Memory Lapse

Every little local church has its characters. That’s not exactly what Peter was referring to when he called us a “peculiar people”, but it remains the case all the same. Some Christians are … well, odd. They study the scripture diligently, which is good, but seem to reliably produce the weirdest possible interpretations of it, which is probably not so good.

Novelty isn’t exclusively associated with error, but when we run into a Christian whose energies are primarily devoted to coming up with interpretations that defy conventional wisdom, a little verification is in order.

To say the least.

We Hear Him Say ‘Remember Me’

A friend asked me to look into this one for her: a man in her church — a real student of the word of God — insists that with regard to the Lord’s Supper, our use of the word “remembrance” is in error. In fact, he says, biblical “remembrance” has nothing to do with memory. Rather, it’s a word that means to reunite one thing with another, as when a surgeon reattaches a severed arm. To “re-member” is, he says, the opposite of to dismember.

“If you don’t believe me,” he told her, “it’s right there in the Greek.” In his view, we should think of the Lord’s Supper not so much as a time to contemplate Christ and recall his person and work, but as a time in which those of us who were once separate from one another have all been brought back together.

Really?

Okay. Let’s do our due diligence then.

A Little Greek

With regard to the Lord’s Supper, the word translated “remembrance” in our Bibles is anamnesis. Other Greek words are also translated as “remembrance” or “remember” (as in “remember the poor” or “remember Lot’s wife”), but since it is the Lord’s Supper that concerns this gentleman, we will stick with the only Greek word the writers of the New Testament use in that specific context.

Strong’s defines anamnesis as “a remembering, recollection”. Wikipedia says it is “the verbal noun of ἀναμιμνήσκω (anamimnḗskō), from ἀνα- (ana-) + μιμνῄσκω (mimnḗiskō, ‘call to mind’)”. It is “the ability to recall past events”. Plato and other Greek writers use the word in this same sense. To the best of my knowledge and ability to research, it has no special, spiritual meaning unique to the writers of scripture. The word is used four times in our New Testament. In each case, the most natural meaning to be inferred from the context is that anamnesis refers to the process of recalling or remembering.

I don’t for a moment doubt this fellow is sincere in believing anamnesis means something else, or that there is some special nuance in the word of which Christians ought to be aware. I just can’t find any evidence of that anywhere. Not a scintilla.

Contemplating Christ

Even if the word anamnesis were used in other ways in scripture, the Lord did not simply tell his disciples, “Do this in remembrance.” He told them, “Do this in remembrance of me”. The addition of those two little words removes all possible ambiguity about the task at hand when we gather in the name of the Lord.

In scripture, then, the Lord’s Supper is the time that we endeavor, with the help of the Holy Spirit of God, to call the Lord Jesus to memory corporately. His death certainly brought us together in one body, and we should always be cognizant of that, especially as we prepare our hearts to worship, but that wonderful unity created by the Spirit of God is not the primary focus of our thinking when we gather to break bread and share a cup. We are concerned with contemplating Christ.

It’s a reminder that when we hear neat new things from the platform or elsewhere, it’s worth a moment or two of our time to look them up for ourselves and confirm the truth of what we are being told. I would be embarrassed to repeat something like this.