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

| The Lord’s Supper
the same Supper as the one the Lord instituted in the Upper Room.
Hence their innermost conviction and confession that when the
words, “This is my body” sound forth from Jesus’ lips, that takes place
which the words say. Luther is right when he in this context quotes
the Psalmist, “So His word surely is not merely a word of imitation,
but a word of power which accomplishes what it expresses, Psalm 33
[:9], ‘He spake, and it came to be’” (LW 37, 181).
the reliquiae
306 As Chemnitz unfolds his doctrine of the Lord’s Supper, it is evident
that he has poured the results of his study of the Words of Institution
into the axiom: “Nothing has the character of a sacrament
apart from the use instituted by Christ, or apart from the divinely instituted
action” (SD VII, 85). But, as has already been emphasized, the
terms “use” and “action” in the context of the Lord’s Supper are not
only synonymous, but over against their generalized vague meaning,
they have an extremely precise meaning (see p. 13 f.). Within the prescribed
“action” of the Savior, the bread and the wine have become
the body and blood of Christ, which are then to be eaten and drunk.
Chemnitz is quite explicit, “It conflicts with the Words of Institution
when the bread which has been blessed is not distributed, not
received, not eaten” (Ex. 2, 281).
307 The promise given in the Sacrament is that we receive “the most
certain and most excellent pledge of our reconciliation with God, of
the forgiveness of sins, of immortality and future glorification” (Ex. 2,
233). But the impartation of these gifts depends upon the ordinance
and command of God in His last will and testament. The Son of God
has “prescribed” a “particular action . . . in the institution” (Ex. 2, 304;
see also Ex. 2, 245). With the mandata in the Verba, the Savior has
prescribed a three-fold action, “bless, break, and distribute.” Chemnitz’s
doctrinal stance in this respect can be better understood from
an approving quotation by Humbert, bishop of Sylva Candida,
We read that the Lord did not teach His disciples an imperfect
but a perfect commemoration, blessing the bread and at once breaking
and distributing it. For He did not just bless it and then reserve it to be
broken the next day, neither did He only break it and then lay it away;
but having broken it, He immediately distributed it . . . . For whatever
of these three [i.e., bless, break, distribute] is done without the rest,
namely, either blessing without breaking and distribution, or breaking