1) Symbolic Presence - This was a view held by many of the early reformers, John Calvin was one if I am not mistaken. They believe that Jesus is merely symbolically present in communion. In the first part of the bread of life discourse in John 6, Jesus does talk about this being a "memorial". As if they stop reading the bible right there. Just a symbol. They do it because Jesus said "do this in memory of me." When they drink the grape juice and crackers, they believe that they are still grape juice and crackers, but they symbolize Christ.
2) Spiritual Presence - This is the one that has infiltrated the Church as we know it. Believers in the spiritual presence believe that Christ is spiritually present in the Eucharist, but no more than Christ is spiritually present all around us in the community. He did say in Matthew 18:20, "for where two or three are gathered in my name, I am in their midst." This is the kind of presence that believers in spiritual presence accept. It is important to note that this is vastly different from the bread and wine becoming his actual body and blood.
3) Consubstantiation - This one is tricky. It is what Martin Luther proposed during the protestant reformation. We have already discussed transubstantiation, so, since the words sound similar, let us compare the roots. "Trans" means "across" and "con" means "with". So, with transubstantiation the bread and wine have gone, and with consubstantiation, the body and blood of Christ exist along with and beside the still existent bread and wine of the unconsecrated host. Yes, they claim that it is still bread and wine, but with Jesus' body and blood in there too. To point out how different this is from Catholic teaching we need only point out how we treat the Eucharist. We worship it (Him). We worship the Eucharist like it is God (because it is). If it wasn't, we would be violating the first commandment.
There you have it. The 3 main Eucharistic Heresies. If you want more evidence on why Christ is truly present, body and blood, soul and divinity in the Eucharist, it will take a bit more than 1 page on my blog... :) But, you could start with a couple other posts I wrote: ...Our Daily Bread... and Prototypes of the Eucharist.
2) Spiritual Presence - This is the one that has infiltrated the Church as we know it. Believers in the spiritual presence believe that Christ is spiritually present in the Eucharist, but no more than Christ is spiritually present all around us in the community. He did say in Matthew 18:20, "for where two or three are gathered in my name, I am in their midst." This is the kind of presence that believers in spiritual presence accept. It is important to note that this is vastly different from the bread and wine becoming his actual body and blood.
3) Consubstantiation - This one is tricky. It is what Martin Luther proposed during the protestant reformation. We have already discussed transubstantiation, so, since the words sound similar, let us compare the roots. "Trans" means "across" and "con" means "with". So, with transubstantiation the bread and wine have gone, and with consubstantiation, the body and blood of Christ exist along with and beside the still existent bread and wine of the unconsecrated host. Yes, they claim that it is still bread and wine, but with Jesus' body and blood in there too. To point out how different this is from Catholic teaching we need only point out how we treat the Eucharist. We worship it (Him). We worship the Eucharist like it is God (because it is). If it wasn't, we would be violating the first commandment.
There you have it. The 3 main Eucharistic Heresies. If you want more evidence on why Christ is truly present, body and blood, soul and divinity in the Eucharist, it will take a bit more than 1 page on my blog... :) But, you could start with a couple other posts I wrote: ...Our Daily Bread... and Prototypes of the Eucharist.
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