The Lack of "Is"

May I have a moment of personal privilege? The above image accurately describes my feelings every time I hear one of my brethren in Christ, in an attempt to quote Jesus words of institution at the Lord’s Supper, say “Take, eat; this represents My body” and “This cup represents the new covenant in My blood.” What I really want to do is retort loudly and emphatically, “No, He did not. He said this is, not this represents.”

Some are going to wonder what my problem is, since the majority of American evangelicalism believes that our Lord was speaking metaphorically at the Last Supper. Words have meaning. If we are quoting someone, it is incumbent that we be accurate in relating what was said: this goes more so for Scripture. While the person who is quoting what he or she believes the passage intends, it is not our place to communicate interpretation as inspired Holy Writ. Quote scripture, not opinion.

As to whether or not Jesus intended to speak figuratively in the Upper Room. Ulrich Zwingli (v Martin Luther) at Marburg and Theodore Beza (v Jakob Andreae) at Montbéliard attempted to reason that Jesus did not intend a literal uniting of His body and blood with the bread and wine. Both men were roundly dispatched. If you wish to cling to a representative view, you are free to be wrong. Just don’t dish it up and expect me to chow down.

The Word of Christ Is Spoken

1. The Word of Christ is spoken,
And angels bend to see
How hearts, once bound and broken,
Are set at liberty.
For Christ, the Lord of Glory,
Proclaims His death again;
No doubt can dim the story
That pardons all our sin.

2. With bread and wine are given
Christ’s body and His blood;
The earthly hides the heaven
As flesh encloses God;
The right hand of the Father
Is now the Holy Place
Where Christ, our God and Brother,
Bestows on sinners grace.

3. Depart each unbeliever
And those who live in sin!
Nor let a false deceiver
Dare here to enter in.
O saints, discern here Jesus,
His body and his blood,
Lest righteous judgment seize us
For not believing God.

4. Blest is the hungry spirit,
Who has no good to give,
But clings to Jesus’ merit –
By faith this soul shall live;
The Lord will not deceive him,
As sin and Satan do,
Nor will his Savior leave him,
Whose Word cries out, “for you!”

5. And kneeling at the altar,
United we shall be,
Though we are weak, and falter,
Strong is our unity.
For Jesus’ precious preaching
Dispels the devil’s pow’r.
He won’t allow false teaching
To ever win the hour.

6. So we with gladness enter,
And we with gladness leave;
Christ’s cross is at the center
Of all that we believe.
This sacrament will give us
Abundant joy and peace
Till angels will receive us
In Heaven’s Holy Place.

Rev. Mark Preus, Christian Culture

Coming Unworthily

Therefore such people must learn that it is the highest art to know that our Sacrament does not depend upon our worthiness. For we are not baptized because we are worthy and holy, nor do we go to confession because we are pure and without sin, but the contrary, because we are poor miserable men, and just because we are unworthy; unless it is someone who desires no grace and absolution nor intends to reform.

But whoever would gladly obtain grace and consolation should impel himself, and allow no one to frighten him away, but say: I, indeed, would like to be worthy; but I come, not upon any worthiness, but upon Your Word, because You have commanded it, as one who would gladly be Your disciple, no matter what becomes of my worthiness.

Large Catechism, V.61–62

Blood and Body, Sprinkling and Washing

I recently heard a good message on Hebrews 10:19–25, and it spurred thoughts on blood, body, and water as they apply to the Christian life.

Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God,… (Heb 10:19–21)

Notice that Jesus provided two things that give access. The first was His precious blood as of a lamb without blemish and without spot by which we were redeemed (see 1 Pet 1:19). He completed the sin offering necessary on the Day of Atonement wherein the high priest entered the Holy of Holies to make atonement for the Holy Place (Lev 16:16) and to carry away the transgressions and sins of His chosen people (Lev 16:21). Second, instead of a heavy veil or curtain preventing us from God’s very presence, we have a new and living way in Jesus’ flesh that parallels entrance by His blood, so that what had been accomplished some 2000 years ago continues unabated, allowing us priestly access as we take the Lord’s Supper “which is the medicine of immortality, and the antidote to prevent us from dying, but that we should live forever in Jesus Christ” (Ignatius of Antioch, To the Ephesians 20).

