Hello Thunaer,
1. Unleaven Bread was commanded for the Passover.
2. the Lord Supper grew out of the Passover Meal.
3. Christ Used Unleaven Bread.
4. By Example Christ Used, so to must we use.. Otherwise Why not Grape Juice instead of Wine. I believe it to be inconsistent to require one and not the other.
5. The Hebrews were told to Purge the Leaven out of their houses and had symbolism which carries over to the Supper of the Lord...
6. In my humble opinion, The RPW requires us whether by Implicit or Explicit command to follow the principles for worship... Due to the Above, It is my belief that we must use Unleaven Bread and Fermented Wine by Example of Christ and his command to "Do this".
I believe it to be a violation of the RPW and a violation of the symbolism behind it... Just as Grape Juice is a Violation or uninspired songs in worship is a violation...
First, let's go from the general to the specific. The RPW states that God reveals to us the acceptable way of worshipping in scripture and that he is not to be worshiped according to our own imaginations and devisings or in any way not prescribed. Well Thunaer, the elements that are prescribed for us in the Word of God in the Lord's Supper are Bread (
Artos) and Wine. Artos specifically means Leavened Bread, there is a word for unleavened bread (
Azumos) but it is never used in reference to the Lord's Supper. None of the Puritan documents including the Standards and the Directory for Public Worship require us to use unleavened bread, only "bread" and indeed the bread the Puritans used in communion was leavened. To say that the RPW requires us to use UNLEAVENED bread is to create a prescription that scripture doesn't and which the Puritans (not well known for ignoring the RPW) didn't recognize. Additionally if we were to say that scripture
prescribes the kind of bread we are to use, then I put it to you that scripture uses the word ARTOS meaning leavened bread, so the prescribed bread would be ARTOS (leavened) and not AZUMOS (unleavened).
Regarding your specifics:
1) Yes, in the Passover the Jews did not use Leaven. Not because leaven is sinful but as a memorial to the haste with which they left Egypt. That was the significance of the use of unleavened bread and the use of this bread was symbolic.
2) Not really. The first Lord's Supper was instituted by Christ at the Last Supper, the final passover meal, but it is not simply the NT passover and symbolizes Christ's act of redemption. Also, there is no HASTE aspect to the Lord's Supper, the lack of leaven would contribute nothing to Communion. Bread symbolizes the body of Christ in Communion, but what would the absence of the leaven of bread, symbolizing haste, signify in the sacrament?
3 & 4) That's our guess, actually the gospel writers didn't consider it important enough to note whether he used leavened or unleavened bread, neither do they note whether he passed it to the left or the right, whether the wine was red or white and so on, because they aren't concerned with details like that.
Also Christ used the bread at hand. In 1 Corinthians 11 Paul addresses the Corinthians (a mostly gentile church) speaks of the Lord's Supper and uses the word for Leavened bread (Artos). Their Lord's Supper followed an
Agapen a feast or meal at which they could be expected to eat ordinary Corinthian leavened bread, he doesn't tell them to go out and get unleavened bread for the following Lord's Supper.
5) The Hebrews were told to purge out the leaven for the PASSOVER and FEAST OF UNLEAVENED BREAD for the rest of the year they made and ate leavened bread, nowhere in the NT are we told to purge out the LEAVEN OF BREAD and 1 Cor. 5:8 is no more speaking of the Leaven of Bread than 1 Cor. 6:19 is meant to be an injunction against smoking.
The Grape Juice/Wine analogy does not apply. Grape Juice is not wine and was unknown as a table beverage until Welch succeeded in Pasteurizing and Vacuum packing it in the late 19th century.
Besides if we take the "Do
this" in the first institution as meaning
"Do this exactly as I'm doing it now" why do we:
1) Include Women
2) Not Hold the Supper exclusively in the Evening (Matt. 26:20) which is also the time when the Passover Meal is held.
2) Not have a meal first (especially given that the Apostolic church DID)
3) Not Recline at the Table
etc., etc., etc.
Why do we suddenly become prescriptive on a detail
that isn't in the text of scripture (unleavened bread) and ignore all the others I listed above that
are in the text?
(I am not KJV-Only but textus Receptus only and I am Ok with movies)
