A while back someone purchased The Lord’s Supper: Remembering and Proclaiming Christ Until He Comes for me from my Ministry Resource List, for which I am always grateful.
I do a lot of reading, and had a number of books to get through before this one. I had requested the book because it came highly recommended as a great resource on the subject, but to be honest, I was not on-the-edge-of-my-seat-excited to read it. Like every other theologian, I am not equally interested in every theological topic, and the Lord’s Supper has never ranked too high on my list of theological priorities.
I grew up Catholic. Communion was something we participated in weekly. I never understood what it was all about, and didn’t care to. It was just a ritual I went through (including the ritual of trying to get that sticky wafer off of the roof of my mouth with all sorts of clever tongue contortions). When I converted to Pentecostal, I went from celebrating the Lord’s Supper weekly to bi-annually or annually, so I had even less reason to give the topic much thought. Sure, I studied the various positions and the historical debates on the nature and purpose of the Supper in seminary. That piqued my interest a bit, but more from a historical perspective than a personal interest in my own practice of the Supper. I saw the Supper as a memorial, through that we should do it (and more frequently than we usually do as Protestants), but never got much out of it personally. Then, I read this book. It has greatly enhanced my appreciation for the importance and significance of this ordinance instituted by none other than Jesus Himself. There are many nuances to the Supper that most of us pass over. This book draws them out.
This is a Baptist production, so it is decidedly Zwinglinian in its understanding of the Lord’s Supper. I share their theological understanding of the Supper, so this was a plus. As for the contents, the book considers the Lord’s Supper from a Biblical, theological, historical, and practical perspective – a truly comprehensive view of the subject.
- After an introduction by Thomas Screiner and Matthew Crawford, Andreas Kostenberger considers whether or not the Last Supper was a Passover meal or not. After detailing the pros and cons, he comes down on the side of identifying it as a Passover meal.
- Jonathan Pennington compares the four accounts of the Last Supper in the Gospels to identify their similarities and distinctives. James Hamilton Jr. follows up with an examination of Paul’s account and unique contribution to the subject.
- A full seven chapters are devoted to examining the Lord’s Supper from a historical perspective: patristic era (Michael Haykin), medieval Carolingian conflict (David Hogg), Catholic teaching (Gregg Allison), Luther’s teaching (Matthew Crawford), Zwingli’s teaching (Bruce Ware), Calvin’s teaching and Reformed theology (Shawn Wright), and the Baptists (Gregory Wills). I was particularly shocked at how early in history church leaders began speaking of the bread and water as being the literal body and blood of Christ. I also learned that I misunderstood Catholic teaching on the mass as a sacrifice of Christ. They do not hold that each time they break the bread that Christ is being sacrificed again for sins, but rather it is a re-presentation of his once-for-all sacrifice.
- After an excellent historical treatment of the subject, Brian Bickers begins a practical examination of the Supper, focusing on what it is that we experience in our celebration of the Supper – both the good and the bad (feelings of unworthiness and guilt). He does a great job showing how the Lord’s Supper connects the past to the present, similar to how the Passover meal connected the Israelites with God’s saving act in the Exodus.
- Gregory Alan Thornbury focuses his attention on understanding the situation at Corinth that Paul was addressing, with the goal of shedding some exegetical light on Paul’s talk of taking the Supper “unworthily” and admonishing the Corinthians to “examine themselves” lest God judge them. So many people have struggled with the Lord’s Supper because of a misunderstanding of Paul, so this chapter is vitally important to the modern church.
- Finally, Ray Van Neste closes out the book with a string of practical considerations. He attempts to answer the question of why the Lord’s Supper is so undervalued by so many Christians, and then moves on to discuss such matters as who should preside over the administration of the ordinance, how often it should be celebrated, whether we should use real wine, where it should be celebrated, how to serve the Supper, and who should and should not partake.
The comprehensive nature of the book, coupled with its lucid insights makes this a great resource for understanding the Lord’s Supper. I’m sure that even Catholics, Lutherans, and Reformed folks could benefit from much of the material.
February 11, 2013 at 3:18 pm
“Remembering and Proclaiming Christ Until He Comes”
If you are waiting for the Second Coming, sorry but you already missed the concept. And you will never see such an event the way that you believe from what the clergy has taught you all.
A few scriptures might enlighten you for
You are getting delusional. Clergy does not care for you or anyone else. Clergy is all about clergy, nothing to do with the people.
The supernatural does not exist.
There have always been wars and rumors of war, earthquakes happen all over the world and has been happening forever. Catastrophes and storms are always happening too and people have been predicting the Second Coming for thousands of years and every generation says the time is at hand but it never is. Even Jesus said it does not come by observation so it isn’t even something you can see or observe. He said when they tell you he is in the chambers, don’ t go, in the outer garden don’t follow them. You can read it for yourself in Luke 17, 20.
