Church Agreement On The Supper

The Christian church almost unanimously upheld the teaching of this mystical union as the import of the Lord’s Supper. Greek Orthodox and Roman Catholic, Lutheran as well as Reformed believers are agreed in affirming that in the Lord’s Supper there occurs an objective and real communication of the person and benefits of Christ to everyone who believes. But among themselves they diverge widely over the manner in which this communication takes place. The first three groups cited above are not satisfied unless the body and blood of Christ are also physically and locally present in the signs and received and consumed orally. The Reformed, however, teach that, while Christ is truly and essentially communicated to believers, this occurs in a spiritual manner, and this in such a way that he can be received and enjoyed only by the mouth of faith.

 

Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics: Holy Spirit, Church, and New Creation, ed. John Bolt, trans. John Vriend, vol. 4 (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2008), 568.