2011 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Syndey Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 20,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 7 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

Updated page on Justification

Finally I got time to update my page on Justification. I added more items to compare between Catholic and Reformer teaching on Justification and more references. You can access it at the top page or through clicking this link:
Justification – Contrasting Catholic and Protestant’ Position
Feedback/correction/comments are welcome!

the Eucharist – eating the flesh of Christ and drinking His blood

Catholic teaching on Eucharist is certainly one of the toughest for non-Catholics to understand.  Not surprisingly it is also one of the mostly attacked and caricatured.  The following clauses of the Catechism of the Catholic Church summarize the teachings of the Catholic Church on the Eucharist (underlined emphasis is added):

At the Last Supper, on the night he was betrayed, our Saviour instituted the Eucharist sacrifice of his Body and Blood.  This he did in order to perpetuate the sacrifice of the cross throughout the ages until he should come again, and so to entrust to his beloved Spouse, the Church, a memorial of his death and resurrection: a sacrament of love, a sign of unity, a bond of charity, a Paschal [Passover] banquet “in which Christ is consumed, the mind is filled with grace, and a pledge of future glory is given to us.

Catechism of the Catholic Church # 1323

At the heart of the Eucharistic celebration are the bread and wine that, by the words of Christ and the invocation of the Holy Spirit, become Christ’s Body and Blood.

Catechism of the Catholic Church # 1333

Thus Catholics do believe that (1) the bread and wine at the consecration truly becomes the Body and Blood of Christ, which the faithful consume and (2) Eucharistic celebration (or the Mass) is not just a memorial of his death and resurrection but also the same sacrifice Christ offered on the cross made present.  Both of them certainly scandalize or at least puzzle non Catholics and maybe even some Catholics.

We look first at the first one. Catholic belief that we literally consume the Body and Blood of Christ is indeed a hard teaching – it is not something new or only started during Reformation.  Almost two thousand years ago Christ disciples who heard it directly from Him said so (John 6:60) and then left Him (John 6:66).

So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you; he who 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.

John 6:53-56 (RSV, underlined emphasis added)

Most, if not all Protestants usually argue that Christ spoke metaphorically – His words are not to be taken literally, after all Christ also claimed He is the Way (John 14:6), the light of the world (John 8:12), the true vine (John 15:1) etc.  But did Christ always speak metaphorically? Looking at the above quoted verses there is Greek word “alethos” translated into English as “indeed” (in RSV and KJV).  According to Strong concordance (# 230) it means: truly, of a truth, in reality, most certainly.  This word appears in a number of verses in (Greek) New Testament, translated as “of a truth”, “certainly”, “surely”, “indeed”, “really”, “truly” (Matthew 14:33, 26:73, 27:54; Mark 14:70, 15:39; Luke 9:27, 12:44; John 1:47, 4:42, 6:14, 7:40, 8:31; Acts 12:11; 1 Thessalonians 2:13; 1 John 2:5) and it never refers to something non-real, untrue or symbolic.  Food and drink is something to be consumed – thus when Christ said that his flesh is food indeed and his blood is drink indeed (John 6:55), He meant we are to consume His Flesh and Blood.  Some may use John 6:63 where Christ said (RSV), the flesh is of no avail, to deny Catholic belief. But here Christ did not say “my flesh is of no avail” – in other words He did not talk about His Flesh. The Greek word translated as flesh is sarx, which may mean flesh of human and animal or body or human nature.  Compare with Matthew 26:41 where Christ told His disciples that the spirit is willing but (their) flesh (Greek sarx) is weak.  Keep in mind that in John 6:63 Christ also said: “It is the spirit that gives life” and “the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life”.

Scripture also refers Christ as the Passover Lamb (1 Corinthians 5:7).  He is the Lamb of God, without blemish (1 Peter 1:19), who takes the sins of the world (John 1:29).  Jewish Passover begins on fifteenth day of Nissan (the first month of Jewish calendar) and according to Scripture (Exodus 12:1-9) they choose un-blemish lamb (or goat) on the tenth day which they kill and consume on fourteenth day of Nissan.  Note that they (Jews) do not offer the lamb as burnt offering but must consume the lamb (Exodus 12:8), only what remains on the next day must be burnt.  This lamb of Old Testament prefigures Christ, the Passover Lamb of New Testament (1 Corinthian 5:7).  According to the fourth  Gospel  He was crucified (sacrificed) on fourteenth day of Nissan (John 18:28). On the other hand the first three (synoptic) Gospels refer the Last Supper as Passover meal (Matthew 26:17-18, Mark 14:12-14 and Luke 22:8-11) and He was crucified on the next day, i.e. on fifteenth day of Nissan. The Gospel according to John does not mention the Last Supper – we know Christ and His disciples had it (John 13:1-2), but it would be on thirteenth day of Nissan, which means it was not Passover meal.  The Last Supper of the first three Gospels, which was Passover meal, does not mention any lamb because Christ Himself is the Lamb.  Just like the lamb of the Old Covenant we have to consume Him literally, not symbolically.  Does this mean Catholics are allowed to partake the Eucharist only on fourteenth or fifteenth day of Nissan?  Does the different date of crucifixion (with respect to Jewish calendar) pose a problem?  To be Passover Lamb of New Testament Christ had to be crucified on fourteenth day of Nissan as according to the fourth Gospel. The Last Supper, being a Passover meal, must fall on the same day (as according to Matthew, Mark and Luke) – but how can Christ be the Passover Lamb when He was not yet crucified? The following paragraph will give the answer.

