Wine or Grape Juice in Jesus’ Cup? (2)

This topic was begun in “Wine or Grape Juice in Jesus’ Cup? (1)”.  Part 2 here is the conclusion.

Part 1 identified the two most-used Hebrew Old Testament (OT) terms for “wine”…yáhyin (Strongs h3196) and tiroshé (h8492).  Yayin was fermented wine.  Tirosh usually referred to unfermented grape juice.  Tirosh is called “new wine” in many Bibles.  (Other terms for alcoholic drink were less-used.)

Part 1 also discussed the customary Jewish practice of using wine to celebrate Passover in 1^st century Jerusalem.  Jesus the man was Jewish, and He observed God’s annual Passover (Lk.2:41-42).

In the Greek New Testament (NT) and Greek OT Septúagint/LXX, the term for “wine” is oínos g3631.  It occurs 33 times in the NT.  However, yayin (fermented) and tirosh (unfermented) were both translated as oinos in the OT LXX!  No differentiation was made.  The context determined its meaning.

The NT writers didn’t identify the type of liquid in the “cup” at Jesus’ Last Supper.  “Cup” is potáyreeon g4221, occurring 33 times.  “Cup” as a drinking vessel is seen at the Lord’s Supper: Mt.26:27; Mk.14:23; Lk.22:17, 20; 1Co.10:16, 21, 11:25-28.  No beverage is specified (not oinos).

In Part 2 we’ll discuss uses, concerns, and symbolism of wine from the Bible; also when Christian churches started using grape juice in communion or the eucharist.  (Part 1 material won’t be repeated.)

In Bible times, wine (mixed with water) was used for other celebrations besides Passover.  Jn.2:1-11 Jesus’ first miracle was, He changed water into wine (oinos g3631) at a wedding celebration.  Probably His miracle wine was undiluted.  In Is.1:22, the Lord had negatively compared debased ancient Israel to pure wine diluted with water.  And Jesus didn’t change the Jn.2 water into grape juice.  Jn.2:10 after the guests had drank, they wouldn’t notice any quality difference if it was grape juice.  But they would notice a difference if it was wine.  Jesus wasn’t opposed to wine (in moderation)!

Lk.7:33-35 Jesus was exaggeratedly even called a glutton and a ‘wino’ (oinopótes g3630), a friend of tax collectors & sinners.  Winos drink fermented wine.  In contrast, John the Baptizer didn’t drink wine.

De.14:25-27 rejoicing with wine (h3196 yayin) to celebrate the Lord’s OT feasts was fine!  Included were Levites too.  But priests weren’t allowed to drink wine while on duty (Le.10:8-9; Ezk.44:21).

Wine symbolized Jesus’ blood!  The 19^th century German theologian Augustus Neander wrote of Jesus’ Last Supper (Lk.22:17-20). “The broken bread was to represent His body. The wine is to represent His blood, about to be shed for them.”  Got Questions: What is the Meaning of the Blood of Christ? “The pouring of wine in the cup symbolized the blood of Christ.”  Answers.com: What is the Symbolic Meaning of Wine? “Wine signifies blood and blood signifies life, ‘the life is in the blood’ (Lev.17:14).”

Fermented wine yayin h3196 (not unfermented tirosh h8492) was called the blood of grapes.  Ge.49:10-12 is a prophecy about the future King Messiah Jesus. “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until He comes to whom it belongs. He will wash His garments in wine [h3196], His robes in the blood of grapes.”  That’s meaningful.  Henry Commentary Ge.49:11 “He is the true Vine, wine is the appointed symbol of His blood.”  Poole Commentary “The ‘blood of grapes,’ so the wine is called in Deu.32:14.”  (De.32:14 has a less-used term for fermented red wine, chémer h2561-2.  Chemer wine was at the feast of Babylon’s King Belshazzár in Da.5:1-4, e.g.)

Wine also symbolized God’s divine wrath.  Re.14:9-10 “If anyone worships the beast…he will drink of the wine [g3631] of the wrath of God, which is unmixed in the cup [g4221] of His anger.”  Pure wine of intoxication is in His metaphorical cup of judgment.  Barnes Notes Re.14:10 “Without being diluted with water.”  Re.16:19 “Babylon the great’ was remembered before God, to give her the cup [g4221] of the wine [g3631] of His fierce wrath.”  Also ref Ps.75:8; Is.51:17-22, 63:6; Je.25:15-ff; Ezk.23:31-33.

Is.63:1-6 symbolically reflects blood as the wine of His wrath, not as celebration.  v.6 “drunk”.  v.2 “winepress” (gath h1660) is somewhat a misnomer.  As grapes were pressed, it was grape juice, not wine, which flowed down the drain.  (Usually grapes in the upper vat/receptacle were trodden by a team; but interestingly, in v.3 only One solely does the treading.)

{Sidelight: Just before Jesus’ arrest and crucifixion, He prayed at a place called “Gethsemane”, g1068 (Mt.26:36).  It’s from the OT h1660 gath/winepress and h8081 oil, on the Mount of Olives.  The later olive harvest was perhaps pressed into the same vats as grapes were recently pressed.  Laura Reynolds “Why Are Olive Trees Planted Around Vineyards? “The two crops used a similar processing procedure. As wine press works ends, olive pressing begins.”  Lk.22:42-44 in agony, Jesus sweated drops of blood (cf. hematidrósis) at the place of the press.  Jesus Himself felt so pressed, shedding His blood for us!}

Ex.29:38-42 the twice-daily sacrifice at God’s tent of meeting included a drink offering of fermented wine (yayin h3196).  The drink offering wasn’t grape juice!  In Nu.28:7 this drink offering is called “strong drink” (shekár h7941).  Also see Le.23:13.  ATS Bible Dictionary: Drink Offering “A small quantity of wine, part of which was poured on the sacrifice, and the residue given to the priests.”  It was part of the sacrificial system, prefiguring Christ’s blood sacrifice.

This drink offering libation of wine was poured out (cf. Ezr.7:17), as was Jesus’ shed blood (Jn.19:34; Lk.22:44).  Jesus said in Lk.22:20, “This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood”.  (The apostle Paul also compared his own life to a drink offering poured out, Php.2:17, 2Ti.4:6.)

1Ch.9:29 Levites had charge over the fermented wine (h3196) kept in the temple.  The tirosh h8492 grape juice firstfruits initially tithed to the Levites (Nu.18:12; De.18:4; Ne.10:37) fermented into wine.

Again, there were restrictions for wine-drinking placed upon Aaron and his sons (the priests).  Priests weren’t allowed to serve God in the tabernacle/temple if they’re intoxicated!  Is.28:7 priests and prophets erred through their misuse of wine (h3196) and strong drink (h7941).  1Ti.3:8 deacons in the NT church aren’t to be heavy drinkers.  (Paul advised only a little wine for Timothy, 1Ti.5:23.)

Jewish Christian historian Alfred Edersheim wrote of Jesus’ Last Supper, held in a large furnished upper room of a house (Lk.22:12).  There Jesus instituted the eucharist.  The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, p.809 “Peter and John would find there the wine for the four cups, the cakes of unleavened bread, and probably also ‘the bitter herbs’. The wine was…red, mixed with water, generally in the proportion of one part to two of water.”  Peter, John, and Jesus the man were Jews, here at Passover.

David Stern Jewish New Testament Commentary [JNTC] Lk.22:17a, p.144 “Luke is the only one of the four [gospel] writers describing the establishing of the New Covenant who mentions both a cup of wine before the meal (here) and another after (v.20).”  Wine-drinking was customary at the Lord’s feasts.

The ingathering of the grape harvest occurred in the later summer, prior to the Feast of Ingathering or Booths of the early autumn.  Back then it was something of an ordeal to preserve pure grape juice for 7 months until the Passover next spring!  Joe Thorn A Theology of Wine “Drinking wine was normative.”

However, it was possible to maintain unfermented grape juice (albeit more difficult).  Wayne Jackson Was the Fruit of the Vine Fermented? “It is known from ancient sources, that there were ways of preserving juice, thus preventing fermentation. The ancient Roman statesman, Cato, said: ‘If you wish to have ‘must’ (grape juice) all year, put grape juice in an amphora [narrow-necked jar] and seal the cork with pitch; sink it in a fish pond. After 30 days take it out. It will be grape juice for a whole year.’ (De Agri Cultura CXX)”  Steve Shirley Should Wine or Grape Juice Be Used For Communion? “Heating it [juice] to 150–180° would result in a syrup which could be diluted with water, then drank as unfermented grape juice. Also, keeping it in temperatures below 40° would prevent fermentation.”

Which beverage was used by the church?  Jennifer Tait New Wine, New Wineskins “The early Western church maintained the use of wine and unleavened bread. The Eastern church soon began to use leavened bread. From the 16^th until the 19^th century, the majority of Protestants communed using wine from a common cup and leavened bread. However, in the 19^th century, temperance became teetotalism or total abstinence, moving all alcohol (wine included) into the list of forbidden beverages. Many began to question why a beverage considered dangerous to drink was still used on the Communion table.”

Joe Iovino Methodist History: Controversy, Communion, & Welch’s Grape Juice “In the 1800s, churches faced a dilemma. To combat the epidemic of alcoholism, the temperance movement advocated total abstinence from all alcohol. Raw grape juice stored at room temperature (home refrigerators weren’t available until 1913) naturally ferments into wine. This caused a problem for congregations [taking the Lord’s Supper] not wanting to use anything containing alcohol. ‘Lots of churches just didn’t have communion when grapes were out of season,’ reports Roger Scull.”

Welch Foods, Inc. is named for Thomas Bramwell Welch (1825-1903).  He was a dentist, Methodist minister and “communion steward”, and Prohibitionist.  Wikipedia “In 1869, Welch invented a method of pasteurizing grape juice so that fermentation was stopped, and the drink was non-alcoholic. He persuaded local churches [in Vineland, NJ] to adopt this non-alcoholic ‘wine’ for communion services, calling it ‘Dr. Welch’s Unfermented Wine.”  It became the well-known Welch’s Grape Juice in 1893.

Thus pasteurization made it possible for churches to use grape juice year-round for the Lord’s Supper eucharist.  Most Protestant churches today use grape juice when serving communion.  Over the past 150 years, this relatively recent deviation from the practice of Bible times has become their church tradition.

However, there is evidence that Jewish religious bread and wine meals were held to honor the Messiah in the decades even prior to Jesus’ human birth and His Last Supper.  JNTC Appendix, p.931 says the Jewish community at Qumrán had regular meals in honor of the Messiah, who they expected soon.  Quoting their Dead Sea Scrolls: “When they gather for the Community table…let no man stretch out his hand over the bread and wine before the priest. He shall first stretch out his hand. And afterwards the Messiah of Israel shall stretch out His hands. They shall process according to this rite at every meal where at least ten persons are assembled.”  These were frequent meals.

These Qumran Community meals weren’t Passover meals!  Yet they partook of bread and wine, not grape juice, to honor the Messiah.  Jesus is the Messiah.  Traditionally, wine celebrated Him.

