fellowship,” “communion,” or “sharing” (Verbrugge, V.D., 2000, p. 310-311). In the Roman Catholic and Anglican Churches it is typically called the Eucharist, which comes from the Greek eucharisteō – meaning blessing, or thanksgiving (esp. in reference to before a meal) – as in the “cup of thanksgiving” (1 Cor. 10:16) (Verbrugge, V.D., 2000, p. 220-221).

The Foreshadowing of the Lord’s Supper

There are hints to the Eucharist throughout the Old Testament, glimpses of the gift to come. We know that Melchizedek, "priest of God Most high" brought out bread and wine when he blessed Abram (Gen. 14:18-20). We know that in the Tabernacle bread that was "most holy" was to be set out before the Lord "Sabbath after Sabbath" as a "covenant", and that it belonged to the priests (Leviticus 24:5-9). Most importantly, however, is the foreshadowing of the Eucharist in the Passover event (Ex. 12). Christ is our Passover Lamb (1 Cor. 5:7), who was slain for us (Rev. 5:11-12; Isa. 53:10; Heb. 10:10; 1 Cor. 15:3) as the Passover Lamb was slain (Ex. 12:6). As the Lamb must be unblemished, so Christ was not blemished by sin (1 Pet. 1:18-19; Heb. 9:14; Rom. 5:17-19; 2 Cor. 5:21). The blood of the lamb caused God's judgment to pass over the Israelites (Ex. 12:7, 13), as the blood of Christ causes God's judgment to pass over us (Rom. 3:23-25; 1 John 1:7; Matt. 26:28). As the Passover was regularly celebrated in remembrance, so the Eucharist is celebrated in remembrance (Ex. 12:14; Luke 22:19l 1 Cor. 11:26). Finally, only the people of God are to partake of both the Passover Lamb (Ex. 12:43) and the Eucharist (1 Cor. 11:28-29). The worship of Christ in the Eucharist is the fulfillment of the worship of God by the people of Israel.

The Institution of the Lord’s Supper

The institution of the Eucharist was of supreme importance to the faith of the early church. The event of the Last Supper is recounted in all four Gospels, three of which recount the words of Christ as he declared the bread to be his body and the wine to be his blood, given for the sins of the world, and commanded that the Eucharist be celebrated in remembrance of him (Matt. 26:26-29; Mark 14:22-24; Luke 22:19-20). These words of institution are also recorded (1 Cor. 11:23-26) in one of the earliest letters of the New Testament, Saint Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians (c. A.D. 55). What Paul "had received", he passed on to the Corinthians, who celebrated the Eucharist just as he had taught them.

The Observance of the Lord’s Supper

Observed in the Early Church…

We know that the Lord's Supper was observed regularly in the early church from the time of the resurrection. On the Lord's Day, the church came together to celebrate the Eucharist and to glorify Christ. The early church expressed its worship chiefly in "the breaking of bread" (Acts 2:42; Acts 2:46; Acts 20:7; Acts 20:11; Acts 27:35).

Observed as Spiritually important…

We know that the Lord's Supper was spiritually significant in the early church and regarded as having very real implications on how one should live; Paul says: "Do I mean then that a sacrifice offered to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything? No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord’s table and the table of demons. Are we trying to arouse the Lord’s jealousy? Are we stronger than he?" (1 Cor. 10:19-22). We know that to take the Eucharist unworthily can bring judgment from Christ: "Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup" (1 Cor. 11:27-28).

The Lord’s Supper as a Holy Meal / Spiritual Food

Is Eating and Drinking a Spiritual Act?

The scriptures present eating and drinking as a spiritual act, having a great importance in the context of a covenant instituted by God. Eating certainly had huge spiritual implications when Adam and Eve ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil: "And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die" (Gen. 2:16-17). The offerings made by the Levitical priests and then partaken of were regarded as holy: Eat it as something most holy; every male shall eat it. You must regard it as holy" (Num. 18:10). Eating the Lord's Supper is presented as a holy act, and one which "proclaim[s] the Lord's death" and looks to his return (1 Cor. 11:26).

