The Eucharist and Communion: Three Views

The Eucharist or Lord's Supper (love feast) is perhaps one of the most sacred and ceremonial acts in the Church. Jesus Christ instituted it when He took the bread and wine of Passover, and revealed to His disciples what they mean, "this is my body broken for you, eat in rememberance of me, and this is my blood of the new covenant for remission of sins." (Corinthians and John). The Eucharist or Communion is an act that is meant to bring a believer into contact with ceremony Christ did which contains symbolism of the Gospel, His Crucifixion, and Resurrection. However, despite this sacred practice, not all churches agree on to what extent is the Eucharist symbolic and supernatural? Essentially there are three views which I shall term: Transubstantiation (Roman Catholic and Martin Luther), Zwingli (Symbolic), and Bullinger (Spiritual and Symbolism).

In Roman Catholicism, the Eucharist is the most sacred and important part of the Mass. It is a sacrament that imparts grace to faithful who partake of it, and depending on the Church, the priest alone partakes of the Bread (unleavened), and the wine or the whole congregation partakes after confession of sins prior to partaking. In Eastern Orthodoxy, adherents must undergo a purification process, a nightly vigil on Friday or Saturday where they prepare themselves through a service, confession, and ritual purification for the Eucharist on Sunday. Both Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, and Lutherans believe in Transubstantiation, a big word for "The bread literally becomes Christ's flesh and body, and the wine literally transforms into His grace filled blood." Roman Catholics get this concept from an interpretation of verses in John's Gospel, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.”Jesus said these things in the synagogue, as he taught at Capernaum." (John 6:52-59). It would certainly seem Catholics and Martin Luther had a case to make for Transubstantion, except that Jesus does not ceremony to turn bread into his body or wine into His blood, but rather proclaims that the Bread from Heaven is His body and the wine is His blood, which he reveals later in Passover Ceremony aforementioned.

The Zwinglian view of the Eucharist is pure symbolism. There is no supernatural occurance upon taking the Bread and Wine for Communion, but rather it is effigy and memorial piece that tells the truths of Christ's Salvation for man, His Death and Resurrection, His promise of a New Covenant. For adherents of this Eucharist, the verses, "For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes." (1 Corinthians 11:26). This is exactly what Huydrich Zwingli had in mind, the entire ceremony is symbolism, not some mystical cannabilsm like the Catholics proclaimed. However, Zwingli's pure symbolist view of the Eucharist comes under scrunity in Paul's further instructions, "So then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup. For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died." (1 Corinthians 11:27-30). If it is pure symbolism, then why are people getting sick and dying? Do this the third view of Eucharist places itself.

Bullinger's Eucharist is between Transubstantiation and Zwingli Symbolism. It recognizes that "Christ is comes near to those who partake of the Eucharist," (The Reformation: A History, Diamand McCulloch). However, it does not go as far Transubstantiion, nor does it see the entire event as merely symbolism, though it does incorporate the concept that the Eucharist is memorial of Christ's Death and the New Covenant, a way to remind people via ritual of the Gospel and Christ's Salvation for Man. This view bridges the mystical or supernatural with symbolism. Bullinger recognized a spiritual experience happens when partaking of Eucharist as the Apostle Paul in His letter to Corinthians attests, but refuses to take Lutheran and Roman view of Transsubstantion, and holds on the Symbolism Zwingli emphasized.

People have very strong views about the Eucharist, and how it should be interpreted. In the Mass, the priest does transubstantiate the bread and wine, which for most Protestants is grounds for leaving the sanctuary as Queen Elizabeth I did on her coronation. However, the words of Jesus Christ in the Gospel of John, Chapter Six do make the Roman Catholic seem right at first glance. The problem with Transubstantiation is that it has similarities to blood cultism, and the Same God who in Old Testament said, "But be sure you do not eat the blood, because the blood is the life, and you must not eat the life with the meat," (Deuteronomy 12:23), and, "You must abstain from eating food offered to idols, from consuming blood or the meat of strangled animals, and from sexual immorality. If you do this, you will do well. Farewell." (Acts 15:29). If the consensus of Apostles Peter, James, and Paul was do not consume blood, why would Eucharist contain a blood drinking? Now surely, Bullinger's spiritual view works, if we say the bread is Christ's body broken for us and the wine his blood, we then can say spiritually this happens when we partake, but it doesn't become real human flesh or blood, but rather is symbolic but spiritually we feel Christ abiding in us (John 15:4, 1 John 3:24, John 17:20-26) as we remember His death and Covenant (Matthew 26:28). Zwingli's pure symbolist view doesn't work because the Apostle Paul as aforementioned makes the case that people are getting sick and dying from partaking of Eucharist (1 Corinthians 11:30). But Christ does not need His blood to literally fill our cups to dispense grace, "so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him," (Hebrews 9:28), "For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit," (1 Peter 3:18), "And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God," (1 Peter 3:18), "Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault," (Colossians 1:22), and "But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin." (1 John 1:7). Why would Jesus need His physical blood and cells to fill us at Communion, if we promised, "And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit," (Ephesians 1:13), "Now it is God who establishes both us and you in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come," (1 Corinthians 1:21-22), and "For God wanted them to know that the riches and glory of Christ are for you Gentiles, too. And this is the secret: Christ lives in you. This gives you assurance of sharing his glory." (Colossians 1:27).


