“A Catholic-Pentecostal Perspective on the Eucharist: The Eucharist as Offering of Firstfruits and the Zebach Tôdâ”

This paper will investigate the Epistle to the Hebrews and its relationship to both the Eucharist, and the offering of firstfruits. One of the main problems for some Pentecostals and even some Catholics is how to reconcile the repeated emphasis in the Epistle to the Hebrews that Jesus offered himself "once" (7:27: 9:12, 26, 28; 10:10) with the notion that the Eucharist is an offering. In contrast to scholars such as Ronald Williamson, who claim there is no connection between Hebrews and the Eucharist, I want to suggest that there is a relationship between the Eucharist and Hebrews. In Hebrews, there is evidence that the author explains Jesus as the firstfruits of the new humanity, who has ascended on high and who holds the priesthood permanently through whom the church offers the Zebach tôdâ (זֶבַח־תּוֹדָה ), the offering of praise and prayer of thanksgiving, which finds its enduring significance through charity.

This paper is divided into three parts: 1) the offering of Christ; 2) the offering of the community; and 3) the offering of the Zebach Tôdâ. The first will establish the one-time sacrifice of Christ; the second and third will support the argument that the Eucharist is the offering of firstfruits. The paper begins with a short discussion on Hebrews and the Eucharist, then proceeds through the body of material, during which I will discuss Hebrews within the context of literature from Second Temple Judaism and early Christianity.