Inventing Authority: The Use of the Church Fathers in Reformation Debates over the Eucharist

Appendix I

145 Z Appendix I The Württemberg Theses The first set of theses are points about which the Lutherans deemed there was no controversy. The second set was considered controversial, and the third set lays out the Lutherans’ summary of those Reformed points that they considered contrary to Scripture. The First Set The following four points of agreement are: (1) All the faithful, even outside the liturgy, eat the flesh of the Son of Man spiritually, by faith for salvation, as John 6 makes clear. But the eating of the sacrament is another kind of eating and is not always salutary. Andreae concluded that although the two eatings are not the same, spiritual eating is necessary if sacramental eating is to be salutary. (2) Capernaitic eating of Christ’s flesh is a damnable doctrine. (3) Roman Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation is rejected. (4) Lutherans as well as the Reformed deny that the presence of Christ’s body and blood is physical, local, or inclusive. The Second Set The six Lutheran theses unacceptable to the Reformed may be summarized as follows: 146 Inventing Authority (1) The true body and blood of Jesus Christ are truly and substantially present and distributed with the bread and wine and taken orally by all who use the sacrament, whether worthy or unworthy, faithful or infidel, the former to life and the latter to judgment. (2) The words “in,” “with,” and “under” the bread indicate the presence of the true body. The same thing is indicated by the terms “substantially,” “corporeally,” “really,” “essentially,” and “orally.” (3) The words of institution declare the presence of Christ’s real body. (4) Christ is not a liar. (5) Christ is God-man in one inseparable person to whom nothing is impossible. What he wished to do, he could do: Quod vellit, posit ergo fecit. He wished to give himself to be eaten; therefore he did so. (6) The mode of Christ’s presence is not expressed in Scripture. But this much can be said: it is supernatural and incomprehensible to human reason and therefore it is not to be disputed. God can find many ways to make the body and blood of Christ everywhere available other than the natural and physical mode, which is the only mode understood by human reason. Christ’s words are simply to be believed. The Third Set The third set which the Württemberg theologians judged to be contrary to Scripture: (1) That the words of Christ are not to be taken simply as they sound but must be interpreted in the light of other passages. (2) That the mouth receives only bread and wine, while Christ is eaten by faith. That by faith believers ascend to heaven and there are made partakers of his body and blood since Christ’s body is in heaven and will remain there until the last day.1 (3) That God is not able by his omnipotence to make the body of Christ present in more than one place at a time. (4) That Christ is not more present to participants in the Eucharist than he was to Abraham of old. (5) That in the Supper the virtue, operation, and merit of the absent body and blood of Christ are dispensed. (6) That among those eating unworthily (and therefore taking judgment to themselves) are numbered those also who are weak or stupid in faith or suffer other weaknesses but who nevertheless have true faith. (7) That oral manducation leads to stercoranism. ...