Transubstantiation
Serious 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.
Also called: transubstantiated, sacrifice of the Mass
What it means
Roman Catholic doctrine, defined at the Fourth Lateran Council (1215) and the Council of Trent, teaches that when the priest consecrates the bread and wine, their substance becomes the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Christ, though their outward appearance remains. The consecrated host is therefore to be adored, reserved, and carried in procession, and the Mass is offered as a true propitiatory sacrifice for the living and the dead.
The Reformers rejected this with one voice. The Westminster and 1689 confessions call it "repugnant, not to Scripture alone, but even to common sense and reason", and say it "overthrows the nature of the sacrament" and has been the cause of "manifold superstitions, yea, of gross idolatries" (WCF 29.6; LBCF 1689 30.6).
Many Roman Catholics love Christ and seek Him sincerely in the Mass. The objection is to the teaching, which confessional Protestants believe obscures the finished work of Christ.
What Scripture says
After the words of institution Jesus still calls the cup 'this fruit of the vine'.
After consecration Paul still calls it 'this bread'.
We are sanctified through the offering of Christ's body once for all.
Christ offered one sacrifice for sins for all time and sat down, perfecting those being sanctified.
Christ did not offer Himself repeatedly, but appeared once to put away sin.
Christ's body is received in heaven until the restoration of all things.
What is wrong with it
Scripture continues to call the elements bread and the fruit of the vine after they are blessed. Christ's human body, like ours, is in one place, and He has ascended into heaven until He returns. "This is My body" uses the ordinary language of signs, as when Scripture calls circumcision the covenant or the rock Christ. And the New Testament knows no priest offering Christ again: His one sacrifice is finished.
How it undermines the truth
It undermines the sufficiency of Christ's once-for-all sacrifice, by presenting the Mass as a sacrifice offered again for sins, and the true humanity of Christ, by making His body present in many places at once. It also confuses the sign with the thing signified, and puts a priestly act in the place of faith as the means of receiving Christ.
How it can harm a church
It draws worship toward the elements themselves, which the confessions call idolatry. It can lead people to rely on attending Mass and receiving the host, rather than on Christ by faith, and it sets a priesthood between believers and Christ, whom Scripture names the one mediator.
This page describes a teaching, not the faith of any person who holds it.
History
Defined at the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215 and reaffirmed at the Council of Trent (1551), drawing on medieval theology of substance and accidents. It was rejected by every branch of the Reformation, including the Lutherans.
Where it comes up
Confessions: WCF 29.2; WCF 29.6; LBCF 1689 30.2; LBCF 1689 30.6
Related terms
Real presenceA 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.
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.
SacramentTerm
A holy sign and seal instituted by Christ, in which visible elements represent and confirm to believers the promises of the gospel; Protestants recognize two, baptism and the Lord's Supper.