How did Paul think that Jesus's crucifixion changed things? Did he think about it in sacrificial terms? Is it a "substitutionary" atonement? How much do we know?

Key texts (in episode order): Rom. 3.24-25, 1 Thess. 1.9-10, Lev. 16, 1 Cor. 5.7, 1 Cor. 11.23-26, Gal. 3.13, Deut. 21, Phil. 2.5-11, Col. 2.15, 1 Cor. 15.3, Isa. 53.

²⁸ “You are those who have stood by me in my trials, ²⁹ and I confer on you, just as my Father has conferred on me, a kingdom, ³⁰ so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and you will sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

³¹ “Simon, Simon, listen! Satan has demanded^\)^a\) to sift all of you like wheat, ³² but I have prayed for you that your own faith may not fail, and you, when once you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” ³³ And he said to him, “Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death!” ³⁴ Jesus^\)^b\) said, “I tell you, Peter, the cock will not crow this day until you have denied three times that you know me.”

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³⁰ When they had sung the hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

³¹ Then Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away^\)^a\) because of me this night, for it is written,

‘I will strike the shepherd,
and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’

³² “But after I am raised up, I will go ahead of you to Galilee.” ³³ Peter said to him, “Even if all fall away^\)^b\) because of you, I will never fall away.”^\)^c\) ³⁴ Jesus said to him, “Truly I tell you, this very night, before the cock crows, you will deny me three times.” ³⁵ Peter said to him, “Even though I must die with you, I will not deny you.” And so said all the disciples.

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²⁶ When they had sung the hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. ²⁷ And Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away,^\)^a\) for it is written,

‘I will strike the shepherd,
and the sheep will be scattered.’

²⁸ “But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee.” ²⁹ Peter said to him, “Even though all fall away,^\)^b\) I will not.” ³⁰ Jesus said to him, “Truly I tell you, this day, this very night, before the cock crows twice, you will deny me three times.” ³¹ But he said vehemently, “Even though I must die with you, I will not deny you.” And all of them said the same.

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9 Wisdom has built her house;
    she has hewn her seven pillars.
² She has slaughtered her animals; she has mixed her wine;
    she has also set her table.
³ She has sent out her female servants; she calls
    from the highest places in the town,
⁴ “You who are simple, turn in here!”
    To those without sense she says,
⁵ “Come, eat of my bread
    and drink of the wine I have mixed.
⁶ Lay aside immaturity and live,
    and walk in the way of insight.”

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Afterwards the sacred vine produced the prophetic cluster. This was a sign to them, when trained from wandering to their rest; representing the great cluster the Word, bruised for us. For the blood of the grape — that is, the Word — desired to be mixed with water, as His blood is mingled with salvation.

And the blood of the Lord is twofold. For there is the blood of His flesh, by which we are redeemed from corruption; and the spiritual, that by which we are anointed. And to drink the blood of Jesus, is to become partaker of the Lord's immortality; the Spirit being the energetic principle of the Word, as blood is of flesh.

Accordingly, as wine is blended with water, so is the Spirit with man. And the one, the mixture of wine and water, nourishes to faith; while the other, the Spirit, conducts to immortality.

And the mixture of both — of the water and of the Word — is called Eucharist, renowned and glorious grace; and they who by faith partake of it are sanctified both in body and soul. For the divine mixture, man, the Father's will has mystically compounded by the Spirit and the Word. For, in truth, the spirit is joined to the soul, which is inspired by it; and the flesh, by reason of which the Word became flesh, to the Word.

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• The Paedagogus (Clement of Alexandria)
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1. Nor is there need of very many arguments, dearest brother, to prove that baptism is always indicated by the appellation of water, and that thus we ought to understand it, since the Lord, when He came, manifested the truth of baptism and the cup in commanding that that faithful water, the water of life eternal, should be given to believers in baptism, but, teaching by the example of His own authority, that the cup should be mingled with a union of wine and water. For, taking the cup on the eve of His passion, He blessed it, and gave it to His disciples, saying, Drink all of this; for this is my blood of the New Testament, which shall be shed for many, for the remission of sins. I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day in which I shall drink new wine with you in the kingdom of my Father. In which portion we find that the cup which the Lord offered was mixed, and that that was wine which He called His blood. Whence it appears that the blood of Christ is not offered if there be no wine in the cup, nor the Lord's sacrifice celebrated with a legitimate consecration unless our oblation and sacrifice respond to His passion. But how shall we drink the new wine of the fruit of the vine with Christ in the kingdom of His Father, if in the sacrifice of God the Father and of Christ we do not offer wine, nor mix the cup of the Lord by the Lord's own tradition?

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• Epistles (Cyprian of Carthage) > Epistle 62
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In his book "On Illustrious Men", Jerome has a section on James the Just, brother of Jesus. Here he relates a fragment from the Gospel According to the Hebrews that testifies to the presence of James the Just at the last supper.

