The assurance and confirmation found in the Lord's Supper...

The divine and the human nature have this personal union with each other in the person of Christ and have the communion resulting from it (in deed and truth).  For this reason, there is attributed to Christ (according to the flesh) what His flesh, according to its nature and essence, cannot be by itself.  Apart from this union, His flesh cannot have these attributes:  His flesh is a truly live-giving food and His blood a truly life-giving drink.  The two hundred Fathers of the Council of Ephesus have testified that Christ's flesh is a life-giving flesh.  Therefore, this man only, and no man besides, either in heaven or on earth, can say with truth, "Where two or three are gathered in My name, there am I among them" (Matthew 18:20).  Also, "And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:20).

We do not understand these testimonies to mean that only Christ's divinity is present with us in the Christian Church and Congregation, and that such presence does not apply to Christ according to His humanity in no way whatever.  For in that way Peter, Paul, and all the saints in heaven—since divinity, which is everywhere present, dwells in them—would also be with us on earth.  However, the Holy Scriptures say this only about Christ, and no other man.  We hold that by these words the majesty of the man Christ is declared.  Christ as receive this majesty, according to His humanity, at the right hand of God's majesty and power.  So also, according to His receive human nature and with the same, He can be, and also is, present where He wants to be.  He is present especially in His Church and congregation on earth as Mediator, Head, King, and High Priest.  This presence is not a part, or only one half of Him.  Christ's entire person is present, to which both natures along, the divine and the human—not only according to His divinity, but also according to, and with, His received human nature.  He is our Brother, and we are flesh of His flesh and bone of His bone.  He has instituted His Holy Supper for the certain assurance and confirmation of this, so that He will be with us, and dwell, work, and be effective in us also according to that nature from which He has flesh and blood.
~BOC, FSD, VIII, 76-79

The dual nature of Christ is such a grand, intimate, indescribable communion that the angels are astonished by and delighted in it...

The human nature, after the resurrection from the dead, is exalted above all creatures in heaven and on earth.  This is nothing other than that He entirely laid aside the form of a servant.  He did not lay aside His human nature, but retains it to eternity.  He has the full possession and use of the divine majesty according to His received human nature.  However, He had His majesty immediately at His conception, even in His mother's womb.  As the apostle testified, He laid it aside.  As Dr. Luther explains, He kept it concealed in the state of His humiliation and did not always use it, but only when He wanted to use it.

Now He has ascended to heaven, not merely as any other saint, but as the apostle testifies, above all heavens.  He also truly fills all things, being present everywhere, not only as God, but also as man.  He rules from sea to sea and to the ends of the earth, as the prophets predict and the apostles testify.  He did this everywhere with them and confirmed their word with signs.  This did not happen in an earthly way. As Dr. Luther explains, this happened according to the way things are done at God's right hand.  "God's right hand" is no set place in heaven, as the Sacramentarians assert without any ground in the Holy Scriptures.  It is nothing other than God's almighty power, which fills heaven and earth  Christ is installed according to His humanity (in deed and truth), without confusing or equalizing the two natures in their essence and essential properties.  By this communicated divine power, according to the words of His testament, He can be and is truly present with His body and blood in the Holy Supper.  He has pointed this out for us by His Word.  This is possible for no other man, because no man is united with the divine nature the way Jesus, the Son of Mary, is.  No man is installed in such divine almighty majesty and power through and in the personal union of the two natures in Christ.  For in Him the divine and the human nature are personally united with each other.  So in Christ "the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily" (Colossians 2:9).  In this personal union the two natures have such a grand, intimate, indescribable communion that even the angels are astonished by it.  As St. Peter testifies, they have their delight and joy in looking into it.
~BOC, FSD, VIII, 26-30

The outward act of the Lord's Supper does not give grace...

We showed in our Confession our belief that the Lord's Supper does not give grace by the outward act (ex opera operato) and that, when applied on behalf of others, alive or dead, it does not merit for them the forgiveness of sins, guilt, or punishment by the outward act.  This position is supported by a clear and firm proof.  It is impossible to receive the forgiveness of our sins because of our own work by the outward act.  The terrors of sin and death must be overcome through faith when we comfort our hearts with the knowledge of Christ and believe that for His sake we are forgiven and that His merits and righteousness are granted to us, "since we have been justified by faith, we have peace" (Romans 5:1). These things are so sure and so firm that they can stand against the gates of hell.
~BOC, AP, XXIV (XII)11-12

Preaching and faith are our daily sacrifice...

