Why did Martin Luther call the Lord's Supper - a Testament?
Martin Luther and Consubstantiation With the publication of The Babylonian Captivity of the Church in 1520, Martin Luther attacked the sacramental system and the eucharistic practices of the Roman Catholic Church. In particular, he addressed three “captivities” to which the church had subjected the Lord’s Supper. The first captivity was the church’s withholding of the cup from the laity and the administration of communion in one kind. Luther passionately opposed this practice. He emphasized Jesus’ insistence that the cup is drunk by “all” of his disciples. He also dissented logically, reasoning that if the Lord’s Supper is given “to the laity, it inevitably follows that it ought not to be withheld from them in either form.” Most important, Luther focused on the fact that “the blood is given to all those for whose sins it was poured out. But who will dare to say that it was not poured out for the laity?” Finally, Luther questioned why the church, if it concedes that the laity receiv