16The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a sharing in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a sharing in the body of Christ? 17Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread. 18Consider the people of Israel; are not those who eat the sacrifices partners in the altar? 19What do I imply then? That food sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? 20No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be partners with demons. 21You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons.

"In vv.16-18, eucharistic communion with Christ is compared with the sacrificial meals of the OT, at which the participants were in communion with the alter. Here the table of the Eucharist is contrasted with the table of the sacred meals which conclude pagan sacrifices. For Paul, the Eucharist can clearly be regarded as a sacrificial meal." The New Jerusalem Bible, note j. on I Corinthians 10:16-ff

9Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings; for it is well for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by regulations about food, which have not benefited those who observe them. 10We have an altar from which those who officiate in the tent have no right to eat. 11For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the camp. 12Therefore Jesus also suffered outside the city gate in order to sanctify the people by his own blood.

"From the connexion which has been pointed out it seems clear that the ?altar’ must correspond with the Temple altar as including both the idea of sacrifice and the idea of food from the sacrifice (I Cor. ix.13). Primarily there is but one sacrifice for the Christian and one means of support, the sacrifice of Christ upon the Cross and the participating in Him (John vi.53ff). In this first and highest sense, into which each secondary sense must be resolved, the only earthly ?altar’ is the Cross on which Christ offered Himself: Christ is the offering: He is Himself the feast of the believer. The altar is not regarded at any time apart from the victim. . . . The sacrifice is one, the altar is one. But, just as in the discourse at Capernaum, the absolute idea points towards or even passes into the outward form in which it was embodied. The fact of that Death was visibly set forth, and the reality of that participation pledged, in the Eucharist. The ?Table’ of the Lord ( I Cor. x.21), the Bread and the Wine, enabled the believer ?to shew forth Christ’s Death,’ to realise the sacrifice upon the Cross and to appropriate Christ’s ?flesh and blood’. In this sacrament then, where Christ gives Himself as the support of His faithful and rejoicing people, the Christian has that which more than fulfils the types of the Jewish ritual." B.F. Westcott, The Epistle to the Hebrews, 438-439

Both of these passages of Scripture—I Corinthians 10 and Hebrews 13—have reference, then, to the Eucharist, and portray the Eucharist as a Christian sacrifice. The early Christian, moreover, saw the Eucharist as that sacrifice which fulfilled the prophecy of Malachi 1:6-7, 10-12: " 6A son honors his father, and servants their master. If then I am a father, where is the honor due me? And if I am a master, where is the respect due me? says the LORD of hosts to you, O priests, who despise my name. You say, "How have we despised your name?" 7By offering polluted food on my altar. And you say, "How have we polluted it?" By thinking that the LORD’S table may be despised. . . . 10Oh, that someone among you would shut the temple doors, so that you would not kindle fire on my altar in vain! I have no pleasure in you, says the LORD of hosts, and I will not accept an offering from your hands. 11For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name is great among the nations, and in every place incense is offered to my name, and a pure offering; for my name is great among the nations, says the LORD of hosts. 12But you profane it when you say that the Lord’s table is polluted, and the food for it may be despised."

". . .the eucharist was regarded as the distinctively Christian sacrifice from the closing decade of the first century, if not earlier. Malachi’s prediction (I, 10 f.) that the Lord would reject the Jewish sacrifices and instead would have a ?pure offering’ made to Him by the Gentiles in every place was early seized upon by Christians as a prophecy of the eucharist. The Didache actually applies the term ....., or sacrifice, to the eucharist. Ignatius’s reference to ?one altar, just as there is one bishop’, reveals that he too thought in sacrificial terms. Justin speaks of ?all the sacrifices in this name which Jesus appointed to be performed, viz. In the eucharist of the bread and the cupc, and which are celebrated in every place by Christians’. Not only here but elsewhere too, he identified ?the bread of the eucharist, and the cup likewise of the eucharist’, with the sacrifice foretold by Malachi." J.N.D. Kelly, Early Christian Doctrines, 196

