CHAPTER THIRTEEN

THE HOLY COMMUNION

THE SEMIOTIC PROBLEMS

IN

INTERPRETATION

The semiotics of Last Supper renders itself to different people in different levels.  Those who forget the semiotic nature of all sacraments insists on materialistic interpretation and are then faced with problems related to objectivity and scientific reality.  Thus we have a series of stands on what the bread and wine stand for or are in the various churches.  We list here the choices.

1.  Transubstansiation – literal transformation of the bread and wine into body and blood of Jesus.

The proponents of this interpretation is essentially the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Synod of Jerusalem.

1413. By the consecration the transubstantiation of the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ is brought about. Under the consecrated
species of bread and wine Christ
himself, living and glorious, is present in a true, real, and substantial manner: his Body and his Blood, with his soul and his divinity [cf. Council of Trent: DS 1640; 1651.].--" Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC); (C) 1994/1997 United States Catholic Conference, Inc.

The Council of Trent summarizes the Catholic faith by declaring: "Because Christ our Redeemer said that it was truly his body that he was offering under the species of bread, it has always been the conviction of the Church of God, and this holy Council now declares again, that 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. This change the holy Catholic Church has fittingly and properly called transubstantiation." Pg. 347, #1376.

"The Eucharistic presence of Christ begins at the moment of the consecration and endures as long as the Eucharistic species subsist. Christ is present whole and entire in each of the species and whole and entire in each of their parts, in such a way that the breaking of the bread does not divide Christ." Pg. 347 #1377

Hermeneutics principle used here is “if the context permit the literal meaning is intended”..

Spiritus Paraclitus Benedict XV, September 15, 1920

As Jerome insisted, all biblical interpretation rests upon the literal sense ...

Divino Afflante Spiritus, Pius XII, September 30, 1943

... discern and define that sense of the biblical words which is called literal ... so that the mind of the author may be made clear. ... the exegete must be principally concerned with the literal sense of the Scriptures.

The definition of the literal sense:

The sense which the human author directly intended and which his words convey.

The stand here of Romans and the Orthodox is, “If Jesus was indeed God, he meant what he said. We should take all his words to mean literally true.”

If we forget the context and the process of redefining of covenant, the semiotics of literal imposition will then lead to the idea that Jesus was indeed serving his own body on that table!!!  The basic tenent of hermeneutics has always been, “Text taken out of context is a pretext”

Those who partook the Passover supper knew well that the bread was not the bread of affliction that their fathers ate in the dessert,  The disciples understood that  the afikamon that they part took was not really the flesh.  If that was intended, Jesus would make it as real flesh.  Evidently the semiotic implications are lost in the literal interpretation.  The bread and the wine becomes idols.

2.  "Consubstantiation" or "Impanation"— it denies on the one hand the Transubstantiation of bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ, and on the other professes nevertheless the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. The doctrine states that the body and blood of Christ are present in the bread and wine of the Eucharist after consecration but without change in the substance of the bread and wine "The bread retains its substance and ... Christ’s glorified body comes down into the bread through the consecration and is found there together with the natural substance of the bread, without quantity but whole and complete in every part of the sacramental bread."  

This is an attempt to restate the trans-substantiation theory in order to avoid the fact the bread and wine never got the property of the flesh and blood. Again any semiotic character of the bread and wine are thrown away.

It relies on the fact that Jesus is immanent in all creation and so He is there in bread and wine as well. But the question is how does the communion bread and wine gets the presence and not ordinary bread  and wine.  Then is he not there in our daily meals.  Certainly.  They do give the same implication.  In fact every meal is meant to be a communion and remebrance of the redemptive act of God.  Since we don’t do that the church has to do this at least once a week.

