Timeline
Plot points from the institution of Passover (Exodus 12) through today. Each event tells you what it tells us about the four cups specifically. Filter by category to see the manuscript, liturgical, patristic, and modern-scholarship strata in isolation.
- c. 1446 BC
Institution of Passover (Exodus 12)
The lamb, the blood, the hyssop, the unleavened bread are instituted. Foundational typology for the cross of Christ.
- c. AD 30 (or 33)
The Last Supper
Mark/Matt narrate one cup; Luke distinctly narrates two (22:17, 22:20); Paul reports the post-meal cup (1 Cor 11:25). Hallel sung at end (Mark 14:26).
- c. AD 30 (or 33)
Gethsemane and the Cross
Christ prays 'remove this cup' (Mark 14:36). Articular cup invokes prophetic cup-of-wrath lexicon (Ps 75; Isa 51; Jer 25). On the cross he drinks oxos and declares tetelestai.
- c. AD 53–55
Paul writes 1 Corinthians
Paul names the Eucharistic cup τὸ ποτήριον τῆς εὐλογίας — the cup of blessing — and identifies it as κοινωνία (participation) in the blood of Christ (1 Cor 10:16).
See source → - c. AD 160
Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho
Earliest extant Christian-Jewish theological dialogue on Passover and Christ.
See source → - c. AD 170
Melito of Sardis, Peri Pascha
Most extensive paschal Christology in the early church. 'He is the Pascha, the Sacrifice, the Lamb, the Hyssop.'
See source → - c. AD 318
Athanasius, On the Incarnation
Foundational patristic statement on the Word made flesh and his self-offering on the cross.
See source → - c. AD 400–426
Augustine, On the Trinity
The trinitarian foundation of Reformed atonement theology — the cross as the work of the whole Trinity.
See source → - 1098
Anselm, Cur Deus Homo
Satisfaction theory of the atonement — the structural foundation that the Reformers will inherit and refine.
See source → - 1525
Luther, The Bondage of the Will
The Pauline anchor for monergism in salvation. The Reformed tradition will take Luther's argument and apply it to the extent of the atonement.
See source → - 1546
Calvin, Commentary on First Corinthians
On 1 Cor 10:16 — Calvin's lexical observation that 'the cup of blessing' is a fixed Jewish meal-blessing idiom Paul deploys with no explanation.
See source → - 1553
Calvin, Commentary on John
Calvin's reading of tetelestai as 'the consummation of all things relating to the salvation of men.'
See source → - 1555
Calvin, Harmony of the Evangelists
Calvin's foundational Gethsemane exegesis: the cup is divine wrath, not generic suffering. Christ dreaded the judgment-seat of God. Penal substitution under the cup-of-wrath reading.
See source → - 1559
Calvin, Institutes 4.17 (On the Lord's Supper)
Calvin's mature sacramental theology — sursum corda, true spiritual presence by the Spirit. The Reformed via media between Rome and Zwingli.
See source → - 1559
Calvin, Institutes 2.16
The Son engages God's tribunal in the place of the elect. Sursum corda eschatology.
See source → - 1561
The Belgic Confession
Art. 35 — 'Christ has appointed an earthly and visible bread as the sacrament of his body, and wine as the sacrament of his blood.' Faith is 'the hand and mouth of our soul.'
See source → - 1563
The Heidelberg Catechism
Q. 75–82 — the Lord's Supper as visible word of grace.
See source → - 1572
Camerarius proposes ὑσσῷ for ὑσσώπῳ (John 19:29)
16th-century conjecture that John 19:29 should read 'javelin' instead of 'hyssop.' No Greek manuscript supports it. Universally rejected.
See source → - 1619
The Canons of Dort
Reformed reply to the Arminian Remonstrance. Particular redemption articulated in confessional form. Christ's death is 'of infinite worth and value, abundantly sufficient to expiate the sins of the whole world.'
See source → - 1646
The Westminster Confession of Faith
Ch. 8 (Christ the Mediator), ch. 11 (Justification), ch. 29 (Lord's Supper). The high-water mark of British Reformed confessionalism.
See source → - 1647
Owen, The Death of Death in the Death of Christ
The classic Reformed defense of particular redemption. Owen's trilemma on the cup of wrath is structurally decisive.
See source → - 1647
The Westminster Shorter Catechism
Q. 25 — Christ executes the office of priest 'in his once offering up of himself a sacrifice to satisfy divine justice.'
See source → - 1657
Owen, Communion with God
Trinitarian devotion grounded in the cross-work of Christ. The Reformed reading of the Lord's Supper as a trinitarian event.
See source → - 1678
Bunyan, The Pilgrim's Progress
Reformed allegory of the Christian life from the City of Destruction to the Celestial City — pictorial backdrop for the four-fold cup pattern.
See source → - 1685
Turretin, Institutes of Elenctic Theology
The most important Reformed scholastic theology after Calvin. The atonement and the Lord's Supper get extended treatment.