"On the Lord’s own day gather together and break bread and give thanks, having first confessed your sins so that your sacrifice may be pure. But let no one who has a quarrel with a companion join you until they have been reconciled, so that your sacrifice may not be defiled. For this is the sacrifice concerning which the Lord said, ?In every place and time offer me a pure sacrifice, for I am a great king, says the Lord, and my name is marvelous among the nations.’" Quoted from The Didache, 14, in Michael W. Holmes, ed., The Apostolic Fathers, second edition, translated by J.B. Lightfoot and J.R. Harmer, 267

[Justin, in his Dialogue with Trypho the Jew]: God speaks through Malachias, one of the twelve, as follows: [here he quotes from the prophet Malachi—see above]. It is of the sacrifices offered to Him in every place by us, the gentiles, that is, of the Bread of the Eucharist and likewise of the cup of the Eucharist, that He speaks at that time; and He says that we glorify His name, while you profane it." St. Justin the Martyr, (c. 155 A.D.), in his Dialogue with Trypho, quoted in William A. Jurgens The Faith of the Early Fathers, vol. 1, 60

For additional material from the Early Church fathers regarding the Eucharist as Sacrifice, see the separate handout: Passages from the Fathers of the early church which speak of the Eucharist as a Sacrifice

23For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, 24and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me." 25In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me." 26For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

The celebration of the Eucharist is, according to the Book of Common Prayer, "the principal act of Christian worship on the Lord’s Day and other major Feasts. . ."[p. 13]. According to St. Paul, the Eucharist centers on, and finds it meaning in, the death (and resurrection) of our Lord Jesus Christ.

5:1Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, 5:2and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

25Nor was it to offer himself again and again, as the high priest enters the Holy Place year after year with blood that is not his own; 26for then he would have had to suffer again and again since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the age to remove sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27And just as it is appointed for mortals to die once, and after that the judgment, 28so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin, but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

And it is by God’s will that we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. 11And every priest stands day after day at his service, offering again and again the same sacrifices that can never take away sins. 12But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, "he sat down at the right hand of God," 13and since then has been waiting "until his enemies would be made a footstool for his feet." 14For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.

2and he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

Consider the following definitions of the Old and the New Covenants according to "An Outline of the Faith, commonly called the Catechism, found in The Book of Common Prayer, pp. 846 and 850

3Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD and all the ordinances; and all the people answered with one voice, and said, "All the words that the LORD has spoken we will do." 4And Moses wrote down all the words of the LORD. He rose early in the morning, and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and set up twelve pillars, corresponding to the twelve tribes of Israel. 5He sent young men of the people of Israel, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed oxen as offerings of well-being to the LORD. 6Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and half of the blood he dashed against the altar. 7Then he took the book of the covenant, and read it in the hearing of the people; and they said, "All that the LORD has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient." 8Moses took the blood and dashed it on the people, and said, "See the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words."

18Hence not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood. 19For when every commandment had been told to all the people by Moses in accordance with the law, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the scroll itself and all the people, 20saying, "This is the blood of the covenant that God has ordained for you." 21And in the same way he sprinkled with the blood both the tent and all the vessels used in worship. 22Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.

Notes: This passage in Hebrews makes the following points: 1) The blood of the sacrifice in Exodus 24 inaugurated the first covenant (= old covenant); 2) Those individuals and things sprinkled with the blood were regarded as purified; See Hebrews 1:3, regarding Jesus Death: "When he had made purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. . ." 3) As relates to the individuals, this purification was considered as the forgiveness of sins.

29How much worse punishment do you think will be deserved by those who have spurned the Son of God, profaned the blood of the covenant by which they were sanctified, and outraged the Spirit of grace?

Matthew 26:27-28

26While they were eating, Jesus took a loaf of bread, and after blessing it he broke it, gave it to the disciples, and said, "Take, eat; this is my body." 27Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you; 28for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

22While they were eating, he took a loaf of bread, and after blessing it he broke it, gave it to them, and said, "Take; this is my body." 23Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, and all of them drank from it. 24He said to them, "This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.

19Then he took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me." 20And he did the same with the cup after supper, saying, "This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.

