Presbyterian Polity, Worship, and Sacraments — Unit 9: The Lord's Supper: Christ's Spiritual Presence

Key Verse

"The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?" (1 Corinthians 10:16, NKJV)

Learning Objectives

When you finish this unit, you should be able to:

1. Describe how Christ instituted the Lord's Supper and what the Reformed confessions say it signifies and seals.

2. Explain the Reformed doctrine of Christ's spiritual presence and how it differs from the Roman Catholic, Lutheran and memorial views.

3. Explain who should come to the Lord's Table, and the meaning of examining oneself and of the oversight of the session.

4. State the main objections to the Reformed doctrine, including the Baptist memorial view, and give the Reformed answer to each.

5. Give a pastoral answer to a believer who stays away from the Table because he feels unworthy.

The Voice of This Course

This course is written from inside the Reformed and Presbyterian tradition, for students who belong to it or are studying it. It is theologically conservative, holds that Scripture is the inspired and inerrant Word of God, and receives the Westminster Standards and the Three Forms of Unity as faithful summaries of Scripture. Where this specialization differs from the general position of Chapala Theological Seminary, the Reformed position governs here. Other Christians see the Supper differently. We state their views fairly and then give our answer. Scripture says, "Test all things; hold fast what is good" (1 Thessalonians 5:21).

The Institution of the Supper

The Lord Jesus gave His church the Supper on the night He was betrayed. The three Gospels and Paul report it (Matthew 26:26-29; Luke 22:19-20; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26). He took bread, gave thanks, broke it, and gave it to His disciples, saying that it was His body. He took the cup and spoke of His blood of the new covenant. He told them to do this in remembrance of Him. Paul adds: "For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till He comes" (1 Corinthians 11:26).

The Westminster Confession (29.1) teaches that the Lord Jesus instituted the Supper to be observed in His church to the end of the world, for the perpetual remembrance of the sacrifice of Himself in His death, the sealing of all its benefits to true believers, their spiritual nourishment and growth in Him, their further engagement in all duties owed to Him, and a bond and pledge of their communion with Him and with each other. Like baptism (Unit 8), it is a sign and seal of the covenant of grace. Baptism is received once, for it marks our entrance. The Supper is received often, for it feeds us on the way.

What the Supper Means

The Reformed churches see four meanings in the Supper, all drawn from the texts above.

Remembrance. "Do this in remembrance of Me" (Luke 22:19). We look back to the cross, where Christ gave His body and shed His blood once for all.

Communion. Paul asks, "Is it not the communion of the blood of Christ?" (1 Corinthians 10:16). The Greek word means a sharing or participation. He adds that "we, though many, are one bread and one body" (1 Corinthians 10:17). The Supper unites us to Christ and to one another.

Proclamation. In the Supper the church preaches the Lord's death with signs that can be seen and tasted (1 Corinthians 11:26). Reformed teachers have always held that the sign must go together with the Word. The bread and cup are explained by the Scriptures and the prayer of thanksgiving, or they would be only a ceremony.

Hope. The Lord said that He will drink the fruit of the vine new with His people in His Father's kingdom (Matthew 26:29). The Supper looks forward to the marriage supper of the Lamb (Revelation 19:9).

Christ's Spiritual Presence

The center of the Reformed doctrine is that in the Supper believers truly receive Christ Himself, by faith, through the Holy Spirit. Calvin taught this at length in the Institutes, Book 4, chapter 17. The Westminster Confession (29.7) states that worthy receivers outwardly partake of the visible elements, and also inwardly by faith, really and indeed, though not carnally and corporally, receive and feed upon Christ crucified and all the benefits of His death. The body and blood of Christ are not physically in, with or under the bread and wine, but are spiritually present to the faith of the believer, as the elements are to the senses. The Heidelberg Catechism (Questions 75-79) and the Belgic Confession (article 35) teach the same.

The word spiritual is easily misunderstood. In the Reformed teaching it does not mean "imaginary" or "only symbolic." It means that Christ is present and received by the power of the Holy Spirit. Calvin taught that the Spirit unites us to Christ, who is in heaven at the Father's right hand, so that we are truly fed on Him although His glorified body is not on the table. Our hearts are lifted up to Him, not He brought down to us.

