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Francis Chan turns towards a more historical and ancient view of Communion

...ing about transubstantiation, and he could just as easily be expressing the Anglican or Lutheran view of Communion, which would make him just as much, if not more, Protestant than he already is. But overall, I think he’s just experienced that first time realisation that the early church wasn’t what he thought/was taught and it’s blown his mind, and until he refines his views and reads more of the Early Church Fathers, his statements are just a bit over-simplified and fuelled by an excitable zeal. I had the exact same reaction a number of years ago when I first discovered these early writings weren’t what I was taught, and said what I didn’t expect (an...

Lent Day 33: Cyril of Jerusalem: Catechetical Lectures: Lecture XXII

...e form of transubstantiation or of the Real Presence doctrine, diametrically opposed to the view that it is purely symbolic. Cyril argues against the doubt by referencing the wedding at Cana and how Jesus turned water into wine by asking, “is it incredible that He should have turned wine into blood?” The Real Presence So then, with “full assurance” that something miraculous takes place during the Eucharist, let us partake of this most holy meal, “for in the figure of Bread is given to you His Body, and in the figure of Wine His Blood” so that we may also become the “same body and the same blood with Him”, since what we eat is then distributed...

Lent Day 36: Ambrose of Milan: Concerning the Mysteries: 5-9

...e form of transubstantiation/Real Presence in the Eucharist, but I’ll leave it to you to decide whether you can accept this, if you don’t already. I’ll instead close off with this quote from Ambrose, because whatever we believe concerning these things, we truly are sealed by the Spirit of God first, and our understanding of doctrine comes second: So that the Lord Jesus Himself, invited by such eager love and by the beauty of comeliness and grace, since now no offenses pollute the baptized, says to the Church: Place Me as a seal upon your heart, as a signet upon your arm; (Song of Songs 8:6)  ...

Melchizedek to Jesus: The Divine Thread of Bread and Wine

...This past Sunday at church, we were looking at Genesis 14 in the sermon. There’s a lot going on in this chapter with nine different kings all at war fighting one another, and Abram and Lot somehow mixed up in the middle of it (this is before Abram is renamed to Abraham). Sodom gets invaded, Lot gets taken captive (along with everyone else) and then Abram mounts a daring rescue with 318 of his men! It’s really quite action-packed for such a short chapter. I don’t know about you, but I always think of Abraham as this kindly old man, not some tribal warrior ready to go all “Taken” on his enemies (Gen 14:14–16). Abraham, probably It’s in the mids...

Lent: Day 17 - Justin Martyr: First Apology: Chaps. 60-68

...y form of transubstantiation, or the doctrine of the Real Presence here, in that he compares the Word becoming “flesh and blood for our salvation” as the reason why the bread and wine “is the flesh and blood of that Jesus who was made flesh” — something which the Mithras cult copied, apparently. Weekly worship A description follows about how Christians met together to pray and worship on a weekly basis, every Sunday. It's nice to see that some things haven't changed much in over two millennia! The reason for it being on a Sunday and not the Sabbath is because of the prevailing belief that the world was brought into being on Sunday in the very begi...

Lent: Day 10 - Ignatius to the Smyrnaeans

...or maybe transubstantiation? Either way, the heretics taught that the bread and wine were not the flesh and blood and were condemned for it, which obviously has implications on those today who hold these to be merely symbols, if there's any weight to Ignatius's words or to early doctrine. It's something to ponder on at the very least. The closing chapters are similar to the other letters: they praise the bishop and the church for their faith and for being steadfast against the heresies Ignatius condemns. Whilst the previous letters all say the same thing about listening to the bishop and to not do anything apart from him, this letter goes one further and says...