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Course 11 · Lesson 6.4

Real presence: transubstantiation, the Orthodox mystery, Lutheran, Reformed and memorial views

12 minute read

Lessons in this course

Course 11 outline

Module 1: What the Church Is

  1. Biblical images of the church: body, people, temple and bride
  2. One, holy, catholic and apostolic: the four marks
  3. The mission of the church
  4. The visible and invisible church in Augustine, the Reformers and the East

Module 2: Ministry and Apostolic Succession

  1. Ministry in the New Testament: apostles, elders, overseers and deacons
  2. The bishop in the early church: Clement, Ignatius and Irenaeus
  3. Apostolic succession: three meanings (a line of bishops, the teaching, the mission)
  4. Ordination in the Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant traditions

Module 3: Scripture, Tradition and Church Authority

  1. Scripture and tradition in the early church
  2. The Catholic account: Scripture, tradition and the magisterium
  3. The Orthodox account: the living tradition of the church
  4. The Reformation and the question of sola scriptura

Module 4: Three Systems of Authority

  1. The bishop of Rome in early history
  2. Papal primacy and infallibility in Catholic teaching
  3. Orthodox conciliarity and the role of the patriarchs
  4. Protestant principles of authority: Scripture, confessions and the priesthood of believers
  5. The strongest objections each tradition raises against the others

Module 5: Sacramental Theology

  1. Mystery and sacrament: the words and their history
  2. Augustine and the definition of a sacrament
  3. How many sacraments? Seven, two, or none
  4. Validity, efficacy and the role of faith

Module 6: Baptism and the Eucharist

  1. Baptism in Scripture and the early church
  2. Infant baptism and believers baptism
  3. The Eucharist in the early church
  4. Real presence: transubstantiation, the Orthodox mystery, Lutheran, Reformed and memorial views

Module 7: Reconciliation and Liturgical Worship

  1. The forgiveness of sins in Scripture
  2. Confession and penance in the history of the church
  3. Confession across the traditions: Catholic, Orthodox, Lutheran and Reformed practice
  4. Liturgy, word and table, and the church year
  5. Worship without a fixed liturgy and its principles

Module 8: Schism and Christian Unity

  1. Early schisms: the Donatists and the churches after Chalcedon
  2. East and West: the long division and the events of 1054
  3. The Reformation divisions
  4. Ecumenism and the prospects for unity

All courses

Program / Course 11: Church, Sacraments, and Authority / Lesson 6.4

What you will learn

  • State the Catholic teaching on transubstantiation and the Eucharistic sacrifice.
  • State the Orthodox teaching that the gifts become the body and blood of Christ, as a mystery.
  • Distinguish the Lutheran, Reformed and Zwinglian or memorial views.
  • Identify the points of agreement and the questions on which the views differ.

The big idea

Christians who keep the Lord’s Supper disagree on how Jesus is present in it. Catholics teach transubstantiation: the substance of bread and wine becomes the body and blood of Christ while the appearances remain. The Orthodox teach that the gifts truly become the body and blood and decline to explain how. Lutherans hold that Christ’s body and blood are truly present in, with and under the bread and wine. Reformed Christians teach a real presence received by faith through the Spirit. Zwinglian and many Baptist traditions understand the Supper chiefly as a memorial.

Key terms

Transubstantiation
The Catholic teaching that the whole substance of the bread and wine is changed into the substance of Christ’s body and blood, while the appearances of bread and wine remain.
Substance and accidents
Terms from Aristotelian philosophy. Substance is what a thing is, and accidents are the properties perceived by the senses.
Sacramental union
The Lutheran teaching that the body and blood of Christ are united with the bread and wine in a real way by Christ’s word.
Spiritual presence
In Reformed teaching, the real presence of Christ to the believer by the Holy Spirit, not a local presence in the elements.
Memorialism
The view that the Lord’s Supper is chiefly a remembrance of Christ’s death and a pledge of the believer’s faith.
Metabole
A Greek word meaning change. Used in Eastern writers for the change of the gifts into the body and blood.
Communion of the body and blood
Paul’s phrase in 1 Corinthians 10:16, over which Christians differ on what kind of participation it is.

Background

The words of Jesus at the Last Supper, This is my body, are quoted in all the traditions. The dispute is about what is meant by is. In the Middle Ages, Western theologians, using philosophy of substance and accidents, taught that the bread and wine change in their substance. The Fourth Lateran Council in 1215 used the word transubstantiated. The sixteenth-century Reformation produced alternative accounts, and the Council of Trent in 1551 defined the Catholic teaching.

The conflicts were bitter. At the Marburg Colloquy in 1529, Luther and Zwingli agreed on fourteen articles and failed to agree on the fifteenth, about the Lord’s Supper. Calvin tried later to take a middle path between them. The positions are stated here as their supporters state them, and with attention to what they share.

