Sunday, August 2, 2015

1 Corinthians 11:26 and the Theology of the Eucharist

While writing to the Christian community at Corinth, the apostle Paul while discussing the Eucharist (in LDS nomenclature, simply "the sacrament"), wrote the following:

For as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come. (1 Cor 11:26 KJV)

There are a few things in this verse that are rather pertinent for one’s theology of the Lord’s Supper.

Firstly, the term translated as “shew” in the KJV is the verb καταγγελλω which does not mean “show” as some may incorrectly infer, but “to proclaim,” that is, we are to proclaim the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. Of course, the Eucharist is not simply a death march or a mere remembrance of the death of the Lord, but we also remember “the Lord of Glory” (cf. 1 Cor 2:8) who was gloriously resurrected and will come again in glory, as we are commanded by Paul to proclaim this “until” Christ comes again.


The term “until” is αχρι ου, which is followed by ελθη, the subjunctive aorist of ερχομαι ("to come"). As Joachim Jeremias (The Eucharist Words of Jesus) and others have demonstrated, whenever αχρι ου is followed by a verb in the subjunctive, it results in a termination of the main clause once the "until" is reached--that is, we are to celebrate the Eucharist until Christ's parousia (coming in glory), and such will result in a cessation of the celebration of the Lord's supper. Instead, we will then celebrate the long-promised “Messianic Banquet,” something that is also promised in modern revelation, not just ancient (e.g., D&C 58:11; 65:3; cf. 27:5).