All the circumstances of the Holy Supper institution testify that these words of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ (which in themselves are simple, plain, clear, firm, and beyond doubt), cannot and must not be understood other than in their usual, proper, and common meaning. For Christ gives this command at the table and at supper. There is certainly no doubt that He speaks of real, natural bread and of natural wine. Also, He speaks of oral eating and drinking, so there can be no metaphor (i.e., a change of meaning) in the word bread, as though Christ's body were a spiritual bread or a spiritual food of souls. Christ is careful not to use metonymy either. In other words, there is no change of meaning in the word body. He does not speak about a sign for his body, or about the power of His body and the benefits that He has earned by the sacrifice of His body for us. Instead, He speaks about His true, essential body (which He delivered into death for us) and about His true, essential blood (which He shed for us on the tree of the cross for the forgiveness of sins.
~BOC, FSD, VII, 48-49
No comments:
Post a Comment