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

| The Lord’s Supper
Chapter vI
The effects of the
sacramental eating
and Drinking
353 When Martin Chemnitz in 1569 had completed rewriting his original
treatise on the Sacrament of the Altar, 82 he dedicated the book to
the two dukes of Brunswick and Luneburg. In the dedicatory epistle
he reiterates that he simply wants to follow in the steps of Luther
in proclaiming the doctrine of the Sacrament of the Altar, “I had no
desire to bring in anything new but simply was trying to retain the
old, fundamental, and simple teaching and to repeat it out of Luther’s
writings, namely, that the dogma of the Lord’s Supper has its own
proper and peculiar setting (sedes doctrinae), in the Words of Institution,
and that in these words its true meaning must be sought” (LS
21). This also means for Chemnitz that whatever he confesses with
respect to this sacrament is in harmony with the Augsburg Confession
and the Apology (LS 21).
354 As can be quite readily seen from the previous chapters, Chemnitz
follows in great detail what Luther confessed and taught on the
Lord’s Supper. If one asks why the Lutherans appear to be satisfied
to put the emphasis chiefly on the fact that in the Supper the true
body and blood of Christ is present, distributed, and received, the
answer is that with the retention of the Real Presence they have retained
everything God had promised. The Sacrament of the Altar is
a Means of Grace, just as Luther said, “This sacrament is the Gospel”
(LW 36, 289). The forgiveness of sins is the great gift. Luther connects
the forgiveness of sins with the body and the blood. He does
not regard the Real Presence only as a seal and a sign attached to the