3. "Sacramental union"  unio sacramentalis — in the "use" of the sacrament, according to the words of Jesus Christ and by the power of his speaking of them once for all, the consecrated bread is united with his body and the consecrated wine with his blood for all communicants, whether believing or unbelieving, to eat and drink.  This is the Lutheran stand. In the sacramental union the consecrated bread of the Eucharist is united with the body of Christ and the consecrated wine of the Eucharist is united with the blood of Christ by virtue of Christ's original institution with the result that anyone eating and drinking these "elements"—the consecrated bread and wine—really eat and drink the physical body and blood of Christ as well. Lutherans maintain that what they believe to be the biblical doctrine of the manducatio indignorum ("eating of the unworthy") that even unbelievers eating and drinking in the Eucharist really eat and drink the body and blood of Christ  sustains this doctrine as well as any other doctrine affirming the Real Presence. This view was put forward by Martin Luther in his 1528 Confession Concerning Christ's Supper:

4. Objective reality, but pious silence about technicalities" — This is the view of all the ancient Churches of the East, including the Eastern Orthodox, the Oriental Orthodox, the Eastern Catholic Churches and the Assyrian Church of the East as well as perhaps most Anglicans and Lutherans.   

5. "Real Spiritual presence"    Here the presence of Jesus in the elements are considered spiritual and is realized only to the believer.  This is also known as the "mystical presence" view, and is held by most Reformed Christians, such as Presbyterians, as well as some Methodists and some Anglicans, particularly Low Church Reformed Anglicans. This is often called "receptionism".  

5.  "Symbolism" — the bread and wine are symbolic of the body and blood of Jesus Christ, and in partaking of the elements the believer commemorates the sacrificial death of Christ. This view is also known as "memorialism" and "Zwinglianism" after Ulrich Zwingli and is held by several Protestant and Latter-day Saint denominations, including most Baptists.

6.  "Suspension" — the partaking of the bread and wine was not intended to be a perpetual ordinance, or was not to be taken as a religious rite or ceremony (also known as adeipnonism, meaning "no supper" or "no meal"). This is the view of Quakers and the Salvation Army, as well as the hyperdispensationalist positions of E. W. Bullinger, Cornelius R. Stam, and others.

The development of Eucharist is seen in the acts of apostle and the early documents.

The Didache is a manual for church order and Christian living, probably written in Syria around 60 AD.  

The Didache, indicates ritual prayer especially the Lord's Prayer thrice daily and gathering together on the Lord’s day to   "break bread and give thanks,"  

It involved confessing of sins and reconciliation within the body of Christ in prepara. The actual service, followed the orthodox Jewish forms for prayer before and after meals, began with thanksgiving over the cup and the bread and ending with doxology  After the doxology, the worship leader would give thanks over the broken bread, thanking God "for the life and knowledge You have revealed through Jesus, Your Son," concluding with another doxology. This was followed by a community meal in the style of pot luck supper.  

This elaborate suppers were stopped and in that place symbolic meals were instituted as we see in this Paul’s warning:

“1Co 11:23-34   For *I* received from the Lord, that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus, in the night in which he was delivered up, took bread, and having given thanks broke it , and said, This is my body, which is for you: this do in remembrance of me.   In like manner also the cup, after having supped, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood: this do, as often as ye shall drink it, in remembrance of me.  For as often as ye shall eat this bread, and drink the cup, ye announce the death of the Lord, until he come.

 So that whosoever shall eat the bread, or drink the cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty in respect of the body and of the blood of the Lord.  But let a man prove himself, and thus eat of the bread, and drink of the cup.  For the eater and drinker eats and drinks judgment to himself, not distinguishing the body.   On this account many among you are weak and infirm, and a good many are fallen asleep.

   But if we judged ourselves, so were we not judged.   But being judged, we are disciplined of the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world.  So that, my brethren, when ye come together to eat, wait for one another.

If any one be hungry, let him eat at home, that ye may not come together for judgment. But the other things, whenever I come, I will set in order.”

This probably was the beginning of the communion with just broken bread and wine. It was a love feast where the body of Christ came together to bear each others burden and to pray for each other.  As the church became institutionalized it became more Eucharistic and institutional liturgy and blessing became the prerogative of priests.

Between the two extremes lies the truth.  The predominant twenty-first century Protestant evangelical position  was probably an over reaction to the idolatrous stands of the Churches whereby Christ’s words of institution was understood as nothing more than symbolic, and eating the body and blood of Christ is nothing more that putting one’s faith in Christ. But then it should be more than that.  We do believe in praying for the sick and expect a healing.  We ask and we receive.  In all this there is an element which is beyong the material realm through which the presence and activities of living Christ are eternally present. There is no question that the breaking of bread is more than a remembrance.  In that case it cannot bring judgement or weakness or infirmity and death. 

