Brittney Strawn :
I think it’s important to distinguish between the biblical teaching of the real presence and the later Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation. Many Protestants, affirm the real presence of Christ in the Lord’s Supper, but understand that presence in different ways. Scripture tells us, “This is my body… This is my blood,” but it never explains how Christ is present. The Catholic Church later defined transubstantiation, teaching that the bread and wine’s substance changes into Christ’s literal flesh and blood while the appearances remain the same. That definition was developed centuries later and is not directly taught in the Bible.
The claim that the real presence was never debated until Berengar oversimplifies history. Early Christians spoke in ways that affirm Christ’s presence, but they didn’t always mean it in the sense of transubstantiation. Augustine, often described the elements as signs pointing to spiritual realities while still affirming their sacredness. The early church allowed room for mystery without committing to the later philosophical explanation that Rome adopted.
Above all, we have to keep the gospel at the center. The Supper is meant to nourish believers and proclaim Christ’s death until He returns, but it does not replace faith in Christ as the means of salvation. Paul makes it clear that salvation is “by grace… through faith” (Ephesians 2:8–9), not through the act of physically partaking in the elements. The Lord’s Table is a precious gift to the church, but the saving power is in Christ Himself, not in the ritual apart from Him.
So the real question becomes: Is Christ’s presence physically there in an invisible way, or is He present spiritually by the Holy Spirit in the bread and wine? My concern with the physical view is that it has led some to literally worship the bread and wine, believing it is Jesus in a physical sense. That creates another problem, if the bread and wine are truly His flesh and blood, then why would Jesus command His disciples at Passover to do something forbidden under Jewish law?drinking blood. Would Jesus have instructed them to break God’s law?
2025-08-12 02:32:50