The Altar Replaced by a Human?

What is this page about?

Three things can stand at the front of a church: a table, a pulpit, or a stage.

Which one is in the middle? Which one has the light on it? This tells you something. It tells you what the builders believed was the main thing on Sunday.

The short answer

1. The first Christians met for both. The Bible says: “They continued steadfastly in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and prayer.” (Acts 2:42) One Sunday in the city of Troas, “the disciples were gathered together to break bread” (Acts 20:7), and Paul talked with them. They came for the bread. There was also a sermon, and it went on until midnight.
2. A hundred years later, the pattern was the same. See Part 2.
3. The words “We have an altar” are in the Bible (Hebrews 13:10). The early Christians called the table of the Lord’s Supper “the altar”. They also told people of other religions that they had no altars. They meant: no altars with blood and smoke.
4. No church teaches that the Lord’s Supper repeats the cross. Catholic, Orthodox, Lutheran, Anglican, Presbyterian and Baptist documents all say that the sacrifice of Christ happened “once for all” (Hebrews 10:10). They disagree about what the Lord’s Supper gives. They do not disagree about that.
5. The pulpit is in the Bible too. “Ezra the scribe stood on a pulpit of wood” (Nehemiah 8:4) to read God’s law. And the church of the Middle Ages went wrong in the other direction. The altar was far away. There was little preaching. People received the Lord’s Supper about one time a year.
6. The Reformers kept both. Luther kept the altar and the Lord’s Supper every Sunday. Calvin wanted the Lord’s Supper “at least once a week”. The city council of Geneva voted against him. The Lutheran, Reformed and Anglican statements of faith all say what the Church is in the same way: the place where the Word is preached and the sacraments are given.
7. The stage is about 150 years old. It grew from the revival meetings of the 1800s. First there were halls for preaching. Then a song leader stood next to the preacher. Then choirs and organs stood behind the pulpit. Then came bands, microphones, screens and stage lights.
8. In most places, the belief changed first. Some Christians began to see the Lord’s Supper mainly as our act: we remember. Then a table that always stands there did not seem necessary. But sometimes the equipment changed first. Then the room taught a new lesson, and nobody had argued for it.

A Sunday in the year 155

Justin Martyr was a Christian teacher in Rome. About the year 155 he wrote to the Roman emperor and explained what Christians did. He said that this happened every Sunday:

1. Someone read from the writings of the apostles and the prophets.
2. The leader preached a sermon.
3. Everyone stood up together and prayed.
4. Bread, wine and water were brought.
5. The leader prayed and gave thanks.
6. The people said “Amen”.
7. The bread and the cup were given to each person.
8. Helpers carried some to the people who could not come.

Here are Justin’s own words:

the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits; then, when the reader has ceased, the president verbally instructs, and exhorts to the imitation of these good things. Then we all rise together and pray, and … bread and wine and water are brought

Justin Martyr, about 155

In simple words: The books of the apostles or the prophets are read, for as long as there is time. When the reader stops, the leader teaches. He tells the people to copy these good things. Then we all stand up together and pray. And then bread, wine and water are brought.

Nine rooms in two thousand years

Here are nine kinds of church room, from a house church of the 240s to a modern worship centre. They are types. They are not exact buildings. For each one, ask: what does a person in the seats see first? And what does the room teach without words?

1. A house church (the 240s)

One church building from before the year 313 has been found for certain. It is at a place called Dura-Europos, in Syria. It was a house that was changed into a church. No altar was found in it. There was a low platform at one end of the hall. Perhaps it held a leader’s chair, or a reading desk, or a table. Nobody knows. The room with the most careful decoration was the room for baptism.

The building cannot tell us the answer. The writings of that time must tell us.

What the room teaches: the Church is a family in a house.

2. An early large church (from about 315)

A writer named Eusebius described a new church in the city of Tyre, about the year 315. He said that the builder put the altar in the middle and put a fence around it. In the large churches of Rome, the bishop sat at the far end, and the other ministers sat around him. The altar stood between them and the people. The bishop usually preached from his chair. So he spoke from behind the altar, across it.

What the room teaches: Christ’s Table is the centre. The preacher sits behind it and speaks across it.

3. A church in northern Syria

In one group of old churches in northern Syria, a large platform stood in the middle of the room, among the people. The readings and the sermon came from there. The altar stood at the east end. So the service moved from the Word, among the people, to the Table. It is the order of Justin’s Sunday, built in stone.