They also cite the daily sacrifice.  Just as there was a daily sacrifice in the Law,  so the Mass should be a daily sacrifice of the New Testament.  The adversaries have made out well if we allow ourselves to be overcome by allegories.  Clearly allegories do not produce firm proof.  We readily allow the Mass to be understood as a daily sacrifice, as long as that includes the entire Mass:  the ceremony with the preaching of the Gospel, faith, invocation, and thanksgiving.  Joined together, these are a daily sacrifice of the New Testament because the ceremony of the Mass, or the Lord's Supper, was set up because of these things.  The Mass is not to be separated from them.  So Paul says, "For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes" (I Corinthians 11:26).  But it cannot be shown from this Levitical type that a ceremony justifying by the outward work (ex opere operato) is necessary, or should be applied on behalf of others, that it may merit the forgiveness of sins for them.

The type represents appropriately not only the ceremony, but also the preaching of the Gospel.  In Numbers 28:4-8, three parts of that daily sacrifice are represented:  the burning of the lamb, the drink offering, and the offering of wheat flour.  The Law had pictures or shadows of future things.  So Christ and the entire worship of the New Testament are shown in this picture.  The burning of the lamb illustrates Christ's death.  The drink offering illustrates that everywhere in the entire world, by the preaching of the Gospel, believers are sprinkled with the blood of that Lamb, that is, sanctified.  Peter says, "In the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with His blood" (I Peter 1:2).  The offering of wheat flour means faith, prayer, and thanksgiving in hearts.  Therefore, in the Old Testament, the shadow is discerned.  In the New, the thing illustrated should be sought, and not another type, as sufficient for a sacrifice.

Although a ceremony is a memorial of Christ's death, it alone is not the daily sacrifice.  The memory itself is the daily sacrifice, that is, preaching and faith.  Faith truly believes that, by Christ's death, God has been reconciled.  A drink offering is required, that is, the effect of preaching, in order that, being sprinkled by the Gospel with the blood of Christ, we may be sanctified, as those put to death and made alive.  Offerings are also required, that is, thanksgiving, confession, and troubles.
~BOC, AP, XXIV (XII), 35-38

Christ makes Himself present in the Lord's Supper not by our faith, but by His almighty power...

It is not our faith that makes the Sacrament, but only the true Word and institution of our almighty God and Savior, Jesus Christ.  His Word always is and remains effective in the Christian Church.  It is not invalidated or rendered ineffective by the worthiness or unworthiness of the minister, nor by the unbelief of the one who receives it.  This is just like the Gospel.  Even though godless hearers do not believe it, the Gospel is and remains nonetheless the true Gospel, only it does not work for salvation in the unbelieving.  So whether those who receive the Sacrament believe or do not believe, Christ remains nonetheless true in His words when He says, "Take, eat; this is My body."  He makes Himself present not by our faith, but by His almighty power.
~BOC, FSD, VII, 89

Worthiness to receive the Lord's Supper does not depend on the greatness or smallness, the weakness or strength of faith, but on Christ's merit...

It must be carefully explained who the unworthy guests of this Supper are.  They are those who go to this Sacrament without true repentance and sorrow for their sins, without true faith and the good intention of amending their lives.  By their unworthy oral eating of Christ's body, they load themselves with damnation (i.e., with temporal and eternal punishments) and become guilty of profaning Christ's body and blood.

Some Christians have a weak faith and are shy, troubled, and heartily terrified because of the great number of their sins.  They think that in their great impurity they are not worthy of this precious treasure and Christ's benefits. They feel their weakness of faith and lament it, and from their hearts desire that they may serve God with stronger, more joyful faith and pure obedience.  These are the true worthy guests for whom this highly venerable Sacrament has been especially instituted and appointed.  For Christ says:

Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28)

Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. (Matthew 9:12)

[God's] power is made perfect in weakness. (2 Corinthians 12:9)

As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him; ... for God has welcomed him. (Romans 14:1-3)

Whoever believes in [the Son of God, be it with a strong or with a weak faith] may have eternal life. (John 3:15)

Worthiness does not depend on the greatness or smallness, the weakness or strength of faith.  Instead it depends on Christ's merit, which the distressed father of little faith enjoyed as well as Abraham, Paul, and others who have a joyful and strong faith.
~BOC, FSD, VII, 68-71

The words of the Holy Supper institution cannot and must not be understood other than in their usual, proper, and common meaning...

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

Absolution, a Sacrament of repentance...

