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{{Short description|Sacrament that spiritually nourishes Christians}}
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[[File:Avontmael des Heeren cropped.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|This image from the frontispiece of a book on the subject depicts a [[Dutch Reformed]] service of the [[Eucharist|Lord's Supper]].{{sfn|Mentzer|2013|p=246}}]]
In [[Reformed theology]], the [[Eucharist|Lord's Supper or Eucharist]] is a [[sacrament]] that spiritually nourishes [[Christians]] and strengthens their [[union with Christ]]. The outward or physical action of the sacrament is eating bread and drinking wine. [[Reformed confessions]], which are official statements of the beliefs of Reformed churches, teach that Christ's body and blood are [[
Early Reformed theologians such as [[John Calvin]] and [[Huldrych Zwingli]] rejected the Roman Catholic belief in [[transubstantiation]], that the substances of bread and wine of the Eucharist change into Christ's body and blood
==History==
{{Calvinism}}
===Background===
From the beginning of Christianity through the
Reformed theologian John Riggs has argued that the [[School of Antioch]] in the [[Eastern Roman Empire]], along with [[Hilary of Poitiers]] and [[Ambrose]] in the [[Western Roman Empire]], taught a realist, metabolic, or somatic view, where the elements of the Eucharist were believed to be changed into [[Christ's body and blood]].{{sfn|Riggs|2015|pp=12–13}} Riggs maintains that the influential fourth-century Western theologian [[Augustine of Hippo]], on the other hand, held that Christ is really present in the elements of the Eucharist, but not in a bodily manner, because his body remains in [[Heaven in Christianity|heaven]].{{sfn|Riggs|2015|p=15}} [[Thomas Cranmer]] argued similarly that Augustine held to spiritual presence of the Eucharist.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Allen |first=Amanda Wrenn |url=https://books.google.fi/books?id=S_NiDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA144&dq=Augustine+spiritual+real+presence&hl=fi&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjXrs_Znq_5AhWPvYsKHQVIBy4Q6AF6BAgHEAI#v=onepage&q=Augustine%20spiritual%20real%20presence&f=false |title=The Eucharistic Debate in Tudor England: Thomas Cranmer, Stephen Gardiner, and the English Reformation |date=2018-08-15 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-1-4985-5976-8 |language=en}}</ref>▼
▲Reformed theologian John Riggs has argued that the [[Catechetical School of Antioch|School of Antioch]] in the [[Eastern Roman Empire]], along with [[Hilary of Poitiers]] and [[Ambrose]] in the [[Western Roman Empire]], taught a realist, metabolic, or somatic view, where the elements of the Eucharist were believed to be changed into
Anglican theologian Brian Douglas maintains that "Augustine is clear, nonetheless, in his use of realism and argues that the presence of Christ in the Eucharist is real such that the bread and wine and their offering participate in a real way in the eternal and heavenly Forms of Christ's body and blood."{{sfn|Douglas|2011|p=23}}▼
According to Riggs, in the ninth century, [[Rabanus Maurus|Hrabanus Maurus]] and [[Ratramnus]] also defended Augustine's view of nonmetabolic real presence.{{sfn|Riggs|2015|p=18}} During the high and late [[Middle Ages]], the metabolic view became increasingly dominant to the exclusion of the nonmetabolic view, to the point that it was considered the only orthodox option.{{sfn|Levy|2015|p=236}} The doctrine of [[transubstantiation]] was developed in the high Middle Ages to explain the change of the elements into Christ's body and blood. Transubstantiation is the belief that the Eucharistic elements are transformed into Christ's body and blood in a way only perceivable by the intellect, not by the senses.{{sfn|Riggs|2015|p=24}}
▲[[Anglicanism|Anglican]] theologian Brian Douglas maintains that "Augustine is clear, nonetheless, in his use of realism and argues that the presence of Christ in the Eucharist is real such that the bread and wine and their offering participate in a real way in the eternal and heavenly Forms of Christ's body and blood."{{sfn|Douglas|2011|p=23}}
▲From the beginning of Christianity through the tenth century, Christian theologians saw the [[Eucharist]] as the church's participation in [[Christ's sacrifice]]. Christ was believed to be present in the Eucharist, but there were differences over the way in which this occurred.{{sfn|Riggs|2015|pp=11–12}}
[[Berengar of Tours]] had
===Reformation===
[[File:Calvin heart coin.png|thumb|This seventeenth-century medal commemorating [[John Calvin]] depicts a hand holding a heart to heaven. Calvin believed Christians were lifted up to heaven by the Holy Spirit in the Lord's Supper.]]