Now we look at the second Catholic belief that in every Mass the same sacrifice of Christ on the cross is made present.  It is not repeating or re-sacrificing of Christ – His sacrifice on the cross is once for all (Hebrews 9:12, 26).  But this would not satisfy those who are against this belief – we need more explanation from Scripture.  We know that Christ sacrifice on the cross took place in c. 30 AD but, interestingly, Scripture says (Revelation 13:8) that the Lamb was slain from the foundation of the world, i.e. from the time of creation, not on fourteenth or fifteenth day of Nissan in c. 30 AD.  In addition the Greek word translated into “slain” is esphagmenou – it is the passive form in perfect tense of Greek verb sphazo (to slay). Unlike the English perfect tense, the Greek perfect tense indicates continuation and present state of a completed past action – in this case it was completed at foundation of the world, though in human time His sacrifice appeared to take place almost two thousand years ago. he has appeared once for all at the end of age to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself” (Hebrews 9:26). This explains why Christ was the Passover Lamb of the Last Supper (of the first three Gospels) even though He was not yet crucified.  Also whether He was crucified on fourteenth or fifteenth day of Nissan makes no difference.  For the same reason Catholics believe the same and single sacrifice Christ made on the cross can be made present in every Eucharistic celebration (or Mass).    Christ is the Passover Lamb of New Testament and partaking the Eucharist is participating in Passover meal of the Last Supper. Thus Catechism of the Catholic Church # 1323 also refers Eucharist as Paschal (Passover) banquet.  Some might argue that the phrase “foundation of the world” in Revelation 13:8 is to be applied to those who names not written in the book of life. However Hebrews 9:24-26 says that if Christ did not offer Himself in heavenly sanctuary then He, like Old Testament High Priest, must do it repeatedly, interestingly, not from the year He was crucified, but from the foundation of the world.

Closely related to sacrificial nature of the Eucharist is the Catholic Ministerial Priesthood – through whom the Eucharistic sacrifice is made present.  We cannot find such priesthood in any Protestant or post-Reformation churches.  Catholics believe ministerial priesthood is New Testament Levitical priesthood.  Protestants usually say that Levitical priesthood was abolished with the coming of Christ, our High Priest. Yet Scripture says that Levitical priesthood will continue offering sacrifice forever (Jeremiah 33:17-22) and God will take some as priests and levites from all the nations (Isaiah 66:21), i.e priests no longer have to be Jewish and descendants of Aaron.  Levitical priesthood of Judaism still exists today – male Jews with the surname Cohen (or Cohn, Coen, Katz, Kant and other variants) are priests and they were born priests (Hebrew word for priest is kohen).  However after the destruction of Jerusalem Temple in c . 70 AD sacrificial system of Judaism came to an end, i.e. their priests no longer offer sacrifice, not even on Atonement Day (Yom Kippur) and on fourteenth day of Nissan.  Yom Kippur is the only day of  Jewish calendar year when the High Priest can enter the Holy of Holies of the Sanctuary (housed in Jerusalem Temple) to offer blood atonement through-out generations (Exodus 30:10) – yet they have stopped doing it for almost two thousand years. Christ, the New Testament High Priest of the order Melchizedek, offers Himself as atonement in heaven, not in man-made sanctuary (Hebrews 9:24).  Because of this He needs to do it only once for all, at the end of age, not every year like High Priest of Old Testament (Hebrews 9:26).  The atonement through-out generations stated in Exodus 30:10 is fulfilled in every Holy Mass, where His sacrifice is made present through the ministry of priests.  When Christ instituted the Eucharist in the Last Supper He also consecrated His disciples to be His priests.  They in turn ordained the bishops as their successors and so on.  The ministerial priesthood was later extended to include presbyters (from which we get the English word priests).  For more detail of New Testament priesthood my readers can read my earlier posts on this topic at:

Priesthood of the Old and New Covenants

and

The Year of the priests

On Jude citation from 1 Enoch

It was of these also that Enoch in the seventh generation from Adam prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord came with his holy myriads, to execute judgment on all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness which they have committed in such ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.”