But the representative bread and wine is much more ancient than the 1^st century BC!  In Ge.14:18-19 “Melchisedek the king brought out bread and wine [yayin h3196]; He was priest of the Most High God.”  He served wine, not grape juice (tirosh h8492)!  He shared a (leavened?) bread and wine meal with the uncircumcised gentile/non-Jew Abrám.  The Ps.110:1-4 prophecy is about Jesus. “You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchisedek.” (also see He.6:20.)

Jesus, the Priest-King, is of the order of Melchisedek (not of the in-between Levitical order)!  So way back in the days of father Abraham, even prior to Jacob/Israel and the Jews, a bread and wine meal foreshadowed Christ’s priesthood and rule.  This is significant…we are of the order of Melchisedek!  The archetypal meal wasn’t tied to a recurring religious date or season of the year, e.g. Passover.  Its timing may or may not coincide with other religious observances.  (see “Melchisedek Order Priesthood”.)

Pr.9:1-5 “Wisdom has built her house. She has slaughtered her beasts; she has mixed her wine [h3196, fermented], she has set her table. ‘Come, eat of the bread and drink of the wine [h3196] I have mixed.”  It is wisdom to partake of (symbolic) bread and wine.  Melchisedek did so with Abraham.

In 1Co.11:20-34, drunkenness was a problem in the Corinthian church (v.21).  They were consuming too much wine while celebrating the eucharist at regular love feasts.  Drunkenness can have bad consequences (cf. Ge.9:20-27).  But wine-drinking in moderation is fine (except for Levites on duty).

To conclude…Jesus and His disciples drank wine with His Last Supper (Passover) meal.  International Standard Bible Encyclopedia [ISBE]: Wine “The wine of the Last Supper may be described in modern terms as sweet, red, fermented wine, rather highly diluted.”  Wine was in Jesus’ “cup”.

As a representation of Jesus’ blood and body, taking wine with bread is scripturally acceptable.  Joe Thorn The Lord’s Supper – Wine or Welch’s? “Regarding children, in most of the United States it is not illegal for children to consume alcohol ‘in the performance of a religious ceremony or service.”

However, conscience matters!  Je.35:5-8, 16-19 Jonadáb the son of Recháb commanded the Rechabites to be nomads, enduring hardship and abstaining from wine.  His descendants obeyed their forefather.  Some Christians abstain from wine, meat, card-playing, etc., as a matter of conscience or from fear of excess.  They only use grape juice, not wine, for communion.  We should respect their consciences.

Recovering alcoholics who become Christians, those with health problems and/or taking medications which could conflict with alcohol…should substitute grape juice for wine when taking communion.

Christians celebrate the Lord’s Supper with either wine or grape juice!  Over the years, I’ve used both.  (Again, the NT writers didn’t specify the beverage in the “cup” at Jesus’ Last Supper.)  When taking the eucharist, more important is our attitude of heart.  Yet division may occur when a perhaps well-meaning church custom/tradition becomes a modern form of pharisaic oral law and promotes exclusivism.  Jesus castigated the Pharisees for their oral traditions that contradicted OT scripture.

For more, see “Wine or Grape Juice in Jesus’ Cup? (1)” and the separate topic “Bread and Wine in the Church”.  Also related is “Jesus’ Last Supper Timing”.

Wine or Grape Juice in Jesus’ Cup? (1)

Bread and wine are symbols which represent the body and blood of Jesus the Savior.  The partaking of these symbols as the eucharist or communion in the early New Testament (NT) church is addressed in the topic “Bread and Wine in the Church”.  Little of the material covered in that topic is repeated here.

At Jesus’ Last Supper before His crucifixion, He instructed His disciples in the symbolic ceremony. Mt.26:26-28 “Jesus took some bread…and said, ‘Take, eat; this is My body’. And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave to them, saying, ‘Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood of the [new] covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”  This became the eucharist.

Accordingly, after Jesus’ sacrificial death and resurrection, in the 30s AD a communal sharing of consecrated bread and wine became a regular practice or sacramental rite at church gatherings.

However, there is controversy among church denominations (mostly since the 1800s AD) about what form of beverage should be in the communion “cup”.  This topic addresses the contents of Jesus’ “cup”.

Wikipedia: Sacramental Wine “The majority of mainstream liturgical churches require that sacramental wine be pure grape wine. In most liturgical rites, a small quantity of water is added to the wine when the chalice [cup] is prepared. However, some Christian churches disapprove of the consumption of alcohol, especially by children, and hold that it is acceptable to substitute grape juice for wine. These denominations include Pentecostals, Baptists, Methodists, some Churches of Christ, and other evangelical groups. In this case, generally only pasteurized grape juice is used. In some Protestant churches each communicant drinks from a small individual cup.”  Well-known liturgical churches using wine for communion are the Anglican, Eastern Orthodox, and Roman Catholic.

What is wine?  Merriam-Webster Dictionary’s present definition of wine: “The alcoholic fermented juice of fresh grapes used as a beverage. From Latin vinum.”  If it’s unfermented, it’s not actual wine.

Steve Shirley Should Wine or Grape Juice Be Used For Communion? “Juice becomes fermented when yeast is added to it and it begins to break down the sugars that are present in the juice, producing carbon dioxide and alcohol. However, grape juice does contain small amounts of naturally occurring yeast, and can ferment naturally over time.”

In our Greek NT, “cup” is potáyreeon, Strongs g4221.  It occurs 33 times.  In the NT, cup g4221 refers to: a drinking vessel; or metaphorically, one’s lot or experience, joyous or adverse.  “Cup” as a drinking vessel is seen in: Mt.26:27; Mk.14:23; Lk.22:17, 20; 1Co.10:16, 21, 11:25-28.  What was in Jesus’ cup?

Wikipedia: History of Wine “Consumption of ritual wine was part of Jewish practice since Biblical times and, as part of the eucharist commemorating Jesus’ Last Supper, became even more essential to the Christian Church.”  Reid Mitenbuler What Did Wine Taste Like Thousands of Years Ago? “Priests, monks, and nuns cultivated vineyards to make wine an everyday drink in places where it hadn’t existed before.”  Christian religion actually promoted and increased the knowledge of wine (production)!

In the NT and Old Testament (OT) Septúagint/LXX, the Greek term for “wine” is oínos g3631.  It occurs 33 times in the NT.

In the OT, the most-used Hebrew term for fermented wine is yáhyin h3196.  It occurs 140 times.

But OT “wine” prior to the fermentation process, grape juice, is tiroshé h8492, occurring 38 times.  Tiroshe is translated as “new wine”, in many Bibles.  This “new wine” was unfermented, or less fermented.  Grape juice.  (A half dozen less-used Hebrew terms also relate to wine or alcoholic drink.)

Rex M.D. Russell What the Bible Says About Healthy Living “Some Biblical commentaries suggest that yayin is wine fermented from the previous year, and tirosh is a somewhat less fermented drink from the recent harvest. Others concede that yayin is a fermented and intoxicating beverage, but tirosh is simply freshly squeezed juice from grapes.”  (Ho.4:11 may indicate a fermented tirosh.)

Tirosh would naturally ferment into wine, unless (impractical) steps were taken to preserve it as juice.  Mitenbuler op. cit. “Preservation efforts are the most noticeable culinary difference between ancient and modern wine.”  Wine was a valued product of agriculture.  Let’s compare tirosh and yayin in the OT:

Pr.3:10 “Your vats [yéhqeb h3342] will overflow with new wine [tirosh h8492].”  Ellicott Commentary Pr.3:10 “Vats, into which the newly pressed [grape] juice flowed.”  ref “wine vat” in Mk.12:1.  Cambridge Bible Pr.3:10 “The wine-press of the Jews consisted of two receptacles or vats placed at different elevations; in the upper the grapes were trodden, while the lower one received the expressed [grape] juice.”  (cf. Joel 3:13 “The press [gath h1660] is full, the vats [h3342] overflow.”)  Unfermented grape juice, not wine, flowed from the “winepress” (so called).  Mic.6:15 ESV “You shall tread grapes [or new wine h8492], but not drink wine [h3196].”  Is.65:8 the Lord says new wine (h8492) is found in the cluster of grapes.  Fermented wine/yayin h3196 isn’t found in grapes.  Quora What is Tirosh? “It’s literally grape juice in Hebrew.”  However, word meanings in languages can change over the centuries.

University of Chicago Biblical Notes, 1891, p.181 “Tirosh and Yayin denote not two kinds of wine but the same wine at different stages, before and after fermentation. The juice of the grape is tithed as tirosh [ref 2Ch.31:4-5] but drunk as yayin. At first it is a simple product of husbandry and valued for the promise that is in it. Finally it is treated as a drink, and praised or condemned as it is used or abused.”

Right use of fermented wine can be of benefit.  Ps.104:15 “Wine [yahyin h3196] makes glad the heart of man.”  De.14:25-26 “Go to the place the Lord chooses. You may spend the money for…wine [h3196] or strong drink [h7941 shekár], or whatever your heart desires…and rejoice.”  God encouraged wine-drinking (in moderation) to aid Israel’s rejoicing at His pilgrim feasts.  In Is.25:6 KJV, the prophetic banquet the Lord prepares includes aged wine on the lees h8105 of yeast sediment (from fermentation).

The Jews mixed wine in their water.  2Mac.15:39 “It is hurtful to drink wine or water alone. Wine mingled with water is pleasant, and delights the taste.”  In Bible times, water by itself was often dirty, contaminated with pathogens.  Charles Swindoll Dirty Water, Prohibition, and the Bible “Pure drinking water was often unavailable.”  Mitenbuler op. cit. “Ancient wine provided valuable nutrients and was used to sanitize water well past the Middle Ages.”  Also, Israel would water down their wine.

Paul told Timothy in the NT, 1Ti.5:23 “No longer drink water exclusively, but use a little wine [oinos g3631] for your stomach’s sake and your frequent ailments”.  But excessive alcohol consumption could worsen ailments, and lead to drunkenness.  Paul also wrote, Ep.5:18 “Be not drunk with wine [g3631]”.  Due to its alcoholic content, drinking wine to excess can cause intoxication.  Moderation is key.

Professor R. Laird Harris wrote, “All the wine [of Bible times] was light wine, i.e., not fortified with extra alcohol. Concentrated alcohol was only known in the Middle Ages when the Arabs invented distillation (‘alcohol’ is an Arab word) so…20% fortified wines were unknown in Bible times. Probably ancient wines were 7–10%. To avoid the sin of drunkenness, mingling of water with wine was practiced.”  The blend of water and wine was 50/50–65/35?  Prior to Is.1:22, 700s BC…wine undiluted?

Alfred Edersheim described 1^st century Jewish practices. The Temple, p.187 “Red wine alone was to be used at the Páschal [Passover] Supper, and always mixed with water.”  Cups containing wine were customary at Passover in Jerusalem.  Benson Commentary Pr.23:31 “Red, the color of the best wines in that country, which therefore are called blood, Ge.49:11; De.32:14; and used by them in the Passover.”