[[Martin Luther]], leading figure of the [[
[[Huldrych Zwingli]], the first theologian in the Reformed tradition, also rejected the view of transubstantiation,{{sfn|Riggs|2015|p=55}} but he disagreed with Luther by holding that Christ
[[John Calvin]], a very influential early Reformed theologian, believed the Lord's Supper fed Christians with the spiritual food of [[union with Christ]]. He believed that in the Supper Christians feed on Christ's flesh, which he saw as an inexplicable miracle.{{sfn|Letham|2001|p=32}} Calvin taught that the Supper confirms the promises communicated to Christians in the preaching of the [[Gospel]]. He also saw its purpose as provoking praise for God and love for other people. He believed it necessary for Christians to partake of Christ's humanity in the Supper as well as his Spirit, and that the bread and wine really present, rather than simply symbolize or represent, Christ's body and blood.{{sfn|Letham|2001|p=33}} Calvin spoke of the communication involved in the Lord's Supper as spiritual, meaning that it originates in the [[Holy Spirit]]. Calvin's teaching on the Lord's Supper was
[[Heinrich Bullinger]], Zwingli's successor, went beyond Zwingli by teaching that there is a union between the sacrament of the Supper and the grace symbolized in them.{{sfn|Gerrish|1966|p=233}} Bullinger's view was not identical to Calvin's
The [[Reformed confessions of faith]], official statements of the beliefs of Reformed churches, followed the view that Christ is really present in the Supper. They either took Calvin's view that the signs of bread and wine are instrumental in communicating grace, or Bullinger's symbolic parallelism.{{sfn|Riggs|2015|p=142}} Some of the German-language Reformed confessions seem hesitant to make the sacrament a means of grace, but they all maintain that there is a union between the outward signs of the sacrament and the inward grace signified.{{sfn|Gerrish|1966|pp=239–240}} [[Reformed orthodox]] theologians also continued to insist on Christ's real presence in the Supper, while denying against Lutherans that his body is
===Modern===
The influential
In the
Twentieth-century Reformed theologian [[Karl Barth]] did not follow the Reformed belief that sacraments are used by God as means of grace. Instead, he saw the Lord's Supper as purely symbolic and functioning to proclaim God's promises. His position has been called symbolic
==Meaning==
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In the Reformed confessions, the Lord's Supper is a meal that provides spiritual nourishment. Eating the body and drinking the blood of Christ in the sacrament is believed to spiritually strengthen Christians.{{sfn|Venema|2001|pp=137–8}} Believers are already believed to be united with Christ, but the Supper serves to deepen and strengthen this union.{{sfn|Riggs|2015|p=142}} The Supper is also a way to commemorate and proclaim the [[Crucifixion of Jesus|death]] and [[Resurrection of Jesus|resurrection of Christ]]. Partakers are to express gratitude and praise to God in thanks for his death and the benefits it provides. The Supper is believed to assure Christians of their salvation and union with Christ, which has been communicated to them in the preaching of [[the gospel]]. The Supper is also believed to enhance Christians' union with one another.{{sfn|Venema|2001|p=134}} It calls Christians to love and obey Christ
Reformed confessions reject the Catholic doctrine that the Eucharist is a sacrifice of [[propitiation]], or sacrifice to satisfy God's wrath and attain forgiveness of sins.{{sfn|Rohls|1998|p=220}} Instead, they teach that Christ's body is only to be received, not re-presented to God as a sacrifice.{{sfn|Rohls|1998|p=222}} The confessions do sometimes speak of the Supper as a sacrifice of thanksgiving for the gift of propitiation which has been received.{{sfn|Rohls|1998|p=223}} In the
In Reformed churches, only believing Christians are expected to partake of the Lord's Supper. Further, partakers are expected to examine and prepare themselves for the sacrament. This involves determining whether one acknowledges their sinfulness and has [[faith in Christ]] to forgive them. Christians may have some degree of doubt regarding their salvation, but they are at least to be aware of their sin and have a desire to have faith.{{sfn|Venema|2001|pp=182–183}}
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==Christ's presence==
[[File:A Scottish Sacrament.jpg|thumb|''A Scottish Sacrament'', by Henry John Dobson]]
