Real presence
A view held among orthodox Christians
The teaching that Christ's true body and blood are bodily present in, with, and under the bread and wine of the Lord's Supper, as Lutherans confess.
Also called: bodily presence, corporeal presence, sacramental union, consubstantiation
What it means
On this site "real presence" means the teaching that Christ's body and blood are bodily present in the Supper. Lutherans teach a sacramental union: the bread remains bread and the wine remains wine, but Christ's true body and blood are present "in, with, and under" them and are received by all who eat, believers to blessing and unbelievers to judgment. They take Jesus' words "this is My body" in their plainest sense. (Lutherans themselves reject the term "consubstantiation", though others often use it for their view.)
Reformed churches honour the desire to take Christ's words seriously, but reject a bodily presence. Christ's human body is in heaven until He returns; "this is My body" is the language of sign, like "the rock was Christ"; and the confessions deny that Christ is present "corporally or carnally, in, with, or under the bread and wine" (WCF 29.7).
This teaching differs from transubstantiation, which holds that the bread ceases to be bread, and from the Mass as a sacrifice. The site displays it as a position held by Christians who confess the gospel, while noting that the Reformed and Baptist confessions reject it.
In Scripture
Jesus took bread, blessed it, and said 'Take and eat; this is My body.'
The bread is a participation in the body of Christ.
Those who eat unworthily are guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.
'The rock was Christ' shows that Scripture speaks of signs by the name of what they signify.
Heaven must receive Christ until the restoration of all things.
Where it comes up
Confessions: WCF 29.7; LBCF 1689 30.7
On this site: Lord's Supper
Related terms
Spiritual presenceA view held among orthodox Christians
The view that in the Lord's Supper believers truly feed on Christ, not bodily, but spiritually by faith through the work of the Holy Spirit.
TransubstantiationSerious error
The Roman Catholic teaching that at the priest's consecration the whole substance of the bread and wine is changed into the body and blood of Christ, leaving only their appearance.
MemorialismA view held among orthodox Christians
The view that the Lord's Supper is chiefly a memorial meal, in which believers remember Christ's death and proclaim it, without any special presence of Christ in the Supper.