Calvin and the Lord's Supper

Here's a recent paper that I've written on Calvin's doctrine of the Lord's Supper. The subject of the presence of Christ at the communion table is one that is virtually neglected by evangelicals altogether. Whether we realize it or not, most evangelicals hold to a Zwinglian or memorialist view of the table. In other words, Christ is not truly present in the Eucharist meal, but rather, we simply remember Christ's death. However, this is position is in one that has been held by a minority of Christians throughout the course of Church history. At the time of the Reformation, it was the controversy over how Christ's presence in the meal was to be understood that was the major issue dividing Protestants. While Luther held to an understanding of the real physical presence, similar to that of the Roman Catholic position, Zwingli denied any sort of real presence.

Calvin's doctrine was an attempt to moderate between these two positions. It maintains that Christ is truly present with his people in table, but he is with them spiritually. Christ's body and blood do not become bread and wine, but rather, bread and wine are means consecrated by God to bring us into the presence of Christ through the agency of the Holy Spirit. In a Church culture that continues to diminish the place of the Eucharist in the gathering of the congregation, an understanding of Calvin's doctrine would do much to restore a reverence for the grace communicated to us through the Lord's Supper. For myself, nothing has done more to transform the communion table from a place of meaningless ritual to a source of joy and thanksgiving for the work of Christ than has Calvin's articulation of this doctrine. Keith Mathison's book, Given For You: Reclaiming Calvin's Doctrine of the Lord's Supper, is an excellent resource on the subject.