 Contrary to corporeal or carnal presence espoused by Rome and Luther, the humanity of Christ is made present to believers spiritually and the organ of consumption is faith, which is the hand and mouth of our souls (WLC, 170). Therefore, the church confesses that in the Lord’s Supper we “receive into our souls, for our spiritual life, the true body and blood of Christ, our only Savior” (Belgic Confession, 35).  The true nature of how the multidimensional existence of man will remain a mystery.  At any rate this sacrament will carry its meaning to the end of this age when the bridegromm comes for his bride.

Wikipedia summarization:

Roman Catholic Church

• Transubstantiation as a statement of what is changed when the bread and wine are consecrated, not an explanation of the means or mode by which the Real Presence is effected, since "[t]he signs of bread and wine become, in a way surpassing understanding, the Body and Blood of Christ."

• Christ is really (not just in sign or symbol), truly (not just subjectively or metaphorically) and substantially (not just in his power) present in the Eucharist.

• Because the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist is indeed real, not merely figurative or virtual, Eucharistic adoration (adoration of the Eucharist as the body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ) is practised.

• The Eucharist is a sacrifice in that it re-presents (makes present) the sacrifice of the cross.   The sacrifice of Christ and the sacrifice of the Eucharist are one single sacrifice. Christ, of course, is not sacrificed again. The Cross cannot be repeated. The Mass is a liturgical representation of a sacrifice that makes present what it represents through the action of God.   

• Theological development: Saint Ignatius of Antioch,^[  Saint Justin Martyr, the first writer to describe the celebration in Rome of the Eucharist,  Saint Ambrose  Saint Thomas Aquinas,  the Council of Trent.  

• Closed communion, with relaxation of the rule in certain defined circumstances.

• Frequency: All Catholics are obliged to attend celebration of the Eucharist at least on every Sunday and on other days known as holy days of obligation. Priests generally celebrate the Eucharist daily. Reception of Holy Communion is obligatory at least once a year (at Easter time). No particular conditions apply to assistance at Mass, but conditions for receiving Holy Communion are freedom from unconfessed mortal sin and observance of the rules of fasting. These same rules apply to all celebrations of the Eucharist by a priest.

Eastern Orthodox Church

• The Eucharistic mystery bears an objective Real Presence. The bread and wine are believed to become the genuine Body and Blood of the Christ Jesus (a mode of thought supported by such verses as John 6:55) through the operation of the Holy Spirit. The Eastern Orthodox Church has never described exactly how this occurs: without going into details, it is satisfied in accepting that the change is a mystery beyond human understanding.

• The Church's spiritual and bodily sacrifice (by way of prayer, fasting, and confession) is, in a mystical and inexplicable union, fully one with Christ's actual sacrifice on the cross.

• The primary theological developments in regard to the Eucharist are mainly derived from earlier Church Fathers, especially the teachings of John Chrysostom, Ignatius of Antioch, and the Cappadocian Fathers, among others.

• The Divine Liturgy is never celebrated in private, as it is considered necessarily communal; there must be at least two or three people to receive Holy Communion. An exception to this is hermits who have been ordained hieromonks but have no one to serve with them.

• Closed communion is almost exclusively administered. Communion is given only to baptized, chrismated Orthodox Christians who have prepared by fasting, prayer, and confession. The priest administers the Body and Blood of Christ with a spoon directly into the recipient's mouth from the chalice.^[11] From baptism young infants and children are carried to the chalice to receive Holy Communion.^[12]

• The Eucharist is generally celebrated at least weekly on Sundays (and often on Saturdays also), on the "Great Feasts" and on Pascha (Easter). Some laity partake of Holy Communion only four times a year. Members are encouraged to participate as often as it is offered, provided they are properly prepared through prayer, fasting, and recent confession. It is the opinion of some traditionalists that frequent communion is dangerous spiritually if it reflects a lack of piety in approaching the most significant of the Mysteries, which would be damaging to the soul. However, many spiritual advisors advocate frequent reception provided that it is done in the proper spirit and not casually, with full preparation (such as prayer, fasting, and recent confession) and discernment  .

