This is the third post in a series that will highlight five ways the contemporary evangelical church can learn from church history about spiritual formation. This post focuses on the Eucharist (a.k.a., the Lord’s Supper or communion).
Whereas the initiating sacrament of baptism and the corresponding catechesis have traditionally served as the onboarding process of new believers into the church, the Eucharist traditionally served as the ongoing sacrament.
The weekly worship of the early church centered on the Eucharist and coincided with (rather than complemented) the ministry of the word; pastors administered the word through the sacraments, not merely with them.[1] Many churches, however, have relegated the sacrament to a trivial, inconvenient tradition or even abandoned the practice altogether. From the earliest accounts we have of Sunday worship, participation in the Lord’s Supper was foundational and formative for every believer.
A Weekly Meal Becomes a Worship Ritual
It was not until sometime between the mid-second century and mid-third century that the Eucharist began to no longer include a full meal.[2] As churches grew, the sacrament of bread and wine understandably eclipsed the full meal, possibly because of logistical reasons.
References among the early church fathers to the weekly participation in the Lord’s Supper abound. One such example is the Didache (a.k.a., the “Teaching of the Twelve Apostles”), written around the turn of the first century:
“Now, concerning the Eucharist, practice it as follows. First, concerning the cup: We give thanks to you, our Father, for the holy vine of David your son, which you made known to us through Jesus your son, glory to you forever. Next, concerning the broken bread: We give thanks to you, our Father, for the life and knowledge which you made known to us through Jesus your son, glory to you forever.Just as this broken bread was being scattered over the mountains and being brought together it became one, likewise bring together your church from the ends of the earth into your kingdom, so that yours is the glory and the power through Jesus Christ forever.”[3]
The weekly sacrament had a thematic emphasis on the remembrance of Jesus AND the unity of the church. The Eucharist began to refer to the entire weekly gathering, not just the sacrament. Justin Martyr in the second century mentions the bread and wine being brought to absent members following Sunday’s worship gathering, signifying its importance to each and every member of the Christian community.[4]
The Development of Bad Traditions
The understanding of communion developed in diverse and various ways over the following centuries, but it is important to note its enduring presence in the shared life of the church.
By the Middle Ages, the sacrament had developed into a spectacle for believers in many ways. Prior to the Reformation, the Roman Catholic Church dogmatized transubstantiation (i.e., the belief that the bread and the wine literally become the body and blood of Jesus) during the Fourth Lateran Council of 1215 AD. Additionally, in some places priests only offered communion in one kind (rather than both bread and wine), and sometimes believers would merely watch the priest partake of it.[5] One must, however, recognize their reverence for Christ’s body and blood.
Some Reformers lost their lives due to their unwillingness to observe Rome’s prescriptions for the practice.[6] Most Reformers upheld the traditional belief that believers experienced a real sanctifying grace by participating in the sacrament of communion, but Zwingli viewed the sacrament as mere remembrance without any supernatural presence of God in it. Although his memorial view is still a minority view in the global church, it has become the main view in modern evangelicalism for all intents and purposes.
Restoring the Eucharist: The Gospel Center and Church Discipline
Some evangelicals today, rather than forsaking the Eucharist, repeat the error of medieval Catholicism by seeking to make the sacrament into an emotional – even magical – experience during the corporate worship gathering. One may endeavor to feel close to God or expect instantaneous peace, healing, etc. while ambient music plays in the background. These desires are not ungodly but may misunderstand (and thereby seek to manipulate) the sacrament.
It proclaims weekly the center of the faith: Christ and him crucified.
The Eucharist is not something we offer to God; it is what God has offered to us: himself, broken and given for us.
Whereas the Roman Catholic Church has traditionally denied communion to unrepentant sinners, many Protestant churches have gone to the other extreme, having no real means of discipline for their members. The sharing in the Eucharist has traditionally been the means of recognizing belonging in the body of Christ. Therefore, denial of such serves as a communal act of judgment and invitation to repentance (1 Corinthians 5:12-13).
Because today’s evangelical church has lost the historical center of corporate worship, it suffers from a lack of correction and a forgetfulness of the gospel.
The church would grow in purity and unity if it were to reorient its shared life around the Eucharist, sharing in the holy meal with each other, as well with believers in every place and all times.
[1] Christopher A. Beeley, Leading God’s People: Wisdom from the Early Church for Today (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2012) 105-108.
[2] Bradshaw, Early Christian Worship, 46.
[3] Didache 9.1-4.
[4] Justin Martyr First Apology 65.5, 67.7.
[5] Sten-Erik Armitage, “Lecture –Why the Reformation was Needed.” Dallas Theological Seminary, October 2024.
[6] Armitage, “Lecture – Radical Baptism”.