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THE CALVINISTIC DOCTRINE OF THE LORD’S SUPPER PROFESSOR JEAN CADIER MONTPELLIER UNIVERSITYETUDES THEOLOGIQUES ET RELIGIEUSESLA DOCTRINE CALVINISTE DE LA SAINTE CENEPublication Trimestrielle de la Faculté de Théologie Protestante de MontpellierVingt-Sixième Année 1951 No. 1 – 2Translation by Rev. Bassam M. Madany
“The first writings of the Reformation bear the stamp of a profound adoration of the person of Jesus Christ.” P. 14“The Church is a divine institution designed to bring us to Christ. Everything that the Church brings to us, Word and Sacraments have but one aim:
to bring us into a relationship with the Son of God who is the source of life.” 
P. 17“For Calvin, the Lord’s Supper is the place where our living encounter with Christ takes place,Christ being the source of true life.”“According to Calvin, the Lord’s Supper is the sign, the sacrament which declares to us that JesusChrist is the food of the believing soul, and the source of its life. By means of this sacrament,Jesus who is the glorified and living One communicates His life to us. Even though He issovereignly elevated in the glory of the Father, He gives himself to us by the action of the HolySpirit, and thus gives us His presence. The center of the Lord’s Supper is truly a communion, a personal relationship with Christ. All of Calvin’s interpretations of the Eucharistic mystery arestamped with his mystical fervor.
Jesus Christ is the Bread of Life, the One who feeds oursouls with His heavenly life.”
P. 146“In 1532, Farel came to Geneva and preached the Gospel. The city council was alarmed andordered him to leave the city.
‘Farel declared that he was no trumpet of sedition, but a preacher of the truth, for which he was ready to die. He showed credentials from Bern, which made animpression. He was also summoned to the Episcopal Council … he was treated with insolence.‘Come thou, filthy devil,’ said one of the canons,* ‘art thou baptized? Who invited you hither?Who gave you authority to preach?’ Farel replied with dignity:‘I have been baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, and am not adevil. I go about preaching Christ, who died for our sins and rose for our justification.Whoever believes in him will be saved; unbelievers will be lost. I am sent by God as amessenger of Christ, and am bound to preach Him to all who will hear me.’” 
*canon, “is a clergyman belonging to the chapter or the staff of a cathedral. (Webster’sNinth Collegiate Dictionary, 1984)
“Calvin was appointed assistant professor of theology in January, 1539. He lectured on the
Gospel of John, the Epistle to the Romans,
and other books of the Bible. Many students camefrom Switzerland and France to hear him, who afterwards returned home as evangelists.”
 
“The Lord, ‘he says,’ has dealt us a severe blow in taking from us our infant son; but it is our Father who knows what is best for His children.’ He found compensation for his want of offspring in the multitude of his spiritual children. ‘God has given me a little son, and taken himaway; but I have myriads of children in the whole Christian world.”
Conclusion
“The study which we have undertaken of the Calvinistic doctrine of the Lord’s Supper and of itsevolution in Calvinism throughout the centuries, has allowed us to notice a clear shift from the
mystical position of Calvin to the moral position of the Protestant theologians of the 18
th
and 19
th
centuries.
This happens to be the position of the majority of the Reformed people in our days.“For Calvin, the Lord’s Supper is the sign, the sacrament that declares to us that Jesus Christ isthe food of the believing soul, and the source of its life. By means of this sacrament, Jesus Christwho is the glorified and living One communicates His life to us. Even though He is sovereignlyexalted in the glory of His Father, He gives Himself to us by the action of the Holy Spirit andgrants us His presence. The center of the Lord’s Supper is truly a communion, a personalrelationship with Christ. All the expositions of Calvin concerning the Eucharistic mystery arestamped with his mystical fervor.
Jesus Christ is the bread of life, the One who feeds our soulswith His heavenly life.
[Emphasis is mine: BMM]“We have noticed that the successors of Calvin, Beza, Peter Martyr, and the rest of the reformersof the 17
th
century, preserved this concept of the Lord’s Supper and maintained it with vigor.“However, due to the long controversies with the Roman Catholics, this position of the Reformedleaders with respect to the Lord’s Supper was abandoned. This happened gradually. The originalReformed doctrine, namely,
communion with Christ and the real presence by the Holy Spirit,was no longer held among the reformers.
For example, one of the 18
th
century Genevatheologians, Benedict Pictet, rather emphasized the declaration of the Lord’s Supper relative tothe remission of sins. This difference in the position of the Reformed theologians appeared nowin the modifications and revisions of the forms for the celebration of the Lord’s Supper. Thesentence:
‘Jesus is the true heavenly bread for the nourishment of our souls’
was replaced by:
‘Jesus is the true Passover Lamb who has been offered for us.’
The latter statement is one of the great truths of the Gospel. It is also an element in the message of the sacrament of the Lord’sSupper.
But it is not the primitive position of the Calvinistic Reformation. Henceforth, theaccent is placed on the moral side of the Christian life.
[Emphasis is mine, BMM]“From then on and with a logical evolution, the Lord’s Supper becomes a sacrament to be feared,a sacrament that demands long preparations and examinations of the conscience. It is rarelycelebrated. An erroneous notion of the dignity of the communicant, which is then defined as amoral dignity, and not as previously understood in terms of the fervent faith, keeps a greatnumber of believers from the Lord’s Table. This moralistic concept has continued in our churchesfrom the 18
th
century down to our own days.“We believe that we should return to the Calvinistic doctrine and rediscover the profoundlymystical** meaning that the Reformer had given to the Lord’s Supper. It will be also convenientto return to a more frequent celebration of the sacrament, and to give to the Christian worshipservice this Eucharistic element without which it remains an incomplete worship service. We areconvinced that a return to the Calvinistic position will contribute a great deal to the spiritualenrichment of the Reformed churches. “Pp. 146,147
2
 