Anglican Communion

• There is a divergence of opinion over eucharistic theology which broadly corresponds to the lines of churchmanship within Anglicanism. Transubstantiation, consubstantiationism, Sacramental Union, (Calvinistic) Spiritual Presence, and (Zwinglian) Dynamic Memorialism are all represented. Which of these views is considered to represent "authentic" Anglican eucharistic theology depends on wider theological and ecclesiological understandings of Anglicanism, in particular the role of pre-Reformation doctrine and practices, versus a more reformed theology, in interpreting the Book of Common Prayer (which has its origins in the works of Thomas Cranmer) and the Thirty-nine Articles (an Anglican formulary developed in the sixteenth century).

• High Church Anglicans tend to believe in the Real (Bodily) Presence. While a minority of Anglo-Catholics adhere to transubstantiation (despite its denunciation in Article XXVIII of the Thirty-nine Articles), the majority of High Church Anglicans do not, and are content simply to let the mystery of the manifestation of Christ remain a mystery. In practice, High Church parishes tend to celebrate the Eucharist weekly (or more frequently) and prefer the term "Eucharist" or "Mass". Reservation and adoration of the sacrament are common practice among many High Anglicans. The pioneering Anglo-Catholic Edward Bouverie Pusey argued for a theology of sacramental union.

• Low Church Anglicans, on the other hand, tend to reject belief in the Real (Bodily) Presence as well as reservation and adoration of the sacrament and adopt a Calvinistic (Spiritual Presence) or Zwinglian (Dynamic Memorialism) view of the Eucharist, resembling views held by Protestant denominations such as Presbyterians and Baptists. Low Church parishes tend to celebrate the Eucharist less frequently (e.g., monthly, but this varies from place to place) and prefer the terms "Holy Communion" or "Lord's Supper".

• Between the High and Low Church positions lies the view that Anglicanism (as a Broad Church) permits a range of theological views, each of which (with the possible exception of the Roman Catholic notion of transubstantiation) is an equally welcome expression of Eucharistic theology within the Anglican context. In practical terms, most Broad Church Anglicans believe Christ is spiritually present in the elements — a theology of consubstantionism or Sacramental Union.

Lutherans and Moravians

• Primary theological development from Martin Luther, Philipp Melanchthon, and the Lutheran Book of Concord of the 16th century.

• Eucharistic theology: the sacramental union is the mode of the Real Presence, the means is the mandate and institution of Christ. This mandate and institution is expressed in the Lutheran divine service as the Words of Institution or the Verba. Statement of Martin Luther:

• Why then should we not much more say in the Supper, "This is my body," even though bread and body are two distinct substances, and the word "this" indicates the bread? Here, too, out of two kinds of objects a union has taken place, which I shall call a "sacramental union," because Christ’s body and the bread are given to us as a sacrament. This is not a natural or personal union, as is the case with God and Christ. It is also perhaps a different union from that which the dove has with the Holy Spirit, and the flame with the angel, but it is also assuredly a sacramental union (WA 26, 442; LW 37, 299-300).

• Body and Blood are "in, with, and under the forms" of bread and wine:  For the reason why, in addition to the expressions of Christ and St. Paul (the bread in the Supper is the body of Christ or the communion of the body of Christ), also the forms: under the bread, with the bread, in the bread [the body of Christ is present and offered], are employed, is that by means of them the papistical transubstantiation may be rejected and the sacramental union of the unchanged essence of the bread and of the body of Christ indicated (FC SD VII, 35; Triglot Concordia, 983; emphasis added). Lutherans do not seek to explain the change, and some designate their beliefs as consubstantiation, while others reject the designation of their doctrine as consubstantiation in contradistinction to the transubstantiation of the Roman Catholic Church, which they also reject  

• Lutherans do not believe that the eucharistic sacrifice (sacrifice of praise) of the Lord's Supper is propitiatory or that it "repeats" Christ's sacrifice on the cross. However, most Lutheran denominations put a great emphasis on the importance of the Sacrament of Communion, and of the main branches of the Reformation Era, the Lutheran view of "Real Presence" is regarded by many theologians to be the closest in theory and practice to the Sacrament of the Catholic and Orthodox Churches.  

