And he took bread, and gave thanks, and break it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given (διδομενον) for you: this do in remembrance of me. (Luke 22:19)
Commenting on the use of the διδομενον, the present passive participle of διδωμι ("to give"), Roman Catholic Max Zerwick, S.J. wrote:
διδομενον ptc. pass., pres. ptc may den. “which is being given” or replace fut. ptc, “which is to be given, which will be given”, cf. 1:35. (Max Zerwick, A Grammatical Analysis of the Greek New Testament [trans. Mary Grosvenor; rev ed.; Rome: Biblical Institute Press, 1981], 270-71, emphasis added)
Such is reflected in the Roman Catholic New American Bible which translates Luke 22:19 as:
Then he took the bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body, which will be given for you; do this in memory of me."
With respect to Luke 1:35 which Zerwick references, the text reads thusly:
And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.
"Shall be born" translates γεννώμενον, the present passive participle of γενναω ("to beget"), yet the begetting of Jesus (whether one takes this to refer to the conception of Jesus or the birth, it does not matter for our discussion here), is a then-future event! It was not happening at the very moment the angel Gabriel was speaking these words to Mary. Notwithstanding the participle being in the present tense, it is only proper to translate it, per its context, in the future tense.
This is important as some Roman Catholic apologists focus on the use of present participles such as διδομενον as evidence that, at the very Last Supper itself, Jesus was giving his body to the apostles to consume, after uttering the words of consecration, under the species of bread (and, in light of the dogma of Concomitance, the wine, too). As one Catholic apologist wrote about the use of διδομενον:
[Indicates] that the action of “being given for you” is happening presently, that is, the body is being given to the Apostles at the time Jesus is speaking the words of consecration at the Last Supper. (Robert Sungenis, Not By Bread Alone: The Biblical and Historical Evidence for the Eucharistic Sacrifice [2d ed.; Catholic Apologetics International Publishing, Inc., 2009], 128, emphasis added)
Such, however, flies in the face of Greek exegesis and grammar.
For related articles, including the use of another participle ἐκχυννόμενον ("being shed/poured out") in Matt 26:28, see:
