Dr. Timothy Tennent: “Do This in Remembrance of Me”
One of the most important phrases in Scripture is the phrase, “Do this in remembrance of me” (Luke 22:19; 1 Cor. 11:24). It was, of course, spoken by Jesus on his final night on earth when he instituted the Eucharist in the Upper Room. It has become an almost universal line in the various liturgies of the Lord’s Supper or Communion celebrated by Christians around the world. This line has also become the most common phrase to be found on communion tables in churches. However, do we know what it actually means?
Most of us will recall the historic encounter between Luther and Zwingli in the 16th century which took place in Marburg Castle in the little town of Hesse, Germany. It was October, 1529 and Martin Luther and Ulrich Zwingli sat at opposite ends of a table with several guests gathered around listening. Here were the two great leaders of the Protestant Reformation gathering to resolve their differences regarding the Lord’s Supper. It must have been an electrifying moment!
Luther believed that when Christ ascended, he rose from “here to everywhere” meaning that when Christ arose, he re-assumed his eternal omnipresence. Therefore, he not only sits at the right hand of God in heaven, but he is also truly present at the Lord’s Supper, or whenever two or more are gathered in his name. Zwingli, in contrast, believed that once Christ ascended and took his place at the right hand of the Father, He could not be “present” on earth. Their views of the ascension had an enormous impact on their view of the Presence of Jesus in the Lord’s Supper. Luther’s view has become known as “Real Presence,” (Jesus really shows up at the Table) whereas Zwingli’s view is known as the “Memorial View” (We remember what Jesus did at the cross when we take communion). According to one person who was there in the room, at a particularly heated moment, Luther picked up a piece of chalk (some say a knife) and scrawled into the table: “hoc est corpus meum” meaning “this is my body.” Zwingli took the chalk from Luther and wrote: “hoc facite in meam commemorationem” meaning “do this in remembrance of me.” Both were quoting Jesus. Both were quoting the very words Jesus used in the institution of the Lord’s Supper. Yet, Luther and Zwingli saw the two phrases leading them to two different views of the Lord’s Supper.
Perhaps, if they had looked more carefully at the Greek rather than the Latin, they might have seen that the Biblical position is much clearer than those two phrases might imply. The key word in the passage is the Greek work, anamnēsin from the word anamnesis meaning “remembrance.” However, the word is not limited to merely us thinking about the past or remembering an event from long ago as we think of the word. The word is not just about bringing your mind back but bringing your sins forward. When God does not “remember” our sins, it does not mean that he has forgotten them in the sense that his mind cannot recollect our sins. Rather, it is that your sins have already been brought to the final judgment day and have already been forgiven and, therefore, God does not “remember” your sins, because they have already been dealt with on the cross. The Lord’s Supper invites us into a sacred space where our sins are transported to the future judgment, where Christ is. It is precisely because Christ has accomplished our redemption, paid for our sins, and declared us “not guilty” that there is no more remembrance. When we come to the Table and “remember,” we, too, are being transported to the future Eschaton where our sins are rendered forgiven, never to be brought up or “remembered” again.
As our world becomes increasingly thrown into turmoil, let us not forget that, as Christians, we occupy that “sacred space” known as Jesus Christ. Wherever you go, whatever you do, and in whatever situation you find yourself in, keep standing in that sacred space which is Jesus Christ. The future has already broken into the present. We are to embody all the future realities in the present evil age. It is true at every moment, but particularly when we approach the Lord’s Supper.
Just as the OT sacrifices prefigure the sacrifice of Christ, the Eucharistic sacrifices (plural, Hebrews 9:23) remember Golgotha . The power is in the sacrifice that Jesus instituted.
Great exposition. Thank you Mr. President. Praying more graces to you.
Dear Sir,
Many Christians confess their sins throughout their time on earth. I believe no one is sinless but Christ Himself. So I agree that Christ died for my sins, past, present, and future and their are transported to the future judgement. So how do you teach about confession. Does Christ automatically forgive us or do we need to confess and ask for God’s forgiveness here and now. Thanks,
Yes,the Lord’s Supper is historical and theological that Christians today cannot do away with it’s because we are to do it in remembrance of Jesus the CHRIST.
thanks
America has the marketplace of ideas. This is true of the church as well. Many times this has worked out in our favor. Pastors and churches that fail to bring the Gospel to the people are not protected by as much institutionalism. We are fully aware that many seminaries are in sharp decline as they pursue, what Paul might call, “other gospels” (Galatians 1:8).
But any institution or tool or idea comes up against limitations. The flip side is seen far too often in heterodox interpretations. There comes a point where we simply say, we will tolerate but not advocate differing viewpoints. Every pastor knows this delicate balance. We know that we are fallen and sinful creatures ministering over other fallen and sinful creatures whose fall or whose sin looks different than our own. “Who are we to judge?” we ask ourselves.
Much has changed in my life since leaving seminary. However, a radical shift happened in my life two years after seminary. While at Asbury I was ambivalent about the Lord’s Supper. I enjoyed, on an academic level, all the various understandings. “Didn’t we have bigger fish to fry instead of demanding doctrinal purity on something which is, let’s face it, ultimately a mystery? And who am I to launch an inquisition against my fellow Christians? (What Vatican II aptly names ‘fratres dissidentes’ or separated brethren.)” “The world is falling apart and the church in America is in trouble, and you are demanding people mean ‘is’ when they say ‘is’?” It seems arrogant, but of course it is just the opposite.
