Required reading
Systematic Theology by Charles Hodge (Vol 3) (Available from Amazon or free here) - Continue Chapter 20 by reading up to the subheading '17. Modern views concerning the Lord's Supper'.
My summary
Today Hodge unpacks the Reformed views on the Lord's Supper, particularly between Calvin, Zwingli and Luther. He quotes from all the major confessions that speak to the matter.
At the end of the reading, Hodge himself provides a good summary of the generally agreed upon Reformed view:
'According to the standards of the Reformed Church, therefore :
The Lord's Supper is a holy ordinance instituted by Christ ; as a memorial of his death, wherein, under the symbols of bread and wine, his body as broken and his blood as shed for the remission of sins, are signified, and, by the power of the Holy Ghost, sealed and applied to believers ; whereby their union with Christ and their mutual fellowship are set forth and confirmed, their faith strengthened, and their souls nourished unto eternal life.
Christ is really present to his people in this sacrament, not bodily, but in spirit ; not in the sense of local nearness, but of efiicacious operation. They receive Him, not with the mouth but by faith ; they receive his flesh and blood, not as flesh, not as material particles, not its human life, not the supernatural influence of his glorified body in heaven ; but his body as broken and his blood as shed. The union thus signified and effected is not a corporeal union, not a mixture of substances, but a spiritual and mystical union due to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The efficacy of this sacrament, as a means of grace, is not in the signs, nor in the service, nor in the minister, nor in the word, but in the attending influence of the Holy Ghost.'
What grabbed me
I appreciated Hodge's comments on one of the reasons for the struggle of the Reformed church regarding the Lord's supper: 'Another source of difficulty on this subject is that the statements of the Reformed had for one great object the prevention of a schism in the ranks of the Protestants. They did all they could to conciliate Luther. They adopted forms of expression which could be understood in a Lutheran sense. So far was this irenical spirit carried that even Romanists asked nothing: more than what the Reformed conceded.'
Luther was a great man. The other Reformers were great men. But they were just that: men. And as men, subject to their own biases too - just like us.
Next week's reading
Continue Chapter 20 by reading up to the subheading '18. The Lutheran doctrine concerning the Lord's Supper'.
Now it's your turn
Please post your own notes and thoughts in the comments section below.
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