THE BIBLICAL MEANING OF THE LORD’S SUPPER.
Heidelberg Catechism L.D. 78, 79, 80
Sermon by:
Rev. H. Overduin
PUBLISHED BY THE
PUBLICATIONS COMMITTEE
OF THE
FREE REFORMED CHURCHES OF NORTH AMERICA.
(April 1990)
LITURGY:
Votum
Psalter 250:1, 2, 5
Law of God
Psalter 415: 5
(P.M. 415: 2)
Scripture Reading: 1 Corinthians 11: 23 – 34
Catechism Q. & A. 78, 79, 80
Congregational Prayer
Offerings
Psalter 215: 1, 2, 4, 6
Sermon
Psalter 27: 1, 3, 4
Thanksgiving Prayer
Psalter 52: 1, 3, 4
Doxology: Psalter 183: 4
Congregation,
Have you ever heard of Hesshus and Klebitz? Perhaps the young people remember their
names from Catechism class. These two men were protestant preachers in the city of Heidelberg
around the time our Heidelberg Catechism was written in the 1560's. Well one time, do you know
what these two men did? They had a fight with each other in church, in front of all the people! It
was on a Sunday when the Lord's Supper was celebrated. Klebitz and Hesshus disagreed with each
other about the meaning of the Lord's Supper. Minister Klebitz was to be in charge of the service.
When he took the cup from the table, however, and was about to bless it - Minister Hesshus
suddenly grabbed it from his hand - and the two men fought before their horrified congregation!
Perhaps you know that during the days of the Reformation in the 16th century, there was a
violent struggle and debate about the meaning of the Lord's Supper. A person's view on the Lord's
Supper became, as it were, the shibboleth, the watchword, by which people would be known. The
struggle was not just between the Reformers and the Roman Catholics - but there were also
differences of opinion among the reformers themselves! Depending on your view of the Lord's
Supper, you were labeled then, either as a Catholic, a Lutheran, a Zwinglian, or a Calvinist.
What was the struggle and fight with the Lord's Supper all about, you ask? Well, as a matter
of fact, it was a fight about one single word, the little word "is." Jesus said when He instituted the
Lord's Supper and took the bread, "This is my body," and when He gave the cup, “This is my
blood.” What exactly did He mean by that little word “is”? That is what the struggle was all about!
It was an important matter for as we shall see, one little word can mean a lot! In this sermon,
learning from church history, we want to find out what that word "is" really means, according to
Holy Scripture and the Holy Spirit.
Here our Catechism is of great help. Written in the very days in which these struggles
were going on, it warns us both against underestimating the Lord's Supper and overestimating it,
and then it teaches us what is the Biblical meaning of the Holy Supper. Let us therefore consider
these three points.
1) How the Holy Supper is underestimated
2) How it is overestimated
3) How it must be valued in the right way
Ho w is the Holy Supper underestimated? This was the fault of Zwingli, the Swiss reformer.
In his reaction to the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church, Zwingli did what we all are so quick
to do in the face of error, he overreacted. Zwingli threw overboard almost everything that came out
of Catholic worship. He even would not allow an organ in the church! In connection with the Lord's
Supper, the reformer understood that little word "is" in the Lord's phrase, "This is my body" as
something very simple. Zwingli maintained that Jesus' statement means the same as when we, for
instance, seeing a picture of the Queen, say: "That is the Queen." Then everyone understands that
we mean - That is a picture of the Queen. So Zwingli wanted to see in the signs of bread and wine
nothing else, but a pointing to Christ, simply a picture of Christ in what He has done for His people.
He made the Lord's Supper just a commemoration meal. Do this in remembrance of Him, that is all!
The Holy Supper is only a memorial supper, Zwingli said. Just as we on our birthday remember the
fact of our birth, so the church remembers the sufferings and death of Christ at the table. Zwingli
denied all workings of grace or symbolism at the Holy Supper in any extra cup, "This is my blood."
