do presbyterians use wine for communion

Lassen ut supra. They held that both the Bible and Christian tradition taught that alcohol is a gift from God that makes life more joyous, but that . Connect and share knowledge within a single location that is structured and easy to search. The reason is plain. Uniform usage is decisive as to this signification. We have in Persian the expression dukhtar-i-tk, daughter of the vine, and in Arabic bintu-l-inab, daughter of the grape, used for real fermented wine. Mr. Edward sent us a declaration on this question, made by the rabbis of the Jewish Theological Seminary of Breslau, who are the most learned Jews in Germany. In support of our position, we offer the following: Wine, properly used, is a blessing from God , appears in Acts 2:1315 as having an inebriating influence. Mr. Brunot is able to assure his readers (Wine and Truth, p. 9) that all authorities agree that the word used means the fresh juice of the fruit, and not the artificial product of its fermentation. And in the Temperance Commentary (p. 285) we read, Unfermented wine is, in literal truth and beyond all question, the only fruit of the vine. We humbly venture to think that grapes are, in literal truth and beyond all question, the only fruit of the vine, just as dates are the fruit of a species of palm. For, rest assured, He Himself also partook of wine, for He, too, was man. What does a plain man need more than the record of the abuse that prevailed at Corinth in connection with the celebration of the Supper: Another is drunken[11] (1 Cor. Talmud the reason why wine at the Passover was mixed with water. No authority informs us that the Jews were ever in the habit of trying to preserve grapes so as to have fresh juice at the Passover. There is, we believe, no living Christian scholar who excels Dr. F. Delitzsch, of Leipzig, in knowledge of the language and literature of the Jews and their past and present customs. Because grape juice has now become so prevalent, there are some who perceive our practice as odd (even though historically-speaking the use of grape juice is what deserves the label odd). Though there are many dangers, it is inappropriate for us to condemn activities simply because their abuse is dangerous. So I took the cup from the Lord's hand and made all the nations to whom he sent me drink it: Jerusalem and the towns of Judah, its kings and officials, to make them a ruin and an object of horror and scorn and cursing, as they are today; Pharaoh king of Egypt, his attendants, his officials and all his people, and all the foreign people there; all the kings of Uz; all the kings of the Philistines (those of Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the people left at Ashdod); Edom, Moab and Ammon; all the kings of Tyre and Sidon; the kings of the coastlands across the sea; Dedan, Tema, Buz and all who are in distant places; all the kings of Arabia and all the kings of the foreign people who live in the desert; all the kings of Zimri, Elam and Media; and all the kings of the north, near and far, one after the other--all the kingdoms on the face of the earth. Unfermented wine (must) is not regarded as wine, and would not suffice for the fulfilment of the duty to drink wine on the Passover eve., Referring to current misrepresentations on this subject Mr. Edward remarks: The principle of temperance we reverence; but the fanaticism of the principle is unscrupulous and loathsome.. One of the biggest questions has been what kind of liquid is used during the service. It still makes sense to show some respect for the elements, the way we do for lots of special items that we use in church. Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?". By clicking Accept all cookies, you agree Stack Exchange can store cookies on your device and disclose information in accordance with our Cookie Policy. 11:21)? And yet, contrary to the habit of most Presbyterian churches in our country, Gainesville Presbyterian Church serves wine in the Lords Supper. This wine, he says, was not that fermented liquor which now passes under that name. Does the Eastern Orthodox Church eat leavened or unleavened bread during the Eucharist? A Arch2k Puritan Board Graduate Apr 6, 2008 #1 For those of you who know what wine is served at your church, what are your opinions of that particular variety? Read, Our next witness is Tertullian, a contemporary of Clement of Alexandria. Jesus said to them, "You will indeed drink from my cup, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. In both places it appears as an approved drink. Now, since the Last Supper occurred during Chag ha-Matzot, and thus no leaven could have been in the homes of Jews, we could likely assume that yes, the bread used during the Last Supper was unleavened. The next thing to say is that it seems clear that Jesus served His disciples wine at the original Lords Supper, which took place at the Last Supper. I am not personally much of a wine drinker. We do not know how Lightfoot came to put the fourth part of a quarter of a hin as the measure of each of the Passover cups. Wine is made by fermenting grape juice, which means that the sugar in the juice is converted into alcohol. The readers of the Notes on John naturally think that Dr. Jacobus must have tasted in many places of Syria various kinds of wine which were unfermented. In his Paedagogus he instructs a young convert in the practice of Christianity. How do I store enormous amounts of mechanical energy? A man would be deemed witty who, on the ground of 2 Kings 4:40, should give as a distinct meaning of the term, , Luke 1:15), which is often combined with, There is no more certain fact in the Hebrew language than that, , or that which intoxicates. No lie is of the truth; and the followers of Christ should not be ashamed or afraid to show their faith that Gods truth will prove more effectual in working a genuine and permanent reformation of manners than the devils lie. Non-persons in a world of machine and biologically integrated intelligences. 