Jumpstarter 3 of 10

Ideas to help restart your discussion

Question 3

Ignatius (c. 105) calls the Eucharist “the flesh of Jesus Christ” and later “the medicine of immortality”; what view of God’s intentions for communion is implied by language like “medicine” and “antidote,” and how does that challenge common evangelical instincts about what “grace” is and how it comes to us?

Another way to ask: Ignatius calls the Eucharist “the flesh of Jesus” and “the medicine of immortality.” What does that suggest God wants communion to do for us, and how does it challenge common evangelical ideas about what grace is and how we receive it?

Direct Answer

Ignatius’ “medicine” and “antidote” language implies God intends communion to be a real, God-given means of spiritual life—connected to immortality and abiding in Christ—not a bare mental exercise. That challenges an instinct (Bercot critiques) that grace can’t come through physical, created things and must stay only in the “inward” or purely symbolic realm.

Support from Transcript:

Ignatius desires “the bread of God…which is the flesh of Jesus Christ” and “the drink of God…His blood.”
Ignatius calls the one bread “the medicine of immortality and the antidote to prevent us from dying so that we should live forever in Jesus Christ.”
Bercot links this to John 6: “Unless you eat…drink…you have no life in you…my flesh is food indeed.”
He explains “spiritual doesn’t mean figurative”: spiritual food and drink is “a channel of grace…something supernatural that works to our spiritual and everlasting well-being.”
He warns against reacting so strongly against Rome that we start thinking God cannot work through creation—an instinct he compares to Gnosticism.

Discussion Follow-ups

Do you think of grace mainly as forgiveness in your mind and heart, or also as God’s life given through His appointed practices? What makes “medicine of immortality” sound either hopeful or threatening to you?

Jumpstarter 3 of 10

Add your phone number?

Thank you!

Jumpstarter 3 of 10