THE LORD’S SUPPER IN THE EARLY CHURCH: COVENANT EXTENSION OR EUCHARISTIC PRESENCE?

Authors

Silvia Bacchiocchi, Andrews UniversityFollow

Abstract

This study seeks to show how the Lord’s Supper lost its relational and historical (past-present-future) covenant focus and instead became fixed on the Platonic now of mystical contemplation, displacing the eschatological hope of Christ’s physical return with the real presence of Christ in the eucharist. This resulted from the Hellenistic interpretation of reality in general and of Christian rituals in particular. The first section explores the nature of God and the Old Testament covenant, followed by the covenant’s continuity in the New Testament through the Lord’s Supper. The second portion analyzes the Didache’s Jewish-Christian perspective of the Lord’s Supper and contrasts it with the Hellenistic-Christian stance of Justin Martyr and Ignatius of Antioch in order to show that the former held a symbolic (biblical) view of the Lord’s Supper, while the latter began to introduce the Greek philosophical view of Christ’s real presence in the eucharist.

Recommended Citation

Bacchiocchi, Silvia (2016) "THE LORD’S SUPPER IN THE EARLY CHURCH: COVENANT EXTENSION OR EUCHARISTIC PRESENCE?," Andrews University Seminary Student Journal: Vol. 2: No. 2, Article 5.

Available at: https://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/aussj/vol2/iss2/5