The Lord's Supper In The Reformation Era

Martin Luther insisted that Christ's body and blood are really present in the Eucharist. On the other hand, the Swiss and South German Reformers, who initiated what became the Reformed tradition, believed Christ was present only symbolically in the minds and hearts of those participating in the Eucharist. Between these two positions, John Calvin later insisted on a real but wholly spiritual presence of Christ. All Protestant Reformers accented the role of preaching and insisted that lay people receive both bread and wine.

The medieval combination of eucharistic piety and abuse set the stage for the radical reevaluation for the Eucharist by those in the sixteenth century who sought a reformation of the church. The Reformers' concern with the centrality of the Word of God and their insistence on justification through faith alone and the priesthood of all the baptized put the Eucharist at the center of Reformation debate. In "?An Open Letter to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation?" (1520), Martin Luther (1483–1546) argued that "?the status of a priest among Christians is merely that of an office-holder.?" This redefinition of priesthood undercut the current theology of the sacraments, particularly the sacrifice of the Mass, and laid the foundations for the eucharistic theology and practice of all the Reformation churches. In The Babylonian Captivity of the Church (1520), Luther continued his attack on current eucharistic piety and practice by criticizing transubstantiation and the denial of the cup to the laity. The presence of Christ in the Eucharist, according to Luther, was like the presence of fire in a heated bar of iron, in which "?every part is both iron and fire?"; in the same way, Christ's body and blood are wholly present in the eucharistic bread and wine. With regard to Communion, Luther argued that since Christ gave both bread and cup to his original disciples at the Last Supper, his present-day disciples deserve nothing less. Luther's Formula Missae (1523) and Deutsche Messe (1525–1526), although both quite conservative rites, shaped the Eucharist according to his Reformation principles. But others of the period desired a more thoroughgoing reformation of the church, and thus of the Lord's Supper. Swiss Reformers Ulrich Zwingli (1484–1531), Martin Bucer (1491–1551), and John Oecolampadius (1482–1531) found that Luther's retention of the carnal presence of Christ in the elements of bread and wine left too much opportunity for theological and practical abuse and moved in the direction of a more symbolic and memorialistic view of the Eucharist. At the Marburg Colloquy (1529), Luther, arguing the conservative side, and the more radical Swiss Reformers were unable to come to agree on the matter of eucharistic presence, marking the fracture of the Reformation into distinct theological camps. John Calvin (1509–1564), the Reformer of the church at Geneva, attempted to moderate the Swiss and Lutheran views of the eucharistic presence, arguing that Christ is truly, albeit spiritually, received by those who faithfully partake of the bread and wine. The various Reformers could agree, however, on a number of practical matters regarding the Lord's Supper, and especially on the necessity making the cup and bread available to the laity, the reading and preaching of Scripture at each celebration of the Lord's Supper, and the commitment that no Eucharist be held without communicants present. Reformation eucharistic rites simplified greatly their medieval predecessors. Increased participation of the laity was facilitated by a vernacular liturgy and the addition of responses. Although the intention was to return to the practices of the primitive church, certain elements of pre-Reformation piety remained, such as the heavily penitential emphasis. The Reformers had hoped that a weekly service of the Lord's Supper might be instituted. But since most people were used to receiving Communion infrequently (once a year was common), the celebration of the Eucharist quarterly was all that generally could be achieved.