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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 [[real presence|really present]] in the sacrament, and that believers receive, in the words of the [[Belgic Confession]], "the proper and natural body and the proper blood of Christ." The primary difference between the Reformed doctrine and that of Catholic and Lutheran Christians is that for the Reformed, this presence is believed to be communicated in a spiritual manner rather than by his body being physically eaten. The Reformed doctrine of real presence is called "Sacramental Union<ref>{{Cite web |last=TheWestminsterStandard |title=The Westminster Confession – The Westminster Standard |url=https://thewestminsterstandard.org/the-westminster-confession/ |access-date=2023-08-01 |language=en-US}}</ref> or "'''pneumatic presence'''" (from {{lang|grc|pneuma}}, a Greek word for spirit; alternatively called "spiritual real presence" or "mystical real presence").
Early Reformed theologians such as [[John Calvin]] and [[Huldrych Zwingli]] rejected the Roman Catholic belief in [[transubstantiation]], that the bread and wine of the Eucharist change into Christ's body and blood, but taught that Christ's person, including his body and blood, are presented to Christians who partake of it in faith. They also disagree with [[Martin Luther]] and the [[Lutheran]] tradition which taught that Christ's body is physically eaten with the mouth in the sacrament. Later [[Reformed orthodox]] theologians continued to teach views similar to that of Calvin and Zwingli. In the modern period, [[Karl Barth]] espoused a symbolic view that the sacrament only communicates God's promises rather than functioning to actually confer these promises. Other Reformed theologians continued to teach the traditional view.
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