Chapter 29 — Of the Lord’s Supper

 

Chapter 29 — Of the Lord’s Supper

1. Purpose of the Supper

The Lord’s Supper was instituted by Christ to be observed frequently until His return. Its purposes include:

• Remembrance of Christ’s sacrifice

• Spiritual nourishment and growth

• Strengthening of faith

• Renewed covenant commitment

• Communion with Christ and His people

The Supper does not repeat Christ’s sacrifice. It proclaims it. The table is not an altar; Christ is not re-offered. His atonement is once-for-all and fully sufficient.

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2. Presence Without Transformation

The Confession rejects transubstantiation and any notion that the bread and wine are changed in substance. The elements remain bread and wine.

Yet the Supper is far more than mental recollection.

Christ is really, spiritually present—not corporally or locally, but by the Holy Spirit. Believers truly feed upon Christ by faith, receiving all the benefits of His death and resurrection.

Again, the distinction is crucial:

• Bread and wine are the signs

• Christ and His benefits are the things signified

• Faith is the instrument of reception

• The Spirit is the agent of efficacy

Unbelievers may receive the elements, but they do not receive Christ. Indeed, they eat and drink judgment—not because the sacrament is magical, but because covenant signs must be approached with discernment.

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3. Fencing the Table

The Supper is for those who:

• Profess faith in Christ

• Examine themselves

• Discern the Lord’s body

This necessitates pastoral oversight. The table belongs to Christ, not to the individual, and the church has a responsibility to guard it lovingly but faithfully.

Hence the strong insistence that the Supper be administered by ordained ministers, who preach the Word, explain the sacrament, and oversee its faithful use.

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4. Unity of Word and Sacrament

In both Baptism and the Supper, Chapters 28 and 29 demonstrate the Confession’s central conviction:

The sacraments never stand alone.
They are the visible Word, confirming what the preached Word declares.

Detached from preaching, sacraments become either ritualism or sentimentality. Joined to the Word and received by faith, they become powerful means by which Christ assures, nourishes, and strengthens His people.

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A Closing Pastoral Word

Taken together, these chapters present a deeply reverent, Christ-centered sacramental theology—one that avoids both bare symbolism and sacramental magic. Baptism marks our entry into the covenant community; the Supper sustains us along the pilgrim road.

Both proclaim the same gospel:

Christ given for sinners—received by faith alone yet graciously confirmed through visible signs ordained by God.