Regional Synod of Canada - Reformed Church in America

Pioneer Christian Monthly

Date - Oct/95

Contributor - John H. Muller

Title - I Believe The Lord's Supper

Topic - Lord's Supper

ARTICLE 33 of our BELGIC CONFESSION deals at great length with our position concerning the Lord's Supper. We shall try to emphasize the most relevant points.

We believe that our Lord has ordained and instituted this sacrament 'to nourish and sustain those who are already born again and ingrafted into His family, His Church."

Then deBres continues by distinguishing between our physical and temporal lives over against our spiritual and heavenly lives. The former is given to us at the first birth and the other at the second birth. God has provided bread for our earthly needs. "To maintain the spiritual and heavenly life -- He has sent a Living Bread that came down from heaven; namely Jesus Christ, who nourishes and maintains the spiritual life of believers when eaten -- that is, when appropriated and received spiritually by faith."

That last phrase is very basic to our Reformed understanding of the Lord's Supper. It is not so much what is done objectively before us, but it is the subjective attitude of faith which we have as we come to the Table. It must be spiritually appropriated and received.

The CONFESSION now discusses the elements that are used in the Supper. 'Christ has instituted bread as the sacrament of His body and wine as the sacrament of His blood. -- as truly as we take and hold the sacraments in our hands and eat and drink it in our mouths, so truly we receive it into our souls the true body and true blood of Christ. We receive these by faith."

This leads us to a central issue debated in Reformation days. How is Christ present in the Supper? It involves our union with Christ, but"the manner in which he does it goes beyond our understanding and is incomprehensible to us." Roman Catholics and Lutherans seemed to fasten their emphasis on the physical elements. Calvin was always urging them to look away from the elements, and to lift their hearts to heaven. That is where Christ's body and blood are!

The CONFESSION puts it this way: "Jesus Christ remains always seated at the right hand of God the Father in heaven -- but He never refrains on that account to communicate Himself to us through faith.'

The Supper points us to the cross of Christ, where His body was broken and His blood was shed. In union with Him we find our confidence and our assurance of eternal life.

"We receive the holy sacrament in the gathering of God's people, as we engage together -- in a holy remembrance of the death of Christ our Saviour." 'Ib partake of the Lord's Supper is to be bonded more firmly to His other children. There is no isolated communion. We all partake of the one bread.

The final thoughts of ARTICLE 35 call upon us to rightly examine ourselves before we come to the Table, and to be moved to a fervent love of God and our neighbours when we use the sacrament. We not only are reminded of Christ's death and passion for us, but are spurred on to practice greater love. Thus the communion service is a blessed time for Christians.

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