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Guest
A friend of mine who’s Protestant sent me a message that Catholics don’t use the Bible, they just have the eucharist and the sacraments. I wanted to reply and explain how the sacraments are in fact biblical, and that the eucharist isn’t just something fun we do, but that it’s utterly indispensable to salvation. I’ve written up this message. Would you kind forum participants please take a look at this and see if I’ve done justice to the Catholic position?
Thanks in advance!
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About the the Eucharist. It’s a simple thing. Christ told his disciples that his flesh was true food and his blood was true drink (John 6). In that passage, Christ said that he was the bread of life, “the bread that came down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die.” He said whoever eats his flesh and drinks his blood remains in him and he in them, and told those who would not believe that unless they ate and drank of his body that they would have no life within them. To emphasize the physicality of eating his body and blood, the ver
St. Paul, in one of his earliest letters, 1 Corinthians (50-60 AD), recounts how the first Christians performed the Eucharist… something he was taught as a convert. He recounts the ceremony, and writes that anyone eating the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord “unworthily” will have to answer for the body and blood of the Lord. He also says that anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body “eats and drinks judgment upon himself.” This is critical: you wrote “any partaker of faith in Christ can eat of the bread and drink of the cup.” Yet St. Paul tells us that anyone who does not believe that the bread is the body of Christ should not eat or drink it.
This is one of the key elements of Catholicism, and it’s why the Eucharist is the center of the mass. In that ceremony are the elements of Christian faith that most Protestants feel are the only things necessary to salvation: belief that Christ died for our sins. A Catholic who takes Eucharist acknowledges that Christ died for us, and that it is only through that sacrifice that we have salvation. Catholics literally believe that the Eucharist is not just bread and wine, but takes on the substance of Christ’s body and blood (the epiousios or “supersubstantial” bread mentioned in the Our Father).
The Eucharist, understood as literal the body and blood of Christ, has a documented history going back to the very earliest Christian writings that still survived. St. Paul described in 1 Corinthians in 50-60 AD. The Gospel of John was written between 90-120 AD. In Acts 20:7 (written between 80-130 AD), the Apostles are described as gathering to break bread on the first day of the week, the day after the Jewish sabbath. In 110 AD, Ignatius of Antioch wrote, “I desire the bread of God, which is the flesh of Jesus Christ, who was of the seed of David; and for drink I desire his blood, which is love incorruptible.” In AD 151, Justin Martyr wrote, “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 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 nurtured, is both the flesh and the blood of that incarnated Jesus.”
The Eucharist is so central to what it means to be a Christian, so indispensable, that it touches on the very meaning of what life after death means. In Matthew 16:26, Christ says, “What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? Or what can one give in exchange for his life?” How can one gain the physical world but forfeit life?" Another translation for “life” is sometimes “soul.” In Matthew 10:28, it’s clear that the soul can live on without the body, but that body and soul can both die: “And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.” But what is a soul? There’s almost no definition in the Bible, and most modern depictions of a soul that floats up to heaven (or sinks down to hell) are totally off base.
1 Corinthians 15:20-23 tells us what the resurrection will be: a physical, bodily resurrection, just as Christ’s. Here’s the text:
“But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead came also through a human being. For just as in Adam all die, so too in Christ shall all be brought to life,but each one in proper order: Christ the firstfruits; then, at his coming, those who belong to Christ” Our bodies will be returned to life in glory, as Christ’s.
1 Corinthians 15:42-49 address this issue, comparing the life we obtained through “Adam,” in our natural body. The natural body is corruptible, but the resurrected body, the “spiritual body” is glorious. Christ became “a life-giving spirit.”
“So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown corruptible; it is raised incorruptible. 43It is sown dishonorable; it is raised glorious. It is sown weak; it is raised powerful.44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual one. 45 So, too, it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living being,” the last Adam a life-giving spirit. 46 But the spiritual was not first; rather the natural and then the spiritual. 47 The first man was from the earth, earthly; the second man, from heaven. 48 As was the earthly one, so also are the earthly, and as is the heavenly one, so also are the heavenly. 49 Just as we have borne the image of the earthly one, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly one.”
The soul, by itself, has no eyes or ears, no nose nor tongue, no nerves, so it can’t sense. The soul has no digestive system, lungs, or blood, so it can’t sustain itself in the same way we do. This was written over 700 years ago by St. Thomas Aquinas, so it’s not a modern interpretation. Taking his observations alongside modern cognitive neuroscience, we see that thought, memory and emotion reside in the brain… so in the same logic, the soul has no memory. We can’t detect a soul leaving the body with our senses, or with any of the tools of modern science. So the soul is something spiritual, without physical form or meaning, and without physical capabilities, like movement, speech, thought, or, critically, faith.
St. Paul gives us some clues that after we’re dead, but before the resurrection of our bodies, we won’t notice the passage of time. 1 Corinthians 15:51-52: “Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all fall asleep, but we will all be changed, in an instant, in the blink of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” In the blink of an eye… we die, and sense to passage of time because thought and perception reside in the senses and the brain, not the soul. From our perspective, as soon as we die, if we have sanctifying grace, the next time we perceive anything, it will be with the senses and brains of our resurrected bodies.
So if our resurrection with Christ is physical, the question is whether faith alone, something we hold in our own mind, continues to exist when our bodies die. As Christ says in John 6, he is the bread that came down from heaven that we may eat it and not die. Eating and drinking his body and blood – the physical acts we perform with our bodies, are 100% necessary. 1 Corinthians 11 tells us how Christ taught it. In the same verse, St. Paul tells us not to eat and drink of it without discerning his body there in it, so faith is clearly a central part of the Eucharist. But it’s a faith borne in the physical action of eating and drinking his body and blood. A symbolic ceremony of bread and wine will not do.*
Thanks in advance!
