Thesis: The biblical and theological witness demands that Christ in his whole person, humanity and divinity, is offered with the elements of the Eucharist and eaten by the faithful.
This is part two of my argument. Follow along for more!
When looking at the Eucharist, there are two primary instruments The Spirit uses to communicate Christ to the believer: the elements and faith. One to offer Christ (the elements) and one to receive Christ and his benefits (faith). Therefore, the elements are incredibly important to the reception of Christ. This point is affirmed by both the second and the third views outlined above. Richard Hooker explains, “The bread and cup are his body and blood because they are the instrumental causes, when we receive them, of our participation in his body and blood.”[1] The bread and wine are called the body and blood because it is through them that the communicant participates in Christ. Later Hooker says, “our real participation in Christ and in the life of his body and blood by means of this sacrament.”[2] This is a strong view of the instrumentality of the elements, but it is not novel in the Reformed tradition. The Colloquy of Worms stated the symbols are not bare or naked, but “always have the things itself truly and certainly joined with them.”[3] Even as far back as the 8th century, John of Damascus was using very similar language. In On the Orthodox Faith, he says, “Through things that are familiar and natural we should engage (γενώμεθα, from γίνομαι) with that which transcends nature.”[4] Christ is not, however, “contained” in the elements.[5] The presence of Christ is primarily for the spiritual nourishment of the church, so there need not be a corporeal presence.
The most direct biblical support for the elements as instruments of Christ’s presence is found in 1 Corinthians 10:16-17. Verse 16 says, “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a participation of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is in not a participation of the body of Christ?” The bread and wine, in the act of blessing and breaking, are a participation in the body and blood of Christ. Calvin clarifies that “participation is something different from the body itself.”[6] The elements are not synonymous with the body and blood but are closely tied together with them, even to the point of saying they “participate” in them. Leon Morris says, “The meaning is that those who rightly receive the cup receive Christ.”[7] Paul continues by saying, “Because there is one bread, we, the many, are one body; for we all partake of the one bread.” There is a clear connection between union with Christ and His body, the church, and partaking of the Eucharist. In relation to the elements, Hans Boersma says, “The Eucharist establishes a real communion or participation with Christ and so makes us literally participate in him.”[8] Because we “partake of the one bread,” there is access to deepening the union with Christ received by faith. Eating the Eucharistic meal is not simply something done with the hands and mouth, but, through the elements, it is an act of participating in Christ.
[1] Richard Hooker, The Word Made Flesh For Us: A Treatise on Christology & the Sacraments from Hooker's Laws, modernized and edited by Brad Littlejohn and Patrick Timmis, with Brian Marr (Davenant Press, 2024), 113.
[2] Hooker, The Word Made Flesh, 109.
[3] Keith A. Mathison, Given For You: Reclaiming Calvin’s Doctrine of the Lord’s Supper (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2002), 76.
[4] John of Damascus, On the Orthodox Faith, 250.
[5] Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd ed. (Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1997), 1374.
[6] Calvin, Institutes, 4.17.22.
[7] Leon Morris, The First Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1981), 146.
[8] Hans Boersma, Eucharistic Participation (Vancouver, BC: Regent College Publishing, 2021), 51.