(b) The meaning of ' This cup is the new cove- nant ' ; ' this do, as oft as ye drink it, as my memorial.' The interpretation of these sentences turns on three words: (i. ) 'covenant,' (ii.) 'do,' (iii.) ' memorial.'
(i.) The sentence ' This cup is the new covenant in my blood,' while recalling the phraseology and pro- mise of Jer 3P'"^^, inevitably suggests a comparison with Ex 24''". The making of a covenant between the Lord and Israel is there described. A sacrifice was offered by the slaughter of oxen and the sprink- ling of part of the blood of the victims on the altar. After the reading of the book of the cove- nant in the audience of the people by Moses, and their promise to be obedient to all that the Lord had thus spoken, the rest of the blood was sprinkled by Moses on the people with the words, ' Behold the blood of the covenant, which the Lord hath made with you concerning all these words.' The sacrifice was consummated, and the covenant completed, by the sacred meal wherein ' the nobles of the children of Israel ' ' beheld God, and did eat and drink.' The analogy between this series of actions and the Eucharist which the words ' This is the new covenant in my blood ' suggest, is worked out with some detail in He 9'^"''*'. The death of Christ and His entrance into heaven with His own blood are there represented as the high- jn'iestly actions of which the slaughter of the beasts and the sprinkling of their blood in the Mosaic sacrifices, alike in the covenant of Ex 24' '^^ and in the ceremonies of the Day of Atonement in Ex 30'", Lv 16, were an anticipation. The words ' This is the new covenant in my blood ' thus bring the P]ucharist into close connexion with the high- priestly work wherein Christ offered Himself a sacrifice in His death on the cross, and His entrance into heaven at the Ascension. They denote that the gift by Christ of His body and blood, and the reception of these by Christians, are the means of a covenant relation in the sacrificial action ; and that Christians by participating in this rite are in
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contact with the death of Christ and His high- priestly acts in heaven.
(ii.) The command ' this do ' conveys the injunc- tion for the perpetuation of the rite instituted by our Lord in the Church. It has been much dis- cussed whether the word ' do ' (Troietre) suggests sacrificial associations. The truth appears to be that in itself votiw is simply negative as to this point. Apart from other indications of sacrifice, it would not suggest any such thing, since in the very large number of instances in which it is used in LXX and NT it is in a merely general sense. In a sacrificial context, however, like the Heb. niyii, it acquires the idea of ' sacrifice ' or ' offer,' as, e.g. in Ex 29^», Lv 9^ Ps 66^^, where nvD (LXX voieui) is rightly translated ' offer ' in AV and RV. In NT cf. Lk 2^''. In this ijossibility of a special use, side by side with the ordinary use, Troiew is not greatly dissimilar from the Shakspearian use of ' do,' by which ' do ' constantly has its ordinary general sense, but in a sacrificial context in Jul. Cms. ii. ii. 5 acquires the sense ' offer ' ( ' Bid the priests do present sacrifice,' i.e. ' ofi'er sacrifice immediately'). Consequently, the word ' do,' as used by our Lord at the Institution, is in itself wholly neg.ative, and does not suggest or deny the idea of sacri- fice. In relation to the context, however, it will be held to be appropriate or inappropriate to the idea of sacrifice according as the suggestion of sacrifice is recognized or ignored in the general surroundings of the Last Supper and in the words ' covenant ' and ' memorial.'
(iii.) The' primary thought suggested in the word ' memorial ' (dvdfj.i'riaLs) is that of a memorial before God, though without excluding the idea of a memento to man. It occurs five times in the LXX, namely in Lv 24', Nu lO^", Ps 37^ ( = Heb. 38') 69i ( = Heb. 701), ^vis 16". In Wis 16« it denotes a reminder to man ; in the other four passages it denotes a memorial before God. The only place in NT where it occurs besides 1 Co 11^*-'^^, and the same phrase in Lk 221", jg jjg jq3^ where it refers to the remembrance of sins in the Jewish sacri- fices. When all the circumstances are taken into account, the thought most naturally suggested is that of a memorial of Christ presented by Chris- tians before the Father, which is at the same time a memento to themselves. If so, the idea differs little from that way of regarding the Eucharist in much Greek theology, Avhereby it is viewed as the act in which the Church remembers Christ and in remembering Him makes the memorial of Him before the Father. In the sentences ' This cup is the new covenant in my blood : this do, as oft as ye drink it, as my memorial,' then, our Lord associated with the command for the observance of the rite which He instituted, indications that by means of it Christians would have access to His high-priestly work on the cross and in heaven, and would possess a memorial before God and a memento to themselves.