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

| The Lord’s Supper
all things to Himself. Clearly and expressly there are mentioned in this
subjection the beasts of the field, the fowls of the air, the fish of the sea,
and whatever other works are from the hands of God, whether in heaven
or on earth or under the earth, even the enemies of Christ, and thus even
the devil and death itself (Psalm 8:6–8; Phil. 2:9; Gal. 4:11; 1 Cor. 15:57),
where as a correlative to this subjection Paul places a dominion which in
Psalm 8:6 is described by the word Mosel, which signifies to have power,
dominion, and rule over someone and to work in a powerful way. Christ’s
human nature, therefore, cannot and ought not be removed or excluded
from the general dominion which he possesses and exercises over all
things or from the administration of the world, since Scripture expressly
affirms that all things, even those things which are outside the church,
have been put under Christ’s feet.
We have shown in many preceding statements that these passages
must be understood, not only of Christ’s divine nature but properly
also of the subjection of all things which the human nature in Christ
has received in time through the exaltation. Not that the human nature
rules by itself, but the person in, with, and through each nature rules
powerfully over all things with a rule which the divine Logos possesses
from eternity but which the humanity has received in time because of
the personal union. (TNC 462 f.)
112 This much of the text should justify the conclusion that Chemnitz
taught the general omnipresence and omnipotence of Christ’s human
nature. If not, the very next sentence clinches the argument, a
sentence which Pieper observes that the noted commentator of the
Formula of Concord, F. H. R. Franck, omitted, even though it is of
central importance to the issue, 22 “But the humanity in and with the
Logos rules all things, not in the sense of being absent, far away, or
removed by an immense interval of space, or through some vicarious
work and administration, such as kings are accustomed to exercise
when their power is extended widely through many distant provinces”
(TNC 463; emphasis added).
113 Since the omnipresence of Christ, also according to His human
nature, not only includes the church but all things, Chemnitz takes
note of the fact that “the arguments and questions center in whether
the body of Christ is also in wood and stones, in fruit, in the birds
of the air, the beasts of the field, and the fish of the sea, or whether
He wishes to be sought and found there. Furthermore, some questions
are asked which are foul to hear and abominable to imagine,
which cannot be considered or even asked without blasphemy, such
as whether the divine nature, which is everywhere, is found in excreta
and sewage” (TNC 463; emphasis added).