A Mystery Experienced

Many doctrines were hotly debated during the Reformation, but arguably the most debated one, not just against Rome but amongst the Reformers themselves, was regarding Christ’s presence in the Eucharist.

On the one end of the spectrum, Roman Catholics and Lutherans both hold doctrines that try to explain how Christ can be physically present either in or around the bread and wine. For them, for Him to be present means that He must in some way be bodily located in the sacrament. On the other end, others hold to a memorialist position, which believes this sacrament is purely symbolic, with Christ not present in the bread and wine but in His people gathered. 

In accordance with the Westminster Confession of Faith, our position is that when we partake of this bread and wine by faith, we really do receive Christ’s body and blood — not in a physical sense, for He remains in body at the right hand of our Father in heaven — but spiritually. Unlike the other positions that try to devise a way for Christ to be physically and locally present in or around these elements, Calvin and many of the Reformed taught that we are lifted up to Christ in heaven by the Spirit, to commune with Him, and to receive all of His spiritual benefits by faith. Therefore, when you eat this bread and drink this wine, you really and truly are partaking of Christ Himself.

You could nearly accuse the Reformed of being the true "mystics" at this Table. For Calvin wrote that this doctrine could not be fully explained, but instead had to be experienced. As he wrote in his Institutes, “It is a mystery of Christ's secret union with the devout which is by nature incomprehensible. If anybody should ask me how this communion takes place, I am not ashamed to confess that that is a secret too lofty for either my mind to comprehend or my words to declare. And to speak more plainly, I rather experience than understand it" (IV, 17, 32).

So come, and welcome, to Jesus Christ.