church and sacraments 7

7/30/2019 Church and Sacraments 7

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LORDS SUPPER


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5/16/2013 Church and Sacraments 7 2

LORDS SUPPER: DEFINITION

WCF29:1, Our Lord Jesus, in the night whereinhe was betrayed, instituted the sacrament of hisbody and blood, called the Lords Supper, to beobserved in his church unto the end of the world,for the perpetual remembrance of the sacrifice ofhimself in his death, the sealing of all benefitsthereof unto true believers, their spiritualnourishment and growth in him, their furtherengagement in and to all duties which they owe

unto him, and to be a bond and pledge theircommunion with him, and with each other, asmembers of his mystical body.


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LORDS SUPPER: SCRIPTURE

Earliest recorded account: I Cor. 11:23-25. For Ireceived from the Lord what I also passed on toyou: The Lord Jesus, on the night he wasbetrayed, took bread, and when he had given

thanks, he broke it and said, this is my body,which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.In the same way, after supper he took the cup,saying, This cup is the new covenant in myblood; do this, whenever you drink it, inremembrance of me. For whenever you eat thisbread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lordsdeath until he comes.


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LORDS SUPPER: SCRIPTURE The Synoptic gospels record its origin:

Matt. 26:26-8: While they were eating, Jesus tookbread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to hisdisciples, saying, Take and eat; this is my body. Thenhe took the cup, gave thanks, and offered it to them,

saying, Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood ofthe covenant, which is poured out for many for theforgiveness of sins.

Mark 14:22-24: While they were eating, Jesus tookbread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his

disciples, saying, Take it; this is my body. Then hetook the cup, gave thanks, and offered it to them, andthey all drank from it. This is my blood of thecovenant, which is poured out for many, he said tothem.


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Luke 22:19-20: And he took bread, gavethanks and broke it, and gave it to them,saying, This is my body given for you; dothis in remembrance of me. In the sameway, after the supper he took the cup,saying, This cup is the new covenant in

my blood, which is poured out for you.


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No direct reference in Johns gospel: But see chapter 6 and its Eucharistic implications John 6:51, he speaks of the Living Bread that came

down from heaven, which bread is his flesh

John 6:53, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Manand drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoevereats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, andI will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is realfood and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my

flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I inhim.

But, cf. with 6:63, The Spirit gives life; the fleshcounts for nothing.


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LORDS SUPPER AND PASSOVER

Matt. 26:17-20, On the first day of the Feast ofUnleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesusand asked, Where do you want us to makepreparations for you to eat the Passover? He

replied, Go into the city to a certain man andtell him, The Teacher says: My appointed timeis near. I am going to celebrate the Passoverwith my disciples at your house. So the

disciples did as Jesus had directed them andprepared the Passover. When evening came,Jesus was reclining at the table with theTwelve.


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LORDS SUPPER AND PASSOVER

Luke 22:15-6, And he said to them, I haveeagerly desired to eat this Passover with youbefore I suffer. For I tell you, I will not eat itagain until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom ofGod.

I Cor. 5:7-8, Get rid of the old yeast that youmay be a new batch without yeast-- as youreally are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, hasbeen sacrificed. Therefore let us keep theFestival, not with the old yeast, the yeast ofmalice and wickedness, but with bread withoutyeast, the bread of sincerity and truth.


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LORDS SUPPER: TERMS

In the Book of Acts, it is called, breaking bread,Acts 2:42; 20:7

Paul uses several terms:

the feast, I Cor. 5:8

the bread and the cup, I Cor. 10:16communion, I Cor. 10:16-7

the table of the Lord, I Cor. 10:21

the Lords Supper, I Cor. 11:20

Possibly a veiled reference to the supper in neithershall he eat, II Thess. 3:10

It is called a love (feast), Jude 12


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LORDS SUPPER: R. C. View

Transubstantiation The essence (substance) of the bread and wine

actually changes into physical body and blood of Christ

Accidents, or appearance of the elements remainsthe same

Therefore, after the consecration of bread and wine,our Lord Jesus Christ, true God and true man, is truly,really and substantially contained in the augustsacrament of the Holy Eucharist under the appearanceof those sensible things. Trent, Decree Concerning

the Most Holy Eucharist, I. Canons and Decrees of theCouncil of Trent

Eating and drinking the elements actually brings Christinto the person, bringing all the grace promised


