The Cup of Blessing which we Bless...
"The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?"
----- 1st Corinthians 10:16 (ESV)
In this post I would like to talk about Communion. Growing up in the Evangelical Protestant Church Communion was not often thought about, and even less taught about. In my particular church we celebrated Communion about once a month, although it was not uncommon to pre-empt our monthly communion service for a normal church service. We believed that there was a vague danger in taking Communion unworthily, but that Communion was primarily a symbol meant for a rememberance of Christ's sacrifice. We took Communion once in a while because it was an 'ordinance' commanded by Jesus, but we never viewed it as a normal part of worship.
I remember how strange it seemed to me that the traditional churches (Anglican, Lutheran, Catholic, and Orthodox) celebrated Communion every service, or nearly every service. In the last two years I have learned much about the traditional view point, and I'd like to talk about it here.
The traditional churches refer to Communion as The Eucharist. Eucharist is a Greek word which means "thanksgiving". The main points of traditional belief about the Eucharist are as follows...
#1 Sacramental - The traditional churches believe that Communion is a "sacrament"
#2 Real Presence - The traditional churches believe that Jesus is present in Communion
#3 Central/High Point - Communion is the central and high point of worship
#4 Sacrifice - The traditional churches believe that Communion is a sacrifice.
Point #1 Sacramental
The First issue here is to explain what exactly a sacrament is. In the traditional view a sacrament is a physical action or ritual through which God works grace in the lives of those who participate with faith. It is important to note that although an action is required on the part of the person, the work of the sacrament is done by God because the work is grace and is spiritual in nature. In other words, taking part in a sacrament does not earn you anything, but if you have faith, God will use the sacrament to work his grace in you. The most important point here is that something spiritual is accomplished by God, through the sacrament.
Point #2 Real Presence
The traditional view of Communion holds that Jesus Christ is really present in the Communion. This means that when you take Communion, you are taking Christ within yourself. There are a couple of different views on what exactly the Real Presence is.
Transsubstantiation (Catholic)
Consubstantiaton (Anglican/Lutheran)
Mystery (Orthodox)
The Orthodox prefer to not explain the Real Presense any further than to simply say that the bread is his real body and the wine is his real blood, the how doesn't matter. This is th answer you will receive from virtually any Orthodox person. However, if you really dig into it you will find that the Orthodox really hold with the doctrine of transsubstantiation, they just don't like to define it as rigerously as the Catholics do.
The Catholic doctrine of Transsubstantiation holds that the elements of the Communion, the bread, and the wine, really change from one substance to another. The bread becomes flesh, and the wine becomes blood. This view holds that the bread and the wine cease to exist as substances.
Consubstantiation was originally proposed by John Wyclife and is widely held by Lutherans and Anglicans. Consubstantiation holds that the real body and blood are present in the elements, but that the bread and wine do not cease to exist as substances. Thus both body and bread, blood, and wine are held to exist within the elements of the Communion.
At this point I need to explain a common misconception about transsubstantiation. This doctrine was stated by medieval scholastics who were working based on definitions of Aristotelian philosophy. Thus when they used the word "substance" it had a very specific meaning. Many people today think that Catholics believe the bread and wine physically become flesh and blood. This is not exactly correct. The word substance used by the scholastic means, in simple terms, what a thing IS, not what it is made of. What a thing is, is said to be its substance, what a thing is made of is said to be its accidents. For example the substance of a chair is "chair" but the accidents of a chair could be wood, metal, leather, and so on.
So when they say that the substance ceases to be wine, and becomes blood, they do not mean that it has ceased to be made of fermented grape juice, or that it has become made of hemoglobin and plasma. They mean that while the bread is still made of wheat and glutin, it has ceased to be bread in substance, and become body. The accidents remain the same, only the substance changes.
The importance of Real Presence is wrapped up in what Communion is all about. When the believer partakes in Communion they are taking Christ inside them. When the participant eats the elements, he is feeding on Jesus Christ as spiritual food. This requires that the Communion is more than just a symbol. It requires that Jesus is truly present in the elements.
Point #3 Central/High Point
In the traditional churches Communion is the central point of every, or nearly every service and it is seen as the highest form of Christian worship.