Supernatural Food

More than just being spiritually significant, Paul presents the Eucharist as supernatural food. "They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ" (1 Cor. 10:2-4).
Paul speaks in 1 Cor. 10:2 of the Israelites being baptized into Moses; he then, in verses 3-4, connects this with communion, saying that the Israelites ate “spiritual food” and drank “spiritual drink.” The word translated “spiritual” is pnĕumatikŏs, which can literally mean “supernatural.” After speaking of supernatural food and drink Paul says, “Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ?” (1 Cor. 10:16). Clearly he viewed the cup of thanksgiving, or eucharist, as supernatural.

The Lord's Supper as a Revelation of Christ

It is in the Eucharist that Christ is revealed to us fully: "...he took bread, gave thanks, broke it...their eyes were opened and they recognized him" (Luke 24:30-31). On the day of the Resurrection of Christ, it was in the breaking of bread that he revealed himself to his disciples. While their "hearts were burning within" (Luke 24:32) as he spoke the word to them, it was in the breaking of the bread that he was revealed. For "they were kept from recognizing him" (Luke 24:16), but "Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread" (Luke 24:35). It was when Jesus "gave thanks", from which we get the term eucharist, the Greek for thanksgiving, that he was made known to them. In the same way, our hearts burn within us when we hear the Gospel message, but it is in the eucharist that Christ is revelaed fully to us.

The Lord’s Supper as Christ’s Body and Blood

The Eucharist is spoken of clearly throughout the New Testament as being the actual Body and Blood of Jesus Christ: "Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf" (1 Cor. 10:16-17). Jesus presented the bread and the wine not as symbols, but declared the "my body" and "my blood" (Matt. 26:26-29; Mark 14:22-24; Luke 22:19-20; 1 Cor. 11:23-26). However, this fact stands out most strikingly and most clearly in the Bread of Life Discourse (John 6). Almost posing a direct challenge to the abilities of Jesus, the Jews say, “Our forefathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat’” (John 6:31). We seen above that it was for the Jews that God went so far as to “rain bread from heaven for” (Ex. 16:4), and this had ever since been a reminder of God’s work among his people: “he rained down manna for the people to eat, he gave them the grain of heaven” (Psalm 78:24). Thus, this became a direct expectation of the Messiah, who would be like Moses (IVP Dictionary of Jesus & the Gospels, p. 444). This work of sending bread from heaven was to be an indicator of the Messiah: “and it will happen at that time that the treasury of manna will come down again from on high" (2 Baruch 29:8), and was a theme cited frequently in the writings at the time of Christ: “Instead of these things you gave your people food of angels, and without their toil you supplied them from heaven with bread ready to eat, providing every pleasure and suited to every taste” (Wisdom of Solomon 16:20). Christ himself even promised this to his church: “To everyone who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna” (Rev. 2:17). Interestingly, those in ancient Israel grumbled against God even when he provided them with manna, with “supernatural food” (1 Cor. 10:1-4, 10), and the Jews likewise grumbled against Jesus, who offered to give them bread from heaven: “At this the Jews began to grumble about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” They said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I came down from heaven’?” (John 6:41-42).
Jesus then contrasts Himself and the bread which he offers, with the bread that was offered by Moses. He makes this point clearly when he says: “I am the bread of life. Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world” (John 6:48-51).
The Jews, who had shortly before praised Jesus as the awaited Prophet, now turn on him, as he equates the bread from heaven with Himself, indeed with his flesh. “Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” (John 6:52). The only question that remains is: Who can accept this teaching?: "On hearing it, many of his disciples said, 'This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?'" (John 6:60). Jesus cries out to those who would hear and believe: “Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this bread will live forever” (John 6:57-59).

The Lord’s Supper as Imparting Life

As cited above, Jesus clearly presents the Eucharist as his flesh and his blood, which give us life: "But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world" (John 6:50-51). So, in order to “live forever” we must eat “this bread”, which Christ himself calls his flesh – the very same flesh that was given “for the life of the world” on the cross. It is this “living bread” that a “man may eat and not die.” How can we disconnect this statement from Christ then taking bread and declaring, “This is my body”? The Word tells us that baptism saves us (Mark 16:16; 1 Pet. 3:21, etc.). In the same way the gospel says that those who want to live forever will feed on the bread that is the flesh of Christ: Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink" (John 6:53-55). Jesus very clearly declares eating his flesh and drinking his blood as essential to eternal life. So, just as scripture speaks of baptism as essential to new life (Acts 2:38; Rom. 6:4-6; Col. 2:11-12; Titus 3:5, etc.) it also speaks here of eating Christ’s flesh and drinking His blood as essential to new life.

