Charles YTK
4th August 2005, 01:32 PM
Passover not Communion
By Charles Ryalls
The Church has the Christian sacrament of communion which is taken monthly, biweekly or weekly as seems right to each congregation. Most believe this was something given by the Lord to be followed by the believers.
If we look at the scriptures we see that this instruction to remember him as "oft as you eat it " is in the context and setting of the Passover. It was during the Passover Seder with his disciples that Yeshua blessed and broke the Matzah, (unleavened bread) and said this is my body, and the cup after the meal which is the cup of redemption (there are 4 cups of wine during the Seder) with which he identified his blood. And he said to remember him each time they eat the Passover, for this was to be his death, and the redemption of the world.
Never did Messiah institute something different called communion. I am asked sometime what about I Corinthians 11: [20] When ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's supper.
I am told that this "Lord's supper is a reference to Communion. However if we look at the letter it seems to have been written just before the Passover. In Chapter 5 Paul tells them to keep the feast and to do so without sin. The reference is clearly to the feast of unleavened bread, which is the 7 days of the Passover.
I Cor 5: [6] Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? [7] Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: [8] Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
So Paul is reprimanding them for lawlessness in their behavior and is telling them to keep the feast but to remember that the leaven represents sin in our lives and that sin must be purged out before keeping the feast.
Now in Chapter 10, same letter and written probably on the same day, he speaks about the exodus as an example of the people who ate the passover and shared the mana, and drank the same water, which was Messiah, and yet beause of their sin and rebellion and complaining many fell. His allusions are to the Passover and the exodus all the way through this. When he says in Chapter 10:15 I speak as to wise men; judge ye what I say. 16The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?"
Paul’s letter to the Corinthians seems to be at the time of Passover as he makes several references to that feast. And it comes up again in this chapter 11. I would like to point out that the "Lords supper" in Chapter 11 is not likely a reference to communion. I have had other Christians say this in the past.
[19] For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you. [20] When ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's supper.
Looking at this section we see one again Paul’s allusions to the Passover:
[23] For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: [24] And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. [25] After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. [26] For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he come.
So again the Lord's supper is a reference not to a new communion sacrament but looking at Passover in which the Lord gave them instruction to remember him in the Passover Seder each year.
Notice also Paul rebukes the way they are holding the Passover,
[21] For in eating every one taketh before other his own supper: and one is hungry, and another is drunken. [22] What? have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? or despise ye the church of God, and shame them that have not? What shall I say to you? shall I praise you in this? I praise you not.
I ask you could someone come to communion expecting to be filled, or could they drink wine until they are drunk, even before all have been served? No. But this could happen if the Seder meal was not held with respect because there is much food and wine for all.
Is there any historical proof that Passover was observed and not communion? Yes! Here is a clip from Church historian Epiphanius.
Even the historian Epiphanius (who opposed the Quartodecimens) admitted that the Quartodecimen view was the original view when the Messianic Jews were still in Jerusalem (until 132-135 CE) stating, "it was necessary at that time that the whole world follow them [the Messianic Jews] and celebrate with them so that there should be a single confession . . . celebrating one festival [of Passover]." _ Epiphanius, Pan., 70:10:2
Communion is a sacrament that was made up by the church in Rome and is not a commandment from Yeshua. It did not take hold in the church until after 135 AD. If the church wants to have communion as a new sacrament, that is their own choice of course but this should not be done to the exclusion and neglect of the Passover which we were commanded to observe each year in remembrance of Messiahs death and redemption for us.
So now lets look at the Passover of the crucifixion from scripture:
Matt 26:17Now the first day of the feast of unleavened bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the passover? 18And he said, Go into the city to such a man, and say unto him, The Master saith, My time is at hand; I will keep the passover at thy house with my disciples. 19And the disciples did as Jesus had appointed them; and they made ready the passover. 20Now when the even was come, he sat down with the twelve.
As we read the account we see the common features of a typical Passover Seder meal, such as the breaking and blessing of the Matzah, Dipping the bread in sops (Karoset) the blessing for wine, reclining at the table, and the hymn that is sung after the meal, the Hallel of Psalm. Very clearly this was a Passover Seder meal and it was in this setting that Yeshua told to remember him is the bread and the wine and in the deliverance.
