The Lord's Supper in the Theology of Martin Chemnitz Bjarne - Logia

The Consecration |
tion must be taken from the Roman Church and therefore the words
of the Canon should be followed and used rather than those of the
Evangelists or St. Paul” (Ex. 2, 111).
198 Chemnitz strongly protests against any procedure that would change
what the Lord has commanded, “They truly strain out a gnat and swallow
a camel (Matt, 23:24). For they ‘leave the commandment of God
and hold fast the tradition of men’ (Mark 7:8). Indeed, for the sake of
their traditions they are not afraid to transgress the commandment
of God (Matt. 15:3)” (Ex. 2, 111). The position of the Lutherans is clear,
“But what the position of our churches is can easily be shown from the
things we have noted down. For in the administration of the sacraments
we distinguish among the ceremonies, and teach that a distinction
must be made. For there are first of all certain rites which are
commanded in the institution and thus are necessary and essential in
the administration of the sacraments. We affirm that in these things
nothing is to be omitted, changed, or abrogated” (Ex. 2, 116).
199 On Eucharistic prayers that incorporate Christ’s Word into the
prayer and are used as an alternative to the Verba, Chemnitz asserts
that “he acts wickedly who takes away the consecration of the Eucharist
from the words of divine institution and transfers it to the
prayers of the Canon which have been patched together by men out
of unsound and sound, or rather, mostly out of unsound materials”
(Ex. 2, 226). In short, Chemnitz feels that he has shown “two things,”
“That the Eucharist is sanctified or consecrated, not by the prayer of
man, but by the word of institution; and that the institution is not
to be mutilated but is to be used in its entirety for the blessing of the
Eucharist and for its administration” (Ex. 2, 228).
200 Quite naturally the question arises as to why Chemnitz puts such
great emphasis on the mandatum dei with regard to the Lord’s Supper.
It is important for Chemnitz because God himself is present and
active through the Word and the elements to which the Word comes.
The doctrine of the sacraments is grounded in Eph. 5:26 (Ex. 2, 244).
Further, the church is the creation of God the Holy Spirit through
the Word and sacrament, and its only function is to provide these
Means of Grace to men so that they might be added to the church
and kept in the one true faith. More precisely, just as the Lord has
committed the preaching of the Gospel to the church so also He has
given the consecration to the church with His command, “This do