The Eucharist


"And because that Christ, our Redeemer, declared that which He offered under the species of bread to be truly His own body, therefore has it ever been a firm belief in the Church of God, and this holy Synod doth now declare it anew, that, by the consecration of the bread and of the wine, a conversion is made of the whole substance of the bread into the substance of the body of Christ our Lord, and of the whole substance of the wine into the substance of His blood; which conversion is, by the holy Catholic Church, suitably and properly called Transubstantiation." -- Council of Trent, 13th Session, Chapter 4




BIBLE QUESTIONS FOR PROTESTANTS: THE EUCHARIST

"On the first day of the Feast of the Unleavened Bread, the disciples approached Jesus and said, 'Where do you want us to prepare for you to eat the Passover?' He said, 'Go into the city to a certain man and tell him, 'The teacher says: 'My appointed time draws near; in your house I shall celebrate the Passover with my disciples'."  Matt 26:17-18

Question 1: According to this passage, what feast was the setting for the Last Supper, where our Lord instituted the Eucharist?
A. Passover
B. The Feast of Booths

"The lamb must be a year-old male and without blemish…That same night they shall eat its roasted flesh with unleavened bread and bitter herbs…This day shall be a memorial feast for you, which all your generations shall celebrate with pilgrimage to the Lord, as a perpetual institution…But no transient alien or hired servant may partake of it. It must be eaten in one and the same house; you may not take any of its flesh outside the house. You shall not break any of its bones."  Ex 12:5, 8, 14, 45-46

Question 2: In the institution of the Passover described above, what was the sacrifice that was eaten?
A. Bread
B. An unblemished lamb's flesh

Question 3: How long does God say this feast will be celebrated?
A. Several centuries
B. Perpetually

Question 4: People not belonging to the people of God (aliens, uncircumcised) may not eat of this sacrifice.
A. True
B. False

Question 5: The Gospel of John references this passage of Exodus in relation to the sacrificed, dead body of Christ crucified: "But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs…For this happened so that the Scripture might be fulfilled: 'Not a bone of it will be broken'." (Jn 19:33-36)
A. True
B. False

"Then I saw standing in the midst of the throne and the four living creatures and the elders, a Lamb that seemed to have been slain."  Rev 5:6

Question 6: Christ is the Lamb of God
A. True
B. False

Question 7: In heaven, Christ, even after his ascension, appears before the throne of God at the altar (Rev 6:9, 8:3) as a sacrificed (slain) Lamb.
A. True
B. False

Question 8: What was done by the people of God at Passover to the sacrificed lamb?
A. They buried it
B. They ate its flesh

"While they were eating (the Passover of unleavened bread), Jesus took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and giving it to his disciples said, 'Take and eat; this is my body'. Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, 'Drink from it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed on behalf of many for the forgiveness of sins."  Matt 26:26-28

Question 9: Does Jesus here tell his disciples that the bread and wine was his flesh and blood?
A. Yes
B. No 

Question 10: Did he command them to eat and drink it?
A. Yes
B. No

Question 11: Did he tell them he was speaking symbolically?
A. Yes
B. No

"While they were eating, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them, and said, 'Take it; this is my body.' Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, and they all drank from it. He said to them, 'This is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed for many'."   Mark 14:22-24

Question 12: Does Jesus here tell his disciples that the bread and wine was his flesh and blood?
A. Yes
B. No

Question 13: Did he tell them he was speaking symbolically?
A. Yes
B. No

"Then he took the bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them, saying, 'This is my body, which will be given for you; do this in memory of me'. And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which will be shed for you'."   Luke 22:19-20

Question 14: Does Jesus here tell his disciples that the bread and wine was his flesh and blood?
A. Yes
B. No

Question 15: Did Christ command his disciples to re-enact his actions at the last supper?
A. Yes
B. No

Question 16: Did he tell them he was speaking symbolically?
A. Yes
B. No

"Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them to those who were reclining, and also as much of the fish as they wanted. When they had had their fill, he said to his disciples, 'Gather the fragments left over, so that nothing will be wasted.' So they collected them, and filled twelve wicker baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves that had been more than they could eat."  Jn 6:11-13

Question 17: In this passage when Jesus feeds the 5000, he makes a small, limited substance, the five loaves, super-abundant enough to feed multitudes.
A. True
B. False

Question 18: Does Jesus have the power then to make a limited physical substance, like his body, superabundant enough to feed multitudes of people?
A. Yes
B. No

"Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish ceremonial washing, each holding twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus told them, 'Fill the jars with water.' They filled them to the brim. 'Draw some out now and take it to the head waiter.' So they took it. And when the headwaiter tasted the water that had become wine…"  Jn 2:6-9

Question 19: In the passage above, does Jesus change one substance into another (water into wine)?
A. Yes
B. No

Question 20: Is it true then, based on these passages, that Jesus has the power to transform the substance (trans-substantiate) of something, then feed multitudes of people with it, even though it may be a small or limited physical quantity?
A. Yes
B. No

