Early Church: The Eucharist

[concerneduser]

When was the first recorded interpretation of jesus at the last supper and the sacrament of the Eucharist? Who was to say that the earliest disciples didn’t see the bread and wine as a metaphore, but continued the practice of breaking bread and wine as jesus said??
–PS, if you can think of a better place to post this, make a comment on that,

 

[Church_Militant]

Hopefully this will help. It is an article that I wrote based on posts here at CAF.
The Eucharist IS Scriptural

 

[shoewindow3000]

When was the first recorded interpretation of jesus at the last supper and the sacrament of the Eucharist? Who was to say that the earliest disciples didn’t see the bread and wine as a metaphore, but continued the practice of breaking bread and wine as jesus said??
–PS, if you can think of a better place to post this, make a comment on that,

There was a rumor in the pagan world during the early years of Christianity that Christians were cannibals. The pagans would hear them talk about “eating flesh,” and, “drinking blood.”
We know that they were talking about the Eucharist, of course, but apparently, this misunderstanding helped contribute to the persecution of the Church.

 

[Cluny]

How about the words of St. Ignatius of Antioch: “The Eucharist is the flesh of our Savior Christ”?

He also said, “Have nothing to do with the heretics that deny this.”

 

[concerneduser]

Ok, but is there anything that specifically says to us that the Church believes in transubstatiation before they wrote it down in the 1500s? Any written documents before that? Because even with those words of St. Ignatius of Antioch you could say that today we don’t know if he (like Jesus according to protestants) was speaking in the same way…that of a metaphore.

 

[Randy_Carson]

Ok, but is there anything that specifically says to us that the Church believes in transubstatiation before they wrote it down in the 1500s? Any written documents before that? Because even with those words of St. Ignatius of Antioch you could say that today we don’t know if he (like Jesus according to protestants) was speaking in the same way…that of a metaphore.

The earliest writing concerning the Eucharist?

That would be either the Synoptic gospels or perhaps Paul’s letter to the Corinthians. Remember, these documents were written many years after the institution of the Eucharist and reflect what the Church was DOING.

Also, remember that John’s gospel was written near the end of the first century…a looooooong time after the last supper in the Upper Room.

If John had wanted to correct any misunderstanding regarding the Eucharist as being the body and blood of Jesus, he could have done so. He didn’t. In fact, John wrote chapter 6 of his gospel in support of Eucharistic theology.

Finally, remember that transubstantiation is simply a “concept” term used to describe our understanding of theological truth. Kinda like trinity or incarnation.

 

[kkoleon]

what st ignatius was arguing about was those who did not believe that Jesus had a human nature and only “appeared” to have flesh. “But if these things were done by our Lord only in appearance, then am I also only in appearance .” moreover, “They abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer, because they confess not the Eucharist to be the flesh of our Saviour Jesus Christ.” Letter to the Smyrnaeans.

 

[mackbrislawn]

When was the first recorded interpretation of jesus at the last supper and the sacrament of the Eucharist? Who was to say that the earliest disciples didn’t see the bread and wine as a metaphore, but continued the practice of breaking bread and wine as jesus said??
–PS, if you can think of a better place to post this, make a comment on that,

My problem with viewing the bread and wine as metaphor, is that they don’t make sense as metaphor. Metaphor must convey some meaning, be symbolic of something in some way. Jesus can say, “I am the Way,” or “I am the Truth,” and these statements make sense as metaphors. But, his flesh? How can Jesus saying this bread is his flesh be a metaphor? A metaphor for what? Therefore, it must be literal, not metaphor.

 

[diggerdomer]

When was the first recorded interpretation of jesus at the last supper and the sacrament of the Eucharist? Who was to say that the earliest disciples didn’t see the bread and wine as a metaphore, but continued the practice of breaking bread and wine as jesus said??
–PS, if you can think of a better place to post this, make a comment on that,

The Gospels of Matt, Mark, and Luke. The first letter of Paul to the Corinthians. Those are the earliest.

The Gospel of John chapter 6 also is relevant.