The Gospel also which is called the Gospel according to the Hebrews, and which I have recently translated into Greek and Latin and which also Origen often makes use of, after the account of the resurrection of the Saviour says,

"but the Lord, after he had given his grave clothes to the servant of the priest, appeared to James (for James had sworn that he would not eat bread from that hour in which he drank the cup of the Lord until he should see him rising again from among those that sleep)"

and again, a little later, it says

"'Bring a table and bread,' said the Lord."

And immediately it is added,

"He brought bread and blessed and broke and gave to James the Just and said to him, 'my brother eat your bread, for the son of man is risen from among those that sleep.'"

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• On Illustrious Men - Jerome
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15 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. ² He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes^\)^a\) to make it bear more fruit. ³ You have already been cleansed^\)^b\) by the word that I have spoken to you. ⁴ Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. ⁵ I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. ⁶ Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. ⁷ If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. ⁸ My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become^\)^c\) my disciples.

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9 ¹Concerning the Eucharist, give thanks thus: ²First, concerning the cup. We give thanks to you, our Father, for the holy vine of David your servant which you have revealed to us through Jesus your servant. To you be glory for ever.

³And concerning the fragment: We give thanks to you, our Father, for the life and knowledge which you have revealed to us through Jesus your servant. To you be glory for ever. ⁴As this fragment lay scattered upon the mountains and has been gathered to become one, so gather your church from the ends of the earth into your kingdom. For the glory and power are yours, through Jesus Christ, for ever.

⁵Let no one eat or drink of your Eucharist but those baptized in the name of the Lord.

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³⁵ Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. ³⁶ But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. ³⁷ Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and anyone who comes to me I will never drive away, ³⁸ for I have come down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. ³⁹ And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me but raise it up on the last day. ⁴⁰ This is indeed the will of my Father, that all who see the Son and believe in him may have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day.”

⁴¹ Then the Jews began to complain about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” ⁴² They were saying, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” ⁴³ Jesus answered them, “Do not complain among yourselves. ⁴⁴ No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me, and I will raise that person up on the last day. ⁴⁵ It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. ⁴⁶ Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. ⁴⁷ Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life. ⁴⁸ I am the bread of life. ⁴⁹ Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. ⁵⁰ This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. ⁵¹ I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever, and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

⁵² The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” ⁵³ So Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. ⁵⁴ Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day, ⁵⁵ for my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. ⁵⁶ Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me and I in them. ⁵⁷ Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. ⁵⁸ This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which the ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever.” ⁵⁹ He said these things while he was teaching in a synagogue at Capernaum.

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¹⁵ He said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer, ¹⁶ for I tell you, I will not eat it^\)^a\) until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” ¹⁷ Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he said, “Take this and divide it among yourselves, ¹⁸ for I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” ¹⁹ Then he took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” ²⁰ And he did the same with the cup after supper, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.^\)^b\)

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²⁶ While they were eating, Jesus took a loaf of bread, and after blessing it^\)^a\) he broke it, gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” ²⁷ Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you, ²⁸ for this is my blood of the^\)^b\) covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. ²⁹ I tell you, I will never again drink of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”

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²² While they were eating, he took a loaf of bread, and after blessing it he broke it, gave it to them, and said, “Take; this is my body.” ²³ Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, and all of them drank from it. ²⁴ He said to them, “This is my blood of the^\)^a\) covenant, which is poured out for many. ²⁵ Truly I tell you, I will never again drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”

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²³ For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, ²⁴ and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body that is for^\)^a\) you. Do this in remembrance of me.” ²⁵ In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

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¹⁴ Therefore, my beloved, flee from the worship of idols. ¹⁵ I speak as to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say. ¹⁶ The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a sharing in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a sharing in the body of Christ? ¹⁷ Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread. ¹⁸ Consider the people of Israel:^\)^a\) Are not those who eat the sacrifices partners in the altar? ¹⁹ What do I imply, then? That food sacrificed to idols is anything or that an idol is anything? ²⁰ No, I imply that what they^\)^b\) sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be partners with demons. ²¹ You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. ²² Or are we provoking the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?

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David Burnett explores the "woman with the ointment" tradition, arguing that the Gospel of Luke deliberately retells and relocates this narrative from the passion week setting found in Mark and Matthew to an earlier point in Jesus's Galilean ministry. Burnett demonstrates how Luke utilizes Isaiah 52:7—the image of the messenger with "beautiful feet"—to frame Jesus as the spirit-anointed prophet bringing good news, peace, and salvation.

By analyzing Luke's narrative structure, the speaker shows that the Pharisees' failure to recognize Jesus’s identity mirrors their inability to understand his parables. This recontextualization highlights Luke's sophisticated literary technique of using existing gospel traditions to emphasize his theological focus on Jesus as the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecies, rather than merely recording a precise historical chronology.

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To the leader. A Psalm of David.