**Mystical: “dates back to the 15
th
century, having a spiritual meaning or reality that isneither apparent to the senses, nor obvious to the intelligence.” (Webster’s Ninth CollegiateDictionary, 1984)“Having a spiritual character or reality beyond the comprehension of human reason” Funk & Wagnalls New International Dictionary of the English Language, ComprehensiveEdition, 1987The Value of the Correspondence between Calvin and Melanchthon
Living at a time when many large factions of the Protestant Churches are trying to get closer together, by sacrificing many essential and valuable doctrines, a question might come to us aboutthe causes that led to the divisions of Protestantism from the beginnings of the ReformationIt cannot be denied that there was a continual contact between the Lutheran and the ReformedChurches in their earlier days, yet the unity of these two branches never took place owing toseveral reasons. The quick spread of the doctrines of the Anabaptists, caused Luther to besuspicious of every movement that did not conform to his teachings. Thus we notice hisunfriendly attitude toward Zwingli, and the Evangelical Churches of Switzerland; and later on,his unfriendly position toward Calvin.To charge Calvin with intolerance would mean a complete ignorance of the facts relating to thefriendship of the Reformer with Melanchthon. Indeed, Calvin was never indifferent. He was sureof the call of God, Who used him as an instrument to bring back the Christians to the pureteachings of the Scriptures; and he would have betrayed the cause of Christ, if he ever thought of compromising with the messengers of the Evil One.Calvin and Melanchthon were first acquainted by correspondence through Bucer in the fall of 1538, and their intimate friendship continued to their last days. Melanchthon was twelve yearsolder than Calvin, as Luther was thirteen years older than Melanchthon. Calvin sought thefriendship of his German brother, and he always treated him with reverential affection. Hededicated to him his
Commentary on Daniel,
describing him as,
“a man who, on account of hisincomparable skill in the most excellent branches of knowledge, his piety, and other virtues, isworthy of the admiration of all the ages.”
Melanchthon, in sincere humility, acknowledged the superiority of his younger friend as atheologian and disciplinarian, and called him emphatically
“the theologian.” 
They both hadmany points of contact. They devoted all their learning to the reformation of the Church; theywere equally conscientious and unselfish; agreed in all essential doctrines; and deplored thedivisions in the Protestant ranks.They differed also on minor points of doctrine, and discipline that sprang from the peculiar constitution of each one’s mind. Their sincere and lasting friendship is a most remarkabletestimony that a deep spiritual union and harmony may co-exist with theological differences onnon essential points.In their first personal interview at Frankfort, in February 1539, they at once became intimate, andfreely discussed the questions of the day relating to doctrine, worship and discipline. After the
Colloquy at Regensburg,
they did not see each other any more, but continued to correspond asmuch as their time and duties would permit.
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e4unity

Bassam- Pleased to find you here on Scribd; a marvelous place to add the many fine documents that you have blessed the churches with. I first met you through John Armstrong. Even though we can't get the various churches to agree on the way to "describe in words" the sacrament the Lord gave us upon instituting the New Covenant in His blood, we all learn the reality of The Bread from heaven given for our redemption which we must partake of in order to have the life of the age to come in us. In advocating the unity of the Body of Christ, I have begun to emphasize more than ever the "community", the sharing of His life with oneanother; Christ in the midst of His People, as the real presence. John Paul Todd

reply05 / 14 / 2009
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