What little word "is?" That is what the extraordinary sense. Neither God nor Christ does anything
special. It is a memorial celebration, he mentioned, and any benefit derived from it depends upon
the faith or the response of the participant.
Christ does not take the initiative at the Holy Supper. No, taught Zwingli, we do something
when we celebrate the Lord's Supper. We show and confess our faith. We think of the sufferings
and death of Christ. We do not receive anything, but we rather give.
.
This view of the Holy Supper, however, sadly underestimates this sacrament as God
instituted it. Indeed, with this view of Zwingli, the Holy Supper is not a sacrament anymore. It still
makes a devotional impression. and it may well be that it yet has some influence on a person's faith.
But it is no longer a communion meal, only a meal of commemoration.
In thus overreacting against the Catholic and Lutheran teaching. Zwingli fell into the error
of underestimating the holy sacrament of Lord's Supper. We should learn from this by the way always beware of overreaction! Let the Word of God be your guide, it's principles and teachings
your rule of thumb in all areas of life. Daily we need to pray with the psalmist of Psalm 119: "Teach
me thy statutes... teach me good judgment and knowledge!"(68, 66) Overreaction always only
leads to more error! and often more trouble!
Zwingli's opinion of the Lord's Supper has been very harmful. Still today there are those in
the Church of the Lord who honour Zwingli's view. And such people consider the Lord's
Supper as the most common thing in the world! They think more of what they do when they come
to the Table of the Lord--instead of coming as those who are poor and lost in themselves, in order to
receive the riches which are in Christ Jesus our Lord!
The Zwinglian viewpoint makes church people think of the Lord's Supper lightly, for it is
just a church feast in their view and not a sacrament of holy communion where God more fully
declares and seals to us the promise of the gospel. Where He draws the repentant sinner into
intimate communion with the risen Saviour Himself, at the right hand of God.
Let us take care not to underestimate, undervalue the Lord's Supper. According to
Scripture this sacrament is a sacrament of holy communion. Paul says in I Corinthians
10:16. "The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The
bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?" As our Catechism rightly
teaches us, "Christ speaks thus, not without great reason when He calls the bread His body, and the
cup His blood."
But while the Holy Supper can be underestimated, it can also be overestimated. That is
what the Roman Catholic church has done and is still doing. It teaches the so-called doctrine of
transubstantiation. In the year 1215 at the Lateran Council this doctrine was formally proclaimed as
the teaching of the church. According to Rome then, a miracle takes place in the Eucharist, as they
call the Lord's Supper. The bread is changed into the body of Christ and the wine is changed into
the blood of Christ, really and actually! Thus the little word "is" according to Rome has to be taken
literally, although the taste and the colour of the bread and wine do not change. When you taste,
you taste bread and wine! But nevertheless, Rome maintains, a change takes place when the words
are spoken by the priest: "This is my body; this is my blood." A miracle takes place, teaches Rome,
with the priest's word, changing the elements of the sacrament into the very flesh and blood of
Christ. This is the Roman Catholic teaching of transubstantiation meaning. "transfer of substance."
So the Catholic Council of Trent which concluded its session December 5, 1563 declared, "The
sacrifice in the mass is identical with the sacrifice of the Cross." According to Roman Catholic
teaching the mass with its colourful and vivid ceremony is a dramatic reenactment in an unbloody
manner of the sacrifice of Christ on Calvary. Rome teaches therefore that the mass is a continuation
of the sacrifice of Christ on the cross, that it is really a recrucifixion of Jesus over and over, and that
it is just as powerful to take away sin, as was the sacrifice at Calvary! When the priest places the
bread and wine on the altar, according to Rome, (and notice they do not speak of Table but altar and
place of sacrifice), then those elements become, in their view, the real body and blood of
Christ. The placing of these on the altar is the offering up of Christ again! Therefore these
consecrated elements are also worshipped and adored by the Catholics, as though Christ Himself
be in them in
"His real presence."