Some ague that this could not have been a Passover Seder because the Lambs had not yet been slaughtered in the temple. But to understand this you need to examine the accounts more loosely. What we find is that Yeshua and the Disciples have their Seder in the upper room of what was the residence of King David which is located in the Escene Quarter of Jerusalem. The Escenes are the former Zadokite priests of the Temple prior to Antiochus. These Zadokites were in a special covenant relationship with David. And just as David was to have sons who would rule Israel forever so also the Zadokites are to be priests forever. We see that they will be restored to that position in the Millennial Kingdom. The reason for telling you this is because in that place where the Lord had His last supper, His Seder meal, was with the Escenes and they held a different calendar than the Jews and because of corruption in the temple authority and priesthood, these Escenes performed their own sacrifices. So in this way Messiah was able to have His last Passover Seder with his friends and initiate the New Covenant from David’s throne and after the Seder return to the Judean area where due to this calendar difference it was just the beginning of the preparation day on which the lambs were killed for their Passover. Messiah was arrested tried in a mock trial and then crucified at the same time the Temple priests were killing the Passover lambs. God in His wisdom brought Messiah at a time when there were two Passovers, and when a corrupt priesthood was in place to kill Messiah. I believe that had the Zadokite still been in control of the temple, they would have received Yeshua as Messiah and crowned Him King. But Gods plan of salvation required Messiah to die for us all to bring us new life through rebirth and the promise of the resurrection that is to come.
So it clear again that Messiah DID in fact have a Passover Seder and told us to remember him each year ,as oft as you eat it, ( the unleavened bread of the Seder). And as we see above from I Corinthians, Paul instructs the Gentile church there on the correct way to keep the Passover Seder.
Christians believe that their practice of communion comes from the Lord’s Supper however if we look at the true rots of the earliest communion practices we see that it is nothing at all like the Seder. It is heresy that is an insult to Torah. The Gentile church believed as early as 100 AD that the communion or "Lord's Table" was in fact an oblation, a "Sacrifice" like the animal sacrifices of the temple system and that it was superior to what God had given. The bread and wine were believed to be transfigured (mysteriously transformed) into the actual flesh body and blood of Jesus. And Jesus was seen as once again killed for the believer on the Lords table, an altar where the bishop ministered as high priest. The believers were then instructed to eat and drink these transfigured items in order to take into themselves immortality.
The early church believed and taught that since the immortal Jesus was taken into you, and He could not see corruption or decay, your own body then also received immortality, (eternal life) because of the flesh and blood of Jesus in you. If one did not accept communion, they were condemned to die (have no eternal life) and salvation was not possible. The writings of the earliest church fathers Ignatius, Justin Martyr and Ireaneus state these doctrines clearly, emphatically. The same themes are reaffirmed in later writings of Cyril Bishop of Jerusalem and Gregory Bishop of Nyssa.
By the process of the Eucharist, a high ranking church official usually bishop took elements of bread and wine to the altar table. He spoke special prayers and incantations over these causing them to be transformed from common bread and wine, into the actual flesh and blood o Jesus.(so they believed) The priest had control over the people, great power to perform this transubstantiation and to control peoples eternal status. Disallowing one communion condemned them to hell. The faithful would consume these elements in order to hold immortality within their own human bodies.
I say this is an affront to Torah in that it makes an oblation where God does not call for one. It make a sacrifice of a human, as Messiah is born of a woman and flesh. It causes Gods mercy, salvation and gift of eternal life to be dependent upon a human ritual. It gives the power of salvation or eternal damnation into the hands of a man rather than God.
It is easy to see that this communion is not at all what the Lord told us to do in the context of the Passover Seder; to remember that our redemption, like the first exodus came by way of Gods mercy, His redemption of us, through faith, and that our applying the blood to our doorposts, (the doorposts of our heart) brings God's deliverance. He told us that it was to be a covenantal meal, a meal of remembering, (which is what a Seder is, a telling) to bring to our minds the fact that he is our covenantal head, representing us before God and representing God before us.
Messiah told us to keep the commandments, to live as He lived. The festivals of God go all the way back to the creation. They are part of the cycles he established. The word for festival in Henbrew is Moed, Moedim=plural). Moed is the same word that is used in the opening verse of Genesis, "At the appointed time". God established the moon and stars for signs and seasons, to point to the appointed times the Moedim. We will keep these in the millennial kingdom and we benefit greatly from keeping them now. We can not keep all the details of offerings and temple service today, however we are privileged to keep as much of it as we are able today and to allow Adonai (the Lord) to take care of the rest. It is a blessing to us. It is far superior to do these than to take upon us the Yoke of man made traditions that have no foundation on Gods word.
The appointed times, the festivals like all of Torah is given to all men who live by faith, who desire to be obedient to the Lord, including the Gentile who have attached themselves to Israel and the God of Israel. We are the strangers (Gentiles, Goy, Ger) who sojourn with them.
Numbers 15: [15] One ordinance shall be both for you of the congregation, and also for the stranger that sojourneth with you, an ordinance for ever in your generations: as ye are, so shall the stranger be before the LORD. [16] One law and one manner shall be for you, and for the stranger that sojourneth with you.
