Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper with the words, “This is my body.” There are four views concerning the presence of Christ at the Table. The Roman Catholic view (referred to as “transubstantiation”) is that upon consecration, the bread and wine change completely into the body and blood of Christ. Lutherans believe in the sacramental union of the body and blood of Christ with or under the substance of the bread and wine, while rejecting that it is a sacrifice. The “real presence” of Christ is seen as possible in the same way that Christ could, in His glorified body, pass through matter and disappear and appear suddenly. Those who would argue against the doctrine of “real presence” would point to the text in 1 Corinthians 11 as a call merely to remember Christ, specifically in the time between the cross and His second coming; so the meal acknowledges the absence of the physical Christ, not His presence. Many evangelicals today follow after the teachings of Zwingli, that the Lord’s Supper is a remembrance of Christ’s suffering and a reminder of his power to overcome sin and death. The Reformed view, derived from the teaching of John Calvin, is that Christ is not literally present in the elements, but spiritually present. This is how we understand the Lord’s Supper. That it is a means of grace, whereby Christ is present in a special way with His church, as we gather to remember His death and look forward to His return.