8:13. We next take up Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, born about the year 200. Nor do I say this, as if a creature of God may be condemned by us; since both our Lord was called a drinker of wine, and Timothy was allowed to imbibe wine moderately when suffering in the stomach; but we require that drinking should be regulated according to age, health, and the physical constitution. The special excellence that was to justify his commercial enterprise for its export, was precisely this, that it did not intoxicate. We quote from, It would be endless to expose all the misstatements that have been promulgated respecting the nature of the wine required at the Passover by Jewish orthodoxy. The vinegar of the Edomites was forbidden because, as Maimonides and Bartenora explain, the Edomites sometimes put barley in their vinegar, and therefore it was unlawful at the Passover. Iron, again, might be defined unsmelted ore, for in Job 28:2, iron is said to be taken out of the earth. If the explanation be proposed that what is wrought into iron is taken out of the earth, we can only recommend the application of the same rule of interpretation in defining the words yayin and tirosh. He obtained it through a Jewish friend. Jesus shared meals with his followers throughout his earthly life and ministrycommon suppers, miraculous feasts, and the covenant commemorations of the people of God. In Luke 5:39 Christ declares that old wine was universally preferred to new by those who drank it. And this wine may, for aught Dr. Jacobus knew, have really been fermented. No Jew in Germany would venture to challenge this assertion. The wine of the Passover has at all times been fermented wine, which, according to the prevalent custom, was mixed with water.. 16:3, where we find the expression bread of affliction ( ) used as epexegetical of matzoth. a. Was it not deliberately? Can you provide a list of denominations that use leavened bread? Wise writes to us: All Jews at all times have used at the Passover not only wine and cider, but also vinegar made of wine or of fruit. This matter has now assumed an importance which demands that the exact truth should be known. But residents in Beyrut before 1851, such as Dr. Eli Smith, Dr. Van Dycke, and Mr. Black, though they sought for it carefully, never heard of this unfermented wine of Syria with which people in the United States are so familiar; and no one now living in Beyrut can tell anything of it. But is there any restrictive expression in Deut. 40:10, spoken of as gathered. But among the many thousands of bottles of Passover wine sold at Vienna every year, there has never been one of unfermented juice. Others believe that the use of wine is actually sinful (for this reason we make grape juice available for those whose consciences are violated by the use of wine). We have now to discuss, with a due regard to brevity, the principal terms employed in the Old and New Testaments to denote wine, new wine, and strong drink, is in the O.T. The physical nature of the bread and the wine does not change. (The rabbis have forbidden Jews to drink the wine of Christians. Professor C. W. Palotta, of Vienna, also an Israelite by birth, is an unexceptionable witness in regard to the usage of Austrian Jews. Yeast is also associated with the Kingdom of God (Matthew 13:33). p. 290 sq. Prof. Stuart cannot have read the chapter in Augusti to which he refers; for it clearly testifies against the notion held by Prof. Stuart that the proper Passover wine was an unfermented unintoxicating drink. If we keep bloom raisins in water for a week near the fire, as he directs, the fermentation of the infusion is certain. The same metonymy which will allow a man to eat his vine will also allow him to drink his grapes or the fruit of the vine. Food made into loaves (1 Sam. Site design / logo 2023 Stack Exchange Inc; user contributions licensed under CC BY-SA. WHAT in the view of the compilers of the standards of the Presbyterian Church was the wine which ought to be used in the Lords Supper can be ascertained by consulting the Assemblys Annotations. It was troubled by Judaizing teachers. And that cup was definitely fermented, for that is an essential part of the imagery of the cup of the wine of Gods wrath. The law treats invariably of wine in the ordinary sense of the word; and that it is supposed to possess the intoxicating property is clear from the precept that the celebrants of the Passover are forbidden to drink of the wine between the prescribed cups at certain portions