Section 32. The nature of our Savior's true presence explained. The mode of it incomprehensible.
Q32Another Calvin disclaimer Now, should any one ask me as to the mode, I will not be ashamed to confess that it is too high a mystery either for my mind to comprehend or my words to express; and to speak more plainly, I rather feel than understand it. The truth of God, therefore, in which I can safely rest, I here embrace without controversy. He declares that his flesh is the meat, his blood the drink, of my soul; I give my soul to him to be fed with such food. In his sacred Supper he bids me take, eat, and drink his body and blood under the symbols of bread and wine. I have no doubt that he will truly give and I receive.
(Q32 Indeed, all of this is to wonderful for any of our finite minds to comprehend. On this point John Calvin should rest. We would all do well to rest on the promises of God, Who can not lie.
John Calvin in this diatribe of repudiation of Catholic Communion Dogma, readily and unashamedly admits knowing nothing of, as he calls it the 'mode', referring to the Lord's spiritual administration of His Body and Blood. In this Calvin disqualifies himself with his very own words, even as he has correctly disqualified some of the 'hyperbolic' others, who have vainly attempted to legitimize, through carnal reasoning, their version of the Catholic Doctrine of Communion.
Should Communion not be the Doctrine of God the Father, Who through His Spirit gave instructions to His obedient, loving Son, Jesus Christ? Yes, Jesus Christ, the very Word of God the Father, Who spoke of His Father's Doctrine of Salvation? At the feast of Tabernacles; John 7:14-18 Jesus answered them and said, "My doctrine is not mine, but His that sent me. If any man will do His will he shall know of the doctrine, whether the doctrine be of God or if I speak of Myself." And again, just before the Passover feast, or the Last Supper, (John 12:44-50) the Lord said: For I have not spoken of Myself; but the Father which sent me, He gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak. And I know that His commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto Me, so I speak." During the Lord's communion table talk; (John 14:23-24) Jesus answered and said unto him, "If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and We will come unto him, and make our abode with him. He that loveth me not, keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me." And the last of the Lord's declaration was during that same final table talk of what is called the high priestly prayer in John 17, where after the communion was given to His disciples, we hear this in His pray to His Father: (John 17:7-8) "For I have given unto them the Words, which Thou gave Me; and they have received them," etc.
It is God the Father's Doctrine on Communion that even today men will argue vehemently over its meaning, and set at naught through their foolishness, the power and wisdom of the Almighty. The arguments that persist today is not just with men, but also with God, Who alone justifies man, not by their wisdom, but by their faith in God's covenant Word. Apart from this wisdom we are all disqualified.
Only, I reject the absurdities which appear to be unworthy of the heavenly majesty of Christ, and are inconsistent with the reality of his human nature. Since they must also be repugnant to the word of God, which teaches both that Christ was received into the glory of the heavenly kingdom, so as to be exalted above all the circumstances of the world (Luke 24:26), and no less carefully ascribes to him the properties belonging to a true human nature. This ought not to seem incredible or contradictory to reason (Iren. Lib. 4 cap. 34); because, as the whole kingdom of Christ is spiritual, so whatever he does in his Church is not to be tested by the wisdom of this world; or, to use the words of Augustine, “this mystery is performed by man like the others, but in a divine manner, and on earth, but in a heavenly manner.” Such, I say, is the corporeal presence which the nature of the sacrament requires, and which we say is here displayed in such power and efficacy, that it not only gives our minds undoubted assurance of eternal life, but also secures the immortality of our flesh, since it is now quickened by his immortal flesh, and in a manner shines in his immortality. Those who are carried beyond this with their hyperboles, do nothing more by their extravagancies than obscure the plain and simple truth. If any one is not yet satisfied, I would have him here to consider with himself that we are speaking of the sacrament, every part of which ought to have reference to faith. Now by participation of the body, as we have explained, we nourish faith not less richly and abundantly than do those who drag Christ himself from heaven. Still I am free to confess that that mixture or transfusion of the flesh of Christ with our soul, which they teach, I repudiate, because it is enough for us that Christ, out of the substance of his flesh, breathes life into our souls, nay, diffuses his own life into us, though the real flesh of Christ does not enter us.645 I may add, that there can be no doubt that the analogy of faith by which Paul enjoins us to test every interpretation of Scripture, is clearly with us in this matter. Let those who oppose a truth so clear, consider to what standard of faith they conform themselves: “Every spirit that confessed not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God” (1 John 4:3); 2 John ver. 7). These men, though they disguise the fact, or perceive it not, rob him of his flesh.
Anyone who tries to explain the communion body and blood of Jesus Christ beyond faith in God and His Doctrine, only digs themselves into a black hole.
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33.
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of Christ.
Spiritual not oral, and yet real. Erroneous view of the Schoolmen.
Communion