Are we eating and drinking Jesus?

You Can Ask Anything – Question #1
By Pastor Kenny Burchard email me

Question: What is the church’s view on “Transubstantiation?”

This is an often-asked question in protestant congregations where there are people who have a background in Catholicism.  The short answer is that we love our Catholic brethren, but we don’t believe in transubstantiation as it is taught in Catholic theology.  However, we also believe differently than the “mere symbolism” teaching that is often taught in protestant churches.

Transubstantiation is a big word that basically means that the bread and wine served in communion literally change into (trans) the actual substance (substantiation) of the body of blood of Jesus – so you are literally eating and drinking the flesh and blood of Jesus when you eat the bread and drink the wine of communion.

You can read a long article on the catholic.org website if you want a thorough description of this doctrine in Catholic theology here.  Essentially, transubstantiation teaches that the “real presence of Jesus,” the “literal body and blood of Jesus” is what we are eating and drinking when we partake of the Eucharist.

Primary Scriptural Reference –

When Jesus instituted the Eucharist (the Lord’s supper, communion, etc.) – he said these words:

Matthew 26:26-28 – 26 And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.” 27 Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. 28 For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.

The literalist interpretation leads many to believe that the bread and wine are literally, substantively, and miraculously made out of the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ because he said “this is.”  He did not say “this is kind of like my body, and this is kind of like my blood.”  He said “this is my body…this is my blood.”

Symbolism and Sacrament

There are two important words and concepts when thinking about communion.

The first concept is that of symbolism.  Many Protestants say that the bread and the wine are just a symbol, putting the stress on the word just as if to minimize what they mean by symbol.  But the word symbol (Greek: sumbolon) means to take one thing and put it together (literally, “throw together with”) with another thing, so that the first thing comes to mean and represent and have the same capacity as the second thing.

The second concept is that of sacrament.  This comes from the Latin word “holy oath.”  We often call the elements of the Eucharist “the sacraments.”  Essentially, sacramental teaching implies “divine participation” in a natural activity.  Eating bread and drinking wine becomes “sacramental” in that God participates in the activity by accompanying it with his Spirit – making it a “spiritual, effectual, divine, and Holy” event.  Otherwise, we are “merely” eating bread and drinking wine, and nothing is really (spiritually) happening.

This is my money, this is my marriage…

I have often used two illustrations to point to what our fellowship embraces (and what I believe) about the meaning and significance of the bread and the wine of communion.

The example of money: Imagine paying for your pizza when the delivery guy pulls up to your house.  You don’t have any cash, so you pull out your check book.  You even include a tip.  As you hand it to him, you say, “There’s some money for you too.”  Does he really have any money?  Didn’t you just give him a piece of paper that says it’s worth a particular amount?  Is it only paper?  Well – if there’s no money in the bank, then yes!  But if there is something behind the check (money in the bank), then the signed check comes to mean the same thing as the money that is behind it – giving it a real value, though the money itself is not substantively there.  You can still buy the Pizza!

The example of a wedding ring: When my wife and I got married, we gave each other a symbol of our entire relationship… a ring.  When I placed my wife’s ring on her finger, I said these words… “With this ring, I thee wed.”  I “threw together” the entire set of vows and covenants that I had made to her with a small piece of jewelry.  Now, every guy who sees her left ring finger knows something about her; she is married.  The ring has come to symbolize ME, and means the same thing as me, so my wife never forgets we’re married as long as she can look at that ring and remember our vows (as often as you eat and drink, do this in remembrance of me).

Bringing it home…

Jesus put a piece of bread and a cup of wine together (symbolically and sacramentally) with his crucified body and his spilled blood.  The body and blood of Jesus are given for the forgiveness of sins, and for healing our broken relationship with God.

Jesus died, was buried, and ascended bodily and physically to the right hand of the Father.  But he has given us a sacrament and a symbol of his presence and power – just like the check you wrote to the Pizza guy (forgive the informality).  It is worth the same thing.  It means the same thing.  It has the same value.  It has the same power.  It IS his body and blood, just like the check is my money, and the wedding ring is my vow of fidelity to my wife.  It can accomplish the same thing – though in substance, it is something different.  In sacrament, and in symbolism, it is the same.

When I sit with God’s people and partake of the elements of the Eucharist, I am inviting Jesus to bring healing and forgiveness to every area of my life.  He is there with the bread, and he is there with the cup.  Whatever can be accomplished through his personal touch on my life can likewise be accomplished by participating in, and discerning the Lord’s body in the table of communion.

He is powerfully, symbolically, and sacramentally there.  It is his body and his blood – though substantively, it is bread and wine – just as the check is printed paper and a signature, but is fully backed by every cent in my checking account.

Our doctrine and teaching…

Here is the Foursquare church’s statement about the bread and the cup of communion:

 

We believe in observing the Lord’s Supper, receiving the broken bread and the fruit of the vine with joy and faith as we partake anew of the life and triumph of Christ’s Cross (1 Corinthians 11:24-26)

I have done several hours worth of teaching on this subject in our church.  You can access it by going to http://www.hanfordoasis.org . Go to the audio section and search for messages by topic.  Find the “sacraments and symbols” teaching and give it a listen.  In those teachings, I emphasize the meaning of sacraments and symbols, and then teach on communion, baptism, and the laying-on of hands and present day sacraments in the church.

For the truth!
Pastor Kenny
The Oasis Foursquare Church, Hanford, CA