Mishnah Pesachim 10:1 “Even the poorest person in Israel must not eat (on the night of the Passover) until he reclines [cf. Lk.22:14]. And they must give him no fewer than four cups of wine.”  Even the poor who couldn’t afford the cost of wine at other times were given wine at Passover.

The Biblical expression “fruit of the vine” (ref Mt.26:29; Mk.14:25; Lk.22:18; Is.32:12; Hab.3:17; Zec.8:12) referred to grapes from the grapevine, common in Palestine.

Wayne Jackson Was the Fruit of the Vine Fermented? “There is considerable historical evidence that the common Passover beverage used in the 1^st century was wine.”  Jesus kept Passover (Lk.2:41-42).

Dr. Jack Lewis states, “Wine was ordinarily used at the Passover and is called ‘fruit of the vine’ in Berakoth 6:1 [Talmud].”  Berakoth 6:1 “Over wine one recites: Who creates fruit of the vine.”

And Jesus’ Last Supper was also a Passover meal celebration!  Jesus told His disciples to prepare it.  Mk.14:12 “On the first day of unleavened bread, when the Passover lamb was being sacrificed, His disciples said to Him, ‘Where do want us to prepare for you to eat the Passover?”  Lk.22:7-8 “Then came the first day of unleavened bread, when the Passover lamb must be killed. ‘Go and prepare the Passover for us to eat.”  This would be His Last Supper.  (see the topic “Jesus’ Last Supper Timing”.)

In the OT the Lord didn’t command wine or any drink at Passover.  But we read from the above sources that wine was the “fruit of the vine”, and was customarily consumed in 1^st century Judea at Passover.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia [ISBE]: Wine “The wine of the Last Supper may be described in modern terms as sweet, red, fermented wine, rather highly diluted.”

The annual Passover was 6 months after the grape harvest in the Land.  Grape juice would’ve naturally undergone some fermentation during that time, even if yeast wasn’t added.  David C. Hopkins Life on the Land, p.186 “Stored [new] wine naturally fermented unless it was boiled down or kept cool.”

Again, in the Greek NT, “wine” is oinos g3631, occurring 33 times.  In the OT Greek LXX, oinos g3631 was used to translate the Hebrew yayin h3196 in 130 of its 140 occurrences.  And the LXX also used oinos to translate the Hebrew tiroshe h8492 in 37 of its 38 occurrences (all except Is.65:8)!  Therefore, we see that the Greek oinos g3631 in the LXX referred to either fermented or unfermented drink.

{Sidelight: The Greek term for vinegar and “sour wine” is óxos g3690.  It occurs in 6 NT verses, all relating to Jesus’ crucifixion (Mt.27:34, 48; Mk.15:36; Lk.23:36; Jn.19:29-30).  Oxos/sour wine g3690 was a variety, quality or adulteration of oinos/wine g3631, such as acrid wine or vinegar.  This cheap “wine” was a common beverage.  It was a stimulant, and had standard wine/oinos and water as a base.  “Wine” and “sour wine” and pure vinegar differed.  (see the topic “Jesus’ Death – the Physical Cause”.)

Vinegar was made by the oxidation of wine or fermented fruit juice, or a mix of barley and wine.  It is highly acidic (acetic acid), and harms the teeth (Pr.10:26).  It wasn’t drank straight.  Livestrong.com What Are the Dangers of Drinking Vinegar? “Drinking vinegar can have unpleasant and dangerous side effects.”  ISBE: Vinegar “Undiluted vinegar was of course undrinkable, but a mixture of water and vinegar makes a beverage that was very popular among the poor.”  It was also popular among soldiers.

The Hebrew OT term for vinegar is chométs h2558, occurring 5 times (Nu.6:3; Ru.2:14; Ps.69:21; Pr.10:26, 25:20).  Nu.6:3 has both chomets h2558 vinegar and yayin h3196 wine.  They’re different Hebrew terms, representing different things.  (Nu.6:3 LXX has oxos g3690 and oinos g3631).  There’s no indication that oxos “sour wine” or vinegar was in the cup at Jesus’ Last Supper Passover meal!}

Also, in Ac.2:13 disciples were mocked, supposedly full of sweet wine (or ‘must’?), g1098 gleúkos.  In the OT LXX, this term is found only in Jb.32:19.  Bible linguists differ regarding what gleukos meant back then.  Callixenus wrote (300s BC), “They were trampling on the grapes and the new wine (gleukos) ran out over the whole road”.  Greek Bible scholar Dr. Spiros Zódiates, “Some believe that it [gleukos] is what distills of its own accord from the grapes which is the sweetest and smoothest. It was mentioned at Pentecost (Ac.2:13) indicating that the ancients probably had a method of preserving the sweetness, and by consequence the strongly inebriating quality of the gleukos for a long time.”

In the NT, oinos g3631 usually referred to fermented wine.  Lk.10:33-34 the good Samaritan poured oil and wine (oinos)…not grape juice…into the traveler’s wounds!  Red wine is an antiseptic.  Mt.9:17 Jesus said new wine (g3631) would cause brittle old wineskins to break (due to the fermentation process).

This topic is continued and concluded in “Wine or Grape Juice in Jesus’ Cup? (2)”.  In it, we’ll discuss concerns and symbolism of wine in Bible times, and when the use of grape juice for communion began.

Living Water Produces Spiritual Fruit

In the Bible there are several natural symbols for the Holy Spirit (HS).  e.g. dove, oil, fire, wind, cloud, (“living”) water.  Here we’ll focus on the water of the Spirit.  (Symbolism will build as we proceed.)

God wants to fellowship with humanity and His saints through the HS.  And God wants us to deeply desire or “thirst” for His ways and for fellowship in/with His Presence.  Jesus said in Mt.5:6, “Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied”.

Ge.2:15 at the beginning, God placed the first human Adám in the garden of Eden to cultivate it.  Ge.2:9-10 “A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden.”  This river watered the trees of Eden.  Ge.3:8 the Presence of the Lord God was there in the garden with Adam & Eve.

Ge.2:16-17, 3:6 but they sinned, and hid from God!  (see “Tree Symbolism in Scripture”.)  The Lord is holy and wouldn’t fellowship with sin.  Ge.3:24 so God cast mankind out of the garden, away from His Presence.  But He had a plan…humanity wouldn’t forever be separated from God!  Skipping ahead….

800s BC Joel prophesied that God’s Spirit would be poured out, eventually becoming available to all.  Jl.2:28-29 “I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind.”  Again, water is symbolic of the HS.  Also Is.44:2-5 “I will pour out water on him who is thirsty; I will pour out My Spirit on your offspring.”

Fulfillment began around 30 AD.  In Jn.16:7, Jesus said it was necessary for Him to depart, so the Helper, the HS, could be sent to His disciples.  Jn.19:34 “One of the soldiers pierced His [Jesus’] side and out came blood and water.”  Symbolic availability of the water of the Spirit.  Reappearing after His crucifixion death, Jesus is with His disciples in Jn.20:22. “He breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.”  The disciples inhaled Jesus’ breath into their lungs.  Jesus gave them a pledge or foretaste of the HS, soon to be sent. (cf. Ge.2:7, Job 32:8 the breath of life and human spirit were given.)

We read of the miracle sending approximately 50 days later in Ac.2:4. “They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak in other tongues.”  v.13-18 “But others mocked saying, ‘They’re full of new wine’. Peter declared, ‘These men aren’t drunk; this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel.”  Those newly full of the HS weren’t drunk with wine. (see the topic “Spiritual Gifts and ‘Tongues”.)

Prior to Ac.2, other of Jesus’ encounters prefigured this outpouring of the HS.  In Jn.7, Jesus was at the Jews’ annual Feast of Booths in Jerusalem.  A traditional water-pouring libation ceremony was part of this October festival.  Priests would draw a pitcher of water at the pool of Siloám, then in procession enter the Temple’s south Watergate, and pour the water at the base of the altar.  It reminded them of God’s promise in Jl.2:23. “Rejoice, sons of Zión, He has poured down for you the early [Nov-Dec] and the latter [Apr] rain. The threshing floors will be full of new grain and the vats of new wine.”

Jesus’ Hebrew name is Yeshúa (Strongs h3442 masc), shortened from Yehoshúa (h3091), meaning ‘YHVH saves/is salvation’.  (see “Savior’s Name in Bible Languages”.)  He figuratively linked their water libation to the soon-coming HS.  Jesus said there in Jn.7:37-39, “If any man thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water. This spoke He of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him would receive.”

The scripture to which Jesus/Yeshua referred is Is.55:1. “Ho! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters.”  Also Is.12:2-3 “Behold, God is my salvation [yeshúah h3444 fem]. Therefore you will joyously draw water from the springs of salvation [yeshuah h3444].”  Is.12:3 was sung annually at the Feast water-pouring ceremony!  Is.25:9 regarding Yeshua/Jesus, “Behold this is our God for whom we have waited that He might save us. Let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation [yeshuah h3444].”  Amen…Jesus/Yeshua is God and Savior!  Believers receive the living water of the HS.

An earlier encounter was Jn.4:5-7. “He came to a city of Samaria called Sychár. Jesus sat by Jacob’s Well.”  A woman of Samaria came to draw water from it.  v.10-15 “Jesus said to her, ‘You would have asked [Me/Jesus], and He would have given you living water. The water that I shall give will become a well of water springing up to eternal life.”  Jesus is the giver of living water, the HS.  The name of that town, Sychar, meant ‘intoxicating drink’!  And when the HS was sent, in Ac.2:13 some wrongly said Jesus’ disciples were full of new wine!  (But the HS is the Spirit of a sound mind, 2Ti.1:7.)

1Co.12:13 the apostle Paul wrote, “We were all made to drink of one Spirit”.  And Ep.5:18 “Don’t get drunk wi th wine, which is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit.”  The apóthegm ‘Holy Ghost wine’ (Ac.2:4, 13 KJV) is intoxicating drink, but in a spiritual sense only!  Ac.2:15 they weren’t inebriated!  Although Paul advised a little wine therapy for Timothy (1Ti.5:23), drunkenness is sin (Ro.13:13).

Jacob’s Well is thought to be at the site of ancient Shechém, where Jacob lived upon his return from N. Mesopotamia.  ref Ge.33:18-20.  To water their herds, Bible patriarchs’ servants laboriously dug wells, sometimes through limestone.  Ge.26:15-19 Isaac re-dug the wells of his father Abraham.  From this, there’s a lesson in perseverance.  If the flow of the HS has been hindered, we can ‘re-dig the ancient wells’ by worship and prayerfully pressing-in.  I’ve heard the admonition preached, “When you appear before God without worship, you’re like a well without water; you dry up”.

Jesus said living water would flow from believers (Jn.7:38).  Paul calls believers the temple of the HS.  1Co.3:16 “You are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwells in you.”  Christians are the temple!

Ezk.47:1-7 was an inspiring allegory of the future ‘temple’ with water increasingly flowing from it.  v.12 “By the river on both sides will grow all kinds of trees. Their leaves won’t wither and their fruit won’t fail. They will bear every month because the water flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food and their leaves for healing.”  Trees with fruit and healing leaves on the banks of the “river”.