The risen Christ has ascended, and "heaven must receive" Him "until the times of restoration of all things" (Acts 3:21; compare Acts 1:11). Jesus spoke of eating His flesh and drinking His blood in John 6:53-58, but He also said, "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing" (John 6:63), and Reformed teachers understand the eating and drinking as believing and being united to Him by faith.

God does what He promises in the Supper. The bread and wine remain bread and wine, but to the believing receiver Christ gives Himself to nourish the soul, as bread and wine nourish the body. In the words of the Heidelberg Catechism (Question 75), the Lord assures us by the Supper that we share in His one sacrifice and in the benefits of His death. A pastor may tell weak believers with confidence: Christ is truly offered to you, and you can receive Him by faith.

Four Views in History

Course 1 of this specialization tells the history of the Reformation, so a brief outline is enough here. Four views are commonly set side by side.

Roman Catholic: transubstantiation. Rome teaches that the substance of the bread and wine is changed into the body and blood of Christ at the words of consecration, although the appearances remain. The doctrine was defined in the Middle Ages, with the Fourth Lateran Council of 1215 using the word, and the Council of Trent restated it in the sixteenth century. The Mass is also taught to be a sacrifice offered for the living and the dead. The Reformers rejected the doctrine and the sacrifice (Westminster Confession 29.2, 29.6).

Lutheran: sacramental union. Luther rejected transubstantiation, but he held that Christ's body and blood are truly present "in, with and under" the bread and wine, and are received by all who eat, believers and unbelievers alike. He took the words "This is My body" in their plain sense.

Zwingli: memorial. Zwingli stressed that the Supper is a remembrance of Christ's death and a pledge of the church's loyalty, and his name is linked with the "memorial" view. Historians debate whether he taught nothing more. At the Marburg Colloquy of 1529 Luther and Zwingli agreed on most points of doctrine, but not on the presence of Christ in the Supper.

Calvin: spiritual presence. Calvin taught a middle way. Against Rome and Lutherans he held that Christ's body is in heaven; against a bare memorial he held that believers truly feed on Christ through the Spirit. In 1549 Calvin and Bullinger reached agreement on the Supper in the Consensus Tigurinus. The Reformed confessions of the next century follow this teaching.

Who Should Come to the Table

Paul gives a warning. "Whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup" (1 Corinthians 11:27-28). In Corinth the rich were eating before the poor, and some were drunk while others went hungry (11:20-22). They ate "in an unworthy manner" because they despised their brothers and ignored the body of the Lord. Paul does not say that only perfect people may come.

The Heidelberg Catechism (Question 81) teaches that the Table is for those who are truly sorry for their sins and yet trust that those sins are forgiven for Christ's sake, and who desire more and more to be strengthened in faith and to live a holy life. It is not for the hypocrite and the impenitent. The Westminster Confession (29.8) teaches that ignorant and ungodly persons may not partake without great sin against Christ.

For this reason the Reformed churches teach that the Table is fenced, which means guarded. The session, as the elders who rule the congregation (Unit 2 and Unit 5), has the duty to see that the Table is not given to those under church discipline or to those who do not profess faith. The minister announces who may come, and warns those who should not. Practices differ. Most Presbyterian churches welcome baptized members in good standing. Many also welcome visiting believers in good standing in other Christian churches, while others ask visitors to speak with an elder first.

As for children, the usual Reformed practice is that baptized children come to the Table when they have made a credible profession of their own faith and can examine themselves, according to 1 Corinthians 11:28. A minority hold that covenant children should be admitted earlier, as Israelite children ate the Passover. This is called paedocommunion. Most Reformed churches have not accepted it, because Paul requires self-examination, which a small child cannot do.

The minister administers the Supper (Westminster Confession 29.3). How often the Supper is observed is left to each session. Calvin wished the Supper to be celebrated often, at least weekly, but in Geneva the practice was less frequent than he wanted. Today Presbyterian churches observe the Supper weekly, monthly or quarterly.

Objections and Answers

Objection 1 (the memorial view): The Supper is only a remembrance. "Spiritual presence" goes beyond what Jesus said.

Many Baptist and other evangelical Christians hold this view. They say the Supper is an act of obedience and thanks, with the bread and cup as symbols, and fear that a doctrine of real presence leads toward Roman Catholic belief.

