Baptism and Eucharist Sacraments Of Oneness in Christ
Date
1998-02
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Publisher
Tangaza University College
Abstract
The gap between what someone believes in and the way he will live afterwards has always
been the preoccupation of most master, pioneer, founder of movement or institute and
those in charge of forming people. The concern is often whether the pupils, the followers,
disciples would behave or perform according to the teaching they received. To facilitate an
easy passage from the theory to practice, most of them do make a set of rule. Jesus for
instance, advised his disciples to love one another so that people may know they are his
disciples (Jn 13:35). In another text, he condemns the ambiguous behaviour of the
Pharisees and the Scribes who say one thing and do the opposite (Mt 23).
The recent Rwanda tragedy and the flagrant injustice committed by some political leaders to their
fellow citizen, in spite of their apparent Christian identity, has prompted me to reflect on the link
between the sacraments the Christian receive and their conduct afterwards and whether the
sacraments influence at all their lives. In particular, I will look at the sacrament of Baptism and
Eucharist and try to see what interpersonal relationship these sacrament tie between the people,
-apart from their previous humanly based relationship- and their behaviour as a consequence of it. In
order to avoid the temptation of projecting my idea on the reality of Christian life, in the first part I
will analyse consecutively three texts from the epistles of Paul, to find out the ground of the
relationship. The study of each text will constitute a chapter of its own. As far as possible I will
present for each text a brief historical background to the epistle, a succint structure of the epistle, the
immediate context of the passage we shall analyse, its exegesis and theological message.
In the second part: the theological application and the missionary dimension, I will try to deduce
from the texts the relationship Baptism and Eucharist tie among people once they receive it. It will occur to us that through Baptism and Eucharist we are all made people of God, citizen of God's
realm and in Christ we are in communion with one another, we are united to one another as brothers
and sisters, although humanly speaking we are from different, ethnic groups and nations. We are
also called to express that unity in action. Under the subheading "People of God" we shall briefly
tackle the issues of ethnicity and try to suggest an alternative to it. The communion of the people of
God in Africa is disturbed by the practice of solidarity based on tribal criteria Finally we shall
present the small Christian community as a model koinonia Church, a model upheld by Vatican IL
Thus this work will be divided into two main parts and four Chapters. Concerning the biblical
quotations I will follow the version of the main commentary used for each text.
Far from any pretention,this essay will not convey all the relationships that Baptism and Eucharist tie
between people but what we shall put forward is enough reason to affirm and hold the view that
Christians should treat one another in a different way on the grounds that new relationships are
created Baptism and the partaking in the Eucharist.
Description
Keywords
Structure of the First Letter to the Corinthians, Exegesis, Christian Relationships Derive From Baptism and Eucharist, Communion of Brother and Sister in Christ, Collaborative Ministry, Received Tradition, Epistle to the Romans, Danger of Over-Confidence