Dr Paul Allen

The second church ordinance all Christians practice is the Lord’s Supper, also known as the Lord’s Table, Communion, or the Eucharist, meaning “thanksgiving.” The model is the Passover meal, the Last Supper, as observed by Jesus and his disciples just before his arrest, trials, and crucifixion (Matthew 26:26–29; Mark 14:22–25; Luke 22:14–23; 1 Corinthians 11:23–26). Jesus identified the bread with his body, which he offered as a sacrifice for sin (1 Peter 2:24), and the wine with his blood, which he shed for the forgiveness of sin (Ephesians 1:7). Elsewhere, Jesus is identified with the Passover event itself (1 Corinthians 5:7) and is called the Lamb of God (John 1:29, 36), whose blood cleanses and redeems (1 Peter 1:19).  Transubstantiation As to the meaning of the Lord’s Supper, the Roman Catholic view is called transubstantiation: During the Mass, when the priest consecrates the bread, it actually becomes Christ’s physical body, and when he consecrates the wine, it actual

The doctrine of Transubstantiation is the belief that the elements of the Lord’s table (bread and wine) supernaturally transform into the body and blood of Christ during the Mass. This is uniquely held by Roman Catholics but some form of a “ Real Presence ” view is held by Eastern Orthodox , Lutherans, and some Anglicans. The Calvinist/Reformed tradition believes in a realspiritual presence but not one of substance. Most of the remaining Protestant traditions (myself included) don’t believe in any real presence, either spiritual or physical, but believe that the Eucharist is a memorial and a proclamation of Christ’s work on the cross (this is often called Zwinglianism). The Roman Catholic Council of Trent (1545-1563) defined Transubstantiation this way: By the consecration of the bread and wine there takes place a change of the whole substance of the bread into the substance of the body of Christ our Lord and of the whole substance of the wine into the substance of his blood. Thi