23For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, 24and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me." 25In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me." 26For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

1The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt: 2This month shall mark for you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year for you. 3Tell the whole congregation of Israel that on the tenth of this month they are to take a lamb for each family, a lamb for each household. 4If a household is too small for a whole lamb, it shall join its closest neighbor in obtaining one; the lamb shall be divided in proportion to the number of people who eat of it. 5Your lamb shall be without blemish, a year-old male; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. 6You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month; then the whole assembled congregation of Israel shall slaughter it at twilight. 7They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. 8They shall eat the lamb that same night; they shall eat it roasted over the fire with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. 9Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted over the fire, with its head, legs, and inner organs. 10You shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn. 11This is how you shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it hurriedly. It is the passover of the LORD. 12For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both human beings and animals; on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the LORD. 13The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live: when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague shall destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. . . .. . 21Then Moses called all the elders of Israel and said to them, "Go, select lambs for your families, and slaughter the passover lamb. 22Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and touch the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood in the basin. None of you shall go outside the door of your house until morning. 23For the LORD will pass through to strike down the Egyptians; when he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the LORD will pass over that door and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you down. 24You shall observe this rite as a perpetual ordinance for you and your children. 25When you come to the land that the LORD will give you, as he has promised, you shall keep this observance. 26And when your children ask you, ?What do you mean by this observance?’ 27you shall say, ?It is the passover sacrifice to the LORD, for he passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt, when he struck down the Egyptians but spared our houses.’" And the people bowed down and worshiped.

6Your boasting is not a good thing. Do you not know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough? 7Clean out the old yeast so that you may be a new batch, as you really are unleavened. For our paschal lamb [literally, ?our passover’], Christ, has been sacrificed. 8Therefore, let us celebrate the festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

Notes: Christ is presented as the Passover Lamb, who has been sacrificed. This signifies the propitiatory nature of Christ’s sacrifice as we find it especially in the following passages, where the terms used are from the Greek word group which had the significance of averting wrath.

For there is no distinction, 23since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; 24they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement by his blood, effective through faith.

Note: The word translated "sacrifice of atonement" is the Greek word hilasterion, which comes from a word group which refers to the forgiveness or cancellation of sin which includes the turning away of God’s wrath. However, the wrath of God against sin must also be understood in relation to His love for the sinner. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church puts it in these words: "In Christian thought the death of Christ has usually been regarded as a propitiatory sacrifice to the Father for the sins of the world. The conception of the Divine wrath involved is to be understood, however, in harmony with the fact that the sacrifice which appeases it proceeds from the Divine love." art. on Propitiation

2and he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

13When Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus outside and sat on the judge’s bench at a place called The Stone Pavement, or in Hebrew Gabbatha. 14Now it was the day of Preparation for the Passover; and it was about noon. He said to the Jews, "Here is your King!" 15They cried out, "Away with him! Away with him! Crucify him!" Pilate asked them, "Shall I crucify your King?" The chief priests answered, "We have no king but the emperor." 16Then he handed him over to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus; 17and carrying the cross by himself, he went out to what is called The Place of the Skull, which in Hebrew is called Golgotha. 18There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, with Jesus between them. 19Pilate also had an inscription written and put on the cross. It read, "Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews." 20Many of the Jews read this inscription, because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, in Latin, and in Greek. 21Then the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, "Do not write, ?The King of the Jews,’ but, ?This man said, I am King of the Jews.’" 22Pilate answered, "What I have written I have written." 23When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and divided them into four parts, one for each soldier. They also took his tunic; now the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from the top. 24So they said to one another, "Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see who will get it." This was to fulfill what the scripture says, "They divided my clothes among themselves, and for my clothing they cast lots." 25And that is what the soldiers did. Meanwhile, standing near the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, "Woman, here is your son." 27Then he said to the disciple, "Here is your mother." And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home. 28After this, when Jesus knew that all was now finished, he said (in order to fulfill the scripture), "I am thirsty." 29A jar full of sour wine was standing there. So they put a sponge full of the wine on a branch of hyssop and held it to his mouth. 30When Jesus had received the wine, he said, "It is finished." Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. 31Since it was the day of Preparation, the Jews did not want the bodies left on the cross during the sabbath, especially because that sabbath was a day of great solemnity. So they asked Pilate to have the legs of the crucified men broken and the bodies removed. 32Then the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and of the other who had been crucified with him. 33But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. 34Instead, one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once blood and water came out. 35(He who saw this has testified so that you also may believe. His testimony is true, and he knows that he tells the truth.) 36These things occurred so that the scripture might be fulfilled, "None of his bones shall be broken." 37And again another passage of scripture says, "They will look on the one whom they have pierced."