Je.17:7-8 “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord. He will be like a tree planted by the water. Its leaves will be green, and it won’t cease to yield fruit.”  Also Ps.1:1-3 “Blessed is the man who delights in the law of the Lord. He will be like a tree planted by streams of water which yields its fruit in its season.”  Men symbolically as a tree which bears fruit from the living water of the HS; it won’t wither.  (Interestingly, Mk.8:24 the blind man Jesus healed initially saw men who looked like trees walking.)

Jn.15:16 Jesus said, “You should bear fruit and your fruit should remain”.  Pr.8:19 the HS Wisdom said in 1^st Person, “My fruit is better than gold”.  Wisdom of Sirach 1:14-18 Orthodox Bible (ref KJV 1611 Edition) “The gratification of Wisdom is the fear of the Lord, and she intoxicates them with her fruits; sprouting peace and well-being for healing.”  (It’s not drunkenness.)  And in Ga.5:22 Paul writes of “the fruit of the Spirit”.  The fruit & attributes of the HS (within the saints) are better than gold!

Ezekiel’s river reappears in the final book of the Bible.  Re.22:1-2 “He showed me a river of the water of Life, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb. On either side of the river was the Tree of Life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the Tree were for the healing of the nations.”  From the beginning in Genesis, there was also a river and the Tree of Life (Ge.2:9-10).  In Revelation, twelve kinds of fruit are produced from the living water of the Spirit.  (And there’s twelve months in a year.)  Let’s look at the twelve kinds of fruit which heal the nations:

Ga.5:22-23 “The fruit [g2590, Greek] of the Spirit [g4151] is love [g26], joy [g5479], peace [g1515], patience [g3115], kindness [g5544], goodness [g19], faith [g4102], meekness [g4236], self-control [g1466]; against such there is no law.”  This one passage reflects nine kinds of fruit.  There’s more….

Ep.5:9 KJV “The fruit [g2590] of the Spirit [g4151 pneúma] is in all goodness [g19], righteousness [g1343] and truth [g225].”  Barnes Notes “The fruit of the Spirit; that is, since the Holy Spirit through the gospel produces goodness, righteousness, and truth, see that you exhibit these in your lives.”  Gill Exposition Ep.5:9 “Where the Spirit of God, and the work of grace are, there will be more or less an appearance of these fruits.”  Meyer NT Commentary “The fruit of the Spirit is also the fruit of the light.”  So two more here, righteousness and truth, bring to eleven the subtotal of healing kinds of fruit/co-product of the HS.  (Goodness [g19] was counted among the nine in Ga.5:22 previously.)

Ro.6:22 “Having been freed from sin…you have your fruit [g2590 karpós] unto holiness [g38 hagiasmós, sanctification], and the end everlasting life.”  Gill Exposition Ro.6:22 “Holiness is a fruit of freedom from the bondage of sin, begun in regeneration. It is a fruit of the Spirit.”  Holiness has been called the ‘ultimate fruit of the Spirit’.  (Others might say that “love” is.)  This brings the total seen in Paul’s epistles to twelve kinds of fruit, as Re.22:2 also indicates!  Praise the Lord!

For emphasis, here’s two more verses which associate some of the twelve fruit with the HS.  2Th.2:13 “God has from the beginning chosen you for salvation, through sanctification [g38] in the Spirit and faith [g4102] in the truth [g225].”  Ro.14:17 “The Kingdom of God is righteousness [g1343] and peace [g1515] and joy [g5479] in the Holy Spirit.”  Both of those verses reflect three (different) fruit.

Recounting…the twelve fruit/co-product that heal the nations are: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, meekness, self-control, righteousness, truth, holiness (sanctification).  As we bear these positive attitudes/traits which the HS produces in our lives, we and others experience spiritual healing.  And the mustard seed grows (Mt.13:31-32)…and Ezekiel’s symbolic river becomes deeper, and deeper!

The Odes of Solomon, the earliest Christian hymnbook, was probably written in Aramaic Sýriac pre-125 AD.  The following is from Ode 6:7-13 (translated by James H. Charlesworth): “Our spirits praise His Holy Spirit. For there went forth a stream and it became a river great and broad; indeed it carried away everything, and it shattered, and brought it to the temple. And the restraints of men were not able to restrain it. For it spread over the face of all the earth, and filled everything. Then all the thirsty upon the earth drank, and thirst was relieved and quenched; for from the Most High the drink was given. Blessed therefore, are the ministers of that drink, who have been entrusted with His water. Because everyone recognized them as the Lord’s, and lived by the living water of eternity. Hallelujah.”  In this inspiring Ode, we see glimpses of Ezk.47, Jn.4:10-15 and Jn.7:37-38.

Also Re.7:17 “The Lamb in the center of the throne shall be their Shepherd and guide them to springs of the water of life; and God shall wipe every tear from their eyes.”  Re.21:6 “And He said to me, ‘It is done. I Am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost.”  This Giver is Jesus (Re.22:13, 16).

Conclusion: In Genesis, mankind began in the garden of Eden with a cosmic river and the Tree of Life.  They sinned, and humanity wasn’t allowed access to the Tree of Life.  Millennia later, after Jesus died and rose again, the symbolic Spirit of the water of Life was given in Acts 2.  Our Bible canon ends in the paradise of Re.22 with the river of the HS issuing from the throne (cf. Ezk.47), nourishing trees of life which bear twelve fruit of the Spirit month after month.

Re.22:17 “The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come’. And let the one who hears say, ‘Come’. And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of Life without cost.”  Come to salvation’s living waters!  It’s a wonderful spiritual future, available for us…in eternal Life!  To God be the glory!

Sacrifices To Idols and Romans 14

This is about sacrifices to idols, and the apostle Paul’s related conscientious guidelines.  The pertinent chapters are 1Corinthians 8, 1Corinthians 10, Romans 14.  This issue has to do with respecting the consciences of others, so others aren’t mistakenly influenced to return to sin.

The society and religious beliefs of Nero’s Roman Empire (54-68 AD), a ‘beastly’ regime, were quite different from ours.  Times were much worse in the 1^st century world than in 21^st century America!

As background, let’s first reference scriptures about idolatrous practices which were extant in the ancient world.  Ex.20:1-6 Christ had commanded ancient Israel to not have any other gods besides Him, nor were they to make or worship physical representations of God.  But those Israelites disobeyed, and engaged in rites to the heathen gods of other peoples & nations.

Despite Christ’s commands, Israel ate and bowed down to the god Báal (Nu.25:1-3).  David wrote of idolaters in Ps.16:4. “The sorrows of those who run after another god will be multiplied; I will not pour out their drink offerings of blood, nor take their names on my lips.”  Drink offerings to pagan gods were often blood mixed with wine.  Ezk.33:25 “Thus says the Lord, ‘You eat with the blood, and lift your eyes to your idols.”  Israelites were eating ‘strangled’ meat with the blood, dedicated to idols.  The heathen ate the blood of sacrifices, or sat beside that blood in a vessel, to communicate with evil spirits (Benson Commentary).  The heart of their sacrificial animals was often extracted.  Ho.4:12-14 Israelites were sacrificing to idols at altars with temple prostitutes.

Ac.14:11-15 “The priest of Zeus, whose temple was outside the city, brought oxen to the gates to offer sacrifice.”  In 1^st century Lýstra of S. Galatia, the priest of Zeus wanted to honor Barnábas & Paul with animal sacrifice, as if they were gods!  Oxen are clean animals.  But not all pagan animal sacrifices were clean…in the 160s BC Antíochus Epíphanes offered swine’s flesh and polluted the Jerusalem temple.

From the Acts 15 Jerusalem council, four prohibitions were sent out in a decree to the church at large.  (see the topic “Acts 15 – Four Prohibitions”.)  Ac.15:28-29 “It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us that you abstain from things sacrificed to idols (Strongs g1494 eidolóthuton, Greek), from blood, from things strangled (dying of itself), and from sexual immorality.”  These four things were customarily practiced in the Roman Empire and impacted the early church, especially gentile believers.

Gentiles worshiped idols by drinking the blood of strangled animals and having sex with heathen temple prostitutes.  Many gentile idol-worshipers were now coming to Christ.  This was a big issue!

It was said…anciently the worship of pagan deities could be engaged in on almost ‘every street corner’!  1Th.1:9 Paul wrote, Christians at Thessaloníca had “turned from idols to serve the true God”.  1Co.12:2 when Christians at Corinth were pagans, they were “led astray to dumb idols”.  Ac.15:29 prohibited Christians from sacrificing to idols at pagan temples.  Yet years later some in the churches at Pérgamos (Re.2:14) & Thyátira (Re.2:20) still “eat things sacrificed to idols and commit immorality”…violating two Ac.15 prohibitions.  The worship of pagan gods & goddesses was a way of life in the ancient world.  A multitude of animals were often sacrificed; a ‘hécatomb’ was the Greek term for offering 100 oxen.

Here’s a hypothetical question…would the Holy Spirit have approved or disapproved of Christians eating roast beef sandwiches at the Aphrodíte Diner and wine shop (adjacent to her temple)?

Paul explained where/when questionable food should and shouldn’t be considered defiled by idols, idolatry.  He wrote 1 Corinthians around 55 AD.  Ancient Corinth, located 50 miles SW of Athens, had many idol temples; e.g. to Aphrodite, Poseidon, Apollo, Ísis, Deméter.

In verses of 1Corinthians 8, Paul addressed eating things sacrificed to idols.  Pagan idols represented pagan gods.  1Co.8:1 “Concerning the eating of things sacrificed to idols. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.”  v.6-7 “We know there’s no God but only the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. But not all believers know this. Some people are so accustomed to idolatry, that when they eat food offered to an idol, their weak conscience is defiled.”  Some believers ate it thinking that since the idol represents a (lesser) god, the sacrificial meat is holy.  Or, since the meat was offered to a heathen god, it thereby became polluted, unfit to eat anywhere.  Two extremes.  Paul continues in v.8, “We’re no worse if we don’t eat it, and no better if we do”.  Although fasting, dieting, or of course eating have benefit, these actions won’t affect our salvation standing with God.

1Co.8:9-12 “But be careful that your choice doesn’t become a hindrance to the weak. For if someone sees you dining in an idol’s temple [eidolíon g1493], won’t his conscience be emboldened to eat things sacrificed to idols? And through your knowledge the weak for whom Christ died is ruined. Thus by wounding their conscience you sin against Christ.”  Don’t you cause others weak in the faith to violate their conscience.  Your bad example of eating in an idol temple area might cause a weak Christian to think it’s okay to worship the pagan god, and thereby defile his conscience.  Paul sarcastically refers to this as your “knowledge” (or your abuse of it), which he indicated can make one arrogant (from v.1).  Jesus said in Mt.25:40, “Whatever you did to the least of these My brothers, you did it to Me”.

