“We believe and confess, that our Savior Jesus Christ did ordain and institute the sacrament of the Holy Supper,…”
This article contains:1. A general statement concerning the institution of the Lord’s Supper:
a. The Lord Jesus Christ ordained and instituted it.
b. To nourish and support those that are already regenerated and have been received into His family.
2. Designation of the place for this sacrament in the life of believers:
a. Believers have a twofold life:
1) Their natural and temporal life they receive in their first birth.
2) Their spiritual and eternal life which they receive in the communion of the body of Christ, and which is effected by the Word of the gospel.
b. Accordingly, they are in need of a twofold nourishment:
1) Earthly bread and drink for their natural life.
2) Spiritual food for their new and heavenly life in Christ.
c. This spiritual bread is Christ, which descended from heaven.
d. And believers eat and drink Him when they apply and receive Him by faith in the Spirit.
3. An explanation of the significance of the Lord’s Supper:
a. The signs and seals:
1) Earthly and visible bread is ordained as a sacrament of Christ’s body.
2) Wine as a sacrament of His blood.
b. The thing designed and signified by the signs:
1) As certainly as our natural bodies are nourished by bread and wine,
2) so we receive by faith the true body and blood of Christ in our souls for the support of our spiritual life.
c. The spiritual operation of the sacrament is from Christ and cannot be comprehended by us, as the operations of the Holy Ghost are hidden and invisible.
4. A statement of the connection between the sign and the thing signified:
a. The signs are not changed into the body and blood of Christ:
1) Christ is in the heavens at the right hand of God.
2) And we do not partake of Him by the mouth; physically or by any physical action we do not eat and drink His body and blood.
b. Yet we really eat and drink Christ’s body and blood:
1) The supper is a spiritual feast: Christ communicates Himself to us there,
2) That we may partake of Him and all His benefits,
3) Thus nourishing and strengthening our souls by His body and blood.
c. For this reason there is nothing common in the sacrament to all men:
1) This would be the case if it were a question of eating with our mouth. Then all can partake of the sacrament outwardly.
2) Not now. It is a matter of faith and of the impartation of Christ to us. Only believers can do this.
3) Hence, while they receive a blessing, unbelievers eat and drink condemnation to themselves. (The article here mentions Judas, though it is questionable whether he partook of the sacrament, and Simon the sorcerer, who sought to obtain the power of the Holy Ghost for money.)
5. A designation of the proper sphere of this sacrament:
a. In the assembly of the people of God:
1) With thanksgiving in the remembrance of Christ’s death.
2) With confession of our faith and of the Christian religion.
b. Hence, in the proper spiritual state of mind and heart, in true love of God and the neighbor.
6. A statement in which all human forms and additions to this sacrament are rejected.