THE PROVENANCE OF JOHN CALVIN'S EMPHASIS ON THE ...

proof that only a spiritual eating, which is faith, 726 is availed of believers in the Supper.
For Luther, Christ, in this discourse, is not speaking of the eating partaken of in
sacrament, but explicitly of the eating partaken of apart from the sacrament. 727 So for
both, spiritual eating is, so to speak, unreal in that it is non-corporeal, non-bodily. For
Zwingli, this is the only kind of eating believers experience, whether within or without
the Supper; for Luther, it is the kind of eating partaken of by faith both within and
without the Supper, though in the Supper it is afforded by the very bodily eating there
experienced. 728
Calvin's view, however, falls somewhere between those of Luther and those
whom Luther called fanatics. With Luther, Calvin avers that in John 6, Christ is not
speaking explicitly and exclusively of the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. For Calvin,
the sacrament is a seal of the promises Christ declares in this discourse, namely, that his
flesh is meat and his blood is drink, and that his flesh and blood are truly communicated
to believers in order that he, Christ, might be their life. 729 For Zwingli, eating is faith, is
believing, 730 while for Calvin, eating follows from faith, follows from believing. 731 So
726 For e.g., with reference to Augustine, Zwingli declares in his commentary "On True and
False Religion" (1525): Augustine, therefore, thinks the same kind of eating is necesary (sic) here, as far
as the thing itself is concerned, that is treated in the sixth chapter of John. And this is to have faith in the
Gospel word. We do not, therefore, according to his opinion, in any other way eat Christ than through
faith, trusting in Him as the sure pledge of salvation" (LWZ 3:247).
727 Steinmetz, "Scripture and the Lord's Supper," 76; Lohse, Luther's Theology, 308, 309;
Hazlett, "Development of Martin Bucer's Thinking," 64.
728 Lohse, Luther's Theology, 310-11, with helpful citation to Luther's That These Words of
Christ . . . Still Stand Firm against the Fanatics (1527) (LW 37: 85, 93, and 101; WA 23: 179, 191, and
205 respectively); also Lienhard, Luther: Witness, 211.
729 The Gospel according to St. John 1-10, CNTC 4:170.
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