What the early Christians believed about baptism and the Eucharist.
This is the 6th of a series on What the early Christians believed and practiced.
We discuss in great detail why the early Christians believed that water baptism was a believer's entrance into the Kingdom of God (instead of a simple prayer to receive Christ) and that the eucharist was of utmost importance, in fact, a very necessary practice in order to maintain citizenship in the Kingdom of God, for according to Clement of Alexandria, "the Eucharist is the medicine for immortality" which is our food for eternal life and our nourishment to be able to live the Christian life.
In this discussion, we realized the difference between how western Christians think and how eastern Christians (like the primitive church) think. The western church seeks reason behind what they are doing, hence, in the Eucharist we have theological variations, some say it is just a symbol of Christ's atonement, some believe Christ is spiritually present, then we have those who believe in "consubstantiation" where Christ is mystically present in the elements and finally "transubstantiation" where the Roman Catholics believe that the bread and wine are miraculously transformed into the body and blood of Christ after it is blessed.
While the western church often looks at the Eucharist with the eyes of reason, the primitive church and the eastern church looks at it with the eyes of faith. They literally believe that if Christ said this is my body, then it is his body. If Christ said this is my blood, then it is his blood. They accept that almost totally by faith. NO THEOLOGY NEEDED!
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