The Christian Church has always emphasized certain rites or forms of worship known as the sacraments. Two of them were recognized by the early Church as Lord’s, going back to Christ. They were Baptism and the sacrament, which is now known under several names: Lord’s Supper, Breaking of the Bread, or Eucharist (McGrath, 2007). The Christians publicly demonstrate their commitment to the Church first at baptism and then at the Eucharist. It is a remembrance of the historical event that led to the emergence of the Christian Church and a public demonstration of the devotion of the believer to this Church and its members. This paper aims to compare and contrast the doctrine of the Lord’s Supper in Zwingli, Luther, and the Council of Trent.
Since the Lord’s Supper is a reminder of the suffering and death of the Savior, this issue can be resolved by determining the importance of the death of Christ. It is by His death that He attracts people to Him (John 12: 32-33) and reconciliation is achieved (Rom. 5:10). According to Acts. 20: 7, when the Early Church started holding meetings, they did not gather for prayer, singing, or offerings (McGrath, 2007). All of this was not the main purpose of the meeting. They gathered to break the bread, that is, to observe the Lord’s Supper.
The official Roman Catholic position regarding the Lord’s Supper was determined at the Council of Trent (1545-1563). Although now many Catholics, especially in Western countries, have abandoned several provisions of this concept, it remains the basis of faith for a large number of Christians. Its basic principle is transubstantiation, a metaphysical change of substance during the consecration of holy gifts by a priest (McGrath, 2007).
As a result, ordinary bread and wine are transformed into the flesh and blood of Christ. The second basic principle of the Catholic concept is that the Lord’s Supper includes a sacrificial act. Jesus again makes a substitutionary sacrifice for His followers that serves to atone for pardonable sins. The third distinctive feature of the Catholic concept is the special role of the clergy, that is, the notion that the presence of a properly ordained priest is necessary for consecration. When the established ceremony is performed by a priest with the proper authority, the holy gifts are transformed into the body and blood of Christ.
What concerns Zwingli, he decisively separated himself from both the teaching of the Roman Church and the teaching of the German reformers about the Lord’s actual presence in wine and bread. The words of the Lord “This is my body” and “This is my blood,” as Zwingli asserted, are figurative and mean nothing more than the fact that the bread and wine used at the supper are an image or a sign. The words of the Apostle confirm this in 1 Corinthians 11: 22-28: “Do this in remembrance of me as often as you drink it” (McGrath, 2007).
These words were spoken by Christ during the Last Supper on the eve of His death and indicated how He wanted to be remembered in His Church. Thus, for Zwingli, the Eucharist is a remembrance of the sufferings of Christ. He insisted that the words “This is my body” should not be taken, which, thus, excluded the idea of the real presence of Christ at the Eucharist.
In response to this, Martin Luther wrote a book entitled The Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ – Against the Fanatics. In this work, he clearly and thoroughly expressed his opinion about the Lord’s Supper. In his opinion, the bread and wine, over which the priest prayed, became essentially the flesh of Christ and His Blood (McGrath, 2007). The difference in the understanding of this issue between the two great reformers put an end to their brotherly communion. The number of advocates of their views was constantly growing on both sides. It was not an easy task to calm the hardened spirit of theologians and reconcile them.
There are few more tragic events in the history of Christians than their civil strife and controversy over the Lord’s Supper. Some, who sincerely believed that they were following Christ, were brutally persecuted and even sentenced to death for those who also believed that they were following Christ. The reason for the persecution was that they did not adhere to certain teaching regarding the Lord’s Supper, a teaching that was impossible to prove.
Reference
McGrath, A. E. (Ed.). (2007). Theology: The basic readings (2nd ed.). Wiley-Blackwell.