Paul concludes this passage with 1Co.8:13. “Therefore if food causes my brother to offend, I would never eat flesh again.”  Paul considers eating food/flesh comparatively unimportant, if it would cause a weak brother to return to idolatry.  Of note, whether such meat is clean or unclean isn’t addressed.

Orthodox Bible Note 1Co.8:4-13 “Throughout the Roman Empire, animals were sacrificed to gods at feasts and public occasions. Part of each offering was used in a ceremonial meal or went to the donor; the remainder was often sold in public meat markets. A dilemma…should Christians eat meat that had been offered before idols? Jews had prohibitions.”  Pagan temples also served as restaurants and butcher shops.

In 1Corinthians 10, Paul returned to this issue.  v.14 “Beloved, flee from idolatry.”  v.19-21 is an idol itself a god? “No. The things which the nations sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons.”  Don’t do both the Lord’s Supper and an idolatrous ceremony.

1Co.10:25 “Eat whatever is sold in the shambles without letting your conscience trouble you.”  Of course, “whatever is sold” in the public markets doesn’t mean rancid meat or meat having harmful parasites!  Community, Conflict, and the Eucharist in Roman Corinth “The quality of the meat was questionable.”  Paul was saying that the buyer shouldn’t worry his conscience about the source of the food/leftovers, possibly unknown.

1Co.10:27 “If an unbeliever invites you to dinner, eat what is served without asking questions of conscience.”  It was okay to eat meat at a dinner or banquet in someone’s home (but not in pagan temple eateries) if a place at the table isn’t set for a god; no need to ask the host about the source of the food.  v.28-29 “But if anyone says to you, ‘This was sacrificed to idols’, don’t eat it, for the sake of him that disclosed it and for the conscience of another.”  If anyone makes an issue about the source of the food, then don’t eat it out of respect for the conscientious scruples of the person who informed/‘warned’ you or a fellow-guest.

1Co.10:31-32 Paul concludes the passage with, “Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Give no offense, either to Jews, Greeks, or to the church of God.”  So in 1Co.10, Paul elaborated on this matter of things sacrificed to idols, which he began in 1Co.8.

Eating leftovers from previous sacrifices to idols would also offend Jews & Jewish Christians.  Mishneh Avodat Kochavim 7:15 doesn’t allow eating leftover flesh, wine, or fruits from an idol temple.  Jews had an overly restrictive interpretation from Ex.34:15, originally regarding heathens in the Land. “They prostitute themselves after their gods, and sacrifice to their gods and invite you to eat of it.”  This verse related to ancient Israel worshiping pagan gods with Canaanites in pagan idol-feasts.  Ahavat Israel “This prohibition [for Jews] applies to anything served to an idol in a sacrificial manner.”

Close to two years after his 1Corinthians epistle, Paul wrote to the Romans around 57 AD.  Here Paul addressed the same issue.  Ancient Rome had approximately 400 idol temples…e.g. to Diana, Mercury, Saturn, Jupiter, Juno, the Pantheon to the gods.  (also see the topic “Heavenly Host Authorities and Powers”.)  The sacrifice for Jupiter (Zeus) was a castrated white ox, for Juno it was a white heifer.

Generally meat in ancient Rome could be expensive and was rarely eaten.  Only very cold weather would allow it to stay fresh.  Roman scholar R.W. Davies said the soldiers were reluctant to eat meat, fearing they’d get sick from it.  Cereals and legumes made up the bulk of most diets.

Misapplying or misinterpreting Romans 14 has resulted in hard feelings and even a measure of division in the church.  Let’s now go through Ro.14, keeping in mind the verses of 1Co.8 and 1Co.10.

Ro.14:1-2 “Accept him whose faith is weak, without becoming divided over his scruples. One believes he may eat all things; another who is weak eats vegetables only.”  No leftover flesh.  By “all things”, Paul doesn’t mean harmful or fatal things!  David Stern Jewish New Testament Commentary “Paul isn’t proposing that the Jewish dietary laws have been abrogated.”  Paul had referred to the weak in 1Co.8:9.  The weak in Rome are thought to be Jewish Christians (the minority) who’d returned after their 49 AD exile by Claudius (ruled 41-54 AD), Ac.18:2.  Strict kosher slaughter places in Rome were now fewer.

Jews and some God-fearers wouldn’t eat leftovers from idol temples.  Barnes Notes Ro.14:2 “Another who is weak – there is reference here, doubtless, to the Jewish convert; whether it was lawful to eat the meat which was offered in sacrifice to idols. In those sacrifices a part only of the animal was offered, and the remainder was eaten by the worshipers, or offered for sale in the market like other meat.”  Life Application Bible Ro.14:2 “After a sacrifice was presented to a god in a pagan temple, only part of it was burned. The remainder was often sent to the market to be sold. Thus a Christian might easily, even unknowingly, buy such meat in the marketplace or eat it at the home of a friend.”  Amy Jill Levine Judaism and Jewishness “Many Jews refused to partake of meat distributed at civic festivals, what the Jews called ‘meat sacrificed to idols.”  It was safer for Jews (and Jewish Christians) in Rome to just renounce all meat sold at markets.  That’s what Ro.14 is dealing with.

Ro.14:3-6 “Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains condemn the one who eats, for God has accepted him. One man regards one day above another, someone else regards them all alike. He who eats does so to the Lord, for he gives God thanks; he who eats not does so to the Lord and gives God thanks.” (cf. 1Co.10:31)  Some abstain from food due to scruples of conscience.  The self-righteous Pharisees appointed Mondays & Thursdays as fast days to abstain from food.  The Pharisee declared in Lk.18:12, “I fast twice in the week”.  They chided Jesus in Mk.2:18-20. “The disciples of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples don’t fast.’ Jesus replied, ‘They will fast in those days.”  There were Christians (Jews & gentiles) who chose to eat nothing at all on some (fast) days…we shouldn’t judge Christians for being selective about what food groups (meat, fruit, veggies, etc.) they’ll eat “to the Lord”, Ro.14:6, on (non-fast) days.

Ro.14:13 “Let us not judge each other, nor put an obstacle or stumbling block in a brother’s way.” (cf. 1Co.8:13)  Don’t offend or cause another (Jewish) Christian to doubt, backslide, or lose his faith.

Ro.14:14 “I am convinced in the Lord Jesus that nothing is defiled/common [koinós g2839] of itself; but to him who thinks anything to be defiled/common [koinos g2839], to him it is defiled/common [koinos g2839].”  Paul is saying it’s a matter of conscience.  Barnes Notes “Greek ‘common.”  Vincent Word Studies “Lit. common. Compare Mk.7:2 ‘With defiled [koinos g2839], unwashed hands.”

In Ro.14:14, many Bibles mistranslate koinos as “unclean”.  But the Greek LXX and New Testament term for unclean is akáthartos g169, not koinos g2839.  (In the LXX, koinos never meant unclean!)  This distinction is evident in Ac.10:14 where Peter used both terms in the same verse. “I have never eaten anything defiled/common [koinos g2839] or unclean/impure [akathartos g169].”  The two Greek terms had different meanings!

Meat of a healthy clean animal is naturally undefiled.  But it became defiled or made common and unfit for holy use if the animal was lame, blind, or defective (e.g. De.15:21 & 17:1), or if eaten in idolatrous rites (Ex.34:15).  Pharisees racially considered clean meat defiled if it’s touched by gentile hands.

Ro.14:15 “For if because of food your brother is hurt, you aren’t walking according to love. Don’t destroy with your food him for whom Christ died.”  Don’t grieve or trouble his conscience.  This is similar to 1Co.8:11-13.  Ro.14:20 “Don’t tear down the work of God for the sake of food. All things are indeed pure, but they are evil for the man who eats and causes stumbling.”  Everything God said is pure, is pure, and to those with a pure conscience.  Paul wrote in Ti.1:15, “To the pure, all things are pure; but to the corrupt and unbelieving nothing is pure, both their mind and conscience are corrupted”.

Ro.14:21 “It’s better not to eat meat or drink wine or anything by which your brother stumbles.”  (Paul said in Ro.9:31-32 that those stumbling were Jews.)  Don’t eat meat from the butcher shop or drink wine which might have been used in pagan libations, if eating would offend a brother or sister present.  Da.1:8, 16 in Babylon, the prophet Daniel had refused royal food and wine which was corrupted.  He lived on mostly vegetables and water.

Ro.14:22 “Blessed is he who doesn’t condemn himself in what he allows.”  Stay free from a doubting conscience.  v.23 “But whoever has doubts, yet still eats, is condemned, because his eating isn’t from faith; and whatever is not from faith is sin.”  Don’t eat it, if we can’t eat it with a clear conscience.  Have an assured belief that what we do is right.  This is a general maxim of the Christian faith.  Matthew Poole Commentary “By faith here is meant knowledge or full persuasion, not a wavering mind.”  It’s dangerous to ignore one’s conscience, and possibly fall back into old ways of sin.

Ro.15:1 “We who are strong ought to bear with the weaknesses of the weak, and not just please ourselves.”  Paul began this passage about dealing with “the weak” in Ro.14:1 (also it’s in 1Co.8:11).  Don’t let one’s choice of action offend or hinder the weak, regarding the source of food sold in markets.  We’d want others to bear with us in matters where we may be weak!  Ro.15:2 “Let each of us please his neighbor for what is good to build him up.” (as 1Co.10:24 “Let no one be forever seeking his own good, but that of others.”)  Accommodate ourselves to others (for good, not for evil).  Speak and act so as to build-up our brothers/sisters in the faith, whether they be strong or weak.

In reading through 1Co.8, 1Co.10, Ro.14, similarities are noted.  The center column cross-refs in many Bibles tie several Ro.14 verses to 1Co.8, and 1Co.10 too.  Paul’s overall subject is the same.  In Rome there were 400 pagan temples…it’s possible much of the meat sold in the marketplace had come from a temple sacrifice somewhere!  So for a weak Christian or Jewish Christian to avoid thinking of an idol when eating meat, a form of ‘second-hand’ idolatry to him…he’d just quit eating meat altogether!

Ro.14 doesn’t address the eating of clean or unclean creatures, about which Christ commanded in Le.11.  (see “Unclean versus Clean Food”.)

Nazarite vows were anciently taken (Nu.6), and occasional fasting is a good Biblical principle (e.g. Mk.2:20).  But the Ro.14 avoidance of possible leftovers isn’t asceticism.  Abstaining from okay wine-drinking, ref Jg.9:13 (in moderation), could be due to asceticism with some people.  In the Ro.14:6 “he who eats not does so to the Lord”, its doubtful Paul was referring to Pythágorean vegetarians among the gentile majority…since the abstaining in the church at Rome was “to the Lord” (cf. 1Ti.4:1-3 “doctrines of demons”).  JFB Commentary Ro.14:2 “Restricting himself probably to a vegetable diet for fear of eating what might have been offered to idols.”

The main issue in Ro.14, 1Co.8, 1Co.10 was…whether or not Christians should eat meat (and drink wine) thought to have been previously sacrificed to idols.

