The Last Supper

Abstract

“This is My body... This is My blood.” These words from our Lord have caused no shortage of heated discussions and disagreements throughout the history of the Church centered on the questions, “Are these words to be taken literally or figuratively?” and “What does “is” mean?” Roman Catholicism and Orthodox churches hold to a pure literal view, suggesting that the elements, the bread and the wine, are actually changed into the body and blood of Christ when the priest blesses them. This is known as transubstantiation, or the “Real Presence” of Christ. The great Reformer Martin Luther repudiated this teaching, but he could not let go of the “is,” “What does “is” mean?” Luther taught what is known as consubstantiation, meaning “alongside” the elements. Luther believed that the bread and the wine remained bread and wine while also, at the same time, being fully the body and blood of Christ. The Swiss Reformer Ulrich Zwingli, who many today get their understanding of the meaning of the Lord’s Table, suggested that the elements themselves, the bread and the wine, were merely symbols that represented the body and the blood of Christ. Luther strongly disagreed with Zwingli, suggesting that his merely symbolic view failed to account for the word “is.” John Calvin, serving as an intermediary between Luther and Zwingli, suggested that there is a real presence of Christ in the elements, that the Spirit of Christ is with the believer at the Table, serving as a means of God imparting of grace. Calvin said, “We must not dream that his substance passes, in a natural manner, into our souls [that is, by eating and drinking]; but we eat his flesh, when, by means of it, we receive life.” Jesus told His hearers, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink” (John 6:53-55). Concerning Jesus’ words, Phil Newton remarks, “This was no call for cannibalism but by the supernatural work of the Spirit, as we believe in Christ, we receive Him and all of His life on our behalf. So in the Lord’s Supper, we partake by faith, receiving anew the life and death of Christ on our behalf, finding our satisfaction in Him alone as our Savior and Lord.” 1