Furthermore, the Power of the Keys administers and presents the Gospel through Absolution, which is the true voice of the Gospel.  We also include Absolution when we speak of faith, because "faith comes from hearing," as Paul says in Romans 10:17.  When the Gospel is heard and the Absolution is heard, the conscience is encouraged and receives comfort.  Because God truly brings a person to life through the Word, the Keys truly forgive sins before God.  According to Luke 10:16, "The one who hears you hears Me."  Therefore, the voice of the one absolving must be believed no differently than we would believe a voice from heaven.  Absolution can properly be called a Sacrament of repentance, as even the more learned scholastic theologians say.  Meanwhile, in temptations this faith is nourished in a variety of ways: through the declaration of the Gospel and the use of the Sacraments.  For these are signs of the New Testament, that is, signs of the forgiveness of sins.  They offer the forgiveness of sins as the words of the Lord's Supper clearly testify, "This is My body, which is given for you.  This is the cup of the New Testament," and so on.  So faith is conceived and strengthened through Absolution, through the hearing of the Gospel, through the use of the Sacraments, so that it may not give in to the terrors of sin and death while it struggles.  This method of repentance is plain and clear.  It increases the worth of the Power of the Keys and of the Sacraments. It illumines Christ's benefit and teaches us to make use of Christ as Mediator and the Atoning Sacrifice.

~BOC, AP, XII (V), 39-43

The Lord's Supper cures and brings life to both body and soul...

Here [the Lord's Supper] He offers to us the entire treasure that He has brought for us from heaven.  With the greatest kindness He invites us to receive it also in other places, like when He says in St. Matthew 11:38, "Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."  It is surely a sin and a shame that He so cordially and faithfully summons and encourages us to receive our highest and greatest good, yet we act so distantly toward it.  We permit so long a time to pass without partaking of the Sacrament that we grow quiet cold and hardened, so that we have no longing or love for it.  We must never think of the Sacrament as something harmful from which we had better flee, but as a pure, wholesome, comforting remedy that grants salvation and comfort.  It will cure you and give you life both in soul and body.  For where the soul has recovered, the body is also relieved.
~BOC, LC, V, 66-68

Human nature drives us to look more upon ourselves than upon Christ's Word and lips...

But whoever would gladly receive grace and comfort should drive himself and allow no one to frighten him away [from the Lord's Supper].  Say, "I, indeed, would like to be worthy.  But I come, not upon any worthiness, but upon Your Word, because You have commanded it.  I come as one who would gladly be Your disciple, no matter what becomes of my worthiness."  This is difficult.  We always have this obstacles and hindrance to encounter:  we look more upon ourselves than upon Christ's Word and lips.  For human nature desires to action in such a way that it can stand and rest firmly on itself.  Otherwise, it refuses to approach [the altar for the Lord's Supper].
~BOC, LC, V, 62-63

The Lord's Supper is the food of souls...

On this account it is indeed called a food of souls, which nourishes and strengthens the new man.  For by Baptism we are first born anew.  But, as we have said before, there still remains the old vicious nature of flesh and blood in mankind.  There are so many hindrances and temptations of the devil and of the world that we often become weary and faint, and sometimes we also stumble.

Therefore, the Sacrament is given as a daily pasture and sustenance, that faith may refresh and strengthen itself so that it will not fall back in such a battle, but become ever stronger and stronger. The new life must be guided so that it continually increases and progresses.  But it must suffer much opposition.  For the devil is such a furious enemy.  When he sees that we oppose him and attack the old man, and that he cannot topple us over by force, he prowls and moves about on all sides.  He tries every trick and does not stop until he finally wears us out, so that we either renounce our faith or throw up our hands and put up our feet, becoming indifferent or impatient.  Now to this purpose the comfort of the Sacrament is given when the heart feels that the burden is becoming too heavy, so that it may gain here new power and refreshment.
~BOC, LC, V, 24-27

The Sacrament is not founded upon people's holiness, but upon God's Word...

For the Sacrament is not founded upon people's holiness, but upon God's Word.  Just as no saint on earth, indeed, no angel in heaven, can make bread and wine be Christ's body and blood, so also no one can change or alter it, even though it is misused.  The Word by which it became a Sacrament and was instituted does not become false because of the person or his unbelief.  For Christ does not say, "If you believe or are worthy, you receive My body and blood." No, He says, "Take, eat and drink; this is My body and blood." Likewise, He says, "Do this" (i.e., what I now do, institute, give, and ask you, take).  That is like saying, "No matter whether you are worthy or unworthy, you have here His body and blood by virtue of these words that are added to the bread and wind."  Note and remember this well.  For upon these words rest all our foundation, protection, and defense against all errors and deception that have ever come or may yet come.
~BOC, LC, V, 16-19

The Word makes the Sacrament...

It is the Word, I say, that makes and sets this Sacrament apart.  So it is not mere bread and wine, but is, and is called, Christ's body and blood.  For it is said, "When the Word is joined to the element or natural substance, it becomes as Sacrament."  This saying of St. Augustine is so properly and so well put that he has scarcely said anything better.  The Word must make a Sacrament out of the element, or else it remains a mere element.  Now it is not the word or ordinance of a prince or emperor.  But it is the Word of the grand Majesty, at whose feet all creatures should fall and affirm it as He says, and accept it with all reverence, fear, and humility.
~BOC, LC, V, 10-11

Christ connects the promise of the forgiveness of sins to good works...

