These words of Christ cannot be understood symbolically, as the rebaptizers and other Reformed churches do, because
- Our Lord Christ, in the words of institution, tells us that He gives us that body of His, which He has given for us, and that blood of His, which He has shed for us.
- The Apostle Paul tells us that in the Lord’s Supper the cup is the communion with the blood of Christ, and that the bread is the communion with the body of Christ.
1 Cor. 10:16: The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communionof the blood of Christ? the bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?
- The Apostle Paul states, that he that partakes of the Lord’s Supper in an unworthy manner is guilty of sinning – not against the bread and wine – but against Christ’s body and blood.
1 Cor. 11:27: Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.
- The words of institution are words of a divine institution and testament.
Gal. 3:15: Though it be but a man’s covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannuleth or addeth thereto.
Luther: “For as the lips of Christ say and speak, so it is, as He can never lie or deceive.”