Our answer. We agree that the Supper is a remembrance. But Scripture says more. Paul says the cup and the bread are a communion, a sharing in the blood and body of Christ (1 Corinthians 10:16), and he warns of judgment on those who profane the Table, which would not be so serious if it were an empty ceremony (1 Corinthians 11:29-30). We hold that this is a presence to faith by the Spirit, not a bodily presence, and here we agree with the Baptists against Rome. Not all Baptists hold a bare memorial, so the distance may be smaller than it seems.

Objection 2 (the Roman Catholic view): "This is My body" means exactly that. The bread is changed into His body.

Rome teaches that Christ's words must be taken literally, and cites John 6:53-56.

Our answer. Christ was physically sitting at the table when He said "This is My body." He also said "I am the door" and "I am the true vine" (John 10:9; 15:1), and no one thinks He became a door. In Scripture a sign is often called by the name of the thing it signifies. Paul still calls the elements "bread" after the blessing (1 Corinthians 11:26-28). The book of Hebrews teaches that Christ offered Himself "once for all" (Hebrews 10:10-14), so the Mass cannot repeat His sacrifice. Christ's body is in heaven (Acts 3:21). The Westminster Confession adds that the Mass leads to the worship of the elements.

Objection 3 (the Lutheran view): The words of institution declare that Christ's body and blood are present in the bread and wine.

Lutherans say that "is" means "is." They fear that the Reformed view leaves the believer with only a spiritual idea rather than Christ Himself.

Our answer. We honor Luther's concern for the comfort of the believer, and we agree that Christ gives Himself in the Supper. Yet we hold that Christ's glorified body is in heaven until His return, and that the Holy Spirit is the bond between the believer on earth and the Lord in heaven. We do not hold that the Lord is absent. We hold that He is received by faith, and that the comfort of the Supper does not rest on a bodily presence in the bread.

Objection 4: Fencing the Table is unkind. Christ welcomed sinners to His table.

Some say that guarding the Table makes the church exclusive.

Our answer. Our Lord ate with sinners, and the church must always call sinners to repent and believe. But Paul commanded the Corinthians to examine themselves (1 Corinthians 11:28), and the harm that followed their abuse (11:30) shows that oversight is a loving duty to guard the flock. It should be done gently, with warm invitations to all who trust in Christ.

Pastoral Application

An older woman in the congregation, a faithful member for many years, has stopped taking the Supper. When the pastor visits, she says with tears, "Pastor, I am not worthy. I have sinned, and I read in 1 Corinthians 11 that I will eat judgment on myself."

First, the pastor listens with gentleness. Her tender conscience is not a sign of unbelief.

Second, he opens 1 Corinthians 11 with her. He shows that Paul's warning was addressed to a church that was dividing the body and despising the poor. "Unworthy" describes a manner of eating, not a person's feeling of unworthiness.

Third, he reads Heidelberg Catechism Question 81 with her and shows that the Table is for sinners who are sorry for their sins and trust Christ. If she knows of an unrepented sin, he urges her to confess it and be reconciled to any she has wronged.

Fourth, he invites her back and reminds her that the Supper is the Lord's gift to feed weak faith.

Summary

Christ instituted the Lord's Supper on the night He was betrayed. It is a sign and seal of the covenant of grace, a remembrance of His death, a communion with Him and with one another, a proclamation, and a hope of His return. The Reformed churches teach that believers truly receive Christ in the Supper, by faith and by the Holy Spirit, who unites them to the ascended Lord, although His body is in heaven and the elements stay bread and wine. This view differs from transubstantiation, from the Lutheran sacramental union, and from the bare memorial view associated with Zwingli. The Table is fenced by the session so that the unrepentant do not eat in an unworthy manner, and baptized children usually come after a credible profession of faith. Objections come from memorialists, from Rome, from Lutherans and from those who think fencing unkind. Reformed teachers answer from 1 Corinthians 10 and 11, John 6, Hebrews and Acts 3:21. A pastor will comfort the weak believer by showing that the Supper is Christ's gift to sinners who trust in Him.

Further Reading

• The Westminster Confession of Faith (1646-47), chapters 27 and 29.

• The Westminster Larger Catechism, Questions 168-177.

• The Heidelberg Catechism (1563), Questions and Answers 75-82.

• The Belgic Confession (1561), article 35.

• The Second Helvetic Confession (1566), chapter 21.

• John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion (Beveridge translation, 1845), Book 4, chapter 17.

• Ursinus, Commentary on the Heidelberg Catechism, on the Lord's Supper.

• Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology (1872-73), on the Lord's Supper.

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