Now we call this an overestimation of the Lord1s Supper. A gross overestimation not at all
in accordance with the Scriptures. Our Catechism even goes so far as to call the popish mass in
Question and Answer 80, "at bottom, nothing else than a denial of the one sacrifice and sufferings
of Jesus Christ, and an accursed idolatry."
Our Catechism speaks here in strong language and you may be interested in knowing that
this 80th question and answer of the Heidelberg Catechism did not appear in the first edition of the
Catechism published on January 19, 1563. It did appear in part in the second edition and in the form
in which we now have it in the third edition, published at the end of that same year yet, 1563. The
authors of the Catechism inserted this 80th question particularly in defense against the strong
denouncing statements of the Catholic Council of Trent regarding the Biblical view of the Lord's
Supper.
Many in the past have thought this 80th question and answer should never have been
included in the Catechism. A famous very good 19th century church historian, Dr. Phillip Schaff,
said this about the 80th question and answer, "The 80th question disturbs the peaceful harmony of
the Catechism - It rewards evil for evil, it suggests intolerance, - and it provokes much unnecessary
hostility to call the popish mass an accursed idolatry."
Is this judgment of Phillip Schaff correct concerning the 80th question of the Heidelberg
Catechism? We cannot agree with his judgment, not if we want to live by the Word of God, for
consider what is at stake in Rome's overestimation of the Lord's Supper! In the Mass, the
Roman Catholic Church in fact denies the all sufficiency of the once for all sacrifice of Christ on
the cross. They insist Christ's sacrifice must be reenacted continually, if His once for all sacrifice is
to be of any benefit! They want to add to what Christ has done! As the Catechism explains, "the
Lord's Supper, according to the Bible, testifies to us, that we have a full pardon of all sin by the only
sacrifice of Jesus Christ, which He Himself has once accomplished on the cross; and, that we, by
the Holy Ghost, are engrafted into Christ! but the mass teaches that the living and dead have not the
pardon of sins through the sufferings of Christ, unless Christ is also daily offered for them by the
priests."
The Bible emphasizes many times over, the truth that Christ died for all His people once
forever, and that therefore that sacrifice can never be repeated! We see this especially in the book
of Hebrews. There, for instance, in Chapter 7: 23-27 we read, "And they, that is, the Old Testament
priests, truly were many priests, because they were not able to continue by reason of death. But this
man - Jesus - because He continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. Wherefore He is able
also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make
intercession for them. For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate
from sinners, and made higher than the heavens; who needeth not daily - as those high priests (of
the Old Testament) - to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the peoples; for this He
did once, when He offered up Himself!"
The emphasis in this passage is plainly that, while the priests and the sacrifices of the O.T.
were necessarily many - the one sacrifice of Christ is offered once, for all His people and can never
be repeated!
The same truth is also 'taught in Hebrews 10:11-14 where we read: "And every priest
standeth daily, ministering and offering, oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take
away sins. But this man -Jesus- after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the
right hand of God … For by one offering He that perfected forever them that are sanctified."
On the basis of these texts we must conclude that the Catholic Churches' overestimation of
the sacrament of Holy Supper in its popish mass is indeed, "a denial of the one sacrifice and
sufferings of Jesus Christ."
Their overestimation of the sacrament also amounts to an accursed idolatry. This is a strong
statement, admittedly, but it is not too strong. And here you must remember the expression of our
Catechism is aimed at principles and teachings, not men. The Catechism here is not speaking
against Roman Catholic people, but Roman Catholic teaching. Their teaching in connection with
the mass must be sharply denounced, for it is most unscriptural and it takes away from the glory of
Christ!
Besides, is "cursed idolatry" too strong a term to use in denouncing a notion that has led
men to pray to and worship a morsel of bread? As though ascribing deity to a thing created is not
thought terribly wrong to all true lovers of the peace of Zion.
I know today we live in an age of tolerance. When I was in seminary, some of my fellow
students once attended and participated in a Roman Catholic mass, thinking nothing of it! They
wrote in the school paper about the benefits of their experience in taking part in the mass. Such
tolerance and easygoing religion where all is fine is at the expense of the truth! -- The truth of the
Bible which is the infallible unchangeable Word of God! -- The truth of the gospel as it is in Jesus
Christ and Him crucified! We must not minimize the great difference between Reformed
Protestants and Roman Catholics in regards to these doctrines.