Jude 14-15 (RSV)

We cannot find the source of this citation from either Catholic or Protestant’s Old Testament because it came from 1 Enoch 1:9, a book which Catholics consider as Apocrypha (as Pseudepigrapha to Protestants).  This is not the only place where Jude cited from outside the Old Testament – Jude 9 cited from Ascension of Moses, according to Origen [1].  Many would argue that 1 Enoch 1:9 is not cited as Scripture because in New Testament we have also citation from Greek poets (Acts 17:28) and Greek prophet (Titus 1:12).  However citations from Greek works are obviously non-scriptural but 1 Enoch was a Jewish work and Jude 14-15 cites it in the same way Matthew 15:7-9 cite Isaiah 29:13 (of Septuagint/LXX).   Why would Jude cite from 1 Enoch?  The first Christians and the Jews of the first century AD did not have closed canon yet, not even in the next few centuries [2].  1 Enoch was one book that had scriptural status in that time.  Thus among manuscript of the Dead Sea Scrolls we have 20 copies of 1 Enoch – it outnumbered most books of the Old Testament but Psalms (40 copies), Isaiah (21 copies) and Genesis (20 copies) [3].  Other than 1 Enoch we also have the book of Jubilees (15 copies), Tobit (5 copies), Sirach (3 copies) and one copy of Letter of Jeremiah (Baruch Chapter 6 in Catholic Bible) and one copy each of Psalms 151, 154 and 155. Like Jude the early Christians also cited Enoch as Scripture (English translation from Anti Nicene Fathers, Vol. 1, available on-line at www.ccel.org ):

For the Scripture saith, “And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the Lord will deliver up the sheep of His pasture, and their sheep-fold and tower, to destruction.” [1 Enoch 89:56,66]

Barnabas 16

Enoch, too, pleasing God, without circumcision, discharged the office of God’s legate to the angels although he was a man, and was translated, and is preserved until now as a witness of the just judgment of God, because the angels when they had transgressed fell to the earth for judgment, but the man who pleased [God] was translated for salvation. [1 Enoch 12:4-5, 13:4-7 and 15:2]

Irenæus, Against Heresies 4.16.2

1 Enoch continued enjoying scriptural status until third century AD.  While he was aware that some doubted its authority Tertullian (c .160 to 230), bishop of Carthage defended it because it preaches Christ and was cited in Jude (On the Apparel of Women 1.3, ).  On the other hand Origen both cited (de Principiis 1.3.3 and 4.35) and rejected it (Against Celsus 5:54).  In fourth century Jerome called it apocryphal in Homily 45 on Psalms 132(133).  Augustine in City of God 15:23 and 18:38 wrote that Enoch left some divine writings quoted in Jude but stated 1 Enoch had no canonical authority.  We could only speculate why 1 Enoch was gradually rejected – one theory says it was rejected because it has apocalyptic nature [4] – but so is the book of Daniel. Today only the Ethiopian Orthodox Church has 1 Enoch (and the book of Jubilee) in their Bible.

1. The work is now lost – it is not to be confused with Testament of Moses, of which few fragments survive. Below is what Origen wrote (English translation is from Anti Nicene Fathers, Vol. 3.):We have now to notice, agreeably to the statements of Scripture, how the opposing powers, or the devil himself, contends with the human race, inciting and instigating men to sin. And in the first place, in the book of Genesis, the serpent is described as having seduced Eve; regarding whom, in the work entitled The Ascension of Moses (a little treatise, of which the Apostle Jude makes mention in his Epistle), the archangel Michael, when disputing with the devil regarding the body of Moses, says that the serpent, being inspired by the devil, was the cause of Adam and Eve’s transgression.

   Origen, de Principiis 3:2

   Origen (c. 185 to 251 AD) was teachers and prolific authors who wrote commentaries of almost every book of the Bible, homilies as well as other books.

2. http://vivacatholic.wordpress.com/2010/05/08/exploring-the-origins-of-the-bible/http://vivacatholic.wordpress.com/2007/07/27/the-old-testament-of-the-first-two-centuries-christians/
3. Craig A. Evans: Holman QuickSource Guide to the Dead Sea Scrolls
4. My sense is that Professor Hultin is right in noting that the apocalyptic nature of 1 Enoch was instrumental in its rejection. Apocalyptic literature is helpful and reassuring to people in distress, especially in their being oppressed by the authorities. But as Christianity became more and more part of the main stream and as it experienced less oppression, the role of apocalyptic literature lessened and its helpfulness declined.

   Leslie W. Walck: Response to Jeremy Hultin’s “Jude’s Citation of 1 Enoch”

   Jewish and Christian Scriptures: The Function of “Canonical” and “Non-Canonical” Religious Texts, pages 129-130