I read from ‘Unity and Diversity: An Inquiry Into the Character of Earliest Christianity’ by Professor James D.G. Dunn.
The institution of the Lord’s Supper in 1 Corinthians 11 (NRSV):
‘For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.’
Categories: Christianity, Dr Jimmy Dunn, New Testament scholarship, St Paul
Mark 10:45, Matthew 20:28 and Mark 14:24 also. and Luke 22, 24, etc.
Mark 14:60-64 and parallels also in Matthew and Luke
Dunn is defeated.
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Paul saying he “received from the Lord” has to be taken in the context of 1 Corinthians 7 where he says “the Lord not I say…” where Paul then paraphrases Jesus’s teaching. So when Paul says he Received this from the Lord he is saying that he will repeat what Jesus has already taught.
Alternatively Paul could be saying that he has learned this and believes that it has come straight from heaven
Remember Paul travelled to Jerusalem to get a ‘Historia’ from Paul and James. This is where the 1 Corinthians 15 likely stems from.
I agree with Bart Erhman that “I don’t think there is any reason to doubt that Jesus had some kind of last meal with his disciples. ”
Your explanation- that Paul invented the eucharist- also fails to explain the Eucharists inclusion in the Didache (with it’s early non Pauline theology), it’s inclusion in Luke (which didn’t rely on Matthew/Mark for his Last supper story) plus John 6 which is undoubtedly eucharistic.
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