Theology Thursday: John Calvin on the Lord’s Supper

Often the criticism is implicit, but it is real. And perhaps what is most frustrating is the suggestion that a Reformed evangelical understanding of ministry is just one perspective amongst others – that it lacks some things of value, just as it has some strengths that other approaches lack.

Matthew Mason’s article, A Spiritual Banquet, in Churchman argues that this couldn’t be further from the truth. He analyses Calvin’s theology of the Lord’s Supper and suggests that a truly Reformed understanding is ‘biblically faithful and theologically satisfying.’

The article is an easy read, quickly summarising the four different understandings of the Lord’s Supper which were prevalent at the Reformation – Roman, Lutheran, Zwinglian and Calvinist. He then shows how Calvin’s is preferable.

In particular, Calvin emphasises the doctrine of faith-union whereby the Spirit unites the believer to Christ through the word of God. Speaking personally, I found the consideration of Ephesians 2 and 1 Corinthians 10:16-17 immensely stimulating.

Mason helpfully demonstrates that Cranmer held a basically Calvinist understanding of the Lord’s Supper, so this article will help anyone who wants to have a clearer understanding of the official Anglican theology. It would be very interesting to see what would happen if I suggested to my liberal catholic colleagues that my ‘sacramental theology’ is actually more biblically faithful and theologically satisfying than theirs!

Perhaps more importantly, the summary of Calvin’s teaching is a helpful reminder of the importance of receiving the Lord’s Supper rightly – it is a gift that the Lord Jesus gave us on the night before he died and so not something to be ignored or embarrassed about but something to be used to strengthen our faith in and love of him who died for us.

Mason, Matthew, A Spiritual Banquet: John Calvin on the Lord’s Supper, Churchman 117/4 (2003): 329-346.