… let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. (Heb 10:22)

Because of what our Lord Jesus accomplished, the writer encouraged his audience to draw near, to complete the full function of their priesthood. Notice the application of sprinkling and washing. These are taken from the consecration ritual for the priests, further connecting us to our new office and duty. Before the priest could properly enter into his role, he needed to be prepared by the Lord. This included washing with water (Lev 8:6) and the sprinkling of blood mixed with anointing oil (Lev 8:30). These both point to the work of the Holy Spirit. In baptism, we receive “the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit” (Tit 3:5), thus fulfilling what God had promised:

I shall sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be cleansed from all your uncleanness, and I will also cleanse you from all your idols. I shall give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. I shall take the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I shall put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My requirements, and you will keep My judgments and do them. (Ezek 36:25–27)

By virtue of God’s consecrating and purifying work, we have both a right and duty to continually come before Him and live out our priesthood. How?

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering.
Let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works (Heb 10:23–24)

We have been qualified as a royal and holy priesthood (1 Pet 2:5, 9). Let us go on as those who serve in the face of the living God.

Eat Me, Drink Me

There seemed to be no use in waiting by the little door, so she went back to the table, half hoping she might find another key on it, or at any rate a book of rules for shutting people up like telescopes: this time she found a little bottle on it, (‘which certainly was not here before,’ said Alice,) and round the neck of the bottle was a paper label, with the words ‘DRINK ME’ beautifully printed on it in large letters.

It was all very well to say ‘Drink me,’ but the wise little Alice was not going to do that in a hurry.… However, this bottle was not marked ‘poison,’ so Alice ventured to taste it, and finding it very nice, (it had, in fact, a sort of mixed flavor of cherry-tart, custard, pineapple, roast turkey, toffee, and hot buttered toast,) she very soon finished it off.…

Soon her eye fell on a little glass box that was lying under the table: she opened it, and found in it a very small cake, on which the words ‘EAT ME’ were beautifully marked in currants. ‘Well, I’ll eat it,’ said Alice, ‘and if it makes me grow larger, I can reach the key; and if it makes me grow smaller, I can creep under the door; so either way I'll get into the garden, and I don't care which happens!’…

So she set to work, and very soon finished off the cake.

---

If you are familiar with the above from Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, then you know Alice’s dilemma of being not quite the appropriate size for a doorway. A change is needed, and the only appropriate catalyst is something to consume, which she takes willingly because of the delicious taste. Alas, for poor Alice, matters go awry and her state after drinking and eating is worse than before. A similar end comes to Edmund Pevensie immediately after eating Turkish Delight in C. S. Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, though while Alice partook out of need, Edmund did so from selfishness and became enslaved. We can see from these literary examples, and also from common sense, that what we feed on has a direct influence on our outcome: healthy eating leads to soundness; unhealthy eating leads to corruption.

Where do we go for healthy eating? What is proper to consume? Probably one of the best things to take in is wisdom, of which the following provided the catalyst for this post:

Come to me, you who desire me,
And take your fill of my fruits.
For the remembrance of me is sweeter than honey,
And my inheritance is sweeter than the honeycomb.
Those who eat me will hunger for more,
And those who drink me will thirst for more.
He who obeys me will not be put to shame,
And those who work with me will not sin.

Sirach 24:19–22

Wisdom calls out and promises that not only will it be pleasing but will continually build desire to feed at that table ever more. Wisdom literature and the prophets also uses this same motif of the call to dine:

Proverbs 9:1–5	Isaiah 55:1
Wisdom has built her house, She has hewn out her seven pillars; She has slaughtered her meat, She has mixed her wine, She has also furnished her table. She has sent out her maidens, She cries out from the highest places of the city, “Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!” As for him who lacks understanding, she says to him, “Come, eat of my bread And drink of the wine I have mixed.”	Ho! Everyone who thirsts, Come to the waters; And you who have no money, Come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk Without money and without price.

With the invitation to eat and drink made, we return to the question of source. Where do we find wisdom that we may take that in? The initial offer tells us from where we should never partake. The serpent, in tempting the woman, described the effect of eating as being like God, able to know or distinguish good and evil (Ge 3:5), which the woman correctly understood as “desirable to make one wise” (Ge 3:6); however, this was not the way God had intended wisdom to be learned. By eating from the wrong source, they chose poorly. Better would have been to abide in the Divine presence and commune with Him.

