Christ in the Lord's Supper

This is a continuation from the previous post on Celebrating the Lord's Supper.

In this post, I wanted to talk about the Spiritual Presence of Christ in the Lord's Supper.

First, in my attempt to explain the spiritual presence of Christ in the Lord's Supper, let me state what views along the spectrum Calvin did not support. Calvin did not support any idea of a local presence of Christ in the Supper. This idea of a local presence was representative in the doctrine of transubstantiation. Calvin also did not believe that the Supper was practiced in a merely memorial sense. In Calvin's attempt to explain the spiritual presence of Christ in the Lord's Supper, he didn't try to be over simplistic and reductionistic. Calvin did acknowledge, "at the heart of the sacrament there is a miracle and a profound mystery. He never sought to reduce the mystery to reason but rather preserved the mysterious element."

Calvin believed that the manner in which the Christian takes the body and blood of Christ is spiritual. There is a true presence of Christ through His Spirit that descends to us. Therefore affirming through the Sacrament the reality of the spiritual union that we have in Him. Therefore the receiving of the Lord's Supper doesn't simply satisfy the believer's intellect or affections, but rather it has a spiritual affect on the believer who receives it. "In participation in the Supper faith connects itself with something outside of itself and other than a mere idea, and, in so doing, effects in the spiritual realm a real communication between itself and the earthly reality such as that figured in the act of eating the bread."

The reality of this spiritual dynamic within the Lord's Supper comes as the believer receives the Sacrament by faith. This faith is the seamless continuation of first believing upon Christ. The believer continues to express his union by faith, and faith is expressed through the receiving of the Sacrament to which Christ himself instituted.

How we are to receive the Lord's Supper?

Calvin believed in the sanctity of the Lord's Supper and admonished the Church to observe the supper with reverence. For the Christian who is indifferent towards the Lord's Supper, he pollutes and corrupts it. God has ordained this Sacrament, to treat it irreverently is to blaspheme God and is an affront to His holiness. In 1 Corinthians 11:17-34, Paul says
that we are called to examine ourselves properly. What then is meant by this proper self-examination?

Calvin gives us some help. Our examination should reflect a heart of brokenness. We need to recognize that we are incapable in achieving our salvation and that we are in need of His grace day by day. "If we consider our life to be placed in Christ, we must acknowledge that we are dead in ourselves. If we seek our strength in him, we must understand that in ourselves we are weak. If we think that all our felicity is in his grace, we must understand how miserable we are without it. If we have our rest in him, we must feel within ourselves only disquietude and torment. Now such feelings cannot exist without producing, first, dissatisfaction with our whole life secondly, anxiety and fear; lastly, a desire and love of righteousness." We should recognize that we are big sinners in need of his grace and strength daily.

We must see and understand our need for God and his grace. We should hunger and thirst after righteousness. "Hence if we would worthily communicate in the Lord's Supper, we must with firm heart-felt reliance regard the Lord Jesus as our only righteousness, life, and salvation, receiving and accepting the promises which are given us by him as sure and certain, and renouncing all other confidence, so that distrusting ourselves and all creatures, we may rest fully in him, and be contented with his grace alone. Now as that cannot be until we know how necessary it is that he come to our aid, it is of importance to have a deep-seated conviction of our own misery, which will make us hunger and thirst after him. And, in fact, what mockery would it be to go in search of food when we have no appetite? Now to have a good appetite it is not enough that the stomach be empty, it must also be in good order and capable of receiving its food. Hence it follows that our souls must be pressed with famine and have a desire and ardent longing to be fed, in order to find their proper nourishment in the Lord's Supper."

Not only does Calvin demand that we stand broken before the Lord, but also we need to be broken with other men as well (Phil. 2:1-4; 1 John 3:11-24). Calvin asserts that we can't separate the two. "We must not, then, on any account, presume to approach if we bear hatred or rancor against any man living, and especially any Christian who is in the unity of the Church." We must be reconciled with our neighbors.

Calvin asserts though that in light of this necessary reflection, we don't become so distraught over of sin and imperfection that we are reluctant to approach the table. "Therefore, although we feel our faith to be imperfect, and our conscience not so pure that it does not accuse us of many vices, that ought not to hinder us from presenting ourselves at the Lord's holy table, provided that amid this infirmity we feel in our heart that without hypocrisy and dissimulation we hope for salvation in Christ, and desire to live according to the rule of the gospel."

The Lord doesn't want us to approach the table only if we have cleaned up our act. We couldn't and didn't approach the cross of Christ that way. He wants us to approach the Lord's Supper with the appropriate realization of our continued sinfulness and need of His grace. "When we feel within ourselves a strong dislike and hatred of all sin, proceeding from the fear of God, and a desire to live well in order to please our Lord, we are fit to partake of the Supper, notwithstanding of the remains of infirmity which we carry in our flesh. Nay, if we were not weak, subject to distrust and an imperfect life, the sacrament would be of no use to us, and it would have been superfluous to institute it." The Sacrament is not for perfect, self-righteous people, but rather for big sinners needing God's inexhaustible grace.

next post are some final thoughts...

Technorati Tags: Communion, Lord's_Supper, Calvin

If you enjoy Provocative Church, please use the SUBSCRIBE button to receive more provocative and thoughtful content in the future.