Step-by-step explanation

Step 1: Catholic teaching

The Council of Trent taught that in the Eucharist Christ is truly, really and substantially present, whole and entire, under the appearances of bread and wine. Through the consecration the whole substance of the bread is changed into the body of Christ and the whole substance of the wine into his blood. This change is called transubstantiation. The appearances of bread and wine remain, so the senses perceive no change. Catholics hold that Christ is present in his glorified body and not in a physical way like a visible object, and that the presence remains as long as the appearances do, which is why the consecrated host is reserved and adored.

The Mass is also a sacrifice. Catholics teach that it is not a new sacrifice but the one sacrifice of Calvary made present, and offered by the church with Christ. Trent rejected the claim that the Mass adds to the cross. Catholic teachers add that transubstantiation is a way of speaking about a mystery that cannot be fully grasped, and that the philosophy is an aid, not the foundation.

Step 2: Orthodox teaching

The Orthodox teach that in the Divine Liturgy, by the prayer of the priest and the descent of the Holy Spirit, the bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ. Many Orthodox writers cite John of Damascus, who wrote that the bread is not a figure of the body but the body itself, deified. Orthodox writers speak of a change but avoid specifying the manner, calling it a mystery. They also say that the exact moment of the change is not defined, and that the whole prayer, including the epiclesis, belongs together.

In the seventeenth century, some Orthodox confessions, such as the Confession of Dositheus (1672), used the Greek word metousiosis, a translation of transubstantiation. Later Orthodox writers have said that the word is acceptable if it means a real change but not if it implies a Western philosophical explanation. Orthodox teaching on whether the Eucharist is a sacrifice also affirms that it is an offering of the church united with Christ’s one sacrifice.

Step 3: Lutheran teaching

Luther insisted on the plain meaning of Jesus’ words. In the sacrament, the body and blood of Christ are truly present in, with and under the bread and wine, and are received by all who communicate, believers and unbelievers alike, though to unbelievers for judgment (1 Corinthians 11:27-29). The Formula of Concord (1577) states this. Luther rejected transubstantiation as an explanation, since he did not think Scripture required it, and held that the bread remains bread. Lutherans do not accept the label consubstantiation for their view, which they say was applied by opponents.

Lutherans also reject the Mass as a sacrifice, since Christ’s sacrifice was once for all (Hebrews 10:10). They hold that the Supper is a gift to be received, not an offering made by the church. Lutherans hold the real presence of the body and blood in the sacrament while the Reformed deny that the body is present in the elements.

Step 4: Reformed teaching

Calvin taught that Christ is truly present in the Supper and that believers truly receive his body and blood, but by the Holy Spirit, who lifts believers up to Christ in heaven, rather than by Christ’s body being in the elements. The Westminster Confession (29.7) says that worthy receivers outwardly partake of the visible elements and also inwardly by faith, really and indeed, yet not carnally and corporally, receive and feed upon Christ crucified. The phrase lift up your hearts (sursum corda) in the liturgy expresses the idea.

Anglicans in the Thirty-Nine Articles (Article 28) state that the body of Christ is given, taken and eaten in the Supper only after a heavenly and spiritual manner, and that the mean whereby it is received is faith. They reject transubstantiation, and within Anglicanism views range from a Catholic emphasis on real presence to a Reformed one.

Step 5: Memorial views

Ulrich Zwingli held that the words this is my body mean this signifies my body, and that the Supper is a memorial and a pledge of the believer’s faith and unity. Many Baptists, Pentecostals and others take this view, and call the Supper an ordinance of remembrance. They cite the words in remembrance of me (Luke 22:19) and John 6:63, The spirit quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing.

Memorialists affirm that Christ is present among his people when they gather (Matthew 18:20), and many deny that the Supper is merely a symbol with no meaning. Scholars note that the view of Zwingli himself was more nuanced than later memorialism, and that his later writings speak of spiritual feeding. Other Christians reply that the New Testament language of participation in 1 Corinthians 10:16 requires a stronger sense.

  1. What does this tradition say is present, and in what way?
  2. Does it say the bread and wine remain, or are changed?
  3. What role do faith, the Spirit and the words of Christ play?
  4. Is the Supper a sacrifice, a gift, a memorial, or a combination?
  5. How does this tradition read John 6 and 1 Corinthians 10 and 11?
  6. What does the tradition say is the effect of unworthy reception?

Examples

Marburg, 1529

Luther chalked the words This is my body on the table and would not move from them. Zwingli argued that the verb means signifies. The meeting, convened by Philip of Hesse in the hope of uniting Protestant forces, ended without agreement on the Supper. The episode shows that sixteenth-century Protestants were divided on this question as sharply as Catholics and Protestants.