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This view is contradicted by the WCF, 29:2,5-6 29:2 In this sacrament, Christ is not offered up to

His Father; nor any real sacrifice made at all, forremission of sins of the quick or dead; but only a

commemoration of that one offering up of Himself,by Himself, upon the cross, once for all: and aspiritual oblation of all possible praise unto God, forthe same, so that the popish sacrifice of the mass (as

they call it) is most abominably injurious to Christ'sone, only sacrifice, the alone propitiation for all thesins of His elect.


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LORDS SUPPER: R. C. View 29.5 The outward elements in this sacrament, duly set

apart to the uses ordained by Christ, have such relationto Him crucified, as that, truly, yet sacramentally only,they are sometimes called by the name of the thingsthey represent, to wit, the body and blood of Christ;albeit, in substance and nature, they still remain truly

and only bread and wine, as they were before. 29.6That doctrine which maintains a change of thesubstance of bread and wine, into the substance ofChrist's body and blood (commonly calledtransubstantiation) by consecration of a priest, or by any

other way, repugnant, not to Scripture alone, but evento common sense, and reason; overthroweth the natureof the sacrament, and hath been, and is, the cause ofmanifold superstitions; yea, of gross idolatries.


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TRANSUBSTANTIATION- AnEvaluation

The distinction between substanceand accidents is clearly Aristotelian

It is without biblical warrant

John 6:63 indicates that all benefit isspiritual


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LORDS SUPPER: Lutheran View

Martin Luther rejected the Roman Catholic ideaof transubstantiation

But- he still believed that Christ was corporeallypresent in the elements

The term used to describe this, although disliked bymany Lutherans, is consubstantiation

The essence of the bread and wine remain

The corporeal body of Christ is present in, with,and under the elements, much as light ispresent in air, or fire is present in red, hot iron


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LORDS SUPPER: Lutheran View

Lutheran thinking is dependent on the notion ofthe ubiquity of Christs body and the word is(estin) in the words of institution

Lutherans believe that grace is given to the onewho partakes in faith, through the elements andthe accompanying word

The WCF29:7, and L.C. # 170 speak againstconsubstantiation. It is theologically problematicto base special significance for the Lords Supperin a supposed ubiquity of Christs body

The word is often is used metaphorically,meaning represents, as in , I am the door


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LORDS SUPPER: Zwinglian View

Takes the Lords Supper to be only amemorial ordinance

There is no promise of grace other thanthat which comes through obedience toany command

The focus is on our act of remembrance

The elements are symbolic


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LORDS SUPPER: Reformed View

WCF29:1 Our Lord Jesus, in the night whereinHe was betrayed, instituted the sacrament of Hisbody and blood, called the Lord's Supper, to beobserved in His Church, unto the end of theworld for the perpetual remembrance of the

sacrifice of Himself in His death, the sealing allbenefits thereof unto true believers, theirspiritual nourishment and growth in Him, theirfurther engagement in and to all duties which

they owe unto Him; and, to be a bond andpledge of their communion with Him, and witheach other, as members of His mystical body.


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WCF29:7 Worthy receivers, outwardlypartaking of the visible elements, in thissacrament, do then also, inwardly by faith, reallyand indeed, yet not carnally and corporally but

spiritually, receive, and feed upon, Christcrucified, and all benefits of His death: the bodyand blood of Christ being then, not corporally orcarnally, in, with, or under the bread and wine;

yet, as really, but spiritually, present to the faithof believers in that ordinance, as the elementsthemselves are to their outward senses.


