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

The Consecration |
184 It is further evident that Bugenhagen, just as Luther does in The
Great Confession, interprets the “This do” (1 Cor. 11:24, 25) as a command-word
which embraces the deed-words of the institution so
that the Christians are bound by the command of Christ to say
these words in the name and person of the Savior, and thus are certain
that they have the very body and blood of Christ (LW 37, 181 f.).
Bugenhagen writes:
Examine the institution of Christ which says, This my bread is my
body; this my cup is my blood, etc. How do we have all this? Through
the institution of Christ. He Himself thus instituted, ordained, and
desired it. Christians embrace this institution and give thanks [to Him].
Therefore it would be folly to omit these words of institution, and a sin
not to trust in them. For without these [words], I ask, what would we
look for in the bread and the cup?
The minister of our church publicly recites these words of the sacred
institution over the bread and the cup which have been placed upon
the altar, without any breathing (as they mockingly charge us), since he
knows that here nothing can take place through his own power but that
all takes place by the power and the institution of Christ. And he recites
[the Words of Institution] so that those who are to commune know
how to conduct themselves with regard to this sacrament and what to
believe. Against the Sacramentarians this institution replies that it is
perpetual for us and that the ordinance of Christ, which is effective, will
endure to the end of the world; that there is for us who eat and drink
the body and blood of Christ. He does not demand or command that
we make the body and blood of Christ. That is given to us; with grateful
heart and with rejoicing in this act we accept it. We do not presume to
make [the body and blood] because Christ does not command it, and
we are unable to do it. For He says, This is my body, this is my blood. He
does not say, Make my body, make my blood. He does not desire makers
of His body and blood but communicants, that is, that we eat the body
of the Lord and drink the blood in His remembrance, which body and
blood He has given through His institution; these we do not make for
ourselves (HS 127 f.). 49
185 Several points emerge from Bugenhagen’s somewhat emotional
explanation:
1. Christ’s command,“Do this,” includes the consecration, the distribution
and the reception of the body and blood of Christ.
2. The command of Christ is specific that the minister speak the Words
of Institution over the elements on the altar prepared for the Lord’s
Supper.
3. The officiant acts in the stead and on behalf of the Savior when He
consecrates the elements, because the Savior has so instituted and
commanded it.