• Many Lutheran Church bodies practice closed or close communion. However, the largest Lutheran body in the United States and Canada, the ELCA, allows all believers to partake in the sacrament, as do many of the national Lutheran Churches in the countries of Scandinavia and elsewhere. Also, in recent decades a revival of frequent partaking of the Sacrament has taken place in the mainline Lutheran branches, and the ELCA advises that Communion should be a part of all services

Calvinist (Presbyterian and Reformed)

• primary theological development from John Calvin, 16th century

• Eucharistic theology: historically, real spiritual presence, i.e., pneumatic presence.

• Reformed theology has taught that Jesus' body is seated in heaven at the right hand of God and therefore is not present in the elements nor do the elements turn into his body. When the eucharist is received, however, not only the spirit, but also the true body and blood of Jesus Christ (hence "real") are received in a pneumatic (ghostly) sense, but these are only received by those partakers who eat worthily (i.e., repentantly) with faith. The Holy Spirit unites the Christian with Jesus though they are separated by a great distance.

• See, e.g., Westminster Confession of Faith, ch. 19; Belgic Confession, Article 35; open communion.

• Theology in this tradition is in flux, and recent agreements, especially A Formula for Agreement, between these denominations and the Lutherans have stressed that: "The theological diversity within our common confession provides both the complementarity needed for a full and adequate witness to the gospel (mutual affirmation) and the corrective reminder that every theological approach is a partial and incomplete witness to the Gospel (mutual admonition) (A Common Calling, page 66)." Hence, in seeking to come to consensus about the Real Presence, the churches have written:

• "During the Reformation both Reformed and Lutheran Churches exhibited an evangelical intention when they understood the Lord's Supper in the light of the saving act of God in Christ. Despite this common intention, different terms and concepts were employed which. . . led to mutual misunderstanding and misrepresentation. Properly interpreted, the differing terms and concepts were often complementary rather than contradictory (Marburg Revisited, pp. 103-104);" and further:

• "In the Lord's Supper the risen Christ imparts himself in body and blood, given up for all, through his word of promise with bread and wine....we proclaim the death of Christ through which God has reconciled the world with himself. We proclaim the presence of the risen Lord in our midst. Rejoicing that the Lord has come to us, we await his future coming in glory....Both of our communions, we maintain, need to grow in appreciation of our diverse eucharistic traditions, finding mutual enrichment in them. At the same time both need to grow toward a further deepening of our common experience and expression of the mystery of our Lord's Supper (A Formula for Agreement)."

Methodist

• primary theological development from John Wesley & Charles Wesley, 18th century Anglicans

• Because of historical roots, much Methodist Eucharistic thought is similar to "Broad Church" Anglican thought; some elements of "High Church" and "Low Church" Anglicanism can be found among Methodists, with United Methodists tending to be more "High" in theology if not in practice.

• Eucharist commonly celebrated on Sundays and Holy Days, like Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, but never without a congregation. While monthly observance was once the most commonly found experience, since the 1980s weekly celebration has become more common, and not just on Sundays.

• Eucharistic theology: "Jesus Christ...is truly present in Holy Communion...The divine presence is a living reality and can be experienced by participants; it is not a remembrance of the Last Supper and the Crucifixion only." (from This Holy Mystery), i.e., Real Presence.

• see John Wesley, Open communion, This Holy Mystery

Baptist and other related Evangelicals

• primary theological development from 16th & 17th centuries

• Eucharistic theology: Memorialism

• Independent Baptist hold to the Relational Presence

• "The bread and cup that symbolize the broken body and shed blood offered by Christ remind us today of God's great love for us..." [2]

• see Huldrych Zwingli, open communion

Quakers and the Salvation Army

• primary theological development from 17th century

• Eucharistic theology: suspension/Memorialism

• "The bread and wine remind us of Jesus' body and blood." [3]

• see George Fox

• Quakers understand all of life as being sacramental and thus do not practice baptism or holy communion. "We believe in the baptism of the Holy Spirit and in communion with that Spirit. If the believer experiences such spiritual baptism and communion, then no rite or ritual is necessary. ...The Quaker ideal is to make every meal at every table a Lord's Supper." [4]

• Quakers and Salvationists do not practice Holy Communion in their worship, believing it was not meant to be a perpetually mandated ritual