Adoration and reception

A Catholic parishioner kneels in silence before the consecrated host in a chapel, believing Christ to be present. A Reformed Christian at the Lord’s Supper in a Presbyterian church believes that Christ is present to the believer by the Spirit during the service. A Baptist at a communion service remembers Christ’s death. Each sincerely follows his or her tradition’s teaching. (A constructed example.)

Communion in two kinds

Orthodox and most Protestant churches give both bread and wine to all communicants, and the Catholic Church has permitted both kinds to the laity more widely since Vatican II. Historically, Western Catholic practice before that gave the laity only the bread, defended by the teaching that Christ is whole under each form. The question of both kinds was a point of dispute in the Reformation.

Different perspectives

Catholic

Christ is substantially present, body, blood, soul and divinity, under the appearances of bread and wine. The change is real and lasting, and the church adores Christ in the sacrament. The Mass is the sacrifice of Calvary made present. Catholics hold this as a mystery of faith, which philosophy helps to explain and does not exhaust.

Orthodox

The bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ by the Holy Spirit. Orthodox writers speak of a real change without specifying how, and emphasize communion with Christ and with one another. They honor the gifts and treat the Liturgy as a participation in heaven’s worship.

Protestant

Lutherans confess a real, bodily presence in the sacrament. Reformed and Anglican churches confess a real, spiritual presence received by faith. Zwinglian and Baptist traditions emphasize remembrance and the community’s proclamation. All base their positions on the words of institution and on Paul and John.

Scholarly view

Historians of doctrine note that the Western debate used philosophical terms, such as substance, that were not used in the early church. Ecumenical dialogues between Catholics and Lutherans, Anglicans and others have produced agreed statements on the real presence in language that avoids the old polemics, while real differences remain on the sacrifice and on reservation.

Why it matters

Christians have argued about the Lord’s Supper longer and more bitterly than about almost any other subject, and the disagreement still keeps many from receiving communion together. A student who understands each position, including what it affirms, will see that the dispute is about the manner of presence and the meaning of sacrifice, and not whether Christ is honored.

Common misunderstandings

Misunderstanding: Catholics believe the priest re-sacrifices Christ at every Mass.

Correction: Catholic teaching says the Mass is not a new sacrifice but makes present the one sacrifice of Calvary. Trent rejected the idea that it adds to Christ’s work.

Misunderstanding: Lutherans hold consubstantiation.

Correction: Lutherans reject that term, which they say belongs to opponents. They teach that Christ’s body and blood are truly present with the bread and wine, without explaining a mode or change of substance.

Misunderstanding: Reformed Christians think the Supper is only a symbol.

Correction: Calvin and the Reformed confessions teach that believers truly receive Christ in the Supper by the Spirit. The merely symbolic view belongs to Zwingli’s followers and some modern churches.

Misunderstanding: Orthodox Christians hold transubstantiation.

Correction: The Orthodox teach a real change but do not adopt the Western philosophical explanation. Some Orthodox confessions used the term in the seventeenth century, and later Orthodox writers have qualified it.

Knowledge check

What does transubstantiation mean?

It is the Catholic teaching that the whole substance of the bread and wine is changed into the substance of Christ’s body and blood, while the appearances of bread and wine remain. The council of Trent defined it, and Catholics also call it a mystery.

How do Lutherans describe the presence of Christ in the Supper?

They say that Christ’s body and blood are truly present in, with and under the bread and wine, and are received by all who communicate, to blessing for believers and to judgment for unbelievers. They reject transubstantiation and the label consubstantiation.

What is the Reformed teaching on the Supper?

Christ is truly present to believers by the Holy Spirit, who lifts them up to feed on him in heaven, and they receive him by faith. His body is not held to be locally in the elements. The Westminster Confession says they feed upon Christ crucified really and indeed, but not carnally.

How do memorialist churches understand the Supper?

They see it chiefly as a remembrance of Christ’s death, based on the words in remembrance of me, and as a public pledge of faith and of the unity of the church. Christ is present with his people by the Spirit as in any gathering, though not in the elements.

Think it through

  1. Is the word is in this is my body a decisive point, and why or why not?
  2. What are the strengths of describing a presence without explaining the manner?
  3. How should a church treat a person who cannot receive communion with it because of such differences?
  4. Which of these views fits best with the New Testament language of participation in 1 Corinthians 10:16, and which questions remain?

Independent assignment

Five accounts of the Supper

In your notebook, summarize the Eucharistic teaching of Trent (Session 13), the Confession of Dositheus or an Orthodox catechism, the Formula of Concord or Luther’s Small Catechism, the Westminster Confession chapter 29 and a memorialist source (such as Zwingli or a Baptist confession). Use 80 to 120 words for each. Then write 250 to 350 words on points of agreement among the five. Keep the work in your notebook.

Further study