"I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world."  Jn 6:51

Question 21: Does Christ here associate bread we must eat with His sacrificed flesh?
A. Yes
B. No

Question 22: Does he associate it with a spiritual communion of some kind, or with the actual flesh that was given in sacrifice for the life of the world?
A. Spiritual communion
B. His flesh given for the life of the world

"The Jews quarreled among themselves saying, 'How can this man give us his flesh to eat?' Jesus said unto them, 'Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life in you."  Jn 6:52-53

Question 23: Does the Jews' question indicate that they understood Christ to be speaking symbolically, or literally?
A. Symbolically 
B. Literally

Question 24: How does Christ answer their confusion?
A. Explaining that he was using a metaphor
B. Telling them in no uncertain terms (Amen, amen means truly, truly) that they must actually eat his flesh and drink his blood (the Greek word used here, trogo, means to gnaw, gulp or munch in a very physical way)

"Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him."  Jn 6:54-56

Question 25: How many different ways in these two verse does Christ say his flesh and blood are to be eaten?
A. 1
B. 2
C. 3

Question 26: How does Christ refer to his body and blood here?
A. A mystical symbol of communion.
B. Like food and like drink
C. True food and true drink

"Then many of his disciples who were listening said, 'This saying is hard; who can accept it'?"  Jn 6:40

Question 27: Does this verse indicate that his disciples understood him to be speaking literally or metaphorically?
A. Literally
B. Metaphorically

"As a result of this, many of his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him. Jesus then said to the Twelve, 'Do you also want to leave'?"  Jn 6:66-67

Question 28: Did the majority of Jesus' disciples leave him because of this doctrine?
A. Yes
B. No

Question 29: Has anyone ever left a Protestant Church on account of the difficulty believing in the "Lord's Supper", celebrated as mere bread and wine representing Christ's body and blood?
A. Yes
B. No

Question 30: Has anyone ever left the Catholic Church because of the difficulty in believing the doctrine of transubstantiation?
A. Yes
B. No

Question 31: How did Jesus respond to the bulk of his disciples leaving him because of this doctrine?
A. He explained that it was a metaphor and they returned
B. He asked the remaining Twelve if they would also leave him because of it

Question 32: Is there any other teaching in the Gospel that caused so many disciples to leave because they did not have faith to accept it?
A. Yes
B. No

Question 33: Does the doctrine that the "Lord's Supper" only represents Jesus' body and blood as a symbol require so much faith to believe that many people stop following Christ on account of it?
A. Yes
B. No

"For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over, took bread, and after he had given thanks he broke it and said, 'This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me'. In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me'. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes."  1 Cor 11:23-26

Question 34: What is proclaimed in Holy Communion?
A. Christ's resurrection and ascension
B. Christ's death

Question 35: This proclamation of Christ's death is to continue in Holy Communion until the end of the world (Christ comes again).
A. True
B. False

"Therefore, whoever eats the bread and drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will have to answer for the body and blood of the Lord. A person should examine himself, and so eat the bread and drink the cup. For anyone who who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself."  1 Cor 11:27-29

Question 36: If you eat and drink unworthily you are guilty of:
A. Nothing; it's only bread and wine
B. Offense against the symbol of God's communion
C. The very body and blood of Jesus himself

Question 37: Is failure to discern the body a cause of judgment?
A. Yes
B. No

"The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because the loaf of bread is one, we, though many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf."  1 Cor 10:16-17

Question 38: We actually participate in the body and blood of Christ at Holy Communion.
A. True
B. False

Question 39: What brings unity to the Church?
A. A loaf of bread that symbolizes Jesus' body
B. Christ's actual body, which symbolizes the Church

Question 40: How to we partake of Christ's body in order to be united?
A. We think about it
B. We eat the bread of Holy Communion

Extra-biblical questions:

"The food which has been made into the Eucharist by the Eucharistic prayer set down by Him, and by the change of which our blood and flesh are nourished, is both the flesh and the blood of that incarnated Jesus." - Justin Martyr, First Apology, c. 150 AD
Question 41: How does Justin Martyr say the food is made into the Eucharist?
A. By believing
B. By the Eucharistic prayer instituted by Christ

Question 42: What does Justin say happens at this prayer?
A. The bread is consecrated
B. The bread and wine change

Question 43: What does Justin say they change into?
A. Holy bread and wine
B. The flesh and blood of the incarnated Jesus.

Question 44: The doctrine of transubstantiation teaches that the bread and wine of the Eucharist substantially change into the body and blood of the incarnated Christ by the Eucharistic prayer.
A. True
B. False

Question 45: The doctrine of the Eucharist described by Justin Martyr in the 2nd century Church matches the definition of transubstantiation described above.
A. True
B. False

Extra credit questions:
Question 46: Has any Protestant Church ever been accused of cannibalism on account of their "Lord's Supper"?
Question 47: Was the Church in the first few centuries regularly accused of cannibalism because of the Eucharist?

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