Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Evangelical
Politics and Religion
Christ’s Presence

Christ’s Presence

Last updated on: April 14, 2022 at 6:00 am by Gene Veith

0 Comments

Christ’s Presence 2022-04-11T05:32:33-04:00 Gene Veith

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Today is Maundy Thursday, when Jesus instituted the sacrament of Holy Communion. Tragically, that has become a contentious issue. Many Christians cannot get their heads around the possibility that Christ is actually present in His Supper.

And yet, Christians acknowledge Christ’s presence, which is a common theme in the New Testament, in other contexts.

Jesus promises His presence with Christians when they worship. “For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them” (Matthew 18:20). I have never heard anyone argue that Jesus is just speaking symbolically. Surely, when Christians gather together, He is actually present.

Evangelicals often speak of Christ’s indwelling presence in the hearts of believers. And they are right to do so, since this is a clear statement of Scripture. “Because I live, you also will live,” says Jesus, referring to His resurrection in a great text for Easter. “In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you” (John 14:19-20). You are in me. And I am in you. Isn’t this speaking of a real phenomenon and not just a figure of speech?

To be sure, Christ’s indwelling is a mystery, as St. Paul says: “To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27).

Then there is the Great Commission, with its climactic promise: “Behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). This is just prior to Christ’s Ascension, but I’ve never heard what is commonly said by opponents of Christ’s presence in the Sacrament that after Jesus ascended to His Father, He is in Heaven and no longer on earth, applied to this text. Surely, Christ’s being with us “always, to the end of the age” is a real presence. As St. Paul says of His ascension, because He is at the Father’s “right hand in the heavenly places,” He “fills all in all” (Ephesians 1:20-23).

One of the classic attributes of God is His omnipresence. He can be everywhere without crowding out the presence of His creation. Both the Reformed and the Catholic positions on the Sacrament agree that the bread and wine and the body and blood of Christ must be one or the other, not both. But Lutherans teach that there is a communication of attributes between God the Father and God the Son, as well as God the Holy Spirit. But this too is a Biblical teaching, as St. Paul explicitly states in reference to the indwelling of Christ. Strictly speaking, it is the Holy Spirit who dwells within believers (John 14:17; Romans 8:9; 1 Corinthians 3:16; 2 Timothy 1:14). But because the Holy Spirit dwells within us, the Son dwells within us, as St. Paul says, showing the inter-relationship of the entire Trinity:

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. (Ephesians 3:17)

So if Christ is present in the Sacrament in the same way that He is present everywhere, wouldn’t that mean that He is just as present in any meal or in any object, so that the Lord’s Supper is not that big a deal after all? No! In the Sacrament, Christ’s body–not His spirit–and His blood are objectively present in a saving way, for the forgiveness of our sins. This happens by virtue of God’s Word, which, along with the elements, constitutes the Sacrament.

As Luther says in the Catechism, “Certainly not just eating and drinking do these things, but the words written here: ‘Given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.’ These words, along with the bodily eating and drinking, are the main thing in the Sacrament.”

(See the Formula of Concord, VII, the epitome and the solid declaration.)

At any rate, Christians need to recover the presence of Christ, in all these senses, in order to counter the prevailing assumption about God that He is distant and far away, looking down on us from a great height. This is the legacy of Deism and it is rampant among both those who say they believe in God and those who do not. Rather, God–indeed, the incarnate second person of the Trinity, is close to us. “‘In him we live and move and have our being’” (Acts 17:28). “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (Romans 10:8). To be sure, we were far removed from God, but not anymore: “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ” (Ephesians 2:13).

Photo by John Snyder, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

communication of attributes

Holy Communion

Lutheran sacramental theology

Maundy Thursday

omnipresence

Real Presence

Previous Post

April 13, 2022

The Real Reason Why the Church Is Falling

Next Post

April 15, 2022 What Happened at the Cross

Recent Comments

0 | Leave a Comment

"Turns out, she wasn’t the right tool for the job."

1another

Luther on Tools

"You may have just given me my next sermon opening line."

1another

Luther on Tools

"So Katie Zacharia lasted only a demiScaramucci as press secretary......"

reg

Luther on Tools

"Apropos to the post on Gen Z a couple days ago: "If you want the ..."

Steve Bauer

Luther on Tools

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category America Apologetics Art baseball Bible Blog Christ Church crime Culture Economics Education Ethics Family Food Football Government History Holidays Holy Week Humor International Islam Language Law Life Issues Literature Media Medicine Movies Music Nature News Personal Philosophy Politics psychology Reformation Religions Sacraments Science sex Social Science Sports technology television terrorism Theology Uncategorized Vocation war

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What does "Absalom" mean in Hebrew?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Mighty Warrior Father of Peace God is My Strength Son of Righteousness

Books by This Author Books by Gene Veith

See All Titles »