Point #4 Sacrifice
The Communion is seen as a sacrifice in two ways. First it is seen as a sacrifice of Thanksgiving and Praise. This is reflected in the name "Eucharist". In traditional services the Communion portion of the service is referred to as "the Great Thanksgiving".
Secondly, protestants often say that the Catholics are re-enacting the sacrifice of Christ on the cross in the Communion. This of course is seen as a violation of the scripures which state that Christ was sacrificed once for all, and that it is a grave sin to put Christ on the cross again. This, however, is a misunderstanding of the traditional view point.
In the bible it is said that Jesus was "slain from the foundations of the world". We know, of course, that his sacrifice was within time. It was made at a specific time in a specific place. The bible also tells us that his sacrifice was eternal. It is applied to all who have faith in all times and all places. In this sense, the sacrifice of Christ is eternal, it is outside of time.
In the traditional view, when the elements (the bread and wine) of the Communion are consecrated, the sacrifice of Christ is made present in that moment. It is important to note, this is not a re-enactment, it is not a re-sacrifice.. it is making the once for all sacrifice present in that moment. In a sense, the eternal is being brought within time so that the worshipers can partake in it and be in communion with it. While this undoubtedly seems very mystical to us protestants, it isn't the "re-sacrificing" of Christ that it is often alledged to be.
This is a very general look at the Traditional view of Communion. In the next post I will examine some of these ideas in more detail, and look at what the scriptures have to say about Communion.
"So they drew near to the village to which they were going. He acted as if he were going farther, 29 but they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent.” So he went in to stay with them. 30 When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. 31 And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight."
-------- Luke 24:28-31 (ESV)
----- 1st Corinthians 10:16 (ESV)
In this post I would like to talk about Communion. Growing up in the Evangelical Protestant Church Communion was not often thought about, and even less taught about. In my particular church we celebrated Communion about once a month, although it was not uncommon to pre-empt our monthly communion service for a normal church service. We believed that there was a vague danger in taking Communion unworthily, but that Communion was primarily a symbol meant for a rememberance of Christ's sacrifice. We took Communion once in a while because it was an 'ordinance' commanded by Jesus, but we never viewed it as a normal part of worship.
I remember how strange it seemed to me that the traditional churches (Anglican, Lutheran, Catholic, and Orthodox) celebrated Communion every service, or nearly every service. In the last two years I have learned much about the traditional view point, and I'd like to talk about it here.
The traditional churches refer to Communion as The Eucharist. Eucharist is a Greek word which means "thanksgiving". The main points of traditional belief about the Eucharist are as follows...
#1 Sacramental - The traditional churches believe that Communion is a "sacrament"
#2 Real Presence - The traditional churches believe that Jesus is present in Communion
#3 Central/High Point - Communion is the central and high point of worship
#4 Sacrifice - The traditional churches believe that Communion is a sacrifice.
Point #1 Sacramental
The First issue here is to explain what exactly a sacrament is. In the traditional view a sacrament is a physical action or ritual through which God works grace in the lives of those who participate with faith. It is important to note that although an action is required on the part of the person, the work of the sacrament is done by God because the work is grace and is spiritual in nature. In other words, taking part in a sacrament does not earn you anything, but if you have faith, God will use the sacrament to work his grace in you. The most important point here is that something spiritual is accomplished by God, through the sacrament.
Point #2 Real Presence
The traditional view of Communion holds that Jesus Christ is really present in the Communion. This means that when you take Communion, you are taking Christ within yourself. There are a couple of different views on what exactly the Real Presence is.
Transsubstantiation (Catholic)
Consubstantiaton (Anglican/Lutheran)
Mystery (Orthodox)
The Orthodox prefer to not explain the Real Presense any further than to simply say that the bread is his real body and the wine is his real blood, the how doesn't matter. This is th answer you will receive from virtually any Orthodox person. However, if you really dig into it you will find that the Orthodox really hold with the doctrine of transsubstantiation, they just don't like to define it as rigerously as the Catholics do.
