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The Presence of Christ
(9th in the series of expositions on Communion delivered on Oct 1, 1978)
In 1 Cor 11:24 Christ spoke of "This is my body." It is precisely these words that had caused lots of discussion during the Early Church and also the time of Reformation about what these words mean. Zwingli, a Swiss Reformer, maintains that 'This is my body' meant no more than 'This reminds you of my body'. This is simply a symbol in bringing back remembrance, so that whenever we look at the bread and the cup, it will remind us of His body. This is the standard teaching of today's Protestant Church. Zwingli's teaching has gained ground against Luther and Calvin, whose teaching as far as Reformation teaching is concerned, had been thrown out.
However, Luther's teaching is the right one. Luther maintained that 'This is my body' is what Jesus meant, and did not dilute 'is' to be merely a reminder of His body. Luther found that this is what Jesus wanted to say. (There is a lot of words in Hebrew and in Greek to say 'This is my body." It does not mean that the bread refers to the body of Christ literally, but it is so spiritually. The bread is spiritually the body of Christ and not just a kind of a remote reminder of the body of Christ. Zwingli argued that when Jesus broke the bread, He was standing there physically and said "This is my body". Therefore He can't represent Him physically. However Zwingli missed the point, because Jesus is speaking of His body in a spiritual sense. Calvin maintains very much on Luther's side. In Calvin's own words: 'The teaching of Zwingli in this matter invulnerably reduces the bread and the cup to simply a reminder.' The Catholics maintain that the bread is substantially the body of Christ. This is the doctrine of 'Transubstantiation'. It is why the Catholics kneel down and face the altar in front which contains the bread of Communion. The bread is then transformed by the priest's benediction to Christ's body. But there is no such doctrine of substantiation in the Bible, so the Catholics' position and teaching is completely unscriptural.
In the Bible, the Lord Jesus also used this word 'is' in this representative sense. For example, in the parable of the wheat and tares (Mt 13:37-39), we find the word 'is' is used many times: the seed is the Word of God, the sower is the Son of Man, and so on. That is to say the seed represents the Word of God, the sower represents the Son of Man, not just reminds us of them. That is to say the seed has a very deep spiritual description and representation of the character of the Word.
There was a conference in these days and Zwingli attacked Luther for his doctrine of Communion and Zwingli got rather rude about it, but Luther maintained his position and the scriptural word 'This is my body'; he refused to come down on that. But it takes spiritual mindfulness to understand Communion in this way that Jesus is present spiritually, and not in the Roman Catholics' sense of physical presence.
The bread is spiritually the body of Christ and several consequences follow from this. That is, when we partake of the bread and the cup, we are really partaking of Christ spiritually, we are feeding upon Christ. (In the other doctrine, we are not partaking Christ but a reminder.) Luther was right. When we partake the bread, we do spiritually partake of Christ, actually participate in Christ spiritually. Paul in 1 Cor 10:16 says: "The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ?" When we eat the bread, we make it our own and so we participate in the same body of Christ by feeding on Him, only through this can the church become the body of Christ. ("Because there is one loaf, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the same loaf." 1 Cor 10:17) Paul goes on to say in 11:2 "Whoever, therefore, will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord...". That is why a person has to examine himself; otherwise, we have made ourselves guilty and brought condemnation, "For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment upon himself" (v29). If it is merely a reminder, we can't bring judgment upon ourselves, because we are not actually violating the body and blood of Christ. Paul makes it plain how important it is to realize the presence of Christ in Communion, His spiritual presence. If we do not realize the meaning of the body and blood of Christ, then we are partaking it unworthily and are guilty of profaning His body. That is why Paul continue to say in v30: "That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died." Judgment has come on those who partake unworthily. Paul warns everyone to examine himself before the table.
As a conclusion, we see that 'This is my body' has spiritual meaning in that as bread nourishes us physically, the body of Christ sustains our spiritual life as we constantly feed upon Him.
It also fulfills the promise in Mt 18:20 where, "For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them." The Lord Jesus is truly in our midst spiritually because we are spiritually partaking His body and His blood. Only when we understand Communion in this way does it bring to us a sense of unity, worship and adoration. So, as we all come to the Communion now, let us examine ourselves that we do not partake it unworthily and be guilty of profaning the body and blood of Christ. Examine ourselves to see if there is any unconfessed sin so that we can speedily put these things right with the Lord. Communion has to do with deep things of the spiritual life, so let us quiet ourselves before the Lord and examine ourselves and ask the Lord to forgive us.
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Communion Series:
- Worship
- A Sharing in the Body of Christ
- God's Expression of Love to Us
- Pressing toward the Mark of the High Calling
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