In a previous post, I discussed the Eucharistic theology of the Didache, a very early Christian text, showing that the Didache and its community did not view the Eucharist to be a propitiatory sacrifice, nor in a concept of Real Presence, per the concept of Transubstantiation.
Some Catholic apologists[1] focus on the use of the Greek term for "sacrifice" (θυσια) in 14:1-3, the same term used of Christ's sacrifice in Heb 5:1; 9:23-24 in the context of discussing the Lord's Supper:
But every Lord's day do ye gather yourselves together, and break bread, and give thanksgiving after having confessed your transgressions, that your sacrifice (θυσια) may be pure. But let no one that it is at variance with his fellow come together with you, until they be reconciled, that your sacrifice (θυσια) may not be profaned. For this is what which was spoken by the Lord [in Malachi 1:11]: In very place and time offer to me a pure sacrifice (θυσια); for I am a great King, saith the Lord, and my name is wonderful among the nations.
From the context, there is clear that the "sacrifice" is the spiritual sacrifice believers are offering up, not a propitiatory sacrifice. The fact that prayers, alms, and even the Eucharist is described as a "sacrifice" is not the equivalent of the Catholic Mass. Furthermore, what undermines the Roman Catholic claim is that Mal 1:11 is quoted in Didache 14:3, a prophecy of the then-future sacrifices of the New Covenant. That such a sacrifice is a spiritual, not propitiatory sacrifice is evidenced on two fronts; firstly, with respect to the New Testament text's interpretation thereof, Christians are said to offer “spiritual sacrifices” to God. In 1 Pet 2:5, we read:
Ye also, as lively stones are built upon a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
In this text, believers are said to “offer up” (αναφερω; a sacrificial term in both the LXX and NT and used of Jesus “offering” of himself [e.g. 1 Pet 2:24]) themselves as “spiritual sacrifices" (πνευματικὰς θυσίας). This is echoed in Paul’s epistle to the Romans:
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God which is your reasonable service. (Rom 12:1)
The dedication of one’s body to God is said to be a sacrifice (θυσια) to God the Father, notwithstanding it not being a literal (in the sense of propitiatory/expiatory) sacrifice for sin. Such “spiritual sacrifices” can be prayers, petitions, and other godly actions for our fellow man (cf. 1 Tim 2:1-4) as well as the sacrifice of a broken heart and contrite spirit (cf. Psa 34:18; 51:17; Isa 57:15; 66:2).
Secondly, with respect to other early Christian literature, this interpretation of Mal 1:11 is accepted. In an early Christian text, attributed to Irenaeus of Lyons (it is debated if this is genuine or pseudepigraphical, though it is early, regardless of its providence) that does not hold that the Eucharist as a propitiatory sacrifice is prophesied by Mal 1:11, but instead, the prayers and other “spiritual sacrifices” of New Covenant believers, one of which is the Eucharist (the author clearly did not believe prayers of New Covenant saints to be a sacrifice that propitiates the wrath of God!)
Section 37 of this writing reads as follows (taken from this Webpage, though one can find it in print in vol. 1 of the Ante Nicene Fathers by Schaff):
Those who have become acquainted with the secondary (i.e., under Christ) constitutions of the apostles, are aware that the Lord instituted a new oblation in the new covenant, according to [the declaration of] Malachi the prophet. For,
from the rising of the sun even to the setting my name has been glorified among the Gentiles, and in every place incense is offered to my name, and a pure sacrifice;Malachi 1:11 as John also declares in the Apocalypse:
The incense is the prayers of the saints.Then again, Paul exhorts us
to present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. Romans 12:1 And again,
Let us offer the sacrifice of praise, that is, the fruit of the lips.Hebrews 13:15 Now those oblations are not according to the law, the handwriting of which the Lord took away from the midst by cancelling it; Colossians 2:14 but they are according to the Spirit, for we must worship God
in spirit and in truth.John 4:24 And therefore the oblation of the Eucharist is not a carnal one, but a spiritual; and in this respect it is pure. For we make an oblation to God of the bread and the cup of blessing, giving Him thanks in that He has commanded the earth to bring forth these fruits for our nourishment. And then, when we have perfected the oblation, we invoke the Holy Spirit, that He may exhibit this sacrifice, both the bread the body of Christ, and the cup the blood of Christ, in order that the receivers of these antitypes may obtain remission of sins and life eternal. Those persons, then, who perform these oblations in remembrance of the Lord, do not fall in with Jewish views, but, performing the service after a spiritual manner, they shall be called sons of wisdom.
There is no sound exegetical basis to argue that, simply due to the use of θυσια in Didache 14:1-3 is support for the Catholic dogmas of the Eucharist as a propitiatory sacrifice and Transubstantiation.
Note for the Above:
[1] Robert A. Sungenis, Not by Bread Alone: The Biblical and Historical Evidence for the Eucharistic Sacrifice (2d ed.: Catholic Apologetics International Publishing, 2009), 225.