God continued to reach out to His creation, offering times of communion with Himself. One of these came on Mount Sinai after the people of Israel had come out of Egypt.

Then Moses went up, also Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and they saw the God of Israel. And there was under His feet as it were a paved work of sapphire stone, and it was like the very heavens in its clarity. But on the nobles of the children of Israel He did not lay His hand. So they saw God, and they ate and drank. (Ex 24:9–11)

Here we find the beginning of a recurring theme found within the Mosaic Covenant: God communes with His people and they with each other. On an individual level, this can be seen in the Peace Offering wherein God, priest, and offerer share together in the sacrifice. The individual was welcome into fellowship with God because of the peace between them. On a corporate level, as part of their calendar, Israel was required to come together for three yearly feasts: Unleavened Bread, Firstfruits (or Harvest), and Tabernacles (or Ingathering) (Ex 23:14–16; Le 23:4–14, 33–43). These feasts brought the people of God together in systematic fashion to instill in them the need for fellowship beyond the family or tribal unit. All the elect are equally welcome participants as one family.

As important as the times of communion would become, there needed to be an established basis for that communion. Not long after being baptized with Moses in the Red Sea crossing (Ex 14:26–31; cf. 1 Cor 10:1–2), the people became hungry and thirsty being forced to rely on God’s daily provision of manna (Ex 16:14–16) and water (Ex 17:1–7). This reliance would serve as a picture of needed daily spiritual intake from Him enabled by regularly teaching future generations the Lord’s commands (De 6:1–9). It would be this regular feeding on and drinking in the good Word of God that would feed their souls and provide wisdom and nourishment characteristic of a holy people. Not that this endeavor would bring the follower into a right or better relation with his Lord, but because he has believed what has been graciously promised, so the commands are not bitter, but because they are “more to be desired than gold” and “sweeter than honey and the honeycomb” (Ps 19:10).

Feasting continues as a theme in the New Testament but takes an interesting turn when, in a reference to the manna, Jesus taught that He was the bread of life, which would sate the desire man needed if one believed (John 6:33, 35, 48). Indeed, He seemed to ramp up the challenge of those listening to pronounce the seemingly impossible:

“I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.”… Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me.” (John 6:51–57)

The net effect of this revelation was that all but the twelve turned away from following Him, yet this was, and continues to be, the very thing needed by all. As the true bread of life having come down, Jesus delivers to us what we need for true life—a spiritual eating and drinking through His Word. This would later be made most graphically as Jesus, on the night before He was crucified, took bread and wine and said this is My body, this is My blood. All that He taught and accomplished on earth was coming to its expected conclusion. In a most vivid fashion, He emphatically proclaims that He, in His fullness, is with the bread and cup coming to us as we partake and are built up in Him. Paul later elaborates on this when he teaches:

The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we, though many, are one bread and one body; for we all partake of that one bread.  (1 Co 10:16–17)

As the visible elements are in communion with the body and blood, we have unity when we partake of the same, since Jesus Himself is being received.

Unlike Alice, who needed something to eat or drink to make herself appropriate for the topsy-turvy, nonsense Wonderland, we live in a nonsense world but look for a city whose builder and maker is God. We need the true food and true drink satisfying our spiritual hunger and thirst, and that brings “a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life” (John 4:14). It is this eating and drinking that the Christian turns to and continues in to grow in Christ.

Unworthy Worthiness

Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord.  Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup.  (1 Cor 11:27-28)

I have known many Christians who have refrained from the Lord’s Supper because they felt they were not in the right place relationally with the Lord to partake.  If pressed for a reason, they would give vague answers about some recent sin (though it was confessed) or a general malaise about their spiritual condition (not sufficiently attentive to the disciplines, for instance).  In a word, they felt unworthy before the Lord and did not want to eat and drink judgment on themselves.