1The LORD spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they drew near before the LORD and died. 2The LORD said to Moses: Tell your brother Aaron not to come just at any time into the sanctuary inside the curtain before the mercy seat that is upon the ark, or he will die; for I appear in the cloud upon the mercy seat. 3Thus shall Aaron come into the holy place: with a young bull for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering. 4He shall put on the holy linen tunic, and shall have the linen undergarments next to his body, fasten the linen sash, and wear the linen turban; these are the holy vestments. He shall bathe his body in water, and then put them on. 5He shall take from the congregation of the people of Israel two male goats for a sin offering, and one ram for a burnt offering. 6Aaron shall offer the bull as a sin offering for himself, and shall make atonement for himself and for his house. 7He shall take the two goats and set them before the LORD at the entrance of the tent of meeting; 8and Aaron shall cast lots on the two goats, one lot for the LORD and the other lot for Azazel. 9Aaron shall present the goat on which the lot fell for the LORD, and offer it as a sin offering; 10but the goat on which the lot fell for Azazel shall be presented alive before the LORD to make atonement over it, that it may be sent away into the wilderness to Azazel. 11Aaron shall present the bull as a sin offering for himself, and shall make atonement for himself and for his house; he shall slaughter the bull as a sin offering for himself. 12He shall take a censer full of coals of fire from the altar before the LORD, and two handfuls of crushed sweet incense, and he shall bring it inside the curtain 13and put the incense on the fire before the LORD, that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is upon the covenant, or he will die. 14He shall take some of the blood of the bull, and sprinkle it with his finger on the front of the mercy seat, and before the mercy seat he shall sprinkle the blood with his finger seven times. 15He shall slaughter the goat of the sin offering that is for the people and bring its blood inside the curtain, and do with its blood as he did with the blood of the bull, sprinkling it upon the mercy seat and before the mercy seat. 16Thus he shall make atonement for the sanctuary, because of the uncleannesses of the people of Israel, and because of their transgressions, all their sins; and so he shall do for the tent of meeting, which remains with them in the midst of their uncleannesses. 17No one shall be in the tent of meeting from the time he enters to make atonement in the sanctuary until he comes out and has made atonement for himself and for his house and for all the assembly of Israel. 18Then he shall go out to the altar that is before the LORD and make atonement on its behalf, and shall take some of the blood of the bull and of the blood of the goat, and put it on each of the horns of the altar. 19He shall sprinkle some of the blood on it with his finger seven times, and cleanse it and hallow it from the uncleannesses of the people of Israel. 20When he has finished atoning for the holy place and the tent of meeting and the altar, he shall present the live goat. 21Then Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel, and all their transgressions, all their sins, putting them on the head of the goat, and sending it away into the wilderness by means of someone designated for the task. 22The goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to a barren region; and the goat shall be set free in the wilderness. 23Then Aaron shall enter the tent of meeting, and shall take off the linen vestments that he put on when he went into the holy place, and shall leave them there. 24He shall bathe his body in water in a holy place, and put on his vestments; then he shall come out and offer his burnt offering and the burnt offering of the people, making atonement for himself and for the people. 25The fat of the sin offering he shall turn into smoke on the altar. 26The one who sets the goat free for Azazel shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and afterward may come into the camp. 27The bull of the sin offering and the goat of the sin offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the holy place, shall be taken outside the camp; their skin and their flesh and their dung shall be consumed in fire. 28The one who burns them shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and afterward may come into the camp. 29This shall be a statute to you forever: In the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall deny yourselves, and shall do no work, neither the citizen nor the alien who resides among you. 30For on this day atonement shall be made for you, to cleanse you; from all your sins you shall be clean before the LORD. 31It is a sabbath of complete rest to you, and you shall deny yourselves; it is a statute forever. 32The priest who is anointed and consecrated as priest in his father’s place shall make atonement, wearing the linen vestments, the holy vestments. 33He shall make atonement for the sanctuary, and he shall make atonement for the tent of meeting and for the altar, and he shall make atonement for the priests and for all the people of the assembly. 34This shall be an everlasting statute for you, to make atonement for the people of Israel once in the year for all their sins. And Moses did as the LORD had commanded him.