Conclusion: It would’ve been unacceptable to eat a sandwich at the Aphrodite Diner (1Co.8:10).  1Co.6:9 idolaters won’t inherit the Kingdom of God.  But it’s okay to eat at home or church or at a friend’s home…food purchased in the marketplace/shambles.  Such meat or leftovers might have come from Diana’s Deli adjacent to her temple, or from Aphrodite’s Diner.  The source is unknown.  That is, it’s okay to eat the food/leftovers at home…if doing so didn’t bother someone’s conscience.  But, Paul says that if there’s a conscience problem (because a gentile Christian had worshiped idols before conversion, or a Jewish Christian was overly concerned about a possible idol temple source of leftovers prior to their sale in the shambles)…don’t eat it.  That’s the gist of Paul’s guidelines.

Idolatry is still practiced in today’s world.  This principle of not inadvertently hurting a Christian’s conscience or resolve is applicable to other matters besides idolatry…e.g. certain holidays so-called (such as Halloween), avoiding wine in the presence of a recovering alcoholic, etc.

The Holy Spirit with the written word of God will educate and guide our consciences rightly.  And while we ourselves are engaged in this education process as part of our sanctification, we should be considerate of others’ consciences.  So we won’t cause unnecessary offense which might result in a brother or sister backsliding into a past sinful practice or losing faith in God.

Jesus’ Death – the Physical Cause

Over the years, you may have heard or read of various possible physical causes for Jesus’ death at His crucifixion.  Such as: a broken heart, a spear thrust in His side, multiple wounds, suffocation, exposure, heart failure, exhaustion, poison.  The apostle Paul affirmed in 1Co.15:3, “Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures”.  In so doing, Jesus fulfilled Bible prophecies about His death.  We’ll examine what the scriptures reflect in regards to physical factors associated with His death.

Ancient historians too have verified that Jesus lived and died.  Jewish historian Josephus Antiquities of the Jews 18:3:3 “Jesus, a wise man…Pilate, upon hearing him accused by men of the highest standing among us, had condemned him to be crucified”.  In 117 AD, Roman historian Tacitus Annals 15.44 “Christus, from whom the name [Christian] had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilate”.  Jesus was a known historical figure.

Crucifixion was a slow, painful, humiliating execution.  The sufferer was nailed or tied to a large wooden cross or pole, and left to hang until dead.  It could take two or more days for the victim to die!  Crucifixion was used by the Persians ca 500 BC, and ‘perfected’ by the Romans ca 100 BC.  It was their common method for executing condemned criminals, rebels and traitors.

Flogging or scourging would usually precede the crucifixion.  The whip (flagrum) consisted of leather strips, with pieces of bone, metal and stone tied in.  It could rip out chunks of flesh, exposing muscles & bones.  David prophesied of Jesus in Ps.22:17, “I can count all My bones. People stare at Me.”  The victim would then carry or drag the crossbeam to the execution site where the stake was in the ground.

“According to the scriptures.”  Is.52:14 “His appearance was marred more than any man.”  Is.53:5 “He was wounded for our transgressions. And by His scourging we are healed.”  Jesus is at the Jewish high priest’s residence in Mk.14:65. “Some began to spit at Him, to beat Him with their fists.”  Mk.15:15-20 “Roman soldiers put a crown of thorns on Him. And they kept beating His head with a staff and mocked Him.”  Mt.27:26 “Pilate…Having scourged Jesus, handed Him over to be crucified.”  Bleeding from multiple wounds, the crucifixion victim was nailed up.  Ps.22:16 “They pierced My hands and My feet.”

The Roman victim might remain on the cross for days, slowly dying in agony.  But not Jesus nor the two criminals crucified with Him that day in Judea (Lk.23:38-43)!  De.21:22-23 “If a man commits a capital offense and is hanged on a tree, his body shall not remain all night on the tree. You shall bury him the same day; that the land be not defiled.”  A rotting corpse wasn’t to be left hanging in the air for birds to eat.  So the Jewish leaders who framed Jesus wanted His (dead) body taken down before night.

Let’s now read what happened to Jesus while He was hanging on the cross, before His death that same day.  The Bible doesn’t provide complete autopsy results, but does indicate the physical cause of death.

Mark’s gospel says they tried to give Jesus a wine drink mixed with myrrh, immediately prior to hanging Him up.  Mk.15:22-25 “They offered Him wine [oínos Strongs g3631] mixed with myrrh [smurnízo g4669], but He didn’t take it.”  The Greek term oinos g3631 occurs 33 times in the New Testament (NT).  Pure myrrh (smúrna g4666) is a bitter yellowish tree resin.  In the NT, the term myrrh g4666 occurs only in Mt.2:11 & Jn.19:39.  The mixture or tincture of myrrh g4669 occurs only in Mk.15:23.

What was the nature of this drink (which Jesus initially refused)?  Some think it was a mild painkiller provided by charitable women (Sanh 43a, ref Pr.31:6).  Others think it was a medicated wine or narcotic to dull the pain, or sedate.  Would the Roman soldiers have offered this mixture out of compassion?  The late theologian and Anchor Bible commentator Raymond Brown, “Neither in fact nor in what we know of ancient pharmacology does myrrh serve as a narcotic. Perhaps the myrrh was only a flavoring and the wine used was thought to numb.”  Myrrh would affect or alter the taste of the mix.

Matthew’s parallel account identifies another ingredient in this mix!  Mt.27:33-35 “They gave him sour wine [óxos g3690] to drink mixed with gall [cholé g5521]. After tasting it, He wouldn’t drink it.”  The term oxos g3690 occurs in 6 NT verses, all relative to Jesus’ crucifixion (Mt.27:34, 48; Mk.15:36; Lk.23:36; Jn.19:29-30).  Oxos/sour wine g3690 was a variety, quality or adulteration of oinos/wine g3631, e.g. acrid wine or vinegar.  Cheap wine or vinegar mixed with water was a common beverage.  By itself, it wouldn’t be rejected as undrinkable.  (However, vinegar is a stimulant, not a sedative!)  So Matthew chose the Greek term oxos for this mixture, which had water with wine or vinegar as a base.

Combining the accounts of Mark & Matthew…the drink Jesus initially refused was wine mingled with myrrh and gall.  The Greek term rendered gall is chole g5521.  In the NT, this term occurs only here in Mt.27:34 and in Ac.8:23, where the apostle Peter said to Simon the magician, “I see you are in the gall [g5521] of bitterness and the bond of iniquity”.  A few translations read, “…you are poisoned by bitterness.”  Peoples NT Notes Ac.8:23 “The gall of reptiles was considered by the ancients the source of their venom.”  Robertson Commentary “Peter describes Simon’s offer as poison and a chain.”  Poison!?  The term often used in ancient Greek poetry for poison is…chole/(gall) g5521!

We read in Mt.27:34 that Jesus didn’t drink the gall mixture then.  V d Brink Commentary “In the LXX [gall/chole] has the meaning of poison (in Jb.20:14, Ps.69:21)….It is clear that offering wine mingled with poison must here be regarded as an act of mercy.”  The Mt.27:34 margin refs Ps.69:21, to be fulfilled by Jesus.  However, that Old Testament (OT) prophecy won’t be fulfilled until Mt.27:48.

While the term chole/gall is in the Greek NT & LXX, the corresponding OT Hebrew term is rosh h7219.  Strongs Hebrew and Chaldee Dictionary describes rosh h7219. “A poisonous plant. Poison even of serpents.”  Ps.69:21 “They gave me gall [roshe h7219] for My food, and in My thirst vinegar to drink.”  Jewish Publication Society “They put poison in my food.”  ISV & NET Bibles “They put bitter poison into my food.”  Cambridge Commentary Ps.69:21 “The Hebrew word rosh, rendered gall, LXX χολή (chole), denotes some bitter and poisonous plant.”  The Greek LXX has, “They gave Me gall [chole g5521] for my food, and made Me drink vinegar for My thirst”.  Again, this Greek term chole g5521 is the term in Mt.27:34, offered to Jesus!

The Hebrew term rosh h7219, translated as gall or poison in Ps.69:21 (the prophecy Jesus will fulfill), occurs in 11 other OT verses.  Following are selected verses for comparison and a frame of reference:  De.32:32 “Their vine is from the vine of Sodom and the fields of Gomorrah. Their grapes are poison [rosh h7219].”  Ho.10:4 “Judgment springs up as poisonous weeds [or hemlock h7219] in the furrows of the field.”  Am.6:12 “You have turned justice into poison [h7219], and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood.”  Je.8:14 “Our God has given us poison [gall h7219] water to drink, because we have sinned against Him.”  Jb.20:14-16 “He sucks the poison [h7219] of cobras; the viper’s tongue slays him.”  Here the Greek LXX term for poison or gall is chole g5521…as in the Greek of Mt.27:34!

Let’s return to the gospels for Jesus’ prophetic fulfillment (“according to the scriptures”, 1Co.15:3).

We read in Mk.15:23 & Mt.27:34 where Jesus tasted but refused to drink the wine/sour wine (oinos/oxos) mingled with myrrh and gall/poison (chole g5521).  Again, chole is the term often used for poison in ancient Greek poetry.  Why didn’t Jesus just drink it then and avoid hours of agony on the cross?

Ac.3:18 “The things God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that His Christ must suffer, He has fulfilled.”  Jesus must suffer as prophesied!  He desired to bear the full burden consciously with His senses.  It was prophesied that His hands & feet must be pierced.  Ps.22:14-17 “All My bones are out of joint”.  His bones (shoulders, elbows) must slip out of joint hanging on the cross, before He dies.

Yet something most unusual occurred from 12–3pm!  Mt.27:45 “From the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour.”  Unexpected darkness! (Am.8:9?)  We read in De.21:23 that a body was not to remain hanging after dark!  Jsh.8:29 “He hanged the king of Ai on a tree until evening; and at sunset Joshua commanded and they took his body down from the tree.” (also Jsh.10:27.)  This darkness phenomenon at noon would cause confusion…it was still dark at 2–3pm!  Jesus and the two malefactors are hanging on crosses in the dark!  What were the Jewish leaders/onlookers thinking then?

Around 3pm, Jesus does drink the sour wine.  (He’d refused it earlier, Mt.27:34.)  Mt.27:46-48 “Jesus cried with a loud voice, ‘Elí, Elí, lamá sabachthaní.’ And some who heard it said, ‘This man is calling for Elijah.’ And immediately one of them ran and filled it with sour wine [oxos g3690] and gave Him a drink. The rest of them said, ‘Let’s see if Elijah will save Him.’ And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up His spirit.”  Jn.19:28-30 “Jesus, in order that the scripture be fulfilled [margin Ps.69:21], said, ‘I thirst.’ They put a sponge full of the sour wine [oxos g3690] to His mouth. When Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, ‘It is finished.’ He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.”

At 3pm, Jesus drank the sour wine mixture of vinegar, myrrh, gall…and died suddenly!  They mocked Jesus about whether Elijah would “save” Him…immediately after He’d drank that gall/poison wine!  Mk.15:36-37 “Someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine [oxos g3690] and gave Him a drink. ‘Let us see if Elijah will come take Him down.’ Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed His last.”

