Consubstantiation

Abstract

Abstract Consubstantiation is a doctrine that pertains to the Lord's Supper or Eucharist. Theologians of the Reformed churches, and also some others, often say that Lutheran theology, which states that Christ's body and blood are really and truly present in the Lord's Supper, is the doctrine of consubstantiation. But Lutheran theologians have usually rejected the term, especially when its users imply that in the Lord's Supper the heavenly and earthly elements are mingled or mixed. By using the term consubstantiation, some also say that the Lutheran doctrine of Christ's real presence in the Supper is a modification of the Roman Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation. The latter means that the natural substances of the bread and wine are transubstantiated (changed) by the officiating priest into Christ's body and blood, and that then only the body and blood of Christ are present. But Lutheran theologians have never taught that Christ's bodily presence in the Lord's Supper is a modified doctrine of transubstantiation, for in the Lord's Supper bread and wine still retain their natural substance as communicants also receive Christ's real body and blood supernaturally.