Love Feast

Baker's Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology

The only certain biblical reference to the love feast comes in  Jude 12 , where the plural form of the word "love" with the definite article ( hai agapai ) probably denotes a communal celebration in the church (there is another possible reference in  2 Peter 2:13 , but it is probably not genuine ). But there is some uncertainty as to whether the reference is to that church's observance of the Lord's Supper (which elsewhere Paul can describe with terms like "coming together to eat, "  1 Corinthians 11:17-22 ), or to a fellowship meal that may have preceded or followed observance of the Lord's Supper.

The record of the early church's development preserved in Acts makes it clear that at least in the beginning communal meals, characterized by the sharing of food and worship, were commonplace (2:44-47; 6:1-2). There were also excesses and oversights connected with these fellowship meals (6:1-2;  1 Corinthians 11:17-22 ). But there is no reason to think that the practice of a communal fellowship meal, conceived of as a normal aspect of church life or worship, could not have developed in the church addressed by Jude. The importance of eating together in Jewish culture is well known, and in Greco-Roman culture communal meals often played an important role in the life of organizations.

Whether  Jude 12 alludes to a fellowship meal or to the Lord's Supper, the term chosen to describe it reveals that it was to be an event in which love was expressed and fellowship confirmed. In the Greco-Roman or Jewish household of that day sharing in a meal signified acceptance and fellowship, and the love feast in the church was to be a living example of unity. That this unity was a very serious matter can be seen in that the love feast is mentioned in the context of a denunciation of false teachers and admonishment of the congregation. The significance of the event was such that the unhindered participation of false believers in the love feasts, which signified their acceptance into the fellowship, was a "blemish" or taint on the event and also a danger for the church.

But it is really evidence from the second-century church that suggests the meaning of love feast. Yet in the later church, too, there is nothing like complete consistency in its practice or relation to the Lord's Supper. The church order of Hippolytus ( Apostolic Tradition 26.5), which is much later than the New Testament, gives the fullest description of what had come to be called the agape [   Acts 2:44 ). This practice ended, but the agape [Ἀγάπη] meal, in which the rich provided food for the poor and all shared it together, became the "contemporary" expression of the earlier communal sharing ( Homilies 12; 27).

Whether these developments are relevant to an understanding of the love feast as it occurs in Jude cannot be determined. What can be said is that the event (whether originally observance of the Lord's Supper, a fellowship meal, or some combination of the two is meant) was to be a visible expression of love and unity. It is quite possible that the elements that only come to light in the later descriptions played some part in the earlier practice.

Philip H. Towner

See also The Lord'S Supper

Bibliography . R. J. Bauckham, Jude, 2Peter  ; J. F. Keating, The Agape and the Eucharist in the Early Church  ; H. Lietzmann, Mass and Lord's Supper: A Study in the History of the Liturgy  ; J. W. C. Wand, The General Epistles of St. Peter and Jude .

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

Love Feast (Agape). The Love Feast of the Christian Church in Apostolic times was a common meal of which all the brethren partook, and was still connected with the Eucharist . The ‘breaking of bread from house to house’ (  Acts 2:46 ) probably included both under the title ‘the Lord’s Supper’ (  1 Corinthians 11:20 ). From   Acts 20:7 we gather that the religious exercises of the Love Feast were prolonged till dawn, and ended with the Eucharist. The scandalous behaviour, which St. Paul was constrained to rebuke at Corinth in a.d. 57 58 (  1 Corinthians 11:17-34 ), shows that not all who came to the Love Feast were in a fit condition to communicate. More serious evils still were introduced by false teachers described by   Judges 1:12 : ‘they who are hidden rocks at your love feasts when they feast with you, shepherds that without fear feed themselves.’ The writer is dependent on   2 Peter 2:13 : ‘spots are they and blemishes, revelling in their love feasts, while they feast with you.’

In spite of the disorders, which marred the religious value of these social club-feasts and led in the end to their suppression, they lasted for a considerable period. Ignatius of Antioch wrote to the Smyrnæans ( c . 8): ‘It is not lawful apart from the bishop either to baptize or to hold a love feast,’ in a context which proves that the Agape included the Eucharist. Tertullian ( Apol. c . xxxix.) gives a vivid description of the feast explained by its own name.

‘The participants, before reclining, taste first of prayer to God. As much is eaten as satisfies the cravings of hunger: as much is drunk as befits the chaste. They say it is enough, as those who remember that even during the night they have to worship God; they talk as those who know that the Lord is one of their auditors. After manual ablution and the bringing in of lights, each is asked to stand forth and sing, as he can, a hymn to God, either one from the Holy Scriptures or one of his own composing. This is a proof of the measure of our drinking. As the feast commenced with prayer, so it is closed with prayer.’

The food consisted of bread, fish, and vegetables. The pictures of the Love Feasts in the catacombs give fish a prominent place. Interesting specimens of prayers used at them are found in the Didache . The direction to give thanks ‘after ye are satisfied’ plainly associates the prayer with the Love Feast rather than the Eucharist ( c . 10):

‘We give Thee thanks, Holy Father, for Thy Holy Name which Thou hast made to tabernacle in our hearts, and for the knowledge and faith and immortality, which Thou hast made known unto us through Thy Servant Jesus; Thine is the glory for ever and ever. Thou, Almighty Master, didst create all things for Thy Name’s sake, and didst give food and drink unto men for enjoyment, that they might render thanks to Thee; but didst bestow upon us spiritual food and drink and eternal life through Thy Servant.…’

The separation of the Love Feast from the Eucharist seems to have been due, in the first instance, to the action of the Roman Government, always jealous of secret societies. Pliny’s letter to Trajan speaks of the celebration of the Eucharist in the early morning as followed by a simple meal, which had been left off since the issue of the edict forhidding clubs. On the other hand, fear of calumnies regarding any more or less secret feast, and experience of disorders like those which prevailed at Corinth, were motives which from time to time hindered the practice in certain districts, and finally extinguished it.