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The Reformed view denies both the doctrines oftransubstantiation and consubstantiation

It affirms that the sacrament exhibits andconveys grace to the elect who exercise faith

and obedience in receiving it The giving of grace is always subject to Gods

will

Grace, however, operates directly on the spirit of thebeliever, not through material elements

Sacramental Grace is identical to grace conveyedthrough other means


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LORDS SUPPER: Recipients

In the Reformed view, generally, therecipients of the Lords Supper are limited toprofessing believers who have beenbaptized and admitted into membership in

the visible church Some provision is made in the PCUSA (andUMC) to admit baptized children to the LordsSupper regardless of age

Furthermore, some PCA and OPC congregationsin recent years practiced paedocommunion,although this is now officially forbidden (See PeterLeithart, Daddy, Why Was I Excommunicated?)


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The NT emphasizes the necessity of anacceptable witness in ones life in order toparticipate in the Lords Supper I Cor. 5:6-7, Your boasting is not good.

Don't you know that a little yeast worksthrough the whole batch of dough? Get rid ofthe old yeast that you may be a new batchwithout yeast-- as you really are. For Christ,

our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed I Cor. 5:13, God will judge those outside.

Expel the wicked man from among you


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I Cor. 10:21, You cannot drink the cup of theLord and the cup of demons too; you cannothave a part in both the Lord's table and thetable of demons

I Cor. 11:27-29, Therefore, whoever eats thebread or drinks the cup of the Lord in anunworthy manner will be guilty of sinningagainst the body and blood of the Lord. A manought to examine himself before he eats of thebread and drinks of the cup. For anyone whoeats and drinks without recognizing the body ofthe Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself.


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II Thess. 3:6, In the name of the Lord JesusChrist, we command you, brothers, to keepaway from every brother who is idle and doesnot live according to the teaching you

received from us II Thess. 3:14-15, If anyone does not obey

our instruction in this letter, take special noteof him. Do not associate with him, in order

that he may feel ashamed. Yet do not regardhim as an enemy, but warn him as a brother


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WCF29:8, Although ignorant and wicked menreceive the outward elements in this sacrament;yet, they receive not the thing signified thereby;but, by their unworthy coming thereunto, are

guilty of the body and blood of the Lord, to theirown damnation. Wherefore, all ignorant andungodly persons, as they are unfit to enjoycommunion with Him, so are they unworthy of

the Lord's table and cannot, without great sinagainst Christ, while they remain such, partake ofthese holy mysteries, or be admitted thereunto.


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L.C.#173, May any who profess his faith,and desire to come to the Lord's Supper,be kept from it? A. Such as are found tobe ignorant or scandalous, notwithstanding

their profession of the faith, and desire tocome to the Lord's supper, may and oughtto be kept from that sacrament, by the

power which Christ hath left in his church,until they receive instruction and manifesttheir reformation.


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LORDS SUPPER: Recipients Assurance of salvation: not required for Lords Supper.

L.C.#172, May one who doubteth of his being in Christ,or of his due preparation, come to the Lord's supper? A.One who doubteth of his being in Christ, or of his duepreparation to the sacrament of the Lord's supper, mayhave true interest in Christ, though he be not yet assured

thereof; and in God's account hath it, if he be duly affectedwith the apprehension of the want of it, and unfeignedlydesires to be found in Christ, and to depart from iniquity: inwhich case (because promises are made, and thissacrament is appointed, for the relief even of weak anddoubting Christians he is to bewail his unbelief, and labourto have his doubts resolved; and, so doing, he may andought to come to the Lord's supper, that he may be furtherstrengthened.


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LORDS SUPPER: Recipient

WCF29:3-4, The Lord Jesus hath, in his ordinance,appointed His ministers to declare His word of institutionto the people; to pray, and bless the elements of breadand wine, and thereby to set them apart from a commonto an holy use; and to take and break bread, to take thecup and (they communicating also themselves) to giveboth to the communicants; but to none who are not thenpresent in the congregation. Private masses, or receivingthis sacrament by a priest, or any other, alone, aslikewise, the denial of the cup to the people,

worshipping the elements, the lifting them up, orcarrying them about, for adoration, and the reservingthem for any pretended religious use; are all contrary tothe nature of this sacrament, and to the institution ofChrist.


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LORDS SUPPER

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