In Luke 22:19 “…Do this in remembrance of me.”
In fact, a more expressive translation would read “Celebrate this as a memorial sacrifice of me.”
The Greek words used in this sentence all carry much more meaning than what we get out of them when we translate them into English. Almost all Christians are familiar with this concept, because almost all Christians are familiar with the Greek word
agape. It translates into English as “love,” but it really carries a lot more meaning. The Greek language had a massive vocabulary, one that at times was extremely specific. It is also a language from a different time with different emphasises, meaning that certain areas of the language will be more developed than our language.
How this plays out in this particular case is that Koine Greek (and Hebrew) developed in a period of time when things like sacrifices were very important. It was a central part of most people’s religions, and thus lives. English, and to a lesser degree Latin, developed at a time and in a culture when things like sacrifices were less important. As a result, Hebrew and Koine Greek have more words to refer to things involving sacrifice than we do.
In the case of the passage cited above, the words involved have heavy sacrificial emphasis.
“Do” is the translation of the word ποιεῖτε (
poieite). This particular word often carried a sacrifical context. It is used in the Septuagint 70 times to say “offer a sacrifice” in place of the Hebrew word תעשׂה (
asah). It was also used when referring to the Passover, with the meaning of “celebrate.” When one was referring to celebrating the Passover, he would use this word. It was not always used in this way, but the emphasis did exist in the word.
The stronger word is “rememberance,” which is a translation of the Greek word αναμνησιν (
anamnesis). This particular word is actually quite loaded. It is one of over 20 different Greek words referring to memory, but unless my memory fails me it is the only one that has a sacrificial meaning. It is used in the Septuagint in place of the Hebrew להזכיר׃ (
zakar) and לאזכרה (
azkarah).
*Zakar *means memorial, and is often used to refer to burning incense. It is the root word of
azkarah, which means “memorial offering.” Here are a few examples of its use (I will bold the translated word in each example).
Lev 2:2 And he shall bring it to Aaron’s sons the priests: and he shall take thereout his handful of the flour thereof, and of the oil thereof, with all the frankincense thereof; and the priest shall burn the memorial of it upon the altar, to be an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD
Lev 2:9 And the priest shall take from the meat offering a memorial thereof, and shall burn it upon the altar: it is an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD.
Lev 24:7 And thou shalt put pure frankincense upon each row, that it may be on the bread for a memorial, even an offering made by fire unto the LORD.
The use of the term in the New Testament is also in a sacrificial context. Hebrews 10:3 uses the term to refer to the yearly sin offerings in the Levitical system:
Heb 10:3 But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sin every year.
Here’s the kicker: the word “sacrifices” is not really in this sentence. Many translations add it, but it does not in fact belong. To see this, look at a King James translation. BIble translators always have to add words when they translate. Otherwise, it wouldn’t make sense in the new language, because languages don’t translate word for word. In the King James Bible, the translators rendered all of the words they added in italics. Here is the verse in the King James translation:
Heb 10:3 But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year.
If we remove those extra terms, we get:
But in those a remembrance again of sins every year."
The reason that the words “sacrifices” and “made” are added is because otherwise, the meaning of the passage may be lost. This is because the word *anamnesis *translates as “remembrance” when in fact it means “memorial sacrifice.” Taking into account the complete meaning of the word, the verse ought to say :
Heb 10:3 But in those is a memorial sacrifice again of sins every year.
Because translators often - particularly in more direct, word for word translations like the King James - render words as simply as they can, fine points like this can be lost.
Peace and God bless