While such thinking has good intentions, taken to its logical conclusion, nobody should participate, because none are worthy.  Every believer works through the ebb and flow of the old nature as it works in us.  The apostle Paul did not recount the conflict between the law of God and law of sin (Rom 7:21-23) because he was the ultimate overcomer—just the opposite.  The fight is real for all who are alive to God.  And we fail.  If we are all unworthy, how can we come to the meal, which must be eaten worthily?

Look at the situation in Corinth when the epistle was written.  As the body of Christ assembled together, there was division, hunger, drunkenness, and general chaos.  They considered themselves worthy to come together.  The consequence of this attitude was that each person and group served himself rather than allowing the Lord to serve them through His gifts.  Paul pointed out that their attitude garnered God’s judgment and discipline.  The solution came in understanding through examination that they were unworthy in themselves but were made worthy solely by righteousness freely imputed to us through our Lord Jesus.  He has called us into His body to His glory: we add nothing.

Such a paradox—only the unworthy are worthy—but that is the way of our great God, who chooses the foolish, weak, and lowly things of this world

so that no flesh might boast in the presence of God.  And because of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”  (1 Cor 1:29-31)

Torn Lions Yield Sweet Nourishment

From the opening of Judges 13, we see that Samson was unique.  He was born to a barren woman.  From the beginning, his life's purpose was announced, and he was set apart, being placed under the Nazirite vow his entire life.  Even his mother was placed under the vow until his birth.  In addition, we learn later that he was empowered to complete his task through divinely-given physical strength.  The only problem is that Samson had a disregard for God's Word.  For instance, in Judges 14:2-3 we read:

Samson went down to Timnah, and at Timnah he saw one of the daughters of the Philistines.  Then he came up and told his father and mother, “I saw one of the daughters of the Philistines at Timnah.  Now get her for me as my wife.”  But his father and mother said to him, “Is there not a woman among the daughters of your relatives, or among all our people, that you must go to take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?”  But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me, for she is right in my eyes.”

Samson's parents were right to steer him to take a wife from his own people.  The expectation of every Israelite was to marry from within the nation.  Besides this, Philistines were under judgment to be annihilated from the land.  But Samson would have none of it: he lusted after the foreign woman.  In his pursuit of her, Samson was attacked by a lion; and he was strengthened and ripped it to pieces.  When the job was done, he continued in his intentions.  One cannot help but wonder if God put the lion in Samson's way to warn him of his actions.

After some days, Samson went again to take the woman in marriage, and he came upon the lion carcass being used by bees as a hive.  He scraped out honey to eat (Nazirites were forbidden to touch the dead) and then gave some to his parents.  At the beginning of the marriage feast, Samson proposed a wager and riddle from his encounter with the lion and honey:

Out of the eater came something to eat.
Out of the strong came something sweet.  (Judges 14:14)

After days of his fiancée's nagging, Samson gave up the answer:

What is sweeter than honey?
What is stronger than a lion? (Judges 14:18).

If we look closely at Samson, we see that he is a picture of the nation of Israel.  It had a divine beginning, was set aside solely to God, and had a stated purpose.  The people were divinely strengthened to perform the tasks before them.  But also like Samson, the nation had a disregard for God's Word.  Time and again, the Law was left by the wayside in favor of other ideas and practices.  God continually sent prophets to warn the people, which were dealt with much like Samson's lion, yet what they left was nourishing and good for the soul.

The greatest prophet to come to Israel was the Lion of the tribe of Judah.  As with those who had come previously with words of warning and judgment, the nation turned on Jesus and figuratively tore Him to pieces.  Yet from His death came the sweetest and most satisfying of all nourishment:

Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.  For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.  Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.  (John 6:54-56)

Or in other words: take, eat, this is my body; take, drink, this is my blood.

Your sins, though great, are now forgiven.

