The Lord's Supper

The German Reformer Martin Luther (along with many others) rejected the Roman Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation, that is, that the Communion bread and wine are changed into the actual body and blood of Christ. Luther saw no need for this doctrine. Rather, he agreed that Christ’s presence did not replace the presence of bread and wine but was added to the bread and wine. Luther maintained that the body and blood of Christ are somehow present in, under, and through the elements of bread and wine. It is customary to call the Lutheran view consubstantiation because the substance of the body and blood of Christ are present with (con) the substance of bread and wine. Lutheran theologians, however, do not like the term and protest that it is understood in terms that are too closely associated with the Roman Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation.

Yet, it is clear that Luther insisted on the real physical and substantial presence of Christ in the Lord’s Supper. He repeatedly cited Jesus’ words of institution, “this is my body,” to prove his point. Luther would not allow the verb is to be taken in a figurative or representative sense. Luther also adopted the doctrine of communication of attributes by which the divine attribute of omnipresence was communicated to the human nature of Jesus, making it possible for His body and blood to be present at more than one place at the same time.

Zwingli and others argued that Jesus’ words “this is My body” meant really “This represents My body.” Jesus frequently used the verb to be in such a figurative sense. He said, “I am the door,” “I am the true vine,” etc. Zwingli and others argued that Christ’s body is not present in actual substance at the Lord’s Supper. The supper is a memorial only, with Christ’s presence being no different from His normal presence through the Holy Spirit.

John Calvin, on the other hand, when he debated with Rome and Luther, denied the “substantial” presence of Christ at the Lord’s Supper. Yet when he debated with the Anabaptists (Re-Baptizer), who reduced the Lord’s Supper to a mere memorial, he insisted on the “substantial” presence of Christ. On the surface it seemed like Calvin was caught in a contradiction. However, upon closer scrutiny we see that Calvin used the term substantial in two different ways. When he addressed Roman Catholics and Lutherans, he used the term substantial to mean “physical.” He denied the physical presence of Christ in the Lord’s Supper. When he addressed the Anabaptists, he insisted on the term substantial in the sense of “real.” Calvin thus argued that Christ was really or truly present in the Lord’s Supper, though not in the physical sense.

Because Calvin rejected the idea of communication of attributes from the divine nature to the human nature, he was accused of separating and dividing the two natures of Christ and committed the Nestorian heresy, which was condemned at the Council of Chalcedon in A.D. 451, Calvin replied that he was not separating the two natures but distinguishing between them.

The human nature of Jesus is presently localized in heaven. It remains in perfect union with His divine nature. Though the human nature is contained in one place, the person of Christ is not so contained because His divine nature still has the power of omnipresence. Jesus said, “I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20). Despite its limitations, and at the risk of being misunderstood, we give the following picture to illustrate what we are saying.

Calvin taught that though Christ’s body and blood remain in heaven, they are spiritually “made present” to us by Jesus’ omnipresent divine nature (Institutes 4.2.17.). Wherever the divine nature of Christ is present, He is truly present. This is consistent with Jesus’ own teaching that He was “going away” yet would abide with us. When we meet Him in the Lord’s Supper we commune with Him. By meeting His divine presence, we are brought into His human presence mystically, because His divine nature is never separated from His human nature. The divine nature leads us to the ascended Christ, and in the Lord’s Supper we have a taste of heaven.

We have forgotten the spiritual nature of our worship when we only see lights and sound systems with people singing. When we come together for corporate worship we are entering into heaven’s courts and meeting not only every believer, but angels in a glorious congregation of saints before the throne of God. Christ is on that throne now, as a human, He is there in His physical glorified body that we wait for when He comes. The Lord’s Supper is the act that the saints do to commune with God as it is done in our meeting and when we take up the bread and wine we are told to remember Christ. Christ changed the liturgy of the Passover meal with His Disciples there in the room before His betrayal. Passover was one of the five feasts of Israel and it was to remember that God had brought them out of Egypt and brought them to Himself at Sinai. The Lord’s Supper is a furthering progression of that remembrance of what God has done for His people. Like the Paschal Lamb that was slain for the Israelites in Egypt to be passed over from God’s judgement, Christ’s blood covers the saints and saved them from the wrath of God as they are given peace with God.

Like how the lamb was sacrificed for Israel, Christ was sacrificed for His people and in Him they are true Israel as Christ is the true Son, the true Israelite. Our unity with Christ gives us the benefits of Him and in the Supper, we are to cast our minds to the things that Christ has done for His people; that He was the lamb that was slain for the sins of the world and whosoever has faith in Him will have eternal life. He was our sin bearer and took away our sins and, in the Supper, before we partake of the bread and wine we should recognize that and give thanks and gratitude for what Christ has done for us and that we faithfully await His return where everything is made right in its perfection and completion as of now Christ is making all things new.