of the ritual, lest their minds should get clouded, and thereby unfit to perform the ceremonies and recite the prayers with proper devotion. It was by Christians and not by Jews that this discussion was started. As a specimen of Dr. Samsons scholarship we give the following extract (p 214): Alluding to the plea that Christ used wine at the supper and that Paul recommended the use of wine to Timothy, Jerome says: Elsewhere we were made acquainted with both the wine to be consecrated into the blood of Christ and the wine ordered to Timothy that he should drink it. The Latin of Jerome is Alioquin sciebamus, et in Christi sanguinem vinum consecrari et vinum Timotheo ut biberet imperatum. Dr. Samson should not expose his ignorance by construing Latin in this waySciebamus vinum, we were made acquainted with the wine; cansecrari, to be consecrated, that is, which should be consecrated! In addition to this, the use of wine in communion gives us a chance to teach Gods people the important principle that everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude (1Tim.4:4). But we must now attend to Dr. Samsons observations on tirosh. And the drink which the chief butler gave in his dream to Pharaoh was just such stuff as dreams are made of. A legend contained in the Targum of Jonathan tells us that Noah planted a certain vine, and that very day it blossomed, and its grapes ripened, and he pressed them out and drank from the wine. If nothing more were known of the nature of the wine drunk by Noah, how confidently would it be maintained that it was fresh unfermented grape-juice! Christian views on alcohol are varied. Is it a sin to not receive Communion? See Heb. Did the Saviour, If Dr. Lees and a host of other temperance writers are correct expounders of the Mosaic law regarding leaven, they have made Christ a transgressor. Comp. And that it was wine which was the thing blessed He showed again, when He said to His disciples, I will not drink of the fruit of this vine, till I drink it with you in the kingdom of my Father. But that it was wine which was drunk by the Lord, He tells us again, when He spake concerning Himself, reproaching the Jews for their hardness of heart: For the Son of man, He says, came, and they say, Behold a glutton and a wine-bibber, a friend of publicans. Let this be held fast by us against those that are called Encratites (pp. However, while many Presbyterians refrain from the use of alcohol in church, some drink it in . The water poured into the pots is made noble Falernian wine. If any one in the time of Prudentius had deemed the wine miraculously made by Christ incapable of producing intoxication, the Christian poet would not have dared to call it by the name Falernian (Comp. But as the version, Thou didst drink the blood of the grape, red wine, would sound tautological (the redness of the wine being involved in the designation the blood of the grape), they seem to have thought that chemer would be adequately represented by prefixing the epithet pure to the expression blood of the grape. If we give to chemer the meaning of red wine (and this signification is etymologically justifiable) it would denote a fermented drink, as we have seen that the red color of wine, when not artificially produced, results from the grape-juice fermenting with the husks. We here remark that wherever in the Gospels wine is mentioned in connection with Christs name the circumstances compel us to think of the fermented juice of the grape. The wine of the Passover was, . And we learn from the New Testament that the sacramental cup containing the fruit of the vine could certainly intoxicate those who were guilty of the sin of drinking it immoderately. Isa. So it is with mead, raisin wine, and spiced wine. We will now proceed to show that the fermented juice of the grape is still held to be the proper wine for that feast, and is still used by the Jews where they can readily obtain it pure. That Joel distinguished the or vat from the or press, is clear from chap. But the difference between true bread and unbaked dough is of a less specific character than that between true wine and unfermented grape-juice. [This is not exactly the inquiry which I made]. 11:11. Strict Jews avoid the use of Gentile wine on all occasions. Why, even Bacchus has been called the god of unfermented wine, on the ground of a legend related by Achilles Tatius, in which he is made to show a Tyrian herd, Icarus, a bunch of grapes, and pressing them to say, Here is the water, and this is the fountain from which it flows. This, we are told, is the way in which wine came to men, as the Tyrians say. (The unleavened bread was also a part of the Passover feast, and was used by Jesus in the institution of the Lords Supper.) The attempts to set aside the plain meaning of Hos. Jesus took bread . During the sacrament of Communion (Lord's Supper, or Holy Eucharist), some congregations will strictly use grape juice and avoid alcohol altogether. But the doctor is right in saying that the old writers ascribed to new wine a laxative influence. WHAT in the view of the compilers of the standards of the Presbyterian Church was the wine which ought to be used in the Lord's Supper can be ascertained by consulting the Assembly's Annotations. All who know of the wines then