In this episode, Wyatt Graham and James Arcadi discuss the Eucharist. I hope you enjoy this conversation.
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Mark Matthias says
Thanks, Wyatt — Good work. I of course do not attribute the same impact of the Eucharist as most theologians. I determined some time ago to let the Bible speak to me and absorb its truths. I don’t see ritual the same way. For one:
1 Corinthians …24…For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night He was betrayed, took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” In the same way, after supper He took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”…Would someone living the life of John the Baptist in the desert, walking in the Spirit, need to do the Eucharist every week?
I do not read this passage the way ecclesiology would have me comprehend it. Clearly, this is an act to do in remembrance — a virtual string around the finger, even a celebration. Catholocism went so far out of the exegetical loop, they ultimately rendered themselves, cannibals; while the pope is the “Vicar”. Yet everyone has just the right amount of diplomacy.
So, my first question would likely be, regarding the separation of Spirit and flesh — If I attend a Eucharist celebration and I come walking in the Spirit, what would I gain from the occasion, other than fellowship? True believers, in contrast to those professing…without personal commitment, cf, Luke 13:26-27; walk in the Spirit, for example, John 14:17:
“…even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.” This of course is not the case with every member of a western church in view of the goal — Cf, Titus 3:5: “…He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit… 1 John 4:15:
“Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.” Period.
Those are among the reasons I have grown to highly appreciate the Universal church — the Commission — where people regularly suffer and die every single for the name of Christ.
Nevertheless, many are led to believe their ritual participation is quite enough to end up in the eternal kingdom of God. I submit that it is far easier to engage in a ritual that gives one’s whole heart to Jesus Whom he cannot see. Discernment tells me if something is not necessary for salvation it is not a command like, for example, John 13:34-35.
We have read so much into that simple ritual. I was in the system for a while then I left through illness which obviously God did, John 3:27, though I recovered and kept working…for the Lord.
Sure there are differences and nuances among different Assemblies; however, not like the difference here in Luke 9:…50…: “Master,” said John, “we saw someone driving out demons in Your name, and we tried to stop him because he does not accompany us. “Do not stop him, Jesus replied, for whoever is not against you is for you.” The differences couldn’t be as dramatic as the differences today, or He would never have endorsed them. Yet notice the hint of pride in the disciples which is magnified today far beyond then.
Thus I don’t trust mankind (which includes myself) and his findings as much as I trust the Word of God.