The Lord's Table
“Among the many doctrines debated during the Reformation, the Lord’s Supper was discussed more than any other.” (Mathison)
The Lord’s Table is one of two ordinances that the Lord left us. Initiating it on the night before He died, Jesus intends for us to regularly come to the table, eat the bread, and drink the cup. In doing so, we remember all that He did for us, from the incarnation to the ascension. It’s a solemn celebration. Scripture teaches us that we must not come to the table in an unworthy manner. Every time we come to the table, we should first examine ourselves, then, come to the Table prepared so that we can experience the overwhelming joy that we have as those whose sins have been forgiven.
In my sermon on 1 Corinthians 11:17-34, The Lord’s Table, I mentioned that there are four views of what’s “going on” when we come to the Table. This short blog is a summary of the four views, with my own personal conclusion at the end.
1. Transubstantiation. This is what the Roman Catholic Church teaches.
This view says that when the priest blesses the bread and wine in changes (trans = transformed, substant = substance) into the actual physical body and blood of Jesus Himself. Obviously, this cannot be observed, and the reasoning is that it’s the inner, hidden essence that has changed.
In this view, when you eat the bread, and drink the wine, you’re literally taking into yourself the actual body and blood of Christ. Christ is considered to be present and is sacrificed again. The grace of God, needed for salvation, actually comes into you as you consume the elements. Along with the reformers, protestants, evangelical Christians, and most non-catholics, I reject this view as false and unbiblical.
2. Consubstantiation. This was Luther’s view. This view says that the substance coexists with the body and blood of Jesus. Like a sponge full of water. The sponge isn’t the water and the water isn’t the sponge, but they’re both there together at the same time. So eating the bread, it “contains” the substance of the actual body of Jesus. This view is slightly less “magical transformation-ey” from the first view. This view is generally, but not universally held by Lutherans, Anglicans, and orthodox churches. Again, most protestants, and evangelical Christians, I reject this view as it is not substantially different from transubstantiation.
3. Representative/Memorial View. Zwingli taught this view around the same time as Luther. This view says that the is merely a representation of what Christ did and we do it only to remember. The bread and cup are simply symbols of what Christ did. To eat and drink the body and blood of Christ is simply a synonym for believing in Christ.
This is the traditional evangelical view. Most baptists will, by default, hold this view. This is the view I was raised on.
4. Spiritual or Real Presence. John Calvin didn’t agree with either Rome or Luther and thought that Zwingli’s view held back too much and was more than merely a memorial. He said that the symbols don’t just represent Christ’s work on our behalf, but also bring us into His presence. His view is complex, and he wrote on it and worked through it for over 20 years. Where baptism is connected with the believer’s initiation into union with Christ, the Lord’s Supper strengthens the believer’s ongoing union with Christ. The Lord’s Supper is to be thought of as a divine gift given by Christ to His people to nourish and strengthen their faith.
The Holy Spirit is deeply involved in the meal and without the Spirit, coming to the table becomes empty ritual. In addition to the Spirit, faith is required. Faith is a gift (Ephesians 2:8), but is necessary to pursue and please the Lord (Hebrews 11:6). We must remember too that the meal is about Christ, not the elements. While the focus is on Christ, the elements are an experience of the real presence of Christ. In contrast to Christ being physically present in the element, this view says that in the supper, “we are lifted up to heaven with our eyes and minds, to seek Christ there in the glory of his Kingdom. The Supper is also “a bond of love” that produces “one another” love between believers by inspiring thanksgiving and gratitude.
This is a very complicated position, and more than can be fully explained in a couple of paragraphs.
I tend to land somewhere between view three and four. We’re commanded to come to the Lord’s Table regularly and also called to intentional, serious self examination prior to taking the elements to insure that we are not taking them in an unworthy manner.
There are absolutely no mystical, magical, or otherwise supernatural goings on with the elements. The elements themselves are representative, nothing more. I can’t go beyond that based on my understanding of Scripture. While I like the idea that I’m “lifted up into the presence of Christ in heaven” during the meal, this seems to at least potentially lean a little far into mysticism. There’s much more study I need to do here to fully work all of this out. Again, Calvin’s view is complex and he spent over 20 years writing on it and explaining it.
At the same time, there is certainly a distinct spiritual dynamic that takes place in communion. There’s both a real connection with Christ (vertically) and real communion with my brothers and sisters (horizontally) as we eat the same bread (all of the pieces are from one loaf that one of our members bakes for communion) and drink the same cup (all the little cups are filled from the same bottle). There is a real fellowship with Christ and with my brothers and sisters that happens as we participate in a spiritual experience represented in the tangible elements
It is representative, but due to the importance and emphasis that the Lord puts on it, including the command that we regularly do it, pushes me toward something more than merely representative. I might phrase it, “mainly, but not merely representative.” The meal, both in the past with the Seder (do this forever) and in the present (as often as you do this), and the fact that we’re not simply thinking about the elements, but actually physically doing something “in a manner worthy of the Lord” leads me to this ‘in between’ place. I agree with Calvin that Zwingli’s view doesn’t go far enough, but I think Calvin’s view seems to go a little too far when he calls it “a mystical union with Christ.”
Pastor/author Barry Cooper concludes: “So what are we to make of all this? In what sense is Christ present in the Lord’s Supper?
The reality is that when we eat and drink together as brothers and sisters, Christ’s Spirit is present, too. Which means that the risen Lord Jesus Himself truly meets us when we come to His table.”
Our doctrinal statement, the 1689 London Baptist Confession, well worded and based on 1 Corinthians 10:16 & 11:23-26 says: “Worthy recipients who outwardly partake of the visible elements in this ordinance also by faith inwardly receive and feed on Christ crucified and all the benefits of his death. They do so really and truly, yet not physically and bodily but spiritually. The body and blood of Christ are not present bodily or physically in the ordinance but spiritually to the faith of believers, just as the elements themselves are present to their outward senses.”
Wherever you land on the spectrum (and you should land on 3, 4, or somewhere in between), the next time you come to the Lord’s Table, be sure you come in a worthy manner, remember what Christ has done for you, that He is coming back for you, that you are re-committing yourself to follow Him in faithful discipleship, that there’s a very real unity between you and those you’re taking it with, and most of all, come joyfully as He won the victory over sin and death FOR YOU! Don’t ever come flippantly. Remember that you NEED to come joyfully, for where else can you find true deep, abiding joy? “for in Him we live and move and exist.”
Only in Christ can we find real joy and only in Him will we know the joy of everlasting life with the Father in Heaven. The Lord’s Table is a vivid, distinct, touchable reminder of all that Christ did for us and that we have been forgiven, and the very righteousness of Christ has been imputed to us!
Grace and Peace
Pastor Rob