A. E. Burn.

Holman Bible Dictionary

koinonia the church's   Jude 1:12 Acts 2:42  Acts 2:46 1 Corinthians 11:17-34 Acts 20:7-11 agapai

The origin of the love feast is probably to be found in the religious fellowship meals which were a common practice among first-century Jews. While the Passover meal is the most familiar of these, such meals were also celebrated to inaugurate the sabbath and festival days. On these occasions a family or a group of friends who had banded together for purposes of special devotion (know as chaburoth from the Hebrew word for “friends”) would gather weekly before sundown for a meal in the home or another suitable place. After hors d'oeuvres were served the company would move to the table for the meal proper. The host would pronounce a blessing (a thanksgiving to God), break the bread, and distribute it among the participants. the mealtime would be characterized by festive, joyous religious discussion. With nightfall, lamps were lit and a benediction recited acknowledging God as the Creator of light. When the meal was over, hands were washed, and a final benediction pronounced over the “cup of blessing” (compare   1 Corinthians 10:16 ) praising God for His provision and praying for the fulfillment of His purposes in the coming of His kingdom. The meal was concluded by the singing of a psalm. It was not uncommon for small groups of friends to gather weekly for such meals.

It is possible to suggest that Jesus and His disciples formed just such a fellowship group and that the fellowship meals of the early church which came to be known as the agapai or love feasts are a continuation of the table of fellowship that characterized their life together and served as a concrete manifestation of the grace of the kingdom of God which Jesus proclaimed. Jesus' last meal with His disciples may represent one specific example of such a fellowship meal causing some to trace the origins of the love feast directly to this event. See Lord'S Supper; Food; Worship .

Hulitt Gloer

Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature

Usually termed Agape, and signifying the social meal of the primitive Christians, which generally accompanied the Eucharist. If we reflect on the profound impression which the transactions of 'the night on which the Lord was betrayed' must have made on the minds of the apostles, nothing can be conceived more natural, or in closer accordance with the genius of the new dispensation, than a wish to perpetuate the commemoration of his death in connection with their social meal. The primary celebration of the Eucharist had impressed a sacredness on the previous repast (comp. , , with , ); and when to this consideration we add the ardent faith and love of the new converts on the one hand, and the loss of property with the disruption of old connections and attachments on the other, which must have heightened the feeling of brotherhood, we need not look further to account for the institution of the Agape, at once a symbol of Christian love and a striking exemplification of its benevolent energy. However soon its purity was soiled, at first it was not undeserving of the eulogy pronounced by the great orator of the church—'A custom most beautiful and most beneficial; for it was a supporter of love, a solace of poverty, a moderator of wealth, and a discipline of humility!'

Thus the common meal and the Eucharist formed together one whole, and were conjointly denominated the Lord's Supper and agape. They were also signified (according to Mosheim, Neander. and other eminent critics) by the phrases breaking of bread (;; ). We find the term agape thus applied once, at least, in the New Testament , 'These are spots in your feasts of charity.'

The following is the description given by Tertullian of these feasts. 'The nature of our Caena,' he says, 'may be gathered from its name, which is the Greek term for love. However much it may cost us, it is real gain to incur such expense in the cause of piety: for we aid the poor by this refreshment; we do not sit down to it till we have first tasted of prayer to God; we eat to satisfy our hunger; we drink no more than befits the temperate; we feast as those who recollect that they are to spend the night in devotion; we converse as those who know that the Lord is an ear-witness. After water for washing hands, and lights have been brought in, everyone is required to sing something to the praise of God, either from the Scriptures or from his own thoughts; by this means, if anyone has indulged in excess, he is detected. The feast is closed with prayer.' Contributions or oblations of provisions or money were made on these occasions, and the surplus placed in the hands of the presiding elder—compare , by whom it was applied to the relief of orphans and widows, the sick and destitute, prisoners and strangers.

From the passages in the Epistles of Jude and Peter, already quoted, and more particularly from the language of Paul in 1 Corinthians 11, it appears that at a very early period the Agape were perverted from their original design: the rich frequently practiced a selfish indulgence, to the neglect of their poorer brethren: 'every one taketh before other his own supper' i.e. the rich feasted on the provisions they brought, without waiting for the poorer members, or granting them a portion of their abundance.

On account of these and similar irregularities, and probably in part to elude the notice of their persecutors, the Christians, about the middle of the second century, frequently celebrated the Eucharist by itself and before daybreak. From Pliny's Epistle it appears that the agape were suspected by the Roman authorities of belonging to the class of unions or secret societies which were often employed for political purposes, and as such denounced by the imperial edicts.

In modern times social meetings bearing a resemblance to the agape, and in allusion to them termed 'Love Feasts,' have been regularly held by the church of the United Brethren and the Wesleyan Methodists, also in Scotland by the followers of Mr. Robert Sandeman.