The Conservative Reformation and Its Theology - Saint Mary ...

to give this thesis a distinct vindication. We affirm, then, that this fourth
proposition is explicitly taught in 1 Cor. x. 16: "The cup of blessing which
we bless, is it not the communion [koinwni÷a] of the blood of Christ? The
bread which we break, is it not the communion [koinwni÷a] of the body of
Christ?" This passage, in its express terms and in its connection, is what
Luther calls it--a thunderbolt upon the heads of errorists in regard to the
Lord's Supper. The figment of Transubstantiation is overthrown by it, for it
expressly mentions bread, and that which communicates cannot be
identical with that which is communicated by it. St. Paul expressly
mentions the two elements; the bread, which is the earthly; the body of our
Lord, which is the heavenly; the sacramental union, and the impartation of
the heavenly in, with, and under the earthly. The passage equally
overthrows all the Rationalistic corruptions of the doctrine. Zwingli says:
The bread is the sign of the body; Paul says: The bread is the communion
of the body; Zwingli says: The wine is the sign of the blood; Paul says: The
cup is the communion of the blood. On Zwingli's theory, any and all bread
is, as such, the sign of Christ's body; on Paul's theory, it is the bread which
we break, that is, the sacramental bread only, which is the communion of
Christ's body; on Zwingli's theory, any wine and all wine is, as such, the
sign of Christ's blood; on Paul's theory, only the cup of blessing, which we
bless, in the Supper, is the communion of Christ's blood; on Zwingli's
theory, the relation of the bread and body is that of symbol and of reality;
on Paul's theory, it is the relation of communicating medium and of the
thing communicated; on Zwingli's theory, we receive the cup to be
reminded of the blood; on Paul's theory, we receive the cup to receive the
blood. On Zwingli's theory, the argument of the Apostle is sophistical and
pointless in the last degree, for as all bread is equally an emblem of
Christ's body as food for the soul, and all wine equally an emblem of
Christ's blood as the refreshing of the soul, any and every eating of bread,
and any and every drinking of wine, would be the communion of His body
and blood; therefore, to eat bread and to drink wine at the table of Demons,
would be, on Zwingli's theory