(c) The Eucharist. — The accidental circumstance that difficulties had arisen in the Church at Corinth owing to the bad behaviour of some Corinthians at the common meal with which the Eucharist was associated, is responsible for the fact that we have in 1 Co li^ff- our earliest account of the institution of the Eucharist. But in the same Epistle it is alluded to in two other connexions. When St. Paul is using the example of the Israelites as a warning to the Corinthian Church against presum- ing upon their privileges, he gives as instances of the privileges of the Israelites the cloud which went with them and the sea which they miracu- lously crossed, and also the rock which, according to the Jewish legend, followed them, and from which they drank. These he clearly regards as types of Baptism and the Eucharist. 'Thus lie puts into close association as the two great privileges of the Christian Church the two Sacraments of the Gospel (1 Co 10^-*). And immediately afterwards, in warning the Corinthians against idolatry, he treats the Eucharist as parallel -ndth the heathen sacrificial feasts, thus cleariy showing that he re- gards it as a sacrifice in the same sense in which these heathen feasts were sacrifices. He regards VOL. I. — 17
the communicant as entering into real communion with Christ through the act of eating the bread and drinking the cup ; and similarly he seems to regard real communion as brought about between the worshipper at the heathen sacrifice and some 5aL(j.6vi.ov whose power was behind the idolatrous worship (IQi-*--^). His account of the institution he prefaces by the words, ' I received from tlae Lord ' (11^), and this has been taken to mean that he claims to have received it from the Lord Him- self, presumably in a vision. But this is not certain. Even if it is true, it by no means follows that he claims to receive all the details of his ac- count in this way. It may be that he merely in- tends to convey the impression that he received directly from the Lord a revelation of the general doctrinal meaning of the Eucharist. It is import- ant to remember that he claims to have had other visions and revelations of the Lord (2 Co 12^*^). His account of the institution is marked by the command to repeat the rite, which is given twice, after the institution of both bread and cup. He con- nects it with the death of Christ, which is thus proclaimed. He attaches great importance to due preparation for reception ; and asserts that physical evil?, have resulted from unworthy reception and failure to discern the Body, which seems to mean failure to differentiate the bread from ordinary bread. It may be said here briefly that St. Paul's teaching about the Eucharist is that it is sacrificial, that it brings about a real communion between the communicant and Christ, that the bread and the wine are endowed with the character of the Body and Blood of Christ, and must not therefore be re- ceived as ordinary bread and wine. See further art. Eucharist.
{d) Eschatology. — St. Paul's treatment of the questions submitted to htm is always coloured by his belief in the imminence of the Trapov<rla. Chris- tians are ' waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ' (1 Co V). His language implies that he expects some at any rate of those to whom he is WTiting to be alive at the irapovo-la, and he appears to expect to be alive himself (15""*^). The chief characteristic of the irapovffLa will be judgment (2 Co 0'"). The work of the Christian minister will then be tested (1 Co S^*). The Parousia will be the signal for the beginning of the mediatorial reign of Christ. ' He must reign, till he hath put all his enemies under his feet ' (1 Co 15^). And then finally comes the end of His reign, when God's rule shall be unmediated (v.^^). It is important to notice that St. Paul does not discuss in these Epistles the future condition of those who are not Christians. It is with the resurrection of Chi-is- tians that he is here concerned. For them he affirms the resurrection of the body. But it is to be noticed that he differentiates the body from its parts. ' Meats for the belly,' he says, ' and the belly for meats : but God shall bring to nought both it and them. Now the body is not for fornica- tion, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body : and God both raised the Lord and vrill raise us also through his power' (6^''*). The new spiritual body will difl'er from the old as the fruit differs from the seed sown. This life is the time of sowing, and the nature of the spiritual body will depend upon the character of the seed. But it ynll not be of flesh and blood, and it will have no element of corruption (15^''). It will be a full and complete means of self-expression for the 'spiritual' man, just as the ' natural ' body is a suitable means of self-expression for the ' natural ' man, but is already found inadequate for Christians, who are even now becoming ' spiritual.' Christians have received an earnest of the spiritual body in the gift of the Holy Spirit (2 Co 5^). The metaphor of which he is most fond is that of a garment. He is to be