Lord's Supper Demonstrates the Past, Present, and Future of Christ's Redemptive Work

The eucharistic prayer was a condensed form of the biblical story before creeds found a secure place in the order of service.  The eucharistic meal needs to be set in the context of the whole story of creation, redemption, and sanctification by the will of the Father, through the work of the Son, realized in the community created by the Holy Spirit.  For this meal focuses on bread and wine drawn from the gifts of creation; it regards the eating of the bread and the sharing of the cup as signs proclaiming the Lord Jesus’ death until he comes; and it anticipates the heavenly banquet by virtue of the coming again of the Lord in his body and blood.  Any coming of the Crucified and Risen One brings judgment and vindication, and therefore the community must be prepared to eat and drink together in the Lord’s presence in a worthy manner—reconciled with the Lord and with each other (see 1 Cor. 11:27-32).…

The church is an assembly “called out” of the world in order to enact in the midst of “this world” “the life of the world to come.” It does so by celebrating the eucharist as an eschatalogical event (the Lord’s Supper) by virtue of the presence of the Crucified and Risen One who reigns as Lord and comes again as judge.  It does so on the day on the day of resurrection (the Lord’s Day) in order to express the tension between the time of “this world” and the “fullness of time” in the eschatalogical presence of Christ and his kingdom.  The church gathers around the Lord’s table not so much because its individual members need the benefits of the gift of communion, but because the church itself—convened by the word—is constituted as the Lord’s people in the Lord’s Supper, and is sent from the meal into the world in the abiding presence of Christ through his Spirit to proclaim the gospel to the whole of creation (Mark 16:15-16) and all the nations (Matt. 28:16-20).

Frank Senn, Christian Liturgy, 702-703

Lord's Supper: Continual Assurance that Redemption Is Mine

The price of our redemption is the body of Christ which is given for us and his blood which is shed for us.  Among Christians no one doubts that by this giving of Christ's body and shedding of his blood the wrath of the Father has been satisfied and eternal redemption gained.  But the question is, to whom does this promise pertain and who are the receivers of this benefit of Christ?  To be sure, the teaching of the Gospel in general pronounces that everyone who believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  But anxious and fearful minds, when they consider their sins, their unworthiness, their weaknesses, and their temptations, become so terrified and disturbed that dangerous doubts arise concerning the individual application, that is, whether I myself have with sufficient certainty grasped the benefits of Christ and so faithfully cling to them that my conscience can stand before the judgment of God.  For this reason Christ in his Supper willed to confirm and seal to his disciples the demonstration and application of the promise of the Gospel with a certain and firm guarantee, so that in the face of all temptations faith can stand strongly and firmly in the assurance that it is a participant in Christ and all his benefits unto salvation.

Martin Chemnitz, The Lord's Supper

Rejoicing in the Promise of Forgiveness

Baptism and the Lord's Supper are signs that continually admonish, cheer, and encourage despairing minds to believe the more firmly that their sins are forgiven.  So the same promise is written and portrayed in good works, in order that these works may admonish us to believe the more firmly.  Those who produce no good works do not encourage themselves to believe, but despise these promises.  The godly on the other hand, embrace them, and rejoice that they have the signs and testimonies of so great a promise.  Accordingly, they exercise themselves in these signs and testimonies.

Apology of the Augsburg Confession, Article V: Of Love and Fulfilling of the Law, 155

Keeping the Lord's Supper Should Be Our Delight

And we have, in the first place, the clear text in the very words of Christ: "Do this in remembrance of Me."  These are bidding and commanding words by which all who would be Christians are enjoined to partake of this Sacrament.  Therefore, whoever would be a disciple of Christ, with whom He here speaks, must also consider and observe this, not from compulsion, as being forced by men, but in obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ, and to please Him.

. . .

In the second place, there is besides this command also a promise, as we heard above, which ought most strongly to incite and encourage us.  For here stand the kind and precious words: "This is My body, given for you.  This is My blood, shed for you, for the remission of sins."  These words, I have said, are not preached to wood and stone, but to me and you; else He might just as well be silent and not institute a Sacrament.  Therefore consider, and put yourself into this you, that He may not speak to you in vain.

For here He offers to us the entire treasure which He has brought for us from heaven, and to which He invites us also in other places with the greatest kindness, as when He says in Matthew 11:28: "Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."  Now it is surely a sin and a shame that He so cordially and faithfully summons and exhorts us to our highest and greatest good, and we act so distantly with regard to it, and permit so long a time to pass [without partaking] that we grow quite cold and hardened, so that we have no inclination or love for it.  We must never regard the Sacrament as something injurious from which we had better flee, but as a pure, wholesome, comforting remedy imparting salvation and comfort, which will cure you and give you life both in soul and body. For where the soul has recovered, the body also is relieved.  Why, then, is it that we act as if it were a poison, the eating of which would bring death?

