Saturday, August 10, 2019

10 differences between Luther and Zwingli SERIES: 4

10 differences between Luther and Zwingli SERIES: 2
And they that understand among the people shall instruct many:
yet they shall fall by the sword, and by flame, by captivity, and by spoil, many days.
Daniel 11:33

4.- Transubstantiation
"Whilst it is undeniable that both Luther and Zwingli rejected Transubstantiation, they did so for different reasons.

The German took a stand against the Roman understanding of the Eucharist because it was ultimately based upon the philosophy of Aristotle.

According to the Vatican, the ‘accidents’ of the bread and wine remain. But their ‘substance’ is wholly transformed so that the worshipper literally feasts upon the body and blood of Christ.

Luther, notwithstanding, did in fact believe in the real presence of Christ; however, that was not down to any Aristotelian conviction but to the omnipresence of the bodily nature of the Lord Jesus (a Lutheran doctrine known as the ubiquity of Christ).

This means that the bread and wine continue being bread and wine (unlike in Roman theology), but that the body of the Lord is physically present alongside and within the elements (somewhat like water in a sponge). Some have helpfully labelled this perspective as Consubstantiation.

Zwingli, not surprisingly, denied any notion of the real presence whatsoever. How can the Son of God by physically present in the Supper, he asked, if Christ is at the right hand of God?

Since the Son of God has a glorified body, He cannot be in two places at the same time."
EvangelicalFocus