A man suffocating due to hanging bodyweight, or suffering a heart attack, doesn’t cry out loudly.  Yet Jesus did.  A person having a heart attack is relatively quiet.  Matthew, Mark and John all show Jesus dying right after He drank the mixture in the sponge!  metrum.org “It cannot be denied that there is a causal relationship between the application of the sponge and the death.”  It was a potent poison.

Jesus was in good physical condition from walking throughout the Land.  He wasn’t diseased; He had a healthy body and immune system.  Jesus never ate any unclean parasitic creatures, disease-carriers.

Mk.15:42-46 “Pilate was amazed to hear that Jesus had already died, so he summoned the centurion to ask if He was in fact dead. When he knew it from the centurion, he gave the body to Joseph.”  Pilate was well aware of the extent of Jesus’ scourging.  Jn.19:1-5 that morning Pilate had beheld how much Jesus was beaten.  Yet Pilate still wondered why Jesus was so soon dead…He’d been on the cross only six hours!  The Romans were experts at torture and crucifixion.  It could take a man days to die…a cruel, lingering, exhausting death!  Yet the Son of God died before the two criminals beside Him died!

Again, darkness had set in at 12pm.  The sabbath normally would begin near 6pm.  The three victims must be taken down ASAP.  Jn.19:31 “The Jewish leaders asked Pilate to have their legs broken and their bodies taken down.”  To hasten death, the Romans would break the legs of crucifixion victims with a club.  Hanging on the cross, they’d then be unable to thrust themselves up with their legs to expand their slumping chest cavity to breathe.  They’d quickly suffocate.  Jn.19:32-33 “So the soldiers broke the legs of the two men crucified with Jesus. But when they came to Jesus and saw He was already dead, they didn’t break His legs.”  There was no need to break His legs to bring on death…Jesus had been in control of His circumstances during that time, and was already dead!

Jn.19:34 “One of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.”  Reading Jn.19:34 in more than 20 translations, none of them say ‘had pierced’, as if the spear thrust caused His death.  Jesus had died from the sour wine in v.30, prior to the confirmation of v.34.

Jn.19:35-38 Jesus’ legs wouldn’t be broken! (ref Ps.34:20, Ex.12:46.)  The piercing must occur (Zec.12:10)!  To confirm a victim was dead before releasing the body, the Romans customarily inflicted a spear wound through the right side of the heart.  The outer sac of the heart (pericardium) contains blood and water.  Jesus’ blood was shed!  Mk.15:39-45 before Pilate could give Jesus’ body to Joseph, Pilate sent a centurion to certify Jesus was dead.  His side was then pierced, perhaps by the centurion’s order.

{Sidelight: Here’s one more crucifixion account.  It’s the earliest existing non-canonical account of Jesus’ Passion.  A fragment of the Lost Gospel of Peter was discovered in 1886 in an Egyptian tomb.  It was referred to by Serápion bishop of Antioch in 190 AD, Órigen in 253 AD, Eusebius bishop of Caesárea in 300 AD.  Theodóret in 455 AD said the Nazarenes (Ac.24:5) used it, and previously Jústin Mártyr also mentioned it.  Dr. D.H. Stanton wrote in Journal of Theological Studies, “The conclusion with which we are confronted is that the Gospel of Peter once held a place of honor”.

GosPet.1:15-19 “Now it was noonday, and darkness prevailed over all Judea; they were troubled in an agony lest the sun should have set, for that He yet lived. For it is written for them that the sun should not set on him that had been slain. And one of them said, ‘Give ye Him to drink gall with vinegar’; and they mingled it [Mt.27:34] and gave Him to drink; and they fulfilled all things and accomplished their sins upon their own heads. And many went about with lamps, supposing that it was night; and some fell. And the Lord cried aloud saying, ‘My power, my power, thou hast forsaken Me’. And when He had so said, He was taken up.”

We don’t give the Lost Gospel of Peter the same credence as the four canonical gospels, of course.  Nonetheless, GosPet does indicate what some Christians believed regarding Jesus’ crucifixion ca 100 years afterwards.  It contains a few details not in our gospel Passion accounts.

Dominic Crossan The Birth of Christianity “That is exactly the point of the Gospel of Peter, where Jesus is given a poisoned drink to finish the crucifixion speedily so that His body can be removed before dark.”  Another researcher observed, “In the Gospel of Peter it was poison and vinegar both in a drink”.  Prior to the advent of firearms, the most convenient common means of taking a person’s life was poison (ref Mk.16:18).}

Jn.19:4-12 Pilate thought Jesus was unjustly accused.  Mt.27:17-25 Pilate’s wife had a dream about the righteous Jesus, and so told her husband.  Pilate wanted Him released, and “washed his hands” of guilt.  Perhaps Pilate, despite other wrongs noted by historians, desired to ease or shorten Jesus’ suffering?

Jesus’ total time on the cross was comparatively short.  Some critics don’t think He really died.  But Jesus did die, according to the scriptures.  Peter said of Jesus, Ac.2:23 “This Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death”.

Yet God isn’t a masochist or sadist.  Jesus needn’t be on the cross any longer than to accomplish His Father’s will and fulfill all prophecies about Him…including the Ps.69:21 gall/poison.

Mt.26:42 “My Father, if this cannot pass away unless I drink it, Thy will be done.”  Also see Jn.18:11.  Jesus drank it…and died.  To the very end, Jesus, not His tormentors, was in control of His life.  Jesus determined exactly when/how He would die.  Jn.10:17-18 “No man takes it from Me, I have authority to lay down My life.”  Mt.26:53-54 Jesus’ Father would have sent Him legions of angels to rescue Him, had He asked. “But if I did ask, how would the scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen this way?”

Jesus said in Jn.10:11, “I Am the good Shepherd. The good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.”  Jesus also fulfilled Zec.13:7, which reads in more than 20 translations, “Strike the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered”.  Jesus referred to Zec.13:7 in Mt.26:31 & Mk.14:27.  But in both accounts He added words not found in Zec.13:7.  Mt.26:31 & Mk.14:27 in more than 20 translations, “I will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered”.  Jesus Himself struck the Shepherd!  (And His disciples left Him and fled, Mt.27:56, as prophesied.)

God commanded in Ex.20:13, “You shall not murder”.  God Himself has the authority and right to take life when He so chooses.  God determines the number of our days (Jb.14:5, Ex.23:26), and then God takes us.  In so doing, God isn’t a murderer, needless to say.  The capital punishment that YHVH commanded for certain crimes in His theocracy of ancient Israel…it was killing, but it wasn’t murder.  (see the topic “War & Killing and the Bible Christian”.)

As God, Jesus chose to lay down or sacrifice His life (according to His Father’s will).  In Jg.16:28-31, Samson also chose to sacrifice his life for a higher cause, dying at his own hand.  Samson is among God’s faithful (He.11:32)!  Jn.15:13 “Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”  There are war heroes who sacrificed their life, falling on a grenade so infantrymen next to them could live.  And the stewardess who voluntarily gave up her life jacket and went down with the sinking ship.  (Relative are the Christian martyrs who could have escaped death, but chose to die instead.)

To view the death of Jesus or Samson or those war heroes, etc. as self-murder is too narrow!  Their self-sacrifice was intentionally taking one’s own life for a greater good (somewhat similar to agathusia or benevolent suicide).  Self-sacrificers such as Jesus and Samson aren’t suicidal self-murderers!

Father God & Jesus were in charge of His entire ordeal.  Jesus didn’t die due to loss of blood from men’s actions according to the will of man, or because He just couldn’t take prolonged suffering.  Jesus made the decision as to the exact time He would die…He said, “I thirst”.  He initiated the onset of death.  Jesus struck the Shepherd.  He gave His life (for us)…men didn’t take it!

Yet many, so very, very many, ‘assisted’ in Jesus’ death, if you will.  We might say that satan ‘killed’ Jesus, or that Judas killed Jesus, Lk.22:3-4.  Or those Jewish leaders killed Jesus.  Or that Pontius Pilate killed Jesus.  Or those Roman soldiers killed Jesus.  Or that Father God killed Jesus, Ro.8:32.  Or that we ‘killed’ Jesus…you and I, all of us sinners (1Pe.3:18).

We understand that Jesus’ throat wasn’t slit as were the Passover lambs & animal sacrifices.  (Analogies and types end at some point.)  The important thing to remember is…Jesus did give His life/blood for our salvation!  1Jn.5:6 “This is He who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ.”  Both water and blood flowed from His spear wound (Jn.19:34).  Ro.3:23-25 “Christ Jesus, whom God displayed publically as a sacrifice through faith in His blood, for the remission of our sins.”  He.10:19-23 “Since we too have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, let us draw near in full assurance of faith. For He is faithful who promised.”

Jesus conquered death!  1Co.15:4 “He was buried, and raised the 3^rd day according to the scriptures.”  Jesus died…and rose again!  His blood was poured out on our behalf.  Therefore we can come boldly to God for forgiveness.  So let us come to the throne of grace with confident assurance.  Our God is faithful!  It is finished (Jn.19:30)!

Bread and Wine in the Church

Bread & wine are the symbols of the body & blood of Jesus the Savior.  The partaking of these symbols is called communion or the eucharist by many churches, and is considered a sacrament by some.

At Jesus’ Last Supper, He instructed His disciples regarding bread & wine in Lk.22:19-20. “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me…This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood.”  Accordingly, a communal sharing of the symbolic bread & wine became the practice of the church after His sacrificial death and resurrection.

A few churches believe the bread & wine actually becomes Christ’s body & blood in substance.  This is called transubstantiation.  But communion isn’t transubstantiation.  If communion were transubstantiation, then it would contradict the Holy Spirit’s decree for the church to abstain from blood (Ac.15:29)!  Christ had already forbidden human consumption of blood in the Old Testament (OT).  ref Ge.9:4 & Le.17:10.  Although Jesus is the figurative ‘bread of life’, human flesh (cannibalism) is unclean for food (Le.11:1-3, Ezk.4:12-14)!  Furthermore, at His Last Supper, Jesus was standing there in His physical body at the time He said the bread on that table “is My body” (e.g. Mt.26:26)!  Jesus then ate the bread; He didn’t eat His own body or drink His own blood.

The Christian faith isn’t magic.  The above verses help make it clear that the symbolic bread & wine don’t become in substance Christ’s body & blood; rather they represent His body & blood.  For example, Jesus said in Mt.13:38, “The field is the world and the good seed are the sons of the kingdom”.  But what Jesus meant was, the field and the seed represent the world and the sons.  It’s not literal.  Jesus said of the bread & wine in Mt.26:26-28, “This is my body…this is my blood.”  Likewise, the bread & wine are symbolic representations, not to be viewed literally.  We believe God is present in Spirit, yet not as physical food.

These symbols of bread & wine weren’t entirely new to those Jews in the 1^st century AD.  The earliest believers in Jesus/Yeshúa were Jews.  The practice of taking bread & wine has a long history.  Jews today call it kíddush, usually taken on the sabbath.

