In Roman Catholic theology, the Eucharist is the Real Presence of God, Jesus Christ, body and blood, under the appearance of bread and wine. 1
This sacrament is known also as Holy Communion, the Lord’s Supper, and the Blessed Sacrament. How did the Lord’s Supper, which began as a memorial meal signifying Christ’s sacrificial death for our sins, become what it is today in Roman Catholic Church (RCC) theology?
Christ inaugurated this memorial at the Last Supper, which was a Passover Seder meal, with these recorded words.
And when He had taken some bread and given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” 20 And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood. Luke 22:19–20 (NASB95) —
The Old Covenant Passover meal commemorated God’s deliverance of Israel from slavery in Egypt. God instructed each Israelite family to kill a lamb and spread its blood on the doorposts and lintels of their homes. Every home that had this marking was spared a visit by the death angel, which put to death the firstborn sons in those homes not so marked. The early church understood Christ’s sacrificial death to be the fulfillment of this Old Covenant foreshadowing.
The early church obeyed the Lord by regularly commemorating his death at their gatherings at communal meals as recorded in Acts.
Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, Acts 2:46 (NASB95) —
As with any group of humans, problems eventually arose concerning how the Lord’s Supper was practiced, which Paul addressed in his first letter to the church in Corinth in the eleventh chapter. People in the church were so hungry that they began their meal before others, resulting in abuses that betrayed the meaning of the meal.
Therefore when you meet together, it is not to eat the Lord’s Supper, 21 for in your eating each one takes his own supper first; and one is hungry and another is drunk. 22 What! Do you not have houses in which to eat and drink? Or do you despise the church of God and shame those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? In this I will not praise you. 1 Corinthians 11:20–22 (NASB95) —
He ordered them to eat at home, if they were so hungry they could not wait for others, so that proper order could be maintained when the fellowship meal was served.
Fellowship meals continued in association with the post-apostolic Eucharist, as is shown in the Didachē (a Christian document concerned with worship and church discipline written c. 100–c. 140), and in the doctrinal and liturgical development described in the writings of the early Church Fathers little was changed. During the late 2nd century the meal became vestigial and was finally abandoned. The Eucharist was originally celebrated every Sunday, but by the 4th century it was celebrated daily…
Not until the beginning of the Middle Ages did controversial issues arise that found expression in the definition of the doctrine of transubstantiation at the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215. This definition opened the way for the Scholastic interpretation of the eucharistic presence of Christ and of the sacramental principle, in Aristotelian terms. Thus, St. Thomas Aquinas maintained that a complete change occurred in the “substance” of each of the species, while the “accidents,” or outward appearances, remained the same. During the Reformation, though the medieval doctrine was denied in varying ways by the reformers, it was reaffirmed in the RCC by the Council of Trent in 1551. 2
The doctrine of transubstantiation maintains that the bread and wine actually become the body and blood of Jesus in a literal sense. In other words, the bread and wine become God himself. This takes place on the altar during the Mass when Jesus is supposedly re-sacrificed by the priest each time the Mass is performed. (I wrote about this heresy in an earlier article.) When communicants receive the wine and bread, usually just the bread, since the wine is reserved most often for the priest, they supposedly actually consume God. Any bread left over is called the Host and is treated as God himself. After the Mass, the Host is placed in a tabernacle on the altar until the next Mass. When Roman Catholics walk in front of this tabernacle, they are expected to take a knee, or genuflect, and make the sign of the cross in reverence to God’s supposed actual physical presence on the altar. A vessel called a monstrance, pictured on the right, is used to hold the host and to facilitate adoration.
The RCC developed this doctrine of the Eucharist and transubstantiation by turning to its three pillars: the Bible, church tradition, and the authority of the infallible “magisterium” of the church, that is the ex cathedra proclamations of the Pope, which as we have already seen, are subject to change. By adding to God’s Word in the form of church tradition and pronouncements from the magisterium, the RCC violates the biblical principle that forbids adding to God’s Word. (Deuteronomy 4:2, Proverbs 30:6)
Let’s consider the RCC doctrine of the Eucharist from a biblical perspective, which is the only valid source of good doctrine.