The Lord’s Supper as Communion into Christ

To abide in Christ, we must partake of the Eucharist: "Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me." (John 6:56-57). Christ here equates eating his flesh and drinking his blood with remaining in him. So, he commands this feeding on him and says “do this in remembrance of me” (Luke 22:19). So, just as in baptism we are baptized into Christ (Rom. 6:3-4; Gal. 3:27, etc.), in the Eucharist we remain in Christ. This is not to separate faith from remaining in Christ and to diminish remaining in him to a physical act, but rather to uphold the view that remaining in him results in certain things – baptism, communion, spiritual fruit.

The Lord’s Supper as Communion into the Church

The Lord’s Supper, like baptism, has been observed since the foundation of the Church. Christ gave it, the early church celebrated it, and the Apostles instructed us on it. Therefore, it should be observed in every church that claims Christ as Lord.
The Didache (A book of instruction on the faith, A.D. 80-140): "But every Lord’s Day, gather yourselves together, and break bread, and give thanksgiving after having confessed your transgressions, so that your sacrifice may be pure" (Bercot, 1998, p. 405). Taking part in the Lord’s Supper is spoken of as being identified with the Body of Christ: "Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf" (1 Cor. 10:17). Just as “we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body” (1 Cor. 12:13), we also are in Communion with one body.

Sinning Against the Body

I find it interesting that Paul would refer to taking the Lord’s Supper unworthily as actually sinning against the body and blood of the Lord if in fact the bread and wine are not actually the body and blood of the Lord. Listen closely to the words of the apostle: "Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord." (1 Corinthians 11:27).

Recognizing the Body

"For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself" (1 Corinthians 11:29). It can, and will, be argued easily enough that in this statement Paul is simply referring back to examining ones self (which surely is part of his point), but I think this issue goes deeper – to the actual recognition of the body and blood of the Lord in the Eucharist. In light of this view it is fascinating to see Ignatius of Antioch referring in A.D. 107 to those who do not take communion because they do not recognize the Eucharist to be the flesh of Jesus Christ.

The Teachers of the Church

The Fathers Speak…

Ignatius of Antioch, A.D. 107
“Be careful, therefore, to employ one eucharist, for there is one flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ and one cup for unity with his blood” (Ferguson, 1999, pg. 91)

“[The Docetists] avoid the eucharist and prayer because they do not confess the eucahrist to be the flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ” (Ferguson, 1999, pg. 103)

“breaking the one bread, which is the medicine of immortality, the antidote in order that we should not die but live forever in Jesus Christ” (Ferguson, 1999, pg. 103)

Justin Martyr, c. A.D. 160
“In the same manner as our Savior Jesus Christ was made flesh through the word of God and had flesh and blood for our salvation, even so we are taught that the food for which thanks has been given through the prayer of the word that is from him and from which our flesh and blood are nourished according to the bodily processes is the flesh and blood of that Jesus who was made flesh.” Justin Martyr (Ferguson, 1999, pg. 103-104)

Irenaeus, c. A.D. 180
“[The wine and bread] having received the Word of God, become the Eucharist, which is the body and blood of Christ” (Bercot, 1998, pg. 252)

“How can they be consistent with themselves when they say the bread for which they give thanks is the body of the Lord and the cup his blood, if they do not say he is the Son of the Creator of the world?...How can they say that the flesh that is nourished from the body of the Lord and from his flesh comes to corruption and does not partake of life? Let them either change their views or avoid offering bread and wine. But our view is in harmony with the eucharist, and the eucharist confirms our view. We offer to God his own things, proclaiming rightly the communion and unity of flesh and spirit. For as bread from the earth when it receives the invocation of God is no longer common bread but the eucharist, consisting of two things – one earthly and one heavenly – so also our bodies when they partake of the eucharist are no longer corruptible but have the hope of the resurrection to eternity.” (Ferguson, 1999, pg. 104)

“But if [the flesh] indeed does not obtain salvation, then neither did the Lord redeem us with his blood, nor is the cup of the Eucharist the communion of his blood, nor the bread which we break the communion of his body (Bercot, 1998, pg. 252)

Clement of Alexandria, c. A.D. 195
To drink the blood of Jesus is to become partaker of the Lord’s immortality (Bercot, 1998, pg. 252)

“and they who by faith partake of it are sanctified both body and soul” (Bennett, 2002, pg. 322).