In another place Mat 10,23 Jesus said “For assuredly, I say to you, you will not have gone through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes.” What do you think that means relative to every generation saying the days of the Coming are at hand? And the faithful await his return? Even though Jesus own words refute this idea.
Another scripture you need to know about from Jesus: He said none can come to the son unless the spirit of the father draw him. so what do you think you can do about anything? Unless the spirit of the Father WITHIN draws you. So don’t imagine that some supernatural being in the high northern sky is watching externally, uh uh. The Father is within you!
There is no such thing as god’s channel, there is no such thing as god. Jesus knew there was no god, he debunked the supernatural. What Jesus referred to was the self witness, the conscience, inside all of us. He called that guide, The Father. and that’s why he said the Kingdom is within you.
You are suffering from ritualistic, religious dementia. The churches have bamboozled the earth’s people for so long people can’t think for themselves anymore without feeling shame or guilt and that’s exactly the way wants you to feel. Religion has to make you feel unworthy to be alive in order to capture your humanity but that is a bunch of crocodilian nonsense.
You need to learn what the bible means when you read the words. Forget the god myth, that has been the creation of man’s imagination since before the invention of the wheel or the discovery of control of fire. Thousands of gods have been created in every generation and every generation did exactly what you are doing trying to win souls and converts for their pet god myth. FORGET it.
It will never happen; the Second Coming is an illusion, does not come with observation and will never come to anyone. The Second Coming? You must be the Coming you are waiting for. You need to be the change you dream. It’s all about you and the spirit within you.
John 8: 56-58
Jesus speaking to the Clergy: “You haven’t recognized the Father in this. But I have. If I, in false modesty, said I didn’t know what was going on, I would be as much of a liar as you are. But I do know, and I am doing what he says. Abraham—your ‘father’—with jubilant faith looked down the corridors of history and saw my day coming. He saw it and cheered.”
57 The Jews said, “You’re not even fifty years old—and Abraham saw you?”
58 “Believe me,” said Jesus, “I am who I am long before Abraham was anything.”
You need to redirect your thoughts or your thought will redirect you into the asylum with a nervous breakdown. There are tons of people there already, all waiting for the coming or thinking they are the savior of the world or otherwise hearing voices from the world of the supernatural that does not exist except in the mind.
Take care of yourself and when you shut out the world, you are really shutting out yourself and becoming hermitized by the reptile brain where ritualism resides and which religion takes advantage of for pence and power.
Read the bible about Jesus; he hated the church, hated religion, hated the clergy and called them hypocrites and poisonous snakes. So why are you taking a road that he himself avoided at all costs. He was his own person and never relied on the brainwashing tactics of religion, the church or clergy. He was independent , an atheist like myself, Jesus and I and the Father are one. In the day that you can say that, you will be free and ONLY KNOWLEDGE can set you free, BELIEF NEVER CAN!
From Jesus the hero with the compassion and common sense of an atheist, may peace rest upon the one in whose hands this letter now rests. Be still and receive a calmness of the spirit within, the one Jesus called Father( Self Witness, Conscience, Learned Memory Guide) The Father sees everything you do in secret, why? because he resides within you; it is the essence of your sanity and well being.
I am free, free from religious insanity and hope you search for and find the same freedom .
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February 11, 2013 at 7:28 pm
Jason your posts are ever thought provoking ( as in sensible thoughts -unlike some ). Anyway I would only take issue with the “truth” you learned that the Church of Rome supposedly does not teach that its mass is not a believed repetition of Christs death. This is purely a sementics game that is played by Rome on many points of its doctrine wherever there is a strong Protestant presence. The proper & full historic name for the ritual /ceremony is “The sacrifice of the mass”. Additionally Rome openly detests the concept of The Lords Supper being a “memorial”.If you go to Mexico or come here to the Philippines you will see there is virtually no emphasis put on Christs resurrection as gauged by how unimportant Easter /Passover /Resurrection Day is seen. The emphasis is strictly on the dead Jesus -Dying over & over & over & still yet is on the cross ! No my brother your 1st impression was 100% accurate! Consider Mary . Its the same thing . Where protestants are, It is said: “We teach Mary should be venerated, but we dont teach she should be worshipped.” Yet it is commonly taught in the U S as well as in predominant Catholic nations that praying to Mary is more effective because she is closer to Jesus than we are & she will have him get the job done. She is thanked & praised for answering prayer far more than Jesus is. She is called Co -redemptrix. The current pope & John Paul 2 both both claimed their special emphasis was on Mary, etc etc -But this is all not worship -its only “veneration”??? So I submit for your consideration.
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February 12, 2013 at 8:14 am
Jason, thanks for this post. I picked this up in Mardel’s the other day and scanned through the pages but didn’t make the purchase. I think I will now though. I think this publisher has a series of topics they discuss in this format.
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