Martin Bucer between Oecolampadius and Melanchthon on the Lord's Supper

Abstract

Martin Bucer's eucharistic theology evolved considerably through the early 1530s, influenced by Johann Oecolampadius's 1530 Dialogue Concerning What the Fathers Thought About the Eucharist. Key elements of Bucer's mature understanding of the Lord's Supper, expressed in two major works from 1534, were the use of the term exhibere (to present, convey, or bestow), the instrumental nature of the ministry, and the testimony of those church fathers. Based on an understanding of 1 Cor. 10:16-17 and John 6:54-58 that differed from both Luther and Zwingli, as well as the patristic application of Eph. 5:30 to the Eucharist, Bucer argued that Christ used the ministers of the church to convey his true body and blood to the faithful with the word and elements of the Lord's Supper. Bucer's new appreciation of patristic eucharistic theology, along with an understanding of the sacraments as linking promise and sign and a focus on what happened in the Supper rather than on the nature of the elements, allowed him to find common ground with Philipp Melanchthon and so paved the way for the 1536 Wittenberg Concord.