Tertullian of Carthage, c. A.D. 204
“We feel pained, should any bread or wine, though our own, be cast upon the ground” – Ca. A.D. 204 (Bennett, 2002, pg. 322).

“The flesh feeds on the body and blood of Christ, that the soul likewise may fatten on its God” (Willis, 2002, p. 303)

“Jesus declared plainly enough what he meant by the bread when he called the bread his own body. He likewise, when mentioning the cup and making the new testament to be sealed ‘in his blood’, affirms the reality of his body” (Armstong & Engle, 2007, pg. 192)

Cyril of Jerusalem, c. A.D. 350
“The bread and wine of the eucharist before the holy invocation of the worshipful Trinity was simple bread and wine, but when the invocation is done, the bread becomes the body of Christ and wine the blood of Christ… For in the type of the bread is given to you the body, and in the type of the wine there is given to you the blood, in order that you may become by partaking of the body and blood of Christ the same body and blood with him. For even so we become bearers of Christ since his body and blood are distributed in our members… We beseech the loving God to send forth the Holy Spirit upon what is offered in order that he may make the bread the body of Christ and the wine the blood of Christ. For whatever the Holy Spirit touches he sanctifies and changes. (Ferguson, 1999, pg. 105)

Gregory of Nyssa, c. A.D. 381
“He disseminates himself through that flesh whose substance comes from bread and wine in everyone who believes in the economy of grace, blending Himself with the bodies of believes, as if by this union with what is immortal, a human being may too become a partaker in incorruption. He gives these things by the power of the benediction through which he transelements the natural quality of these visible things to that immortal thing (Ferguson, 1999, pg. 105).

Athanasius of Alexandria, c. 293-373
So long as the prayers of supplications and entreaties have not been made, there is only bread and wine. But after the great and wonderful prayers have been completed, then the bread is become the body, and the wine the blood, of our Lord Jesus Christ [Athanasius, Sermon to the Newly Baptized] [Shea, M.P. (1996). By What Authority?: An Evangelical Discovers Catholic Tradition. Hunington, IN: Our Sunday Visitor]

Augustine of Hippo, c. A.D. 400
“How was Christ carried in his own hands? Because when he commended his own Body and Blood, He took into his hands that which the faithful know; and in a manner carried himself, when he said, ‘This is My Body’” (Willis, 2002, p. 411).

"I promised you [new Christians], who have now been baptized, a sermon in which I would explain the sacrament of the Lord’s Table. . . . That bread which you see on the altar, having been sanctified by the word of God, is the body of Christ. That chalice, or rather, what is in that chalice, having been sanctified by the word of God, is the blood of Christ" (Sermons 227 [A.D. 411]) –obtained from www.catholic.com

The Reformers Speak…

Luther
“It is the true body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ under the bread and wine, instituted by Christ himself for us Christians to eat and drink”… “In this sacrament Christ gives us his own true body and blood for the forgiveness of sins”… “God’s word clearly teaches that those who misuse the sacrament sin not against bread and wine but against Christ’s body and blood”…”By the power of his word, Christ gives his body and blood in, with, and under the consecrated bread and wine.” (Armstrong, 2007, pg. 162-163)

Calvin
“We confess that the Lord’s Supper, which is the second sacrament, is a witness of the union which we have with Christ, inasmuch as he not only died and rose again for us once, but also feeds and nourishes us truly with his flesh and blood, so that we may be one in him, and that our life may be in common.” The French Confession of Faith (Armstrong, 2007, pg. 166)...“Those who receive this promise by faith are actually made partakers of his flesh and blood” (Armstrong, 2007, pg. 185)