THE IDEA OF SACRIFICE IN THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH There can be no doubt that the idea of sacrifice occupied an important place in early Christianity. It had been a fundamental element of both Jewish and Gentile religions, and Christianity tended rather to absorb and modify such elements than to abolish them. To a great extent the idea had been modified already. Among the Jews the preaching of the prophets had been a con stant protest against the grosser forms of sacrifice, and there are indications that when Christianity arose bloody sacrifices were already beginning to fall into disuse ; a saying which was at tributed by the Ebionites to Christ repeats this protest in a strong form, "I have come to abolish the sacrifices ; and if ye do not cease from sacrificing the wrath of God will not cease from you" (Epiph. xxx. 16). Among the Greeks the philosophers had come to use both argument and ridicule against the idea that the offer ing of material things could be needed by or acceptable to the Maker of them all. Among both Jews and Greeks the earlier forms of the idea had been rationalized into the belief that the most appropriate offering to God is that of a pure and penitent heart, and that the vocal expression of contrition in prayer or of gratitude in praise is also acceptable.
The best instances of these ideas in the Old Testament are in Psalms 1. and li., and in Greek literature the striking words which Porphyry quotes from an earlier writer, "We ought, then, having been united and made like to God, to offer our own con duct as a holy sacrifice to Him, the same being also a hymn and our salvation in passionless excellence of soul" (Euseb. Dem. Ev., 3). The ideas are also found both in the New Testament and in early Christian literature : "Let us offer up a sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of lips which make confes sion to His name" (Heb. xiii. 15) ; "That prayers and thanks givings, made by worthy persons, are the only perfect and accep table sacrifices I also admit" (Just. Mart. Trypho, c. 117) ; "We honour God in prayer, and offer this as the best and holiest sacrifice with righteousness to the righteous Word" (Clem. Alex.
Strom., vii. 6).
But among the Jews two other forms of the idea expressed themselves in usages which have been perpetuated in Christianity, and one of which has had a singular importance for the Christian world. The one form, which probably arose from the conception of Yahweh as in an especial sense the protector of the poor, was that gifts to God may properly be bestowed on the needy, and that consequently alms have the virtue of a sacrifice. Biblical instances of this idea are—"He who doeth alms is offering a sacrifice of praise" (Ecclus. xxxii. 2) ; "To do good and to communicate f or get not, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased" (Heb. xiii. 16) ; so the offerings sent by the Philippians to Paul when a pris oner at Rome are "an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice accep table, well pleasing to God" (Phil. iv. The other form, which was probably a relic of the conception of Yahweh as the author of natural fertility, was that part of the fruits of the earth should be offered to God in acknowledgment of His bounty, and that what was so offered was especially blessed and brought a blessing upon both those who offered it and those who afterwards partook of it. The persistence of this form of the idea of sacrifice con stitutes so marked a feature of the history of Christianity as to require a detailed account of it.
Paul's words, "He that eateth, eateth unto the Lord, for he giveth God thanks" (Rom. xiv. 6; cf. I Tim. iv. 4). But the most important offering was the solemn oblation in the assembly on the Lord's day.