The Reformed confessions teach that Christ's true body and blood are
Reformed confessions teach that the bread and wine of the Supper do not become the blood and body of Christ, as in the Catholic view of transubstantiation. Against Lutherans, Reformed confessions do not teach that partakers of the Supper eat Christ's body and drink his blood with their mouths ({{lang-la|manducatio oralis}}). While Reformed confessions teach that in the Supper Christ is received in both his [[hypostatic union|divine and human natures]],{{sfn|Rohls|1998|p=230}} the manner of eating is believed to be spiritual (''{{lang|la|manducatio spiritualis}}''). The body and blood of Christ remain fleshly substance, but they are communicated to the partaker in a spiritual manner.{{sfn|Rohls|1998|p=234}} ==See also==
{{Portal|
*[[Anglican eucharistic theology]]
*[[Receptionism]]
*[[Reformed baptismal theology]]
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==References==
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==Bibliography==
*{{cite book |last1=Ayres |first1=Lewis |author1-link=Lewis Ayres |last2=Humphries |first2=Thomas |year=2015 |chapter=Augustine and the West to ad 650 |chapter-url=http://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199659067.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780199659067-e-6 |editor1-last=Boersma |editor1-first=Hans |editor1-link=Hans Boersma |editor2-last=Levering |editor2-first=Matthew |title=Oxford Handbook of Sacramental Theology |doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199659067.013.6 |isbn=978-0-19-965906-7 |pages=156–169 |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press }}
*{{cite book |last1=Douglas |first1=Brian |year=2011 |title=A Companion to Anglican Eucharistic Theology: Volume 1: The Reformation to the 19th Century |isbn=978-90-04-22132-1 |url=https://
*{{cite journal |last=Gerrish |first=B. A. |date=July 1966 |title=The Lord's Supper in the Reformed Confessions |journal=Theology Today |volume=23 |issue=2 |pages=224–243 |doi=10.1177/004057366602300208 }}
*{{cite book |last=Holifield |first=E. Brooks |year=2015 |chapter=Sacramental Theology in America: Seventeenth–Nineteenth Centuries |chapter-url=http://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199659067.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780199659067-e-24 |editor1-last=Boersma |editor1-first=Hans |editor1-link=Hans Boersma |editor2-last=Levering |editor2-first=Matthew |title=Oxford Handbook of Sacramental Theology |doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199659067.013.24 |isbn=978-0-19-965906-7 |pages=380–395 |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press }}
*{{cite book |last=Horton |first=Michael S. |author-link=Michael Horton (theologian) |title=People and Place: A Covenant Ecclesiology |year=2008 |location=Louisville, KY |publisher=Westminster John Knox |isbn=978-0-664-23071-5 }}
*{{cite book |last=Hunsinger |first=George |author-link=George Hunsinger |year=2015 |chapter=The Lord's Supper in Twentieth-Century and Contemporary Protestant Theology |editor1-last=Boersma |editor1-first=Hans |editor1-link=Hans Boersma |editor2-last=Levering |editor2-first=Matthew |title=Oxford Handbook of Sacramental Theology |doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199659067.013.4 |isbn=978-0-19-965906-7 |pages=410–416 |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press }}
*{{cite book |last1=Kilmartin |first1=Edward J. |title=The Eucharist in the West: History and Theology |date=22 September 2015 |isbn=978-0-8146-6340-0 |url=https://
*{{cite book |last=Letham |first=Robert |year=2001 |title=The Lord's Supper: Eternal Word in Broken Bread |location=Phillipsburg, New Jersey |publisher=P&R |isbn=978-0-87552-202-9 }}
*{{cite book |last=Levy |first=Ian Christopher |year=2015 |chapter=The Eucharist in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries |chapter-url=http://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199659067.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780199659067-e-1 |editor1-last=Boursma |editor1-first=Hans |editor2-last=Levering |editor2-first=Matthew |title=The Oxford Handbook of Sacramental Theology |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |url=http://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199659067.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780199659067 |doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199659067.013.1 |isbn=978-0-19-965906-7 }}
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