Expert: Brent Wilson - 8/26/2006

Question
How can Protestant churches say they believe the Bible literally most of the time (Jesus walking on water, multiplication of loaves, healing people) and then when Jesus says in no uncertain terms "This is my body" it isn't considered literal any more?  The Catholics say it is His Body and they have been saying that
exact same thing for 2,000 years.

Answer
Dear Randell,

Thanks for the difficult question.  This question has truly divided the  Protestant and Catholic church over many century’s.  

The real question is - what is Christ’s involvement when the sacraments are given in church.  If Christ is present in the fellowship of believers at the communion service, what is the nature of His presence?

There are several views on this subject.

The Roman Catholic Church teaches that the literal body and blood of Christ are present in the bread and the wine.  At consecration, the elements literally become the body and blood of Christ.

This interpretation. called “transubstantiation”.

The Protestant church has rejected this position on several grounds:

(1) Christ was present when He said that the elements were His body and  blood, clearly, He was using figurative language.

(2) The use of “is’ in ‘this is My body’’ (1 Cor. 11:23-26) is figurative meaning ‘this represents my body.”

(3) Jesus Himself said that to eat of His body and drink of His blood was to come to Him and believe John 6-35; vs. 53-55).

(4) This idea of literally eating human flesh and drinking human blood would be abhorrent to the Jewish mind. Surely, the Jews in Jesus’ day would have reacted strongly against such a thought. Drinking of blood was strictly forbidden (Gen. 9:4; Lev. 3:17; Acts 15:29).

(5) The Passover itself, the feast from which the elements were taken, was a symbolic feast of the deliverance of Israel from Egyptian bondage (Exod. 17). Thus, the symbolism of the elements In the communion service would be in keeping with the symbolism used in the Passover feast.


Another view of the presence of Christ is called – consubstantiation.

According to this view, the position of the Lutheran church, the communicant partakes of the true body and blood of Christ in, with, and under He the bread and the wine.  The elements themselves remain unchanged, but the mere partaking of them after the prayer of consecration communicates Christ to the participant along with the elements. It is considered a literal partaking of Christ.  This view, however has the same problems associated with it as does transubstantiation.

Jesus laid down the true principle – “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that have spoken to you are spirit and are life” John 6:67).

Others have held that the communion service is nothing more than a memorial commemorating Christ’s death.

The most important point to make is though Christ is present spiritually, the actual eating and drinking of the elements signifies the participants FAITH in Him and His REDEMPTIVE work of Salvation.  (1 Cor. 11:27-34)

I hope this helps to understand the view of the sacraments.

Brent