See source → - 1689
The Second London Baptist Confession
Reformed Baptist adaptation of Westminster — same sacramental architecture, credo-baptist polity.
See source → - 1710
Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible
Pastoral exposition of Matthew 26 — the olive press as devotional image for Gethsemane. Reformed devotional standard.
See source → - 1735
Edwards, The Justice of God in the Damnation of Sinners
Sermon-treatise on divine wrath — necessary background for understanding the cup of wrath in Reformed exegesis.
See source → - 1774
Edwards, A History of the Work of Redemption
Edwards's grand-narrative theology — the cross as the hinge of redemptive history.
See source → - 1834
Symington, On the Atonement and Intercession of Jesus Christ
Scottish Reformed treatment of the cross as definite atonement. The transfer of the cup.
See source → - 1873
Hodge, Systematic Theology
Princeton Reformed theology in three volumes. The forensic structure of substitution.
See source → - 1875
Spurgeon, Christ Crucified (sermons)
The Prince of Preachers on the cross — Reformed Baptist preaching at its height.
See source → - 1879
Ryle, Holiness
Sanctification grounded in justification grounded in the cross. Anglican Reformed pastoral theology.
See source → - 1882
Hugh Martin, The Atonement
Free Church of Scotland statement on the atonement and the new covenant.
See source → - 1908
Deissmann's papyrological era begins
Source of the now-corrected 'tetelestai = paid in full receipt' claim. Useful papyrology; the receipt-stamp illustration is sermon-illustration confabulation.
- 1910
Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics, vol. 3 (Sin and Salvation in Christ)
The Dutch Reformed magnum opus on the atonement.
See source → - 1915
Warfield, The Plan of Salvation
Princeton's clearest statement on the Reformed soteriological architecture.
See source → - 1932
Berkhof, Systematic Theology
Concise summary of Bavinck for the English Reformed reader. Standard 20th-century Reformed reference.
See source → - 1948
Vos, Biblical Theology
Father of Reformed biblical theology. The cross as the eschatological turn of redemptive history.
See source → - 1955
Murray, Redemption Accomplished and Applied
The standard 20th-century Reformed treatment of the ordo salutis.
See source → - 1959
Packer, Introductory Essay to Owen's Death of Death
Packer's defense of particular redemption and Owen's logic. A landmark statement for 20th-century Reformed evangelicals.
See source → - 1966
Ridderbos, Paul: An Outline of His Theology
Dutch Reformed exegete on the apostle. Cup-of-blessing exegesis at 1 Cor 10:16.
See source → - 1973
Packer, Knowing God
Reformed devotion grounded in the doctrine of God; ch. 18 on propitiation is essential.
See source → - 1980
Robertson, The Christ of the Covenants
Reformed covenant theology — essential context for the new covenant cup.
See source → - 1985
Sproul, The Holiness of God
Foundational for understanding the cup of wrath: God is holy, sin is real, the cross is necessary.
See source → - 1986
Stott, The Cross of Christ
The most-read Anglican-evangelical exposition of the atonement; deeply Reformed in substance.
See source → - 1991
Carson, The Gospel According to John (PNTC)
Reformed-evangelical exegesis of John, with extended treatment of John 19.
See source → - 1998
Macleod, The Person of Christ
Free Church of Scotland; treats Gethsemane and the cross with Reformed precision.
See source → - 2004
Piper, The Passion of Jesus Christ
50 reasons Christ came to die. Reformed soteriology in pastoral form.
See source → - 2004
Beale, The Temple and the Church's Mission
Reformed biblical theology of the temple — essential for paschal typology.
See source → - 2007
Sproul, The Truth of the Cross
Sproul's accessible Reformed treatment of penal substitution.
See source → - 2009
Letham, The Westminster Assembly
The most thorough recent treatment of the Westminster Standards.
See source → - 2011
Horton, The Christian Faith
Westminster West Reformed systematic. Treats the cross within covenant theology.
See source → - 2012
Gentry & Wellum, Kingdom through Covenant
Progressive covenantalism; an alternative Reformed mapping of the covenants. The four-fold cup framework stands under either mapping.
See source → - 2014
Macleod, Christ Crucified
Macleod's mature treatment of penal substitution and the cup of wrath.
See source → - 2016
Ferguson, The Whole Christ
Marrow Controversy, antinomianism, legalism, and assurance — all grounded in union with Christ.
See source → - 2019
Letham, Systematic Theology
Recent Reformed systematic from the British Reformed tradition.
See source → - 2022
Berding, '"Paid in Full"? The Meaning of τετέλεσται'
Definitive correction of the 'paid in full receipt' sermon illustration.
See source → - 2026
Today
The Reformed exegete reads Paul on the post-meal cup, the prophets on the cup of wrath, and the Synoptics on the cup of reservation — and waits for the cup of consummation at the marriage supper of the Lamb.