Religious bread & wine meals predate Jesus’ Last Supper.  David Stern Jewish New Testament Commentary (JNTC) Appendix, p.931 has a quote from the Dead Sea Scrolls (DSS). “And when they gather for the Community table…let no man stretch out his hand over the bread and wine before the priest….he shall first stretch out his hand….And afterwards the Messiah of Israel shall stretch out His hands. And they shall process according to this rite at every meal where at least ten persons are assembled.”  This is evidence that Jewish bread & wine meals at Qumrán anticipated the Messiah in the decades before Jesus’ human birth.

But the representative bread & wine is much more ancient than the 1^st century BC!  Back in Ge.14:18-19, “Melchisedek brought out bread and wine”.  He shared a (leavened) bread & wine meal with the uncircumcised gentile/non-Jew Abrám.

The Ps.110:1-4 prophecy about Jesus. “You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchisedek.” (also ref He.6:20.)  Jesus, the Priest-King, is of the order of Melchisedek (not of the in-between Levitical order)!  So way back in the days of father Abram/Abraham, even prior to Jacob/Israel and the Jews, a bread & wine meal foreshadowed Christ’s priesthood and rule.

Recognizing this celebration as a Melchisedekian meal and order is significant!  (see the topic “Melchisedek Order Priesthood”.)  The archetypal meal wasn’t tied to a recurring religious date or season of the year.  Its timing may or may not coincide with other religious observances.

In Jn.6:51-54, 66, 31-33, Jesus’ flesh & blood are symbolized prior to the Last Supper.  (And Qumran was having their Community bread & wine meals prior to the Last Supper date.)  Jesus said in Jn.6:54, “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life”.  Many early Jews thought bread & wine related to the coming Messiah…but not as His (literal) body & blood.

In Christianity today, there are various views about how often communion should be taken.  Some Christians now keep this (Melchisedek order) New Covenant bread & wine memorial annually, only at Passover time in the spring.

Since Jesus’ Last Supper occurred at Israel’s Passover, some (especially Jews) have tied the Lord’s Supper to Passover with unleavened bread.  1Co.5:1-9 is Paul’s mídrash about suspending the sinner, typified as “old leaven”.  v.7 “Christ our Passover”…it was Christ who ‘passed over’ the firstborn of Israel in Egypt (Ex.12:23).  He was the “Rock” who followed them in the wilderness (1Co.10:4 & De.32:3-4).  Perhaps some Jewish Christians in Jerusalem continued to customarily keep Passover at the temple (cf. De.16:5-6), as had been commanded in the old Levitical order.  Christ is the Passover of Jewish Christians, as Paul indicates.  (also see “Passover and Peace Offerings“.)

In Ex.12, Israel had been commanded to keep the Passover (from the flock) with a lamb or kid, unleavened bread, and bitter herbs.  The traditional custom of drinking wine at Passover was added centuries later.  But in all Last Supper passages, the Greek term for bread is always ártos (Strongs g740), never ázumos/unleavened (g106).

Jesus didn’t say bread & wine replaced Israel’s Passover meal, nor did He specifically call the bread & wine “a Passover”.  Even though Jesus’ last meal before His death coincided with their Passover meal, the bread & wine meal is a new covenant/ceremony in the order of Melchisedek.  It’s part of Jesus’ last will & testament (He.9:15-17)!  Therefore this communion wasn’t instituted until Jesus’ final meal before His death (which was also a Passover meal).

There was no Passover wine commanded to Moses/Israel in the Old Covenant.  Else Nazarites like Samson and Samuel would’ve been continually disobedient, ref De.16:1-2, Nu.6:2-3 & Jg.13:4-5…or cut off from Israel, ref Nu.9:13!  God had forbidden Nazarites to drink wine or grape juice, Nu.6:3.  Talmud Pesachim 10:1 it became a custom at Passover for each man to drink four cups.  That custom wasn’t commanded by God.  It was a Roman Empire custom for banquet type celebrations to include four servings of wine (cf. Lk.22:17, 20).

In 1Co.11, Paul shows that the Lord’s Supper is more than a Passover meal.  v.2 this Supper remembrance had become an authorized church practice.  In several verses Paul instructs them for when they “come/meet together”: v.17, 18, 20, 33, 34, 14:23, 26.  Paul is referring to regular gatherings in these verses, not infrequent occasions.

The celebrating of the Lord’s Supper was a main festive component of those church gatherings.  Frank Viola Pagan Christianity, p.239 “For the early Christians, the Lord’s Supper was a communal meal…a Christian banquet…called a love feast.”  Continuing with 1Co.11….

Paul reproved the Corinthians, saying their attitude was unfit for the Lord’s Supper.  1Co.11:20-22 it seems their mindset was the eating of their own supper.  A.T. Robertson “Selfish conduct…made it impossible for them to eat the Lord’s Supper.”  The hungry poor and the intoxicated rich there together.

1Co.11:23-24 Paul referred to the time Jesus instituted the observance as, “The night in which He was betrayed”.  That’s not an OT holyday emphasis.  Paul doesn’t tie bread & wine to the Passover.  Jesus had said, “Do this in remembrance of Me”.  v.25-26 “As often as you eat and drink…you proclaim the Lord’s death.”  The Greek for “as often” occurs elsewhere in the New Testament only in Re.11:6…as often as they smite the earth with plagues.  “As often” doesn’t indicate only once-a-year.

Jesus’ death was foreshadowed by all temple sacrifices each year, for that matter, not just the Passover.  e.g. Ro.3:25 Jesus is the Atonement (although He didn’t die in October on the date of Yom Kíppur).  Throughout the year, many churches will often proclaim Christ died for our sins, partaking of bread & wine.  (The DSS Essene meals at Qumran were often too.)

1Co.11:27 taking the Lord’s Supper meal selfishly was doing so unworthily.  They were ‘desecrating the Lord’s Table to satisfy personal cravings’.  v.28 “Let a man examine himself, and eat of the bread and drink of the cup.”  We should “examine” ourselves regularly, not just spiritually cram once-a-year!  David Stern op. cit. (JNTC), p.227 “The early believers were to recall Yeshua’s death for them as they began their meal. Then, after that, the entire meal time was to be devoted to fellowship.”

It was a full meal!  Were the poor brethren in Corinth “shamed” only once-a-year (v.22)?  It’s likely that for many of the poor and slave participants, the (weekly or bi-weekly) Lord’s Supper was their one real meal…a sacrificial banquet, if you will!

These were regular gatherings/meetings.  v.29-30 some saints, failing to discern the Lord’s body, were sick and passing away.  There’s healing in it also!  1Pe.2:24 “By His wounds you were healed.”  After Jesus suffered wounds on His body, figuratively the bread, we’re healed.  Is.53:4-5 emotional healing too!  McLaren Expositions Is.53:4 “Hebrew thought drew no sharp line of distinction between diseases of the body and those of the soul.”  People have testified to the healing!  It’s not magic.

1Co.11:31-34 Paul said to eat more at home if need be, so sufficient food for the poor would be available on the Lord’s Table.

The traditional full fellowship meal with bread & wine occurred often in the apostolic church.  (Gentiles in the church don’t recall any one-time Passover exodus from Egypt anyway.)  Jude 1:12 indicates these love feasts were common.  Writing of the early church, Samuele Bacchiócchi God’s Festivals, p.74 “During the course of the year the Lord’s Supper was celebrated as part of a religious service.”

1Co.10:16 “Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ?”  Their ‘breaking bread’ referred to Christ’s body.  v.3-4, 11 Israel had received food & drink all those days in the wilderness (an OT type).  v.21 commune with the Lord at His Table.  The expressions “cup of blessing” (v.16) and “fruit of the vine” (Lk.22:18) are common in Jewish blessings.  Ac.20:6-7, 11 Paul was breaking bread at a Christian love feast in Troás (a couple weeks after Passover was held in Jerusalem; communion isn’t tied to it).

Archaeologists have discovered banquet halls within several excavated ancient synagogues.  In primitive church congregations, bread & wine may well have been taken weekly (as part of a Christian banquet or memorial).  Le.24:5-9 the priests in the ancient tabernacle/temple had eaten the showbread at the Lord’s table weekly on the sabbath.  The objection of some men that partaking of the eucharist elements too often will result in them losing their meaning…isn’t in the Bible!  He.13:10 but the disbelieving Levites at the temple in the 1^st century AD had no right to eat the Lord’s Supper meals.

Over time, three noted factors leading to a morning communion service were: #1 Roman legislation prohibited Christian meal gatherings.  #2 The growing gentile church (clergy) avoided the Jewishness link of common bread & wine meals (a practice carried-over into the church from the synagogue).  #3 Abusive behavior, as Paul warned in 1Co.11, led to abandoning the bread & wine full meals.  The general practice became, Didache 14:1 (ca 100 AD) “Eucharist on the Lord’s Day”.  A communion consisting of only a wafer & thimble of grape juice/wine became a Sunday morning custom.  No shared meal.  (see “Sabbath Day Became Sunday in Rome” and “Wine or Grape Juice in Jesus’ Cup?”.)

{Sidelight: Steven Shisley cites: “The apologist Tertullian (c 155–240 CE) recounts how his community in Carthage began to assemble in the mornings to participate in a separate Eucharistic ritual at an altar (De Corona 3). According to Cyprian, a 3rd-century bishop, Christians in Carthage regularly gathered as one large assembly in the morning at an altar for a Eucharistic sacrifice in buildings devoted to religious activities (Epistle 62.14–17; Epistle 33.4–5).”  Clergy changed the apostolic love feast meal.}

Did children participate in the early church love feasts?  Jesus said in Mt.19:13-15, “Let the children come to Me”.  Here Jesus didn’t exclude children.  Children had been included, not forbidden, in OT family meals at the Lord’s pilgrim feasts.  Mt.14:21 feeding the 5,000 included children.  And the Jn.6 account of the 5,000 (v.10) also specified His “flesh and blood” symbols (v.53).  However, children should be able to conduct themselves appropriately if they take the symbols.  At the Last Supper, Jesus’ 12 disciples/apostles hadn’t received the Holy Spirit yet either, as most children today haven’t.  (cf. Jn.20:22 & Ac.2:4, which were after the Last Supper.)

1Pe.2:5, 9 Christians are a royal priesthood.  OT priests ate the showbread weekly!  Manna, the bread from heaven, was gathered by the people daily (Ex.16:21-32).  It’s important we take communion thankfully with a good conscience.  Some may use leavened or unleavened bread, with wine or grape juice.  (Recovering alcoholics are advised to use grape juice.)

Some modern Christians partake only annually, yet throughout the year they are daily able to remain mindful of the Lord’s death for them (1Co.11:24-26).  Others feel they should partake more often to remain so mindful.  Consciences do matter.  Let’s not unfavorably view others who conscientiously observe the symbols at a different time, whether very often or infrequently…or in a different manner, part of a meal or a leavened/unleavened wafer & thimble cup.  It’s a holy celebration of what Jesus has done for us.  Let’s rejoice in it!