Note: Out of this lengthy passage the following points may be made: 1) Atonement was made once a year on behalf of the entire congregation of Israel. 2) This redemptive, reconciliatory, purificatory ritual was performed by the High Priest only. 3) The ritual involved the High Priest taking the sacrificial blood into the Most Holy Place of the sanctuary/temple, which represented the throne room, the Presence of God, to make atonement. 4) The sins of the people, which had alienated them from God, were then placed on a victim and carried away. This ritual involved the entire covenant people, and took place at temple, the covenant center for the worship of the covenant God.

11But when Christ came as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation), 12he entered once for all into the Holy Place, not with the blood of goats and calves, but with his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption. 13For if the blood of goats and bulls, with the sprinkling of the ashes of a heifer, sanctifies those who have been defiled so that their flesh is purified, 14how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to worship the living God! 15For this reason he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, because a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions under the first covenant. 16Where a will is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established. 17For a will takes effect only at death, since it is not in force as long as the one who made it is alive. 18Hence not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood. 19For when every commandment had been told to all the people by Moses in accordance with the law, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the scroll itself and all the people, 20saying, "This is the blood of the covenant that God has ordained for you." 21And in the same way he sprinkled with the blood both the tent and all the vessels used in worship. 22Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. 23Thus it was necessary for the sketches of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves need better sacrifices than these. 24For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made by human hands, a mere copy of the true one, but he entered into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. 25Nor was it to offer himself again and again, as the high priest enters the Holy Place year after year with blood that is not his own; 26for then he would have had to suffer again and again since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the age to remove sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27And just as it is appointed for mortals to die once, and after that the judgment, 28so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin, but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

1Since the law has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered year after year, make perfect those who approach. 2Otherwise, would they not have ceased being offered, since the worshipers, cleansed once for all, would no longer have any consciousness of sin? 3But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sin year after year. 4For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. . . . 10And it is by God’s will that we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. 11And every priest stands day after day at his service, offering again and again the same sacrifices that can never take away sins. 12But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, "he sat down at the right hand of God," 13and since then has been waiting "until his enemies would be made a footstool for his feet." 14For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. . . . 19Therefore, my friends, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, 20by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain (that is, through his flesh), 21and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22let us approach with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

17So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! 18All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; 19that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. 20So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

19For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross. 21And you who were once estranged and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22he has now reconciled in his fleshly body through death, so as to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable before him—23provided that you continue securely established and steadfast in the faith, without shifting from the hope promised by the gospel that you heard. . .

10For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more surely, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life. 11But more than that, we even boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

12"This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

16We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us—and we ought to lay down our lives for one another.

20and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

5:1Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, 5:2and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

We also see that the sacrificial death of Christ is an act of revelation, which not only springs from the Love of God the Father, and from Jesus, but also reveals that Love. The death of Christ on the Cross becomes the definition of what it means to speak of the Love of God, and of the love of Christ. To participate in the Eucharist is to share in the love given by God to us in Christ, and to share in the Love between Christ and the Father. It also becomes a means for returning our love to God the Father and to Jesus Christ.

50This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. 51I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh." 52The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" 53So Jesus said to them, "Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; 55for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. 56Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. 57Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. 58This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever."

3. Jesus makes an incredibly strong statement: "Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you." a. Compare the statements regarding baptism made to Nicodemus in John 3:3,5" 3Jesus answered him, "Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above." . . . .5Jesus answered, "Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. b. In the Greek construction, John 3: 3 reads: "Very truly, I tell you, unless one is born from above, he is not able to see the kingdom of God." c. In the Greek construction, John 3:5 reads: "Very truly, I tell you, unless one is born from above, he is not able to enter the kingdom of God." d. In the Greek language, the construction between the verses in John 3, and John 6:53 is identical. Just as Jesus indicated to Nicodemus that no one could enter the kingdom of God except by being reborn of water and Spirit, he is saying here that no one has life (i.e. eternal life, the life of God) unless they eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of Man e. Given the parallel nature of the Greek construction, and given the fact that the two dominical sacraments are in view (Baptism and the Eucharist), it is extremely likely that Jesus is here saying the same thing about the necessity of the Eucharist for the life of the Kingdom as he said to Nicodemus about Baptism.