Luther and Zwingli were faced with an existential threat far greater than what we face today. American churches face being shoved off into an irrelevancy we have not had for quite some time; but the Protestant Reformers were staring down the death of the church individually and collectively. The fact that Luther and Zwingli could not compromise on this one issue when so much else was at stake should give us more than pause.
In my own life, the Eucharist has come to have that same central importance. Under my breath and in my heart of hearts, when I would take the elements at Asbury, I would know “hoc est corpus meum” really meant what it said. It was drilled into me as a child, but I was willing to compromise and to test and see if it was true. It was not until I was a pastor, that I truly understood the centrality of the Sacraments in “Word and Sacrament.”
It is one thing to sit at church with a feeling that one doesn’t necessarily have to have much skin in the game or to be at seminary and know something in your head; but when you are a pastor, you know that each and every parishioner has been placed in your care. (Matthew 18:6, Mark 9:42, Luke 17:2) I am not thinking they are following me, but I have been entrusted to feed them. (John 21:15-19) Being a pastor is pressure beyond the human ability to cope. We need to be reassured. That is the point of the Eucharist. So far, so good.
Yet, as I read further and further, I understood that we Lutherans didn’t believe that it was a work we performed (Church of Rome) or a promised remembrance (Zwingli and Calvin); but a promise that Christ dwells “in, with, and under” these elements. The point is that the burdens of Law drive us to the Gospel whether it is found in Word or in Sacrament; and thus the Gospel is wherever Christ promises to be fully present for us.
Zwingli and his “remembrance meal” leaves consciences still in terror for one remembers Christ has left and one remembers that there is a “Last Judgment.” For Luther, the Gospel comes roaring in like a lion in Holy Communion. Our small terrors are overcome by God’s grace in the presence of His Son in the bread and the wine. That was something uplifting during the dark nights of the soul. The Christ who has accomplished everything at the Cross promises to be incorporated into me. Like the younger Son in Luke 15[:20-21], the Gospel shuts us up with the promises of Christ.
I understand that the Eucharist is an outward sign of our common faith; but if it just ends there, it is like having a Good Friday without Easter Sunday. It is the realization of our failure to maintain the Law without the alleviation of the restoration with God. Like the tale of Billy Goats Gruff, Eucharist tells “the devil, the world, and our sinful selves” that though it may come to us with our failures to fulfill the Law, the One who calls us together AND is inside us greater than the powers in the world. (1 John 4:4)
Luther’s point was clear, he was … perhaps selfishly … more concerned with that which would give his conscience peace than he was about political expediency. I find that in myself as well. Luther had it right, for the promise of the Sacrament of the Alter is not a badge of belonging to this group called Christians, but God’s powerful grace that even before we comprehended our need, God had supplied the cure. For me, it is more than a mental ascent, it must be a mysterious dwelling.
Hello Dr. Tennent,
Thanks for the article; enjoyed it. I’m a ’78 graduate of Asbury, raised Catholic & non-denominational since ’74. Regarding the Supper: I’m Lutheran! I’ve written a book on the subject, a free download from our ministry & also available in Kindle or paperback.
http://www.gtm.org/pvp/bookdetails.php?id=31
I would appreciate your reaction to my book should you find time to read it. Thanks in advance.
Look after yourself,
Brother Joe
Dear Dr. Tennant, thank you. We all have sins in our lives that we hope never come to the surface, at least I do. Your remarks about my sins “have already been brought to judgment and forgiven because of Christ’s death on the cross.” were such a sweet reminder those sins will not “be remembered” again. Thank you.
Of the three Gospels that record the Last Supper only Luke includes the phrase, “Do this in remembrance of me”. I am a Gentile believer, and I have only just begun to see the words of the New Testament in light of the teachings (the Torah) of the “Old Testament“.
In that light, we recall that in Scripture the Lord often used the concept of remembrance (Hebrew “zakar”). For example, the ark in the sky, the rainbow, is to be seen as a remembrance that God would never again flood the world as He did in the time of Noah. And, the Lord “remembered “ the covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to bring them back to the Promised Land. Also, the Lord called His people to “remember“ that they were slaves in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord brought them out from there with “a strong hand, and an outstretched arm,” then commanding the observance of Passover for all time (Ex 12:14). And the very Passover meal is also a remembrance of an act of the Lord in saving his people from slavery, not just 3000 years ago but even now from our bondage to sin.
Jesus was sitting at the last Passover meal with his disciples when He who had proclaimed Himself to be the Bread of Life, took the unleavened bread, broke it, and said to his disciples, “Take it! Eat it! This is My Body!” And then he took the 3rd cup of wine of the Seder meal, named by the rabbis the “Cup of Redemption”, and He said, This is my Blood,” stating it to be the Blood of the New Covenant, again recalling the sign of the blood of a lamb which had saved His people from the angel of death in Egypt.
“Remembering” must surely be more than merely recalling what Jesus did. Surely it must be an engagement in, a participation in the covenant of God‘s plan of salvation, and also the Lord’s empowering of His disciples, then, and now to receive His Presence, His Life, His healing, and His calling to a sacrificial life of love and service to our Awesome Lord, our Majestic Friend, and also to all our brothers and sisters in the human family.