Saturday, January 16, 2010

How is Christ Present in the Eucharist?


There is a historic, nearly 500 year old schism between the Magisterial Reformationalists -- the confessional Lutherans and the (non-Zwinglian) confessional Reformed -- over the nature of Christ's presence in the Eucharist:

1)  The Reformed say that we two agree that Christ is present in his body and blood, but we seriously disagree on how he is present -- that is, on the 'mode' of his presence.

2)  The Lutherans say that we two really don't agree that Christ is actually present in his body and blood.  The Reformed are self-deceived in their own words.

The test question put by the Lutherans is this:  Do non-believers who come to the Lord's Table receive the body and blood of Christ?  Of course they don't mean, do the non-believers receive it savingly.  They don't.  But, the Lutherans believe that the answer to this question is "yes," because the body and blood are objectively present -- and received unto judgment by non-believers.  The Lutherans also believe that our Reformed theological and philosophical principles require us to say "no" to the test question.  The body and blood of Christ are not and cannot be present in the Eucharist to non-believers, since Christ in his human nature is not omnipresent, and the body and blood are in heaven.

Calvin is especially singled out by the Lutherans because his doctrine of the Lord's Supper is so "Lutheran" to begin with.  His view of the "real presence" is therefore regarded as particularly dangerous by the confessional Lutherans, because he could deceive Lutherans into subtly beginning to accept Reformed views not only of "real presence" but of other things just as vital.

But, the mystical union between me and Christ in our common human nature is a fact.  Christ's humanity and mine are joined intimately, and not just by some principle of "spiritual action at a distance."  Christ is in me, my hope of glory.  Christ said to Saul on the Damascus Road: "Why do you persecute me."

If Christ as a man is in me, and I am in him as a man, then there is no problem with Christ in his sacrificed body and blood being with me in the Eucharist.  This is what the mystical union is all about.

And, just as the offer of Christ in the gospel is just as real to a non-believer as it is to me -- though it may be rejected by a non-believer; so, the offer Christ in his body and blood in the Supper is just as real, whether the recipient is a believer or not.  But, only believers receive the offer savingly.

1 comment:

  1. Reviewed and retained. The thesis needs more examination or correction, but it is Reformedly orthodox to state that there is a real "feeding" of the body and blood, in a spiritual manner, through faith, in the Supper.

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