Martin Luther, Large Catechism: Sacrament of the Altar, 45, 64-68

Luther on Examining Ourselves for Communion

My thanks to Scott Diekmann at Stand Firm for this content.  What he posted from Martin Luther (as found in Logia, Vol I, No, 1) was too good not to share.

To examine one’s self means to consider well in what condition we are.  If we find that our hearts are hardened, that we are not willing to refrain from sin, and that we do not fear its presence, then we may well conclude that we should not go to the Sacrament; for we are then no Christians.  The best thing we could do, under such circumstances, would be to put a stop to such wickedness, to repent, to trust faithfully in the promises and mercy of God, and to unite again with Christians in the participation of the Holy Sacrament.  If, however, we are unwilling to do this, we ought not to approach the Lord’s Table; for we would surely eat and drink damnation there.  Let us carefully meditate upon what eternity has in store for us, if we thus fall under the judgment of God.  If we are mindful of this, we will not be slow to repent, to put aside anger and other kinds of wickedness, and to make our peace with God in His Holy Supper.  Again, if our hearts are contrite, if we confess our sins before God and are heartily sorry on account of them, if we believe that God in mercy, for Christ’s sake, will pardon us, then we are well prepared and can confidently say to the Savior: “O Lord, we are poor sinners, and therefore come to Your table to receive consolation.”  If we approach the Sacrament in such a spirit, we shall be truly ready and receive the richest blessings.  In behalf of such contrite and sorrowing souls the Lord’s Table was prepared, so that they might find there consolation and joy.

Eucharistic Theology in Ignatius of Antioch

While recently reading Ignatius concerning the Trinity (parts one, two, and three), I noticed sentences and phrases that referred in some measure to the Eucharist.  Below are a few thoughts concerning Ignatius' view, and how he interweaves this theme through a few of his epistles.

Unity – Ignatius was concerned for the unity of believers, so it comes as no surprise that he relates that breaking bread is a sign of unity (Ephesians, 20; Philadelphians 4) and pure doctrine (Trallians, 6-7).  Those not partaking are deprived of that unity with the church as subjects of discipline (Ephesians, 5).  Heretics apparently refused orthodox practice and abstained from the Eucharist (Smyrnaeans, 7) which all believers were instructed to do by Jesus and Paul.  The presence of a separate Eucharist was considered schismatic as a probably sign of heresy (Philadelphians, 2-3).  As a result the believers were encouraged to keep one that was properly sanctioned and administered (Philadelphians, 4; Smyrnaeans, 8).

Means of Grace – Ignatius relates a function in the Eucharistic beyond a memorial meal.  This is evidenced by a definite connection between the body and blood of Christ to the bread and cup in the following:

•	For there is one flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ, and one cup into the unity of His blood (Philadelphians, 4)
•	[Heretics] confess not the Eucharist to be the flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ, which suffered for our sins, and which the Father, of His goodness, raised up again. (Smyrnaeans, 7)

In addition he bestows the union of bread with Christ's body as “the medicine of immortality, and the antidote which prevents us from dying, but a cleansing remedy driving away evil” (Ephesians, 20) giving clear testimony to a salvific effect.

Final Hope – Lastly, Ignatius' desire is to put away the symbols and passing of this world to “come to the Father” and partake of Christ as “the heavenly bread, the bread of life, which is the flesh of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who became afterwards of the seed of David and Abraham; and . . . the drink of God, namely His blood, which is incorruptible love and eternal life” (Romans, 7).

I am not completely certain what to make of this for two reasons.  First, Ignatius was a colorful writer using ornate word pictures to communicate many of his thoughts.  This is especially seen in his use of musical themes for explaining his thoughts on church unity.  It may be that he used the same rhetorical device in associating a real presence and salvific work to the bread and cup though the language seems to be clear enough.  Second, while a real presence of Christ in the elements is possible (per Chemnitz' The Two Natures in Christ), I still question the actuality based on my understanding of the biblical evidence.

Sola Scriptura must be the governing norm, but epistles written in so close proximity both in time and distance deserve due weight.  That said, I need to revisit this and come to a more firm conclusion.