4. The word "Life" (zoe) used here is used by John to mean the life of God, which the Son shares, and which is given to those who are believers in Jesus. John uses an entirely different word for "physical life" (psyche). For Zoe see John 1:3,4; John 5:26; John 10:10; I John 5:20, etc. For psyche see John 10:15,17; John 15:13; I John 3:16

"Most Catholic scholars . . . point out that the gospel was written at a time when some Christians influenced by gnostic philosophy were refusing to take basic Christian beliefs literally. Gnosticism taught (among other things) that matter was evil, and its Christian adherents claimed that since God would never contaminate himself with human flesh Jesus was not really human but God appearing as a man. The fourth gospel was written partly in reaction to this view and this is why John places such great emphasis on the literal humanity and divinity of Christ. Of course the gnostic Christians also claimed that the Lord’s supper could not literally be a sharing in Christ’s body and blood, and seen in this light the "bread of life" discourse in John 6 (verses 22-66) seems to be a direct attack against this view. Even granting that this discourse is most likely a composition of the author and not a direct transcription of a speech by Jesus, it probably still reflects what John and other Christians at the time believed about the bread and wine taken in the Lord’s supper: "My flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me and I in him" (6:55-56." Doors to the Sacred, 210-211

"Take care, then, to use one Eucharist, so that whatever you do, you do according to God: for there is one Flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ, and one cup in the union of His Blood; one altar, as there is one bishop. . ." Letter to the Philadelphians, Quoted from William A. Jurgens, The Faith of the Early Fathers, vol. 1, p. 22

Father, in His goodness raised up again." Letter to the Smyrnaeans, Quoted from William A. Jurgens, The Faith of the Early Fathers, vol. 1, p. 25

"We call this food Eucharist; and no one else is permitted to partake of it, except one who believes our teaching to be true and who has been washed in the washing which is for the remission of sins and for regeneration, and is thereby living as Christ has enjoined. For not as common bread nor common drink do we receive these; but since Jesus Christ our Savior was made incarnate by the word of God and had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so too, as we have been taught, the food which has been made into the Eucharist by the Eucharistic prayer set down by Him, and by the change of which our blood and flesh is nourished, is both the flesh and blood of that incarnated Jesus." First Apology, Quoted from William A. Jurgens, The Faith of the Early Fathers, vol. 1, p. 55

"For thanksgiving is consistent with our opinion; and the Eucharist confirms our opinion. For we offer to Him those things which are His, declaring in a fit manner the gift and the acceptance of flesh and spirit. For as the bread from the earth, receiving the invocation of God, is no longer common bread but the Eucharist, consisting of two elements, earthly and heavenly, so also our bodies, when they receive the Eucharist, are no longer corruptible but have the hope of resurrection into eternity." Against Heresies, Quoted from William A. Jurgens, The Faith of the Early Fathers, vol. 1, p. 95

"O Lord, in your great mercy remember with kindness all the devout and just Fathers, as we now commemorate your body and blood, which we offer on your pure and holy altar, as you, our Master, taught us." The Church at Prayer, Volume II, The Eucharist, A.G. Martimort, ed., p. 31

Rather, the Greek word anamnesis is pregnant with meaning. Charles Mortimer Guilbert, in Words of our Worship, gives this definition: "Anamnesis. From the Greek, meaning ?memorial, recalling, or remembrance,’ but actually untranslatable into English, because it does not denote a mental recollection of a past event, but an objective action in and by which the event is realized as present. The term refers to that portion of the Eucharistic Prayer, usually following the Institution Narrative, in which the one sacrifice of Christ is ?recalled’, so as to become operative in the here and now, in obedience to Christ’s command, ?Do this for my memorial.’"

"We saw the Prince of Priests coming to us, we saw and heard Him offering His blood for us. We follow, inasmuch as we are able, being priests; and we offer the sacrifice on behalf of the people. And even if we are of but little merit, still, in the sacrifice, we are honorable. For even if Christ is not now seen as the one who offers the sacrifice, nevertheless, it is He Himself that is offered in sacrifice here on earth when the Body of Christ is offered. Indeed, to offer Himself He is made visible in us, He whose word makes holy the sacrifice that is offered." Commentaries on Twelve of David’s Psalms, quoted in William A. Jurgens, The Faith of the Early Fathers, vol. 1, p. 150