The Catholic doctrine of Transsubstantiation holds that the elements of the Communion, the bread, and the wine, really change from one substance to another. The bread becomes flesh, and the wine becomes blood. This view holds that the bread and the wine cease to exist as substances.
Consubstantiation was originally proposed by John Wyclife and is widely held by Lutherans and Anglicans. Consubstantiation holds that the real body and blood are present in the elements, but that the bread and wine do not cease to exist as substances. Thus both body and bread, blood, and wine are held to exist within the elements of the Communion.
At this point I need to explain a common misconception about transsubstantiation. This doctrine was stated by medieval scholastics who were working based on definitions of Aristotelian philosophy. Thus when they used the word "substance" it had a very specific meaning. Many people today think that Catholics believe the bread and wine physically become flesh and blood. This is not exactly correct. The word substance used by the scholastic means, in simple terms, what a thing IS, not what it is made of. What a thing is, is said to be its substance, what a thing is made of is said to be its accidents. For example the substance of a chair is "chair" but the accidents of a chair could be wood, metal, leather, and so on.
So when they say that the substance ceases to be wine, and becomes blood, they do not mean that it has ceased to be made of fermented grape juice, or that it has become made of hemoglobin and plasma. They mean that while the bread is still made of wheat and glutin, it has ceased to be bread in substance, and become body. The accidents remain the same, only the substance changes.
The importance of Real Presence is wrapped up in what Communion is all about. When the believer partakes in Communion they are taking Christ inside them. When the participant eats the elements, he is feeding on Jesus Christ as spiritual food. This requires that the Communion is more than just a symbol. It requires that Jesus is truly present in the elements.
Point #3 Central/High Point
In the traditional churches Communion is the central point of every, or nearly every service and it is seen as the highest form of Christian worship.
Point #4 Sacrifice
The Communion is seen as a sacrifice in two ways. First it is seen as a sacrifice of Thanksgiving and Praise. This is reflected in the name "Eucharist". In traditional services the Communion portion of the service is referred to as "the Great Thanksgiving".
Secondly, protestants often say that the Catholics are re-enacting the sacrifice of Christ on the cross in the Communion. This of course is seen as a violation of the scripures which state that Christ was sacrificed once for all, and that it is a grave sin to put Christ on the cross again. This, however, is a misunderstanding of the traditional view point.
In the bible it is said that Jesus was "slain from the foundations of the world". We know, of course, that his sacrifice was within time. It was made at a specific time in a specific place. The bible also tells us that his sacrifice was eternal. It is applied to all who have faith in all times and all places. In this sense, the sacrifice of Christ is eternal, it is outside of time.
In the traditional view, when the elements (the bread and wine) of the Communion are consecrated, the sacrifice of Christ is made present in that moment. It is important to note, this is not a re-enactment, it is not a re-sacrifice.. it is making the once for all sacrifice present in that moment. In a sense, the eternal is being brought within time so that the worshipers can partake in it and be in communion with it. While this undoubtedly seems very mystical to us protestants, it isn't the "re-sacrificing" of Christ that it is often alledged to be.
This is a very general look at the Traditional view of Communion. In the next post I will examine some of these ideas in more detail, and look at what the scriptures have to say about Communion.
"So they drew near to the village to which they were going. He acted as if he were going farther, 29 but they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent.” So he went in to stay with them. 30 When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. 31 And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight."
-------- Luke 24:28-31 (ESV)
posted by Simon Templar | 8:48 PM
8 Comments:
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Spammers hit me already and thus the letter verification...
Good post, Simon. I agree that Protestants really need to have communion on a more reg. basis. Thanks for the eye-opener.
That stinks man.
One comment. Anglicans believe in Pius Silence, not necessarily Consubstantiantion.
Stupid Spam....
I would like to point out that Anglicanism does not hold to consubstantiation but Pius Silence.
Mathaytace,
You're correct as to the current view of the Anglican church, which is basicly no view :) The reason I identified Consub. as Anglican is because it is usually seen as an Anglican and Lutheran doctrine. Plus it was originally stated by an Anglican.
sorry, didn't mean to double post there.
I thought my first post disappeared.
no problem, I had the comment moderation turned on and didn't realize that it held back all comments until I approved them :)
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