Besides, in seeing the real bodily presence of Christ in the elements of the sacrament the
Catholics, and all those who overestimate this sacrament, also miss out on a blessed gospel
truth! When Jesus instituted the Lord's Supper, His intention thereby was not that He should come
down from heaven in His human nature and commune with believing sinners here below. No,
rather His intention and purpose with the Holy Supper is to bring the repentant sinner into intimate
communion with Himself in heaven, seated at the right hand of the Father in everlasting glory! In
holy communion He does not come down to us, but He draws us up to Himself in heaven! This is a
precious truth we should never lose sight of whenever we celebrate the Lord's Supper. As our Form
for the Supper teaches us, "That we may be now fed with the true heavenly bread. Christ Jesus, let
us not cleave with our hearts unto the external bread and wine, but lift them up on high in heaven.
where Christ Jesus is our Advocate, at the right hand of His heavenly Father, whither all the articles
of our faith lead us, not doubting, but we shall as certainly be fed and refreshed in our souls through
the working of the Holy Ghost, with His body and blood in communion there with Him in heaven.
even as we receive the holy bread and wine in remembrance of Him." This gracious experience is
worked by the Holy Spirit!
Luther, the great Reformer, also failed to grasp this last blessed truth concerning the Lord's Supper.
He too overestimated this sacrament being unable to break completely from his former Romish
views. He did not teach the doctrine of transubstantiation but the doctrine of consubstantiation,
which doctrine means that at the Lord's Supper Christ is bodily present somehow in, with, and
under the signs of bread and wine. But the bread and wine itself, he maintained, is not changed into
the body and blood of Christ. Thus Luther did not fall into the error of accursed idolatry with the
Lord's Supper! Yet, on the basis of Scripture, we cannot approve of his viewpoint either for as our
Catechism teaches us, Christ in his human nature is now not on earth, but in heaven, at the right
hand of God the Father, and will there be worshipped by us. The Lutheran view along with the
Catholic view leads to the thinking that Christ, as to His human nature, is omnipresent. That He can
be can be anywhere and everywhere at the same time and as a human being! But Jesus ascended
into heaven and, as to His human nature is no longer with us. As a very real man, He is confined to
a single spot at any single time in heaven with the Father. As we learned already back in Lord's Day
18 "with respect to His human nature, He is no more on earth, while with respect to His Godhead,
majesty, grace, and spirit, He is at no time absent from us!" So the Apostle Paul tells us in
Colossians 3: 1, "If ye than be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ
sitteth on the right hand of God!" We know also what Jesus said when tried before the Jewish
council "Hereafter," says Jesus in Luke 22:69, "shall the Son of man sit on the right hand of the
power of God!" That is where He is even today! -- Until He comes again on the Last Day!
Any and every idea of the Lord's Supper then, which somehow imagines Christ's physical
presence in the elements, cannot be accepted. It is unbiblical, and it takes away from the glory of
Christ's finished work and person, and the wondrous salvation He has obtained for all who believe
in Him. Christ as a man is now present only in heaven, and not upon earth. And therefore His
communion is to be sought only by faith.
And this brings us to our third main point, namely, the Biblical view of the Lord's Supper.
On the basis of Scripture we maintain, Christ is truly present in the signs of the broken bread and
the wine that is poured out, but only in a spiritual sense. By the working of the Holy Spirit, in the
partaking of the bread and wine, the believer is brought into communion with Christ, and that not
only mystically, but also through the consciousness of the regenerated man, by faith, so that the
worthy partaker is strengthened in righteousness and holiness, in knowledge and wisdom, and
grows in the grace of the Lord.
The word "is" then, in Jesus' words, "This is my body; This is my blood; is to be understood
sacramentally, in the manner of a sacrament. As Answer 78 teaches us, the bread is called
the body of Christ, and the wine His blood - "agreeably to the nature and properties of sacraments."
