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

without blessing and distribution, does not display a perfect memory of
Christ, even as distribution without blessing and breaking. (Ex. 2, 298;
emphasis added).
308 In his preliminary statement before examining in detail the Tridentine
Confession on these controverted points, Chemnitz sets down
the basic meaning of the Verba,
Therefore the Words of Institution are spoken in our Lord’s Supper,
not merely for the sake of history but to show to the church that Christ
Himself through His Word according to His command and promise, is
present in the action of the Supper and by the power of this Word offers
His body and blood to those who eat. For it is He who distributes,
though it be through the minister; it is He who says: “This is my body.”
It is He who is efficacious through His Word, so that the bread is His
body and the wine His blood. In this way, and because of this, we are sure
and believe that in the Lord’s Supper we eat, not ordinary bread and wine,
but the body and blood of Christ (Ex. 2, 229; emphasis added).
And as the succeeding texts demonstrate, Chemnitz has drawn these
facts from the words that Christ has said, “Do this in remembrance
of me” (Ex. 2, 230). The “basic principle” is that “the institution is the
norm and rule from which and according to which all such questions
and disputes [i.e., whether the consecrated bread should be distributed
or reserved] are to be decided” (Ex. 2, 249).
the Mandata Dei
The Consecration |
309 There are commands and ordinances for the church of God, and
since they express the will of God, the church of God will carefully
follow them. Hence obeying these mandata dei is not a form of legalism
since they actually protect the Christians from legalistic practices
which have no foundation in the revealed will of God. There is always
the danger that “in the administration of the Sacraments more importance
is attached to the ceremonies invented and received by man
than to the ceremonies instituted and commanded by the voice of the Son
of God” (Ex. 2, 109; emphasis added). As a safeguard against all the
caprices and extravagant notions of men for beautifying and making
more meaningful the administration of the sacraments, Chemnitz
insists that
the whole action is performed and administered in a certain way and
with a specific divinely instituted ceremony. How this ought to be done
has been stated in Scripture and traced beforehand for the church in a