used will understand rather the unfermented juice of the grape. Dr. Samson, in the Divine Law as to Wines (pp. Though I have been already called out on this subject two or three years ago, and have sufficiently answered in the New York, In the spring of 1851 I visited Syria and the Holy Land. Epiphanius relates of them that they employed water in the Eucharist, and abstained altogether from wine, saying that wine was diabolical, and that they who drank and used it were wicked and sinners. Simple people are told by them that fermented wine contains alcohol, which is a poison, and that therefore they should not use it in any form. 2 Purpose Sac. Presbyterians think that the access isn't so much in the piece of bread or in the juice or the wine, but rather in the action of eating and drinking. The question of the lawfulness of fermented wine was never once mooted till these last days. Our next witness is Jerome, who was an ardent advocate of abstinence from wine. But Gesenius, with most modern Hebraists, prefers to derive the word from the verb , whose radical notion is to boil up, to ferment. 1. But from his own explicit statement in answer to our inquiry, it appears that he drank only one kind of wine that had this special excellence, and this happened only at the house of a gentleman residing in Beyrut. 49:26). In the latter, it is rendered in the E. V. red wine. Our translators, we believe, took it in the same sense in the former passage. The subject of the twenty-fifth chapter of the twelfth book of his Prparatio Evangelica, is that the drinking of wine should not be allowed to all. He quotes Plato, who would exclude slaves absolutely from the use of wine, and interdict some other persons from taking it at certain times. What now was Christs last voluntary act before He said, It is finished? Professor Stuart (Bib. On this mountain the Lord Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine -- the best of meats and the finest of wines. (Is.25:6). As no more competent witness could be quoted, as he was a friend of abstinence from wine, and as there is no early Christian writer who discourses so fully on drinking, we shall adduce several extracts from the chapter referred to, adopting the translation in Clarks Ante-Nicene Library: I, therefore, admire those who have adopted an austere life, and who are fond of water, the medicine of temperance, and flee as far as possible from wine, shunning it as they would the danger of fire (p. 201). Many Presbyterians churches take communion every week. It is an admirable temperance sermon, and depicts the evil of drunkenness in the liveliest colors. We shall afterward show that all red wine has been fermented. In answer to our application he published an article in a Berlin periodical (Sunem, 28th May, 1880), which he sent to us, in which he states emphatically that it has never been the custom of the Jews to use unfermented grape juice at the Passover. xi. The Septuagint and the Vulgate on Prov. We can never consent to an impeachment of the morality of the New Testament, or to a disfiguration or mutilation of the blessed sacrament of the Supper in the supposed interest of temperance. 27:2) writes: strictly denotes fermentation, then fermented liquor, and is used as a poetical equivalent to . The best Arabic and Syriac scholars among our missionaries inform us that those to whom these languages are vernacular have the idea of a fermented drink suggested by chamr and chamro, the Arabic and Syriac forms of the Hebrew chemer. Talmud. (See the quotations in Lightfoot, II., p. 259). Grain cleaned from the chaff (Ex. What are the benefits of not using Private Military Companies(PMCs) as China did? It was either used up within that time or poured upon the ground. i. xx. To learn Chrysostoms view on this question our readers may consult his commentary on John ii. As an Episcopalian myself, however, my pragmatic analysis is that this is primarily because they like the taste better (silly 'Episcopalians). . Red wine, , is positively prescribed Jerus. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by my Father. Furthermore, there is positively no authority for interpreting the expression fruit of the vine to mean the fresh juice of the grape. Sarkar sugar (word and thing) was unknown to the Hebrews when shekhar was current among them. He must have fallen into the vulgar error of confounding fermented liquors with malt liquors. [9] We find uva, the grape, used metonymically for wine by Horace (Carm. The Catholic Church practices communion in most of their religious services. As a matter of fact, yes! 20:1; 23:29-35; 31:4-5; Deut.21:18-21; Luke 21:34; Rom.13:13; 1Cor.6:9-10; Eph.5:18). Meyer in loc). New wine, if it has no vent, threatens to burst even new skin bottles (Job 32:19). Bengel renders ebrius est. Should Wine or Grape Juice Be Used for Communion? Answer. It was troubled by Judaizing teachers. And is virgin synonymous with wife? Presbyterians may use any kind of bread commonly used by the people where the church is located. It is strange that Dr. Lees did not contend that that which is trodden in the wine-press is the grape-fruit, and, therefore, grape-fruit must be the meaning of . Who can take communion in the Southern Baptist church? Grain cleaned from the chaff (Ex. We earnestly recommend our readers to compare it with Clements whole chapter on drinking, which occupies little more than ten pages in Clarks translation. Michelle Melot. 