===
About the the Eucharist. It’s a simple thing. Christ told his disciples that his flesh was true food and his blood was true drink (John 6). In that passage, Christ said that he was the bread of life, “the bread that came down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die.” He said whoever eats his flesh and drinks his blood remains in him and he in them, and told those who would not believe that unless they ate and drank of his body that they would have no life within them. To emphasize the physicality of eating his body and blood, the ver
St. Paul, in one of his earliest letters, 1 Corinthians (50-60 AD), recounts how the first Christians performed the Eucharist… something he was taught as a convert. He recounts the ceremony, and writes that anyone eating the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord “unworthily” will have to answer for the body and blood of the Lord. He also says that anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body “eats and drinks judgment upon himself.” This is critical: you wrote “any partaker of faith in Christ can eat of the bread and drink of the cup.” Yet St. Paul tells us that anyone who does not believe that the bread is the body of Christ should not eat or drink it.
This is one of the key elements of Catholicism, and it’s why the Eucharist is the center of the mass. In that ceremony are the elements of Christian faith that most Protestants feel are the only things necessary to salvation: belief that Christ died for our sins. A Catholic who takes Eucharist acknowledges that Christ died for us, and that it is only through that sacrifice that we have salvation. Catholics literally believe that the Eucharist is not just bread and wine, but takes on the substance of Christ’s body and blood (the epiousios or “supersubstantial” bread mentioned in the Our Father).
The Eucharist, understood as literal the body and blood of Christ, has a documented history going back to the very earliest Christian writings that still survived. St. Paul described in 1 Corinthians in 50-60 AD. The Gospel of John was written between 90-120 AD. In Acts 20:7 (written between 80-130 AD), the Apostles are described as gathering to break bread on the first day of the week, the day after the Jewish sabbath. In 110 AD, Ignatius of Antioch wrote, “I desire the bread of God, which is the flesh of Jesus Christ, who was of the seed of David; and for drink I desire his blood, which is love incorruptible.” In AD 151, Justin Martyr wrote, “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 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 nurtured, is both the flesh and the blood of that incarnated Jesus.”
The Eucharist is so central to what it means to be a Christian, so indispensable, that it touches on the very meaning of what life after death means. In Matthew 16:26, Christ says, “What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? Or what can one give in exchange for his life?” How can one gain the physical world but forfeit life?" Another translation for “life” is sometimes “soul.” In Matthew 10:28, it’s clear that the soul can live on without the body, but that body and soul can both die: “And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.” But what is a soul? There’s almost no definition in the Bible, and most modern depictions of a soul that floats up to heaven (or sinks down to hell) are totally off base.
1 Corinthians 15:20-23 tells us what the resurrection will be: a physical, bodily resurrection, just as Christ’s. Here’s the text:
“But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead came also through a human being. For just as in Adam all die, so too in Christ shall all be brought to life,but each one in proper order: Christ the firstfruits; then, at his coming, those who belong to Christ” Our bodies will be returned to life in glory, as Christ’s.
1 Corinthians 15:42-49 address this issue, comparing the life we obtained through “Adam,” in our natural body. The natural body is corruptible, but the resurrected body, the “spiritual body” is glorious. Christ became “a life-giving spirit.”
“So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown corruptible; it is raised incorruptible. 43It is sown dishonorable; it is raised glorious. It is sown weak; it is raised powerful.44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual one. 45 So, too, it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living being,” the last Adam a life-giving spirit. 46 But the spiritual was not first; rather the natural and then the spiritual. 47 The first man was from the earth, earthly; the second man, from heaven. 48 As was the earthly one, so also are the earthly, and as is the heavenly one, so also are the heavenly. 49 Just as we have borne the image of the earthly one, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly one.”
The soul, by itself, has no eyes or ears, no nose nor tongue, no nerves, so it can’t sense. The soul has no digestive system, lungs, or blood, so it can’t sustain itself in the same way we do. This was written over 700 years ago by St. Thomas Aquinas, so it’s not a modern interpretation. Taking his observations alongside modern cognitive neuroscience, we see that thought, memory and emotion reside in the brain… so in the same logic, the soul has no memory. We can’t detect a soul leaving the body with our senses, or with any of the tools of modern science. So the soul is something spiritual, without physical form or meaning, and without physical capabilities, like movement, speech, thought, or, critically, faith.
St. Paul gives us some clues that after we’re dead, but before the resurrection of our bodies, we won’t notice the passage of time. 1 Corinthians 15:51-52: “Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all fall asleep, but we will all be changed, in an instant, in the blink of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” In the blink of an eye… we die, and sense to passage of time because thought and perception reside in the senses and the brain, not the soul. From our perspective, as soon as we die, if we have sanctifying grace, the next time we perceive anything, it will be with the senses and brains of our resurrected bodies.
So if our resurrection with Christ is physical, the question is whether faith alone, something we hold in our own mind, continues to exist when our bodies die. As Christ says in John 6, he is the bread that came down from heaven that we may eat it and not die. Eating and drinking his body and blood – the physical acts we perform with our bodies, are 100% necessary. 1 Corinthians 11 tells us how Christ taught it. In the same verse, St. Paul tells us not to eat and drink of it without discerning his body there in it, so faith is clearly a central part of the Eucharist. But it’s a faith borne in the physical action of eating and drinking his body and blood. A symbolic ceremony of bread and wine will not do.*