Ordinances

By the consecration of the bread and wine there takes place a change of the whole substance of the bread into the substance of the body of Christ our Lord and of the whole substance of the wine into the substance of His blood

The Roman Catholic Church teaches that by the consecration of the bread and wine there takes place a change of the whole substance of the bread into the substance of the body of Christ and of the whole substance of the wine into the substance of His blood; this change is called transubstantiation. Here is what we read in the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

‘Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us," is present in many ways to his Church: ….. But "he is present... most especially in the Eucharistic species." The mode of Christ's presence under the Eucharistic species is unique. It raises the Eucharist above all the sacraments as "the perfection of the spiritual life and the end to which all the sacraments tend." In the most blessed sacrament of the Eucharist "the body and blood, together with the soul and divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ and, therefore, the whole Christ is truly, really, and substantially contained." This presence is called 'real' - by which is not intended to exclude the other types of presence as if they could not be 'real' too, but because it is presence in the fullest sense: that is to say, it is a substantial presence by which Christ, God and man, makes himself wholly and entirely present." It is by the conversion of the bread and wine into Christ's body and blood that Christ becomes present in this sacrament. ….. The Council of Trent summarizes the Catholic faith by declaring: "Because Christ our Redeemer said that it was truly his body that he was offering under the species of bread, it has always been the conviction of the Church of God, and this holy Council now declares again, that by the consecration of the bread and wine there takes place a change of the whole substance of the bread into the substance of the body of Christ our Lord and of the whole substance of the wine into the substance of his blood. This change the holy Catholic Church has fittingly and properly called transubstantiation." The Eucharistic presence of Christ begins at the moment of the consecration and endures as long as the Eucharistic species subsist. Christ is present whole and entire in each of the species and whole and entire in each of their parts, in such a way that the breaking of the bread does not divide Christ.’ (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1373, 1374, 1375, 1376, 1377). Those who refuse to believe this dogma are cursed: ‘If any one denieth, that, in the sacrament of the most holy Eucharist, are contained truly, really, and substantially, the body and blood together with the soul and divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, and consequently the whole Christ; but saith that He is only therein as in a sign, or in figure, or virtue; let him be anathema’ (Council of Trent, Session XIII, Canon I).

Since the ‘sacrament’ of Eucharist contains really the body and blood together with the soul and divinity of Jesus Christ, it is worthy to be worshiped: ‘In the liturgy of the Mass we express our faith in the real presence of Christ under the species of bread and wine by, among other ways, genuflecting or bowing deeply as a sign of adoration of the Lord. "The Catholic Church has always offered and still offers to the sacrament of the Eucharist the cult of adoration, not only during Mass, but also outside of it, reserving the consecrated hosts with the utmost care, exposing them to the solemn veneration of the faithful, and carrying them in procession." (CCC 1378). Those who say that it is not to be worshiped are cursed, for the Council of Trent stated: ‘If any one saith, that, in the holy sacrament of the Eucharist, Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, is not to be adored with the worship, even external of latria; and is, consequently, neither to be venerated with a special festive solemnity, nor to be solemnly borne about in processions, according to the laudable and universal rite and custom of holy church; or, is not to be proposed publicly to the people to be adored, and that the adorers thereof are idolators; let him be anathema’ (Council of Trent, Session XIII, Canon VI)

Confutation

The Holy Scripture teaches that the bread we eat and the wine we drink at the Lord’s Supper, are just symbols, for the bread symbolizes the body of Christ while the wine symbolizes the blood of Christ. Therefore when they are blessed the substance of the bread does not change into the substance of the body of Christ nor does the substance of the wine change into the substance of the blood of Christ.

Let us look at some biblical passages which confirm what I have just stated.

● When Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper He said to His disciples: “Do this in remembrance of Me” (1 Corinthians 11:24,25 - NKJV). Therefore Jesus Christ can’t be present really and substantially in the bread and in the wine with His body and blood, together with His soul and divinity.