Look to God’s instructions and teachings! People who contradict his word are completely in the dark. Isaiah 8:20 (NLT) —
Jesus told his followers who witnessed his feeding of the 5000 that they should not prioritize eating natural bread.
“Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you, for on Him the Father, God, has set His seal.” 28 Therefore they said to Him, “What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?” 29 Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.” John 6:27–29 (NASB95) —
Jesus taught them to seek first the kingdom of God, which centered on believing in him as the Messiah and Lord. The kingdom of God arrived on earth with the coming of the King. Later in this passage…
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst. John 6:35 (NASB95) —
This verse lays down a very simple principle: we partake of Christ as the bread of life by believing in him. This became quite clear when Jesus told his disciples that he would send his Holy Spirit to live in them.
I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; 17 that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you. John 14:16–17 (NASB95) —
This is the meaning of the parable of the vine and the branches in John 15. This reality of the indwelling Holy Spirit also makes quite clear other teachings of Jesus in which he said we would be one with him and the Father.
I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; 21 that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. John 17:20–21 (NASB95) —
Later the apostle Paul wrote that when we are born again through faith in Christ our spirits become one with the Holy Spirit.
But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him. 1 Corinthians 6:17 (NASB95) —
Instead of inhabiting the Ark of the Covenant and later the Temple, God now inhabits a temple made of what Peter called “living stones,” that is, human beings in whom his Spirit dwells.
And you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple. What’s more, you are his holy priests. Through the mediation of Jesus Christ, you offer spiritual sacrifices that please God. 1 Peter 2:5 (NLT) —
Paul wrote much the same thing in his letter to the church in Ephesus.
Now all of us can come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done for us. 19 So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family. 20 Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. 21 We are carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord. 22 Through him you Gentiles are also being made part of this dwelling where God lives by his Spirit. Ephesians 2:18–22 (NLT) —
It is clear that the Old Covenant foreshadowed God’s taking up residence in human beings by using the pictures or types of the Ark and the Temple. With the coming of the New Covenant, the shadow was replaced by reality.
It is inconceivable that God would reintroduce the idea that he dwells in a physical tabernacle.
The Old Covenant temple was destroyed in 70 AD never to be restored because the old sacrificial system has been fulfilled in Christ once and for all. By claiming that God physically dwells in a tabernacle on an altar today, the RCC practices a syncretism of the Old and New Covenants, something it does regularly.
Jesus once told a large crowd of followers that it was necessary for them to eat his body and drink his blood. This supposed command to cannibalize him deeply offended many of his followers who took him literally.
“He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. 55 “For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink. 56 “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. 57 “As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also will live because of Me. 58 “This is the bread which came down out of heaven; not as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live forever.” 59 These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum. 60 Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this said, “This is a difficult statement; who can listen to it?” John 6:54–60 (NASB95) —
Jesus understood that his words stumbled many, but he did not walk them back. However, he did give us a hint as to their true meaning.
But Jesus, conscious that His disciples grumbled at this, said to them, “Does this cause you to stumble? 62 “What then if you see the Son of Man ascending to where He was before? 63 “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life. 64 “But there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who it was that would betray Him. 65 And He was saying, “For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father.” John 6:61–65 (NASB95) —
Jesus often spoke spiritual mysteries which can only be spiritually discerned. He used physical metaphors to shed light on spiritual realities – the sower and the seed, the pearl of great price, and yeast in a lump of dough. In the case in John Chapter Six, people had just eaten bread; so Jesus used the metaphor of bread. With the woman at the well, he used the metaphor of living water. Later in John Chapter Seven (John 7:39), our Lord explained that this well of water referred to the Holy Spirit, but he did not give the woman any such details in John Chapter Four.
Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.” 15 The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, so I will not be thirsty nor come all the way here to draw.” John 4:13–15 (NASB95) —
Nevertheless, somehow she knew that he was referring to himself. God’s Spirit opened her eyes and enabled her to believe in him. Those who are spiritually blind and deaf cannot see or hear. It is interesting and informative, that the RCC did not make drinking water a sacrament. Even they realized that our Lord was speaking metaphorically. It is regrettable that they did not make the same judgment when it came to the Lord’s Supper.