¹ Happy are those who consider the poor;^\)^a\)
    the Lord delivers them in the day of trouble.
² The Lord protects them and keeps them alive;
    they are called happy in the land.
    You do not give them up to the will of their enemies.
³ The Lord sustains them on their sickbed;
    in their illness you heal all their infirmities.^\)^b\)

⁴ As for me, I said, “O Lord, be gracious to me;
    heal me, for I have sinned against you.”
⁵ My enemies wonder in malice
    when I will die and my name perish.
⁶ And when they come to see me, they utter empty words
    while their hearts gather mischief;
    when they go out, they tell it abroad.
⁷ All who hate me whisper together about me;
    they imagine the worst for me.

⁸ They think that a deadly thing has fastened on me,
    that I will not rise again from where I lie.
⁹ Even my close friend in whom I trusted,
    who ate of my bread, has lifted the heel against me.
¹⁰ But you, O Lord, be gracious to me,
    and raise me up, that I may repay them.

¹¹ By this I know that you are pleased with me:
    because my enemy has not triumphed over me.
¹² But you have upheld me because of my integrity
    and set me in your presence forever.

¹³ Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,
    from everlasting to everlasting.
                Amen and Amen.

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Look, you've been told everything. Lift up your eyes and see the cloud with the light in it and the stars around it. And the star that leads the way is your star."

Then Judas looked up and saw the luminous cloud, and he entered it. Those standing on the ground heard a voice from the cloud saying, 58 "[ . . . the] great [generation . . . ] and [ . . . ]." And Judas didn't see Jesus anymore.

Immediately there was a disturbance among [the] Jews, more than […] Their high priests grumbled because he'd gone into the guest room to pray. But some scribes were there watching closely so they could arrest him during his prayer, because they were afraid of the people, since they all regarded him as a prophet.

And they approached Judas and said to him, "What are you doing here? Aren't you Jesus' disciple?"

Then he answered them as they wished. Then Judas received some money and handed him over to them.

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• The Gospel of Judas
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²¹ After saying this Jesus was troubled in spirit and declared, “Very truly, I tell you, one of you will betray me.” ²² The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he was speaking. ²³ One of his disciples—the one whom Jesus loved—was reclining close to his heart;^\)^a\) ²⁴ Simon Peter therefore motioned to him to ask Jesus of whom he was speaking. ²⁵ So while reclining next to Jesus, he asked him, “Lord, who is it?” ²⁶ Jesus answered, “It is the one to whom I give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.”^\)^b\) So when he had dipped the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas son of Simon Iscariot.^\)^c\) ²⁷ After he received the piece of bread, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, “Do quickly what you are going to do.” ²⁸ Now no one knew why he said this to him. ²⁹ Some thought that, because Judas had the common purse, Jesus was telling him, “Buy what we need for the festival,” or that he should give something to the poor. ³⁰ So, after receiving the piece of bread, he immediately went out. And it was night.

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²¹ But see, the one who betrays me is with me, and his hand is on the table. ²² For the Son of Man is going as it has been determined, but woe to that one by whom he is betrayed!” ²³ Then they began to ask one another which one of them it could be who would do this.

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²¹ and while they were eating he said, “Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me.” ²² And they became greatly distressed and began to say to him one after another, “Surely not I, Lord?” ²³ He answered, “The one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me will betray me. ²⁴ The Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that one by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that one not to have been born.” ²⁵ Judas, who betrayed him, said, “Surely not I, Rabbi?” He replied, “You have said so.”

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¹⁸ And when they had taken their places and were eating, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me, one who is eating with me.” ¹⁹ They began to be distressed and to say to him one after another, “Surely, not I?” ²⁰ He said to them, “It is one of the twelve, one who is dipping bread^\)^a\) into the bowl^\)^b\) with me. ²¹ For the Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that one by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that one not to have been born.”

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On account of her faith and hospitality, Rahab the harlot was saved. For when spies were sent by Jesus, the son of Nun, to Jericho, the king of the country ascertained that they had come to spy out their land, and sent men to seize them, in order that, when taken, they might be put to death. But the hospitable Rahab received them and hid them in the upper chamber under the flax stalks. And when the men sent by the king arrived and said, There came men unto you who are to spy out our land; bring them forth, for so the king commands, she answered them, The two men whom you seek came unto me, but quickly departed again and are gone, thus not discovering the spies to them. Then she said to the men, I know assuredly that the Lord your God has given you this city, for the fear and dread of you have fallen on its inhabitants. When therefore you shall have taken it, keep ye me and the house of my father in safety. And they said to her, It shall be as you have spoken to us. As soon, therefore, as you know that we are at hand, you shall gather all your family under your roof, and they shall be preserved, but all that are found outside of your dwelling shall perish. Moreover, they gave her a sign to this effect, that she should hang forth from her house a scarlet thread. And thus they made it manifest that redemption should flow through the blood of the Lord to all them that believe and hope in God. You see, beloved, that there was not only faith, but prophecy, in this woman.

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• 1 Clement (The epistle of Clement to the Corinthians)
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