● Paul says that whenever we eat this bread and drink the cup of the Lord we “proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes” (1 Corinthians 11:26 – NKJV). Therefore, after we bless the bread and the cup, the Lord does not come into the bread and the wine with His body and blood and soul and divinity.

● The Scripture says that Jesus took the cup and gave thanks and gave it to His disciples, saying: “Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood of the New Covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom” (Matthew 26:28-29 – NKJV), Note that Jesus called what was in the cup ‘this fruit of the vine’ (or “the fruit of the vine” according to Mark 14:25) after He had given thanks. Therefore the substance of the wine did not change into the substance of His blood after He gave thanks; there was no transubstantiation.

● Luke says that Jesus also took the cup after supper, saying: “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you” (Luke 22:20 – NKJV). As you can see, Jesus called the cup the new covenant. Now we know that the new covenant is not a cup but a covenant that God has made with us through the blood of Christ; therefore with those words Jesus meant that the cup represented or symbolized the New Covenant in His blood. The same thing must be said, therefore, about the following words Jesus said about the wine in the cup: “This is My blood of the new covenant ….” (Mark 14:24 – NKJV). Jesus did not mean that the wine in the cup was His blood but He meant that the wine represented His blood. Therefore, to sum up, the wine in the cup represents both the New Covenant and the blood of Christ.

● Paul said to the Corinthians: “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?” (1 Corinthians 10:16). Therefore whenever we drink the cup of the Lord we have communion with the blood of Christ, and whenever we eat the bread we have communion with the body of Christ. This excludes that the wine and the bread are the true blood and the true body of Christ. That the wine and the bread of the Lord’s Supper are not the true blood and the true body of Christ is clear from what Paul says immediately after: “Behold Israel after the flesh: are not they which eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar?” (1 Corinthians 10:18) The Italian Bible Riveduta Version reads: “Guardate l’Israele secondo la carne; quelli che mangiano i sacrificî non hanno essi comunione con l’altare?” that is, “Observe Israel after the flesh: Do not those who eat of the sacrifices have communion with the altar?” This means that whenever the Israelites ate the sacrifices which were offered upon the altar, they had communion with the altar which was most holy. Therefore just as we can’t say that the sacrifices the Israelites ate were the altar, so we can’t say that the wine and the bread which are blessed at the Lord’s Supper are the true blood and the true body of Christ for those who partake of the Lord’s Supper have just communion with the blood and the body of Christ. In other words, those who drink the cup of the Lord and eat the bread have communion with the blood and the body of Christ but they don’t drink the true blood of Christ nor do they eat the true body of Christ, for the wine and the bread do not change their substance after they are blessed. I ask you this question, ‘If after the wine and the bread of the Lord’s Supper have been blessed there took place a change of the whole substance of the bread into the substance of the body of Christ our Lord and of the whole substance of the wine into the substance of His blood, how could the wine still become vinegar and the bread go mouldy?

● When Jesus said about the bread: “This is My body,” and about the wine: “This is my blood”, He meant that the bread represented His body while the wine represented His blood. This is confirmed by the fact that when Joseph interpreted the dream of the chief butler and the dream of the chief baker of the king of Egypt he said to the former: “The three branches are three days ….,” and to the latter: “ The three baskets are three days” (Genesis 40:12, 18 – NKJV). In both cases ‘are’ means ‘represent’ or ‘symbolize’. The bread and the wine of the Lord’s Supper, therefore, are just symbols, for they symbolize the body and the blood of Christ.

In the light of the above mentioned passages of the Scripture, I conclude that transubstantiation is nothing but one of the many lies taught by the Roman Catholic Church, and thus it must be rejected. As a consequence, the worship of the ‘sacrament’ of Eucharist also is to be rejected; anyone who worships it is an idolater, and the Scripture says that no idolater “has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God” (Ephesians 5:5 – NKJV).

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