Digging Out the Embedded Church - The Maranatha Community

Probably the most earnest of the Reformers for unity was Martin Bucer (Butzer) (1491-
1551) of Strasbourg, who tried to mediate between the Swiss theologians and Lutherans.
Luther tended to distrust the Swiss; he differed strongly from them on the doctrine of the
Eucharist, insisting on a „real presence of Christ‟ in the elements. Luther‟s basis of unity,
even among fellow Protestants, was truth (and truth as Luther saw it) rather than a yielding of
conviction for the sake of conciliation.
Soon after Luther‟s initial protest against Rome in 1517, reformed Swiss theologians such as
Zwingli and Oecolampadius and German theologians such as Melanchthon, Bucer and
Osiander found themselves drawn, with Luther, to a Colloquy to be held in Philip of Hesse‟s
castle in Marburg in 1529. It only lasted two days. The point of it all was to see how much
these „Protestant‟ scholars could agree.
After lively discussions they found they could agree on 14 of 15 proposals on doctrine. Many
of these, such as that on the Trinity, were universal doctrines agreed by Catholics and
Protestants alike, but it was on the nature of the Eucharist that there was deep disagreement
between Luther and the Swiss. Luther had gone to the Conference only reluctantly as he was
sure the Swiss view was heretical and that they would not change their minds.
The issue was, is the body and blood of Christ really present in the elements of the Eucharist?
Luther was adamant that Jesus‟ words, „This is my body,‟ must be taken at face value as
literally true. Zwingli made the plea to Luther that this must be taken figuratively, and called
for a distinguishing between essential doctrines and non-essential ones. To Luther the
question of the corporeal presence of Christ in the Supper was an essential matter, not a nonessential.
They parted agreeing to differ and not to use bitter words against each other.
The whole debate over ‘essentials’ and ‘non-essentials’ is ongoing and is largely a
Protestant problem. The difference between the two is resolved much more clearly by the
Catholics (for whom it lies in accepting the tradition of the infallible teaching ministry of
the church) and by the Orthodox (for whom it lies in the teaching of the seven Ecumenical
Councils of the universal Church).
What seems to be happening today is that very many Christians are seeing that there are a
few core truths that are true for all true Christians which are sufficient to provide grounds
for unity, while allowing them to hold on to denominational allegiances: confession of
Christ as Saviour and Lord; submission to the Word of God; and confession of a classical
Creed. Pressures of secularism and pluralism are, perhaps, helping us to see more clearly
the essentials from the non-essentials.
A Conference on unity was called for at Eisenach in May 1536. Luther was ill but struggled
to make some contribution to the discussion, and there was some show of unity between the
Germans and the Swiss. 46 As the outcome, the Augsburg Confession was signed by the
delegates.
One of the most disputed doctrines taught by the Church Reformers, justification by faith
alone, was upheld by many Catholic theologians. Martin Luther, who made this truth his
46 Atkinson, James, The Great Light, Luther and the Reformation, Paternoster Church History, Vol iv,
The Paternoster Press, 1968, pp 111-113.
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