By Charles Ryalls
The Church has the Christian sacrament of communion which is taken monthly, biweekly or weekly as seems right to each congregation. Most believe this was something given by the Lord to be followed by the believers.
If we look at the scriptures we see that this instruction to remember him as "oft as you eat it " is in the context and setting of the Passover. It was during the Passover Seder with his disciples that Yeshua blessed and broke the Matzah, (unleavened bread) and said this is my body, and the cup after the meal which is the cup of redemption (there are 4 cups of wine during the Seder) with which he identified his blood. And he said to remember him each time they eat the Passover, for this was to be his death, and the redemption of the world.
Never did Messiah institute something different called communion. I am asked sometime what about I Corinthians 11: [20] When ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's supper.
I am told that this "Lord's supper is a reference to Communion. However if we look at the letter it seems to have been written just before the Passover. In Chapter 5 Paul tells them to keep the feast and to do so without sin. The reference is clearly to the feast of unleavened bread, which is the 7 days of the Passover.
I Cor 5: [6] Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? [7] Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: [8] Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
So Paul is reprimanding them for lawlessness in their behavior and is telling them to keep the feast but to remember that the leaven represents sin in our lives and that sin must be purged out before keeping the feast.
Now in Chapter 10, same letter and written probably on the same day, he speaks about the exodus as an example of the people who ate the passover and shared the mana, and drank the same water, which was Messiah, and yet beause of their sin and rebellion and complaining many fell. His allusions are to the Passover and the exodus all the way through this. When he says in Chapter 10:15 I speak as to wise men; judge ye what I say. 16The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?"
Paul’s letter to the Corinthians seems to be at the time of Passover as he makes several references to that feast. And it comes up again in this chapter 11. I would like to point out that the "Lords supper" in Chapter 11 is not likely a reference to communion. I have had other Christians say this in the past.
[19] For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you. [20] When ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's supper.
Looking at this section we see one again Paul’s allusions to the Passover:
[23] For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: [24] And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. [25] After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. [26] For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he come.
So again the Lord's supper is a reference not to a new communion sacrament but looking at Passover in which the Lord gave them instruction to remember him in the Passover Seder each year.
Notice also Paul rebukes the way they are holding the Passover,
[21] For in eating every one taketh before other his own supper: and one is hungry, and another is drunken. [22] What? have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? or despise ye the church of God, and shame them that have not? What shall I say to you? shall I praise you in this? I praise you not.
I ask you could someone come to communion expecting to be filled, or could they drink wine until they are drunk, even before all have been served? No. But this could happen if the Seder meal was not held with respect because there is much food and wine for all.
Is there any historical proof that Passover was observed and not communion? Yes! Here is a clip from Church historian Epiphanius.
Even the historian Epiphanius (who opposed the Quartodecimens) admitted that the Quartodecimen view was the original view when the Messianic Jews were still in Jerusalem (until 132-135 CE) stating, "it was necessary at that time that the whole world follow them [the Messianic Jews] and celebrate with them so that there should be a single confession . . . celebrating one festival [of Passover]." _ Epiphanius, Pan., 70:10:2
Communion is a sacrament that was made up by the church in Rome and is not a commandment from Yeshua. It did not take hold in the church until after 135 AD. If the church wants to have communion as a new sacrament, that is their own choice of course but this should not be done to the exclusion and neglect of the Passover which we were commanded to observe each year in remembrance of Messiahs death and redemption for us.
So now lets look at the Passover of the crucifixion from scripture:
Matt 26:17Now the first day of the feast of unleavened bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the passover? 18And he said, Go into the city to such a man, and say unto him, The Master saith, My time is at hand; I will keep the passover at thy house with my disciples. 19And the disciples did as Jesus had appointed them; and they made ready the passover. 20Now when the even was come, he sat down with the twelve.
As we read the account we see the common features of a typical Passover Seder meal, such as the breaking and blessing of the Matzah, Dipping the bread in sops (Karoset) the blessing for wine, reclining at the table, and the hymn that is sung after the meal, the Hallel of Psalm. Very clearly this was a Passover Seder meal and it was in this setting that Yeshua told to remember him is the bread and the wine and in the deliverance.