It is something like when I have, for example, a cheque of one hundred dollars in my hand. Then I
can also say, "This is one hundred dollars." When I say that, however, that piece of paper is not
changed into one hundred dollars, neither are the hundred dollars in that piece of paper, and yet it is
more than only a sign or a token! It is and it remains a piece of paper, but at the same time it has the
value of one hundred dollars. Well, so in like manner Christ has said with bread in His hand, "This
is my body" and with cup in His hand, "This is my blood."
Therefore, also our Confession of Faith declares in Article 35 that "What is eaten and drunk
by us is the proper and natural body, and the proper blood of Christ. But the manner of our
partaking of the same is not by the mouth, but by the Spirit through faith. Thus then, though Christ
always sits at the right hand of His Father in the heavens, yet does He not therefore cease to make
us partakers of Himself by faith. This feast is a spiritual table at which Christ communicates
Himself with all His benefits to us, and gives us there to enjoy both Himself and the merits of His
sufferings and death - nourishing, strengthening, and comforting our poor comfortless souls by the
eating of His flesh, quickening and refreshing them by the drinking of His blood. Or, as our
Catechism so beautifully puts it in Question and Answer 79, "The bread and the wine are given to
us by Christ as visible signs and pledges to assure us, that we are as really partakers of His true
body and blood (by the operation of the Holy Spirit) as we receive by the mouths of our bodies
these holy signs in remembrance of Him; and the bread and wine are as visible signs and pledges
that all His sufferings and obedience are as certainly ours, as if we had in our own persons, suffered,
and made satisfaction for our sins to God!"
We must end. We have looked at the right and Biblical meaning of the Lord's Supper. We
have seen how we must be careful not to underestimate this holy sacrament nor to
overestimate it. On account of the truth of God's Word, the wonder of Christ's Person and Work,
and the glory of salvation itself, it is important that we understand these doctrines rightly. We have
not been considering matters of trivia. Let no one think that!
There is one thing which the sermon should have made clear to us all. The absolute
necessity of the Spirit's work in our lives. We need the Holy Spirit in order to come to faith! We
need the Spirit in order to be strengthened in the faith! We need the Spirit in order to understand the
doctrine of the faith! We need the Spirit in order to come to the Table looking to Christ in faith! We
need the Spirit at the Table in order there by faith to become more and more united to Christ's
resurrected and ascended body in heaven.
And the good news of the gospel is that the Spirit has been poured out by Christ and the
Father, and it is His continual work today to take of Christ and His salvation and to show it unto
men. We may, therefore, ask God to work with His Spirit in our hearts and lives. And you know
what Jesus said, "If ye then being evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much
more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?"
The Bible tells us that one day there will be a great wedding feast in heaven. It is called the
marriage supper of the Lamb! The Lord's Supper is intended as a foretaste of that final and eternal
wedding feast! You are invited, for the Lord Jesus says to all, "Come, for all things are ready!"
The Bible teaches, however, and history proves, many will not come! They do not take
serious Christ's invitation, they refuse to believe God's Word, they will not see their sins; they will
not leave off their sinful ways, they will not flee to Christ for refuge! Is it so with you too perhaps?
Oh, what shall it profit you, what will you gain, if you have the whole world and lose your soul?
Without union to Christ in this life now you will perish forever in the life to come, in the place of
outer darkness.
Again I say - The Bible tells us, and it is the Word of God who does not lie, one day there
will be a wedding feast in heaven, the marriage supper of the Lamb. There the word of the psalmist
shall be completely fulfilled:. .
There in thy holy habitation
Thou wilt Thy saints provide
With every blessing of salvation
Till all are satisfied.
And that to the praise of God forever! All those who are in Christ Jesus will be the eternal guests
there. Oh, see to it, that you be one of those blessed guests. There is nothing, nothing more urgent
than that -- that you be joined to Christ by a living faith. Nothing more urgent.
AMEN.