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REFORMATION VIEWS of COMMUNION John 6:47-59 INTRODUCTION

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REFORMATION VIEWS of COMMUNION John 6:47-59 INTRODUCTION REFORMATION VIEWS OF COMMUNION John 6:47-59 INTRODUCTION I am calling the month of October at Corntassel “Reformation Month.” Actually October 31st is Reformation Day, since it is on this day in 1517 that Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to Wittenberg church door to debate the issue of penance and indulgences. Many count this event is what gave birth to the Protestant Reformation. Usually the Sunday closest to October 31 is called “Reformation Sunday.” But since this year is the 500th year anniversary of the Protestant Reformation, I’m going to call October “Reformation Month.” One thing we will be doing to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the Reformation is that I will be preaching on the 5 Solas of the Reformation. Since today is also World Communion Sunday I will be preaching on the Reformation View of the Lord’s Supper. THE TRANSUBSTANTIATON VIEW The Lord’s Supper was one of the key focuses of the Reformation. The Reformers believed that the Church of their day had totally distorted the meaning of it. In short, the Catholic view is that the elements, the bread and the cup, are miraculously changed into the actual Body and Blood of Christ through the priest’s blessing. Since the elements become the literal Body and Blood of Christ they can be elevated, revered and even worshipped for they are the actual Body and Blood of Christ. This is called the “Transubstantiation View.” The Protestants believed that this was a form of idolatry and close to being magical incantations which led to many superstitions. This was one of the areas that the Reformers thought the church truly needed to reform. All the Reformers rejected this Transubstantiation View or Catholic view of the Eucharist. But there was not agreement among the Protestants what was going on in the Communion Service. How should they view the elements? How was God’s grace communicated through the Communion Service? Where was the ‘real’ Presence of the Body of Christ in the Communion Service? CONSUBSTANTIATION VIEW Martin Luther, one of the key leaders in the Reformation movement, saw the presence of Christ in the Communion Service as being ‘under, beside, and above’ the elements. His view is called ‘Consubstantiation.’ The elements were not October 1, 2017 Corntassel CP Church Page 1 transformed into the Body and Blood of Christ, but somehow Christ’s human Body was present in the Eucharist and was joined with the elements. Thereby we partake of the actual Body and Blood of Christ when we partake of communion. But this view has its problems. THIS MEMORIAL VIEW Another Reformation leader was Ulrich Zwingli, a leader in the Swiss Reformation. He rejected Luther’s view. His objection was that Christ in his resurrected human Body is seated at the right hand of the Father. Christ cannot be present in his human body on earth, because this would divide the Person of Christ. He saw the communion as being strictly a memorial service to the death of Christ. We are to remember his death when we partake of communion. The elements are bare symbols or memorials. Zwingli and Luther never did come to agreement on their view of the Lord’s Supper. CALVIN’S VIEW But John Calvin saw things a little differently and thought he could reconcile Luther’s and Zwingli’s views. He agreed with Luther that God was doing something special in the Communion Service. It was more than just a memorial service. He agreed with Zwingli that the elements are not changed into anything other than bread and drink. Christ’s human body was not present in the elements. Christ remained seated at the Father’s right hand. But there is true communion with the Body and Blood of Christ in the Communion Service. We do partake of the Body and Blood of Christ. UNION WITH CHRIST How he explained this is by making our Union with Christ the means by which we commune with Christ. Understanding the doctrine of union with Christ will help us understand what is going on in the Communion Service. Because of our union with Christ we are partakers of all that Christ is and all the benefits of salvation come to us through Christ. In our union with Christ it can be said that we have been raised with Christ and are seated with Him in heaven right now. Paul attests to this: Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ….. Ephesians 2:5-6 NIV [God] made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions--it is by grace you have been October 1, 2017 Corntassel CP Church Page 2 saved. (6) And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, What happens in the Communion Service is that when we partake of the elements by faith, the Holy Spirit confirms to our hearts our union with Christ in heaven, and thereby we are truly partaking of the Body and Blood of Christ. The elements remain Bread and Wine but they are ‘signs and seals ‘of Christ’s Body and Blood and all the benefit issuing from His sacrifice for us. The elements point to Christ and helps us to remember that it is on the basis of Christ’s death that we have been saved and share in all the benefits of that death. Thereby we have true communion with Christ through faith in what Christ did for us in His broken Body and shed blood. This is the work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts as we partake of communion. Thereby God’s grace is communicated to us and we are nourished spiritually. We need to observe communion often for each time we experience the spiritual reality of our union with Christ through the visible element of the Bread and Cup. Calvin looks to Jesus’ discourse of the Bread from Heaven as recorded in John’s Gospel as referring to the spiritual partaking of the Body and Blood of Christ. Not that Jesus had the Lord’s Supper in mind when he gave this discourse, but what he speaks of is the same reality that takes place in Communion. Let’s look quickly at John 6. FAITH IN CHRIST IS ESSENTIAL FOR ETERNAL LIFE In John 6 faith in Christ is the way of receiving eternal life and be sustained by Christ: John 6:35 NIV Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. John 6:40 NIV For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day." John 6:47 NIV Very truly I tell you, the one who believes [in me] has eternal life. October 1, 2017 Corntassel CP Church Page 3 Life comes through faith in Jesus; spiritual life, eternal life. In the Communion Service faith in Christ is essential for the Communion Service to be a means of grace. It is not the mechanical partaking of the elements. HE IS THE BREAD OF HEAVEN In this discourse on the Bread of Life, Jesus emphases that His flesh is the living Bread. (51) I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world." Jesus himself is the Bread and it is something about He flesh that nourishes us spiritually. In the Communion Service the element of bread points to the living Bread, Jesus Christ. WE ARE TO EAT HIS BODY AND DRINK HIS BLOOD TO LIVE Jesus uses the metaphor of eating his flesh and drinking his blood as the way of having eternal life. (54) Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. (55) For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. This is the strange way of putting it, but we receive the benefits of Christ’s death for us by “eating his flesh and drinking his blood.” Of course this was the hard saying that caused many of his disciples to turn back and quit following him. (6:66). How can one do this? It is not in a physical way, but it is in a spiritual way. It is through faith. Note that back in verses 40 and 47 Jesus said that the way of having eternal life is through believing in Him. Therefore “eating his flesh and drinking his blood” is a figurative way of saying believing in Him. It is a continual believing in Christ and His death in our behalf that partakes of Christ as our spiritual food. UNION WITH CHRIST IS THE KEY Then Jesus relates eating His flesh and drinking His blood to the teaching of “union with Christ” into this discourse in verses 56-57: October 1, 2017 Corntassel CP Church Page 4 (56) Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. (57) Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. Here Christ is alluding to what we call ‘union with Christ.’ God’s work of salvation “puts” us in Christ and Christ in us which is our union with Christ.
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