Some ague that this could not have been a Passover Seder because the Lambs had not yet been slaughtered in the temple. But to understand this you need to examine the accounts more loosely. What we find is that Yeshua and the Disciples have their Seder in the upper room of what was the residence of King David which is located in the Escene Quarter of Jerusalem. The Escenes are the former Zadokite priests of the Temple prior to Antiochus. These Zadokites were in a special covenant relationship with David. And just as David was to have sons who would rule Israel forever so also the Zadokites are to be priests forever. We see that they will be restored to that position in the Millennial Kingdom. The reason for telling you this is because in that place where the Lord had His last supper, His Seder meal, was with the Escenes and they held a different calendar than the Jews and because of corruption in the temple authority and priesthood, these Escenes performed their own sacrifices. So in this way Messiah was able to have His last Passover Seder with his friends and initiate the New Covenant from David’s throne and after the Seder return to the Judean area where due to this calendar difference it was just the beginning of the preparation day on which the lambs were killed for their Passover. Messiah was arrested tried in a mock trial and then crucified at the same time the Temple priests were killing the Passover lambs. God in His wisdom brought Messiah at a time when there were two Passovers, and when a corrupt priesthood was in place to kill Messiah. I believe that had the Zadokite still been in control of the temple, they would have received Yeshua as Messiah and crowned Him King. But Gods plan of salvation required Messiah to die for us all to bring us new life through rebirth and the promise of the resurrection that is to come.
So it clear again that Messiah DID in fact have a Passover Seder and told us to remember him each year ,as oft as you eat it, ( the unleavened bread of the Seder). And as we see above from I Corinthians, Paul instructs the Gentile church there on the correct way to keep the Passover Seder.
Christians believe that their practice of communion comes from the Lord’s Supper however if we look at the true rots of the earliest communion practices we see that it is nothing at all like the Seder. It is heresy that is an insult to Torah. The Gentile church believed as early as 100 AD that the communion or "Lord's Table" was in fact an oblation, a "Sacrifice" like the animal sacrifices of the temple system and that it was superior to what God had given. The bread and wine were believed to be transfigured (mysteriously transformed) into the actual flesh body and blood of Jesus. And Jesus was seen as once again killed for the believer on the Lords table, an altar where the bishop ministered as high priest. The believers were then instructed to eat and drink these transfigured items in order to take into themselves immortality.
The early church believed and taught that since the immortal Jesus was taken into you, and He could not see corruption or decay, your own body then also received immortality, (eternal life) because of the flesh and blood of Jesus in you. If one did not accept communion, they were condemned to die (have no eternal life) and salvation was not possible. The writings of the earliest church fathers Ignatius, Justin Martyr and Ireaneus state these doctrines clearly, emphatically. The same themes are reaffirmed in later writings of Cyril Bishop of Jerusalem and Gregory Bishop of Nyssa.
By the process of the Eucharist, a high ranking church official usually bishop took elements of bread and wine to the altar table. He spoke special prayers and incantations over these causing them to be transformed from common bread and wine, into the actual flesh and blood o Jesus.(so they believed) The priest had control over the people, great power to perform this transubstantiation and to control peoples eternal status. Disallowing one communion condemned them to hell. The faithful would consume these elements in order to hold immortality within their own human bodies.
I say this is an affront to Torah in that it makes an oblation where God does not call for one. It make a sacrifice of a human, as Messiah is born of a woman and flesh. It causes Gods mercy, salvation and gift of eternal life to be dependent upon a human ritual. It gives the power of salvation or eternal damnation into the hands of a man rather than God.
It is easy to see that this communion is not at all what the Lord told us to do in the context of the Passover Seder; to remember that our redemption, like the first exodus came by way of Gods mercy, His redemption of us, through faith, and that our applying the blood to our doorposts, (the doorposts of our heart) brings God's deliverance. He told us that it was to be a covenantal meal, a meal of remembering, (which is what a Seder is, a telling) to bring to our minds the fact that he is our covenantal head, representing us before God and representing God before us.
Messiah told us to keep the commandments, to live as He lived. The festivals of God go all the way back to the creation. They are part of the cycles he established. The word for festival in Henbrew is Moed, Moedim=plural). Moed is the same word that is used in the opening verse of Genesis, "At the appointed time". God established the moon and stars for signs and seasons, to point to the appointed times the Moedim. We will keep these in the millennial kingdom and we benefit greatly from keeping them now. We can not keep all the details of offerings and temple service today, however we are privileged to keep as much of it as we are able today and to allow Adonai (the Lord) to take care of the rest. It is a blessing to us. It is far superior to do these than to take upon us the Yoke of man made traditions that have no foundation on Gods word.
The appointed times, the festivals like all of Torah is given to all men who live by faith, who desire to be obedient to the Lord, including the Gentile who have attached themselves to Israel and the God of Israel. We are the strangers (Gentiles, Goy, Ger) who sojourn with them.
Numbers 15: [15] One ordinance shall be both for you of the congregation, and also for the stranger that sojourneth with you, an ordinance for ever in your generations: as ye are, so shall the stranger be before the LORD. [16] One law and one manner shall be for you, and for the stranger that sojourneth with you.