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

Summary and Conclusions |
427 It is clear that when Chemnitz precises the term “action” to mean
the consecration, distribution and reception, he in no way intends
to convey the thought that, similar to the Aristotelian model of the
Four Causes, the body and blood are not present until the sumptio.
This is evident from his constant use of phrases such as “under the
bread and the wine the body and blood of Christ are truly present, distributed,
received.” His words are here quite specific that “the meaning
is not that the blessed bread which is divided, which is offered, and
which the Apostles received from the hand of Christ, was not the
body of Christ but becomes the body of Christ when the eating of it
is begun” (Ex. 2, 248). On the basis of Matt. 26:28, it is clear that the
eating and drinking in no way cause the sacramental union. Christ
commands the disciples to drink because this is my blood” (LS 99).
The principle that ministers act in Christ’s stead as His ambassadors
is so fundamental to Chemnitz that he disavows the Reformed view
that not only the consecration but also the absolution are contingent
on other factors that follow Christ’s pronouncement given through
His ministry (Ex. 2, 623).
428 The question the church wants to know and needs to know is: How
can it be certain that the elements it receives are the very body and
blood given and shed for many by the Savior? The question whether
one is a “consecrationist” or a “receptionist,” or the discussion about
the moment of the presence are really secondary to this fundamental
epistemological question. Uncertainty about these latter questions,
of course, stem from the fact that the first question has not really
been answered, or that the answer has been posited in something else
besides Christ’s Word. For Chemnitz the sacrament stands or falls
with the consecration. Only because Christ has effected the miracle
through the minister’s speaking of Christ’s Words of Institution over
certain elements, does the church have the unconditional certainty
that it has the same Supper instituted in the Upper Room. Only
when the Verba are spoken in our Lord’s Supper “are we 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). Since only Christ can
effect the miracle of the Real Presence, the body and blood are only
in those elements of which He has said “This is my body,” etc. The
words are not less effective on our lips than they were on Christ’s, for
He has said that he who hears you hears me. If one cannot be cer-