Christ often connects the promise of the forgiveness of sins to good works, yet not because He means that good works are an atoning sacrifice (for they follow reconciliation).  Christ makes this connection for two reasons.  One is because good fruit must necessarily follow.  He reminds us that if good fruit does not follow, the repentance is hypocritical and fake.  The other reason is that we have need of outward signs of so great a promise.  A conscience full of fear has need of much consolation. Baptism and the Lord's Supper are signs that continually remind, cheer, and encourage despairing minds to believe more firmly that their sins are forgiven.  So the same promise is written and portrayed in good works, in order that these works may remind us to believe more firmly. Those who produce no good works do not encourage themselves to believe, but despise these promises. On the other hand, the godly embrace them and rejoice that they have the signs and testimonies of so great a promise.  So they exercise themselves in these signs and testimonies.  Therefore, just as the Lord's Supper does not justify us by the outward act (ex opere operato) without faith, so alms do not justify us by the outward acts (ex opere operato) without faith.
~BOC, AP, V (III), 155-156

Christ is the surest "interpreter" of His words of institution...

Surely there is no interpreter of Jesus Christ's words as faith and sure as the Lord Christ Himself.  He understand best His words and His heart and opinion.  He is the wisest and most knowledgeable for explaining them.  He does not use allegory to make His last will and testament and His ever-abiding covenant and union.  He does not use allegory elsewhere in presenting and confirming all articles of faith, and in the institution of all other signs of the covenant and of grace or Sacraments (e.g., circumcision, the various offerings in the Old Testament, and Holy Baptism). He does not use allegorical words, but entirely proper, simple, believable, and clear words.  In order that no misunderstanding can take place, He explain them more clearly with the words, "Given for you," "shed for you."  He also lets His disciples rest in the simple, proper sense, and commands them that they should teach all nations to keep what He had commanded them, the apostles.
~FSD, VII, 50-51

Distinct, unchanged natures in Christ and in the Sacrament...

In addition to Christ's and St. Paul's expressions (the bread in the Supper is the body of Christ or the communion of the body of Christ), the following forms are also used:  under the bread, with the bread, in the bread.  With these words, the papistic transubstantiation may be rejected and the sacramental union of the bread's unchanged essence and Christ's body may be shown.  In the same way, the expression "the Word became flesh" (John 1:14) is repeated and explained by the equivalent expressions, "The Word...dwelt among us" (John 1:14); likewise, "in Him the whole fullness of the deity dwells bodily" (Colossians 2:9); likewise, "God was with Him" (Acts 10:38); likewise, "in Christ God was" (2 Corinthians 5:19), and the like.  These show that the divine natures, unchanged, are personally united.  Many eminent ancient teachers, such as Justin, Cyprian, Augustine, Leo, Gelasius, Chrysostom, and others, use this comparison about the words of Christ's testament, "This is My body."  Just as in Christ two distinct, unchanged natures are inseparably united--the natural bread and Christ's true natural body--are present together here on earth in the appointed administration of the Sacrament.
~BOC, FSD, VII, 35-37

When weak and heavy-laden, when fearful and struggling, know the Lord's Supper is for you...

For Christ Himself says, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick." ...He means those who are weary and heavy-laden with their sins, with the fear of death, temptations of the flesh, and of the devil. If, therefore, you are heavy laden and feel your weakness, then go joyfully to this Sacrament [Lord's Supper] and receive refreshment, comfort, and strength.
~BOC, LC, V, 71-73

The use and benefit of the Lord's Supper is why it was offered every holy day and when anyone desired it...

The people are also advised about the dignity and use of the Sacrament [The Lord's Supper], about how it brings great consolation to anxious consciences, so that they, too, may learn to believe God and to expect and ask from Him all that is good. This worship pleases God. ...Because the Mass is for the purpose of giving the Sacrament, we have Communion every holy day, and if anyone desires the Sacrament, we also offer it on other days, when it is given to all who ask for it.
~BOC, AC, XXIV, 7-8, 34

With God's grace, misery can heighten longing for the Lord's Supper and its gifts...

With God's grace, you may feel your misery more and become hungrier for the Sacrament [the Lord's Supper], especially since the devil doubles his force against you. He lies in wait for you without resting so that he can seize and destroy you, soul and body. You are not safe from him for one hour. How soon he can have you brought suddenly into misery and distress when you least expect it!
~BOC, LC, V, 84

We go precisely because of our unworthiness...

Such people must learn that it is the hightest art to know that our Sacrament [the Lord's Supper] does not depend on our worthiness. We are not baptized because we are worthy and holy. Nor do we go to Confession because we are pure and without sin. On the contrary, we go because we are poor, miserable people. We go exactly because we are unworthy.
 ~BOC, LC, V, 65