Jesus spoke of spiritual mysteries in veiled terms so that only those to whom the Holy Spirit reveals truth will understand.
His disciples began questioning Him as to what this parable meant. 10 And He said, “To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest it is in parables, so that SEEING THEY MAY NOT SEE, AND HEARING THEY MAY NOT UNDERSTAND. Luke 8:9–10 (NASB95) —
Therefore, it does not depend on how educated or intelligent we are. It all depends on God’s Spirit.
At that time Jesus said, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants. 26 “Yes, Father, for this way was well-pleasing in Your sight. 27 “All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him. Matthew 11:25–27 (NASB95) —
He did this so that only those who are enlightened by the Spirit and come to him and be saved by faith.
“But there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who it was that would betray Him. 65 And He was saying, “For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father.” John 6:64–65 (NASB95) —
Sometimes even his own disciples did not understand. It was only after his resurrection that much of what Jesus taught them became clear. When Jesus said the “flesh profits nothing,” he meant that the physical bread was not the focus. He spoke metaphorically about receiving him by faith. He said that the problem with those who chose to leave was a lack of faith.
Faith is the key to everything in God’s kingdom. Without it we cannot please God. (Hebrews 11:6) Without faith we will never grasp who Jesus really is, the bread of life. Without faith we cannot receive him and partake of his life.
Human beings seem to have an innate propensity to create and worship idols, physical objects that represent spiritual realities. Even though it may be understood initially that these objects represent a spiritual reality, over time the physical objects are worshiped as being gods in themselves. This is why God forbade his people from making any sort of image of him, the one true God. (Exodus 20:4) The Israelites made golden calves to worship after they left Egypt. Moses had gone to Mt. Sinai to be with God and had not yet returned. It was difficult for the people to trust in an invisible God without Moses’ leadership. Later during Israel’s desert wandering, because of the people’s grumbling and complaining against Moses and God, the Lord sent venomous snakes into their midst (Numbers 21:6), which killed many. In order to save them, God instructed Moses to make a brass image of a snake on a pole. When the people looked at it, the snake venom would not harm them. This was a foreshadowing of Jesus, who became sin for us, hanging on a cross. Those who look to him in faith will be saved from the venom of the serpent, Satan, and sin. This picture of a spiritual reality later became a curse because the people began to treat it as an idol, as if it had some power in itself. King Hezekiah destroyed it as part of his spiritual reformation of the nation. (2 Kings 18:4)
Over time in the Roman Catholic Church, the Lord’s Supper, which began as a memorial to Christ’s sacrificial death to inspire us to trust in him and what he did, later became a transubstantiated Eucharist, an idol which is worshiped as being God himself.
Anytime we are encouraged to turn to anything or anyone besides Christ, it is a distraction at best and an idol at worst. This has happened over and over again in the RCC. As pointed out in an earlier article, veneration of Mary, who is a wonderful example of faith and surrender to God’s will, has been elevated to almost worship. In fact, the people of Mexico, Portugal, and France pay such homage to Mary at the shrines located there, that it seems to have morphed into pagan idolatry. Roman Catholic church buildings are usually filled with statues of Jesus, Mary, and the saints. Catholics adorn their walls, necks, and rosaries with crucifixes – images of Christ hanging still upon the cross. Relics, pieces of the bones of saints or other holy objects, are often venerated and believed to have power in themselves. All of this can easily become a form of idolatry in which physical objects are seen to have power in themselves that belongs to God alone. Roman Catholics officially protest that this is not so, but the line is very thin between veneration and adoration. Nowhere in the Bible are we told to venerate anyone or anything besides the Lord.
The Lord’s Supper is supposed to inspire us to remember what Jesus accomplished on our behalf by his death, burial, and resurrection. It is sad that the RCC converted this into something so different.
Roman Catholics believe that consuming the Eucharist, which they believe is actually physically God, imparts God’s life to them. Only God’s Spirit can do that, whom every believer has received by putting faith and allegiance in Christ.
The biblical practice is to obey Christ by using the Lord’s Supper as a memorial meal to inspire us to worship him who laid down his life for us as the Good Shepherd.
