"...There are centainly other passages that indicate that something extraordinary is going on in the Lord's Supper. Paul solemnly warns the Corinthians: "Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself" (1 Corinthians 11:27-29). This doesn't sound merely symbolic. It sounds as if "the body and blood of the Lord" are
there -- that they are there in power and that they must be recognized. At any rate, the Lutherans' exceedingly high view of the Sacraments derives directly from their exceedingly high view of God's Word."
David P. Scaer wrote a few lines in Understanding Four Views on the Lord's Supper, p. 78, that helped me:
ReplyDelete"Lutherans do not recognize a spatial distance between heaven and earth, but heaven manifests itself on earth in the sacraments so that not only Christ's benefits but Christ himself, body and soul, God and man, are present in the Lord's Supper."