Scholarly Reflections
Daly, Robert J. "Part 3: The Early Christian Literature Before Origen: Chapter One: From the Didache to Hippolytus." Christian Sacrifice: The Judaeo-Christian Background Before Origen. Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 1978, 311-372.
Dally treats the idea of sacrifice in authors arranged chronologically in this chapter. He begins with the Didache, which, following Audet, he places between 70 and 90 (Daly 1978, 311). The eucharistic prayers of chapters 9 and 10, as well as sacrificial statements in chapter 14, certainly make it clear that the theme of sacrifice was known to the author. Didache 14.1 calls for confession of sins so as to celebrate the Eucharsit as a pure offering (Daly 1978, 312). Daly finds this as a parallel to the Old Testament call for purity on the part of the one offering a sacrifice.
Clement of Rome insists that all sacrifices must be made in accord with God's will. All is to be conducted in an orderly manner and to be somehow consistent with the biblical record (Daly 1978, 314). Clement also suggests a spiritualizing view of the sacrifice, doing this by quotations of spiritualizing Psalms at strategic points of his work. Daly notes that Clement makes particular offerings a part of Christian liturgical practice at particular times. In this he is unique among early Christian authors (Daly 1978, 315). Daly does observe that it would be possible for the spiritualizing to erode the culture of institutional sacrifice, but that Clement scrupulously avoids this attitude (Daly 1978, 317).
Ignatius of Antioch, in his view of sacrifice, compares the individual and the community to God's temple and sees the altar as representing the Church (Daly 1978, 318). Christians are the stones of the building purposefully arranged by God. As to the community, Ignatius has a strong sense of the Christians gathered as a unified body, particularly in regard to the leadership of their bishop (Daly 1978, 319). Daly notes that Ignatius makes no specific mention of Christ's sacrifice, concluding that it was an accepted presupposition. However, Ignatius does see his coming death as a sacrifice before God in Christ (Daly 1978, 320).
In Hermas, "fasting is spoken of as a sacrifice" (Daly 1978, 321). The Church is depicted as a tower of which the construction is not complete. This allows God to select and reject the stones (representing people) he wants to build various parts of his tower (Daly 1978, 322).
Polycarp refers to sacrifices several times, using Pauline ideas of Christ as our scrifice. Daly does not consider Polycarp's use of the concept to be particularly innovative (Daly 1978, 322).
Justin Martyr, in hs Apologies and his Dialogue with Trypho, describes a Chrsitian view of sacrifice in some detail (Daly 1978, 323). Justin considered Christian sacrifice to be fundamentally different from Jewish or pagan sacrifice (Daly 1978, 325). He specifically rejects pagan sacrifices, as well as worship of images. At times, Daly notes, the rejection of pagan sacrifice is transferred to Jewish sacrifices because they are performed in a temple made by hands (Daly 1978, 326). He further saw the Old Testament sacrificial system as a concession on the part of God to a people who insisted on taking some sort of hands-on role in worship (Daly 1978, 327).
On the contrarly, Justin understood Christ's sacrificial death to fulfill numerous types included in Old Testament rites (Daly 1978, 328). Surprisingly, in Daly's estimation, Justin considers the sacrifice of the Christian as something to be affirmed and defended. Counter to paganism and Judaism, the Christians doe not make sacrifices in the form of animals or other food and drink, but in prayer and thanks to God (Daly 1978, 331). Especially, Justin treats the Eucharist as the sacrifice which remains in the Christian life (Justin - Dialogue 117). This has replaced the offerings of Israel. It also fucntions to remind the Christian of Jesus' death for his people (Daly 1978, 332). Justin makes other comparisons of offerings to the elements of Jesus' work or the elements used in the Eucharist.
Athenagoras, writing about 177, takes similar views to Justin. His view of Christian sacrifice, presented in his Plea for the Christians ch. 13, observes that God already owns everything and needs nothing (Daly 1978, 338). For this reason Christian sacrifice is of a spiritualized nature.
Daly finds Irenaeus to contain "a wealth of unsystematized references to sacrifice" (Daly 1978, 339). For the most part the ideas are not significant developments in the tradition. Like other authors, Irenaeus is not accepting of pagan sacrifices, classifying them as works of the hands rather than works of God (Daly 1978, 340). He significantly thinks that it is we, not God, who need the sacrificial acts, because we need to do good through making offerings (Daly 1978, 340-341). Consistent with theological orthodoxy, Irenaeus considers Christians to serve as God's temple, in a manner Daly identifies as "in obvious dependence on Paul" (Daly 1978, 345). Specifically, Irenaeus does not picture Christian spirits as the spiritual temple of God, but he depicts them to function bodily as God's temple (Daly 1978, 346). Daly finds little to comment on regarding Irenaeus' view of the sacrifice of Christ. It is thoroughly orthodox and not innovative. Irenaeus does speak more of the sacrifices of the Christian than other early authors do (Daly 1978, 349). He cnsiders the Eucharist to be the primary and proper sacrific of Christians. However, prayer is also considered a sacrifice made by Christians (Daly 1978, 351). Daly does consider Irenaeus to be at least somewhat vague in his discussions of Christian sacrifice. Daly notes that Irenaeus considers the purpose of the incarnation to be preparation for the sacrifice of Christ (Daly 1978, 355). Further, the sacrifice of Jesus is not only an expiation, but also a propitiation. In expiation, the human is placed into a right relatino with God. Propitiation changes the disposition of God rather than simply covering the sin. Daly sees this a a new development in Irenaeus, described in several passages (Daly 1978, 356ff).
Hippolytus, the last author Daly considers in this chapter, differs from Justin in that he operates from an assumption that the Old Testament specifically serves to prefigure the New Testament (Daly 1978, 360). Christ's incarnation is for the express purpose of his sacrificial death. He would not have come for any other purpose (Daly 1978, 361). The sacrificial acts o Christians do not serve the same purpose as the work of Christ. Rather, offerings are made by Christians for the good of others, including those in need (Daly 1978, 363). Hippolytus dos clearly consider the eucharist to be a sacrifice. Daly quotes tests from Apostolic Tradition in which the theme is quite plain (Daly 1978, 36ff). Not only is the eucharist a sacrifice, but it is effective in delivering forgiveness and reconciliation. Hippolytus sees it as accomplishing exactly what it promises (Daly 1978, 369).