Why would we need Christ's blood to drink, If Christ lives in us and we in Him? "And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus," (Ephesians 2:6), "Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?" (1 Corinthians 3:16), "Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son," (1 John 1:9), "Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him," (Colossians 2:6), "'Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me," (Revelation 3:20, Jesus Christ), "However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness," (Romans 8:9-10), "As for you, let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father," (1 John 2:24), "that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you," (John 14:17), "As for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him," (1 John 2:27), "Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus," (Romans 8:1), "By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit," (1 John 4:13), "I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing," (John 15:5, Jesus Christ), "Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own," (1 Corinthians 6:19), "What agreement can exist between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be My people," (2 Corinthians 6:16), "For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building," (1 Corinthians 3:9), "If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him; for God's temple is holy, and you are that temple," (1 Corinthians 3;17), "And in Him you too are being built together into a dwelling place for God in His Spirit," (Ephesians 2:22), "But Christ is faithful as the Son over God's house. And we are His house, if we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope of which we boast," (Hebrews 3:6), "And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus," (Ephesians 2:6), and "Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith." (Phillippians 3:8-9).

The Communion It is a spiritual mystery, that impacts our spiritual self, and that reminds us of the spiritual ruth of Christ's death, and covenant, but why would God who condemned cannibalism and drinking the blood of animals and then created a blood drinking ceremony? Logically, it makes no sense, and so then we must come to Bullinger halfway point, it is spiritual, we can feel Christ's presence when we partake of bread and wine, but its not real flesh and blood we are eating and drinking, but it was Christ's real flesh and blood that poured out for us on the cross for our eternal life, and it is symbolism to remind us of His death until He comes. (1 Corinthians 11:26). There is power in Blood of Jesus, do not mistaken me to be denying mystery of His Blood, but this blood is physical in 33 A.D. but spiritual forever, and I believe the Communion and Christ's words in John Chapter 6, was telling the people how they will be saved by His death, body being broken, and his blood poured out for sinners to cover their sins once and forever, just as lambs were sacrificed for sins of nation of Israel on Passover. We must remember John 6, which the Catholics defend Transubstantianion with was Jesus talking to people who didn't really want to believe, they just wanted more bread. Plus if we look closer at John 6, we discover the message more clearly, "Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day." (John 6:35-40). Here we see crux of Christ message to this people, and later He goes into details of eating his body and drinking His blood, which is to believe in Him and His sacrifice, and harkens to Paul's words, "I am crucified with Christ" (Galatians 2:20). Jesus is revealing a spiritual mystery to people who can't receive it, indeed he says of similar people, "this people's heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them." (Matthew 13:15).

The words Jesus said, "blood." Roman Catholics get this concept from an interpretation of verses in John's Gospel, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever." I believe Jesus is talking about How He is salvation, His blood cleanses us of sin, this is Gospel but Jesus is revealing it in typical Jewish concept of blood sacrifice, that a lamb must be slain, that it was blood covenant God made with Abraham and David. The blood Jesus is talking about her is what drops from Calvary in 33 A.D. and his body or bread is broken for us happened on flagellation and cross (Matthew 20:13). Jesus is revealing the mystery of His salvic mission, and He commerates it with the Passover Meal where they discuss the symbolism they'veb done for thousands of years is much deeper, in fact the third cup of the Passover is called "The Suffering or Cup of Suffering" which Jesus passed around and said "And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood," (Luke 22:20). At Last Supper there is a cup and again Jesus mentions a cup at Gethsemane, "Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done." (Luke 22:42). Jesus' actual blood does cover us (), but the point is that we don't need to drink it, we are already cleansed (1 John 1:7). The Eucharist or Communion is symbolism, remembrance, and a reminder (Luke 22:19, 1 Corinthians 11:24), but also it has spiritual impact on us, for as we remember and do this act, Christ's presence becomes manifest to us and so there is a spiritual element, just not cannibalism. Then there is point to be made that Jesus is calling Himself the bread and blood, well Scripture says, "But he answered, “It is written, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God." (Matthew 4:4), "But whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a fount of water springing up to eternal life," (John 4:14), "On the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood up and called out in a loud voice, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink," (John 7:37), and "Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty." (John 6:35) all of this corresponds with the more easily understood verses, "For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day," (John 6:40), "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that everyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life," (John 3:16), "Do not work for food that perishes, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For God the Father has placed His seal of approval on Him," (John 6:27), "If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved." (Romans 10:9-10). It becomes apparent then that Jesus is using symbolism, by saying eat my flesh and drink my blood, He is referring to that His literal body and blood will be sacrifice for sins of mankind, and to eat this (believe it) and confess it with a word (oral, like eating) when then participate in what He likely meant. Jesus spoke in parables and symbols, this is why He said to Samaritan woman he has the fountain of eternal life, He is speaking of Himself and His Sacrifice on Cross but in symbols.

In the end however, I believe that what people believe out of three views of Eucharist (Communion) is matter of personal conviction. While I have made my case for view I think is most supported by Scripture and Tradition, I must admit that I do not want anyone who really believes the Catholic view of Eucharist or the Zwinglian view to feel condemned. In end I think we should bottom out on the words of the Apostle Paul reading issues like the Eucharist, "But reject foolish and ignorant speculation, for you know that it breeds quarreling," (2 Timothy 2:23), "But avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, arguments, and quarrels about the Law, because these things are pointless and worthless," (Titus 3:9), and finally, "It’s true that some are preaching out of jealousy and rivalry. But others preach about Christ with pure motives. They preach because they love me, for they know I have been appointed to defend the Good News. Those others do not have pure motives as they preach about Christ. They preach with selfish ambition, not sincerely, intending to make my chains more painful to me. But that doesn’t matter. Whether their motives are false or genuine, the message about Christ is being preached either way, so I rejoice. And I will continue to rejoice." (Philippians 1:15-18). We do not need to squabble or quarrel. I do contend with any notion that partaking of Eucharist saves someone or can save souls in Purgatory like Catholics believe, for as aforementioned, salvation comes simply be confessing and believing (Romans 10:9-10) and by faith in Christ alone (Philippians 3:9). Amen.