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

Presumably Zwingli would not have sanctioned such a confession, given the
expressions that something corporeal, Christ's flesh and blood, is received spiritually,
that is, "by the Holy Spirit." 864 Furthermore, as vom Berg has noted, Bullinger
maintains that Christ, not the congregation, is the active subject in the celebration of the
sacrament, and the congregation is the passive recipient of what is offered. So by the
1560s, Bullinger's expression has moved well beyond Zwingli's and is, in fact, more
like that of Calvin's, though, again, Bullinger stops short of declaring the sacrament an
instrument, a means of grace in the strong sense. 865
In the mid 1540s, Calvin and Bullinger strove to formulate a statement of
agreement on the Lord's Supper, as much for political as for theological reasons. The
agreement, Consensio mutua in re sacramentaria ministrorum Tigurinae ecclesiae, et
D. Ioannis Calvini ministri Genevensis ecclesiae, iam nunc ab ipsis autoribus edita, 866
was drawn up in May 1549, edited in August 1549, and finally printed in February or
March 1551. As noted in chapter two above, in their correspondence prior to the
development of the actual articles of consensus, Calvin repeatedly asserts that the
864 See the discussion of Zwingli above.
865 All of this is consistent with Bullinger's expression in his 1556 Summa christenlicher
Religion (Zurich). Gordon summarizes Bullinger's doctrine there in this way: In the meal, "[t]he believer
receives the body of Christ in a spiritual manner, for although Christ had a human body and suffered
physically on the cross, he, in the classic Zwinglian formulation, is now physically at the right hand of the
Father. His presence in the world, therefore, cannot be through any visible form, but in the hearts of the
faithful alone, to whom, through the Holy Spirit, he communicates all the benefits of his 'holy body' and
suffering" (Gordon, "Bullinger's Vernacular Writings: Spirituality and the Christian Life," Architect of
Reformation, 130).
866 CO 7:735-44; OS 2:247-53. "The Latin text of the Consensus appeared at about the same
time (February/March [1551]) in both Zurich and Geneva. Calvin published a French translation a short
time later: L'Accord passé et conclude touchant la matière des sacremens, entre les ministres de l'église
de Zurich, et Mastre Iehan Calvin minister de l'église de Genève (Geneva 1551—Recueil des opuscules,
1137-45). Bullinger produced a German translation: Einhälligkeit der Dienern der Kilchen zu Zürich und
herren Joannis Calvini Dieners der Kilchen zu Genff deren sy sic him Handel der heyligen Sacramenten
gägen andern erklärt und vereinbared habend (Zurich, 1551)" (de Greef, Writings of John Calvin, 189).
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