Is the Lutheran View of Holy Communion the Same as the Roman Catholic One?

Last updated on: May 30, 2014 at 9:30 pm by Guest Contributor

Is the Lutheran View of Holy Communion the Same as the Roman Catholic One? 2014-05-30T21:30:32-06:00 Guest Contributor

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.

The Roman Catholic view and Lutheran view are similar in some ways, and not in others. The Roman Catholics believe in transubstantiation, which is the teaching that the bread and wine are transformed into Christ’s body and blood. Though the appearance and taste of bread and wine are there, they are no longer present. This is done using the philosophy of Aristotle. Aristotle made a distinction between substance and accidents. A “substance” is what a thing is. The “accidents” are the outward qualities of that thing. So for instance, if I had a pet dog, his substance would be that of a dog, it defines what it is. It’s accidents would be the fact that it has four legs, a tail, fur, it barks, etc. The accidents could change while still retaining the substance. For example, if I shaved off all of the dogs hair, it would still be a dog. So in normal reality, the accidents of something can change, while the substance cannot. However, in the Eucharist, the opposite occurs. The substance of the bread and wine become Christ’s body and blood, but the accidents remain the same. Even though it still has the look, taste, smell, and feel of bread and wine, it has actually changed into Christ’s body and blood.

The problem with all this, in the Lutheran view, is that it makes things much too complicated, and attempts to use human philosophy to explain divine truth. God does not give us any explanation in his Word of how exactly we recieve Christ’s body and blood through bread and wine, but simply that it happens. We need to accept this mysterious reality without trying to speculate about the mechanics of it all. The Roman view here is also problematic because Paul speaks about eating bread when talking to the Corinthians which demonstrates that he believed bread to remain present when taking communion:

“he cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?” ( 1 Cor. 10:16)

The Roman Catholics also refer to communion as an “unbloody sacrifice” where Christ is offered from the priest to God as a sacrifice for sins. Though Roman Catholics are careful to say that this Eucharistic sacrifice is not a separate sacrifice from the one on Calvary, the view of communion as a sacrifice of Christ (re-presentation of Christ’s sacrifice is a common way of phrasing it), displaces the uniqueness and efficacy of the cross. Through communion, the benefits that Christ won on the cross are certainly given to us, such as spiritual life and the forgiveness of sins; however, to speak of Holy Communion as a sacrifice in this sense goes beyond the testimony of Scripture, and thus we reject it.

FAQs

Previous Post

May 28, 2014

Limited Atonement in the History of the Church

Next Post

May 30, 2014 Where is the Lutheran View of Communion Taught in Scripture?

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category American Lutheran Classics Blog Posts Book Review Christian Dogmatics Course Church Resources Curtis Leins Dogmatic Theology Ethics FAQs Historical Theology Just & Sinner Publications Luther Quotations Podcast Sermons The American Lutheran Theological Journal The complete works of Revere Franklin Weidner Theology Proper Uncategorized Videos

Select a Month October 2019 September 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 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

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What structure did people build to try to reach heaven?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Tower of Babel Altar of Baal Ark Temple of Solomon