2023 Gainesville Presbyterian Church: Gainesville, VA, Pastoral Search Committee Congregational Updates, The Role of the Church in the Strategy of God, A Short Baseball Poem About the Nature of Mankind and, in Particular, the Human Propensity toward Self-Deception. 6, pars I. p. 20, Surenhusius) we read: How do they bless for fruits? How do Presbyterians celebrate communion? As in Latin vinum stands intermediate between mustum and acetum (see Pliny, Nat. But not only against heretics, but also against the more simple of our brethren (this place is useful) who when they see some behave improperly through drunkenness, instead of blaming them, revile the fruit given by God ( ), saying, let there be no wine. 32:14, and also, if we adhere to the Masoretic text, in Isa. How to transpile between languages with different scoping rules? [5] The color of the wine is dependent on the mode in which the fermentation is effected. We may add that in Dan. Ritchie, of Scotland, tells us that in every case tirosh is spoken of as a blessing, and shechar as an evil or curse. If Mr. Brunot had searched the Scriptures to know whether these things were so, he would have learned from them that tirosh, too, appears as an evil in Hos. Wine is also a symbol of celebration, as in Deuteronomy 14:23 and Joel 3:18 above. We are to remember that water in the proportion of three-fourth parts water to one-fourth part of wine could be mingled in the Passover cup. In light of this image of the cup of wine representing the wrath of God, it makes sense that when Jesus speaks of facing the wrath of God He uses this same imagery: Matt. He brought home a virgin (v. 43) in the execution of this commission. Unhappily my informant is dead. And even if we dont understand all the reasons that real, fermented wine ought to be used in the Lords Supper, there are too many connections, too many aspects of the symbolism that are tied to the fermentation itself, too many patterns of Scripture that point in this direction to allow us to join with those who cast aside the historical practice of using wine in communion. But properly it denotes only desire, and in this sense both the verb and the noun occur in Scripture. This poetic phrase furnishes the chief argument for his theory. 32:14. Hist., xxiii. 1. 104 is an index to the impression of men of this age as to the pernicious influence of wine-drinking. In their view wine, as the Psalmist states, produces unhealthy exhilaration (Divine Law, pp. But pure fermented grape-juice when obtainable is unquestionably the wine proper for use at the Passover.[7]. Yet this wine was, according to him, the fruit of the vine, and a work of God, as much as water. By all who made use of the Septuagint (and they formed for a considerable time the bulk of the early church) the direction , with counsel drink wine, was received as an oracle of God which none durst dispute. The distinction between grain and fruit is here one of capital importance, and is scrupulously observed by conscientious Jews. We might quote Philo and the Jewish commentators to the same effect, and also Origen, Chrysostom, and Jerome. To the foregoing letter Dr. Jacobus sent the following reply: My Dear Sir:I have this moment your letter of inquiry calling for my authority in regard to an unintoxicating wine of Lebanon referred to in my Notes on John, Ch. Was that last act a violation of the law under which He was made? I've been to many different Churches from many denominations and almost all use unleavened bread, unleavened wafers, or saltine crackers without the salt. Sac., 1843, p. 508) is disposed to believe that the original precept of Moses had reference only to the bread of the Passover and not to any drink that might be used. He justly remarks that not one word is said about any drink on that occasion when it was first instituted. But while making this admission, he ventures the astounding assertion that the Jewish custom of excluding fermented wine from the Passover is very ancient, and is even now almost universal. Others go further than Professor Stuart, and make the prohibition of wine at the Passover a part of the original Mosaic legislation. You can set your address, phone number, email and site description in the settings tab.Link to read me page with more information. At Beirut I was the guest of the well-known American Consul, J. Hosford Smith, Esq., whom I had already known as my neighbor in Brooklyn, before his appointment to that post. At least some Presbyterians use leavened bread--two PCUSA churches did while I was there and on PCA church did sometimes (my current PCA church does not--and provides grape juice as an option "for reasons of conscience or health"); Presbyterian elders generally are not ignorant on basic theology. But even then it must be only a little wine that is to be used; for we must not go to intemperate potations. We could suggest yet another meaning of bread. It is manifest, then, that common wine, or wine which emits the vinous smell, was the only wine of the communion in the time of Cyprian.

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