What the room teaches: there are two centres, in order. First the Word among the people, then the Table.

4. A village church in Western Europe (about 1400-1520)

Everything pointed to the altar. But it was far away, at the end of a long space, and often behind a screen. The service was in Latin, and people could hardly hear it. Many churches had little preaching. In 1215 a great church council had to make a rule: every Christian must receive the Lord’s Supper at least one time a year. The altar was the centre, but the people mostly watched it.

The Reformers were right to speak against this.

What the room teaches: Christ is present here. But this is for the priests. You watch.

5. A Lutheran town church (about 1550-1700)

The altar stays at the east end, usually with a large painting behind it. The Lord’s Supper is held every Sunday. A big pulpit is fixed high on a wall or a pillar, so that everyone can hear the sermon. The sermon is now long, weekly, and in the people’s own language. Seats appear, and they face the front. Both the pulpit and the altar are easy to see. The altar still has the middle place.

What the room teaches: Christ speaks from the pulpit and gives himself at the altar. Both matter. The Table is still the centre.

6. A Reformed or Puritan meeting house (about 1640-1780)

The pulpit is high, in the middle of a long wall. A table stands below it. The table is real, and the Lord’s Supper is holy to these Christians. One of their books wanted people to “sit about it, or at it”. But the Lord’s Supper is held only a few times a year. On the other Sundays, the eye meets the pulpit.

What the room teaches: hear the Word, as the minister explains it. The Table is below, and it waits.

7. A German “pulpit-altar” (about 1700-1850)

The organ, the pulpit and the altar stand one above the other on the east wall. This was done on purpose. It says that Word, song and sacrament are one act of worship. But it also put the preacher above the Table. People at that time pointed this out.

What the room teaches: Word and sacrament belong together. But who stands highest?

8. An American hall church (about 1875-1920)

The floor slopes down, as in a theatre. The seats curve around a platform. The pulpit desk is at the centre. The choir and the organ pipes rise behind the preacher and above him, and they face the people. A small table may stand on the floor below the platform. A history of these buildings has the title When Church Became Theatre.

What the room teaches: look at the platform. Look at the preacher, and at the singers behind him.

9. A modern worship centre (about 1995 until today)

What the room teaches: watch the people on the stage. Worship is what they lead.

What does the room of your church say?

Think of the room where you usually worship. Answer these ten questions with “yes”, “partly” or “no”. The answers describe what the room teaches. They do not judge anyone’s faith.

1. Is there a Table (or altar) that is always in the room? Can you see it on Sundays when it is not used?
2. Does the Table stand in the middle, where the eye goes first?
3. Is the Lord’s Supper held every Sunday?
4. Does the place for preaching stand next to the Table, and not in front of it or above it?
5. Is a long part of the Bible read aloud, more than the verses of the sermon?
6. When the people sing, can you hear the people, and not only the leaders with microphones?
7. Is the whole room light during worship, and not dark with a bright front?
8. Do the musicians stand somewhere other than the middle of the front?
9. Can you see the place for baptism?
10. Does the service move towards the Table, and not end with the sermon?

Many “yes” answers mean that the room says: Christ speaks and Christ feeds. Many “no” answers mean that the room says something else. Then it is fair to ask what it says.

Check it yourself

Here are six things. The first three take one evening together. The last one takes no time at all.

1. Read Acts 2:41-47 and 20:6-12, and Luke 24:13-35. Fifteen minutes. The first church, a Sunday at Troas, and the road to Emmaus. The Bible is opened, and then the bread is broken.
2. Read Justin Martyr, *First Apology*, chapters 65-67. Ten minutes, free online. It is the oldest full description of a Christian Sunday.
3. Read 1 Corinthians 10:14-22 and 11:17-34. Ten minutes. “The table of the Lord”, and why the Christians at Corinth came together.
4. Read the Augsburg Confession, article 7, and the Anglican Articles, article 19. Five minutes. This is how the Reformers said what the Church is.
5. Look for the Wittenberg altar painting by Lucas Cranach (1547). Five minutes. Find the preacher, and see where he points.
6. Sit in your church on a weekday. Do this one. Nobody is on the platform. Where does your eye go first? What is always there? And where is the Table?