Ecumenical and Denominational Issues in Presbyterian Church
The concept of the Church as the body of Christ is a foundational theological idea with significant implications for ecumenical and denominational discussions, particularly within Presbyterianism. This understanding is rooted in biblical texts such as Ephesians 5:30, which states, "we are members of His body, being of His flesh and of His bones" [3]. John Calvin elaborates on this, noting that the Church is Christ's "fulness," and believers are "members of Christ" [5]. This organic union implies that Christ "nourisheth and cherisheth the Church as being of one flesh with Him" [3].
The indwelling of the Holy Spirit further strengthens this concept, as the Spirit dwells not only in the Church collectively but also in individual believers, making each a "temple of the Holy Ghost" [6]. This spiritual unity is central to the Church's identity.
However, interpretations of how this unity is manifested and maintained have led to denominational distinctions. The Lord's Supper, for instance, is a key area where different traditions articulate the presence of Christ in varying ways. While Lutherans affirm that the bread in the Lord's Supper is the body of Christ [1], Reformed theology, as articulated by Calvin, emphasizes that Christ's body becomes "bread in regard to the spiritual life of the soul" through faith, making believers partakers of it [4]. Calvin also stresses that eating Christ's flesh and drinking his blood signifies abiding in Christ and Christ in the believer [7]. This contrasts with the Catholic scholastic view, which, as seen in Aquinas, discusses miraculous apparitions of flesh or a child in the sacrament, suggesting a more literal understanding of Christ's physical presence [2]. Augustine, an early Church Father, also distinguished between the sacrament itself and the spiritual reality it conveys, noting that while the sacrament can be taken by some to destruction, the "thing itself, of which it is the sacrament, is for every man to life" [9].
The practical implications of these theological differences extend to church discipline and inter-denominational relations. Presbyterians, for example, maintain the power to bar individuals from the Lord's Supper if they are "ignorant or scandalous," even if they profess faith [8]. Early Church canons also reflect a concern for maintaining doctrinal purity, with rules against bishops or presbyters praying or performing clerical duties with heretics, or receiving their baptism or sacrifice [10]. These historical and theological distinctions highlight the ongoing challenges and nuances in understanding the Church as the body of Christ across different Christian traditions.
Sources
- CCEL (Reformed (Old Princeton)) “Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol. 3, section 71: taken and broken; and therefore it was the bread which He affirmed was, either literally or figuratively, his body. Lutherans themselves cannot avoid saying and admitting that the bread in the Lord’s Supper is the body of Christ. Thus Luther ( Larger Catechism , v. 12, 13; Hase, Libri Symbolici , p. 554) tells his catechumen to say, “Though infinite myriads of devils and all fanatics should impudently demand, How bread and wine can be the body and blood of Christ? I know that all spirits and all learned men put together have not as much i”
- theology (Catholic (Scholastic)) “Aquinas, Summa Theologica, Third Part (Tertia Pars), Of the Way in Which Christ Is in This Sacrament, Art. 8: Article: Whether Christ's body is truly there when flesh or a child appears miraculously in this sacrament? I answer that, Such apparition comes about in two ways, when occasionally in this sacrament flesh, or blood, or a child, is seen. Sometimes it happens on the part of the beholders, whose eyes are so affected as if they outwardly saw flesh, or blood, or a child, while no change takes place in the sacrament. And this seems to happen when to one person it is seen under the species o”
- Ephesians (Presbyterian) “Jamieson, Fausset & Brown on Ephesians 5:30: For--Greek, "Because" (Co1 6:15). Christ nourisheth and cherisheth the Church as being of one flesh with Him. Translate, "Because we are members of His body (His literal body), being OF His flesh and of His bones" [ALFORD] (Gen 2:23-24). The Greek expresses, "Being formed out of" or "of the substance of His flesh." Adam's deep sleep, wherein Eve was formed from out of his opened side, is an emblem of Christ's death, which was the birth of the Spouse, the Church. Joh 12:24; Joh 19:34-35, to which Eph 5:25-27 allude, as implying atonement by His blood”
- CCEL (Reformed) “John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, section 99: the efficacy and fruit of his nativity, death, and resurrection, eternal. All this Christ has elegantly expressed in these words, “The bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world” ( John 6:51 ); doubtless intimating, that his body will be as bread in regard to the spiritual life of the soul, because it was to be delivered to death for our salvation, and that he extends it to us for food when he makes us partakers of it by faith. Wherefore he once gave himself that he might become bread, when he g”
- CCEL (Reformed) “John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, section 99: rich and inexhaustible fountain, which transfuses into us the life flowing forth from the Godhead into itself. Now, who sees not that the communion of the flesh and blood of Christ is necessary to all who aspire to the heavenly life? Hence those passages of the apostle: The Church is the “body” of Christ; his “fulness.” He is “the head,” “from whence the whole body fitly joined together, and compacted by that which every joint supplieth,” “maketh increase of the body” ( Eph. 1:23 ; 4:15,16). Our bodies are the “members of Christ” (”
- CCEL (Reformed (Old Princeton)) “Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol. 3, section 31: Galatians v. 16-26 . Another passage of like import is Galatians v. 16-26 , “Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not full the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would,” etc., etc. The Scriptures teach that the Spirit of God dwells in his people, not only collectively as the Church, but individually in every believer, so that of every Christian it may be said, he is a temple of the Holy Ghost. God is”
- CCEL (Reformed) “John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, section 99: For, not to mention other reasons, they cannot be at the same time the members of Christ and the members of a harlot. In fine, when Christ himself says, ‘He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him’ ( John 6:56 ), he shows what it is to eat the body of Christ, not sacramentally, but in reality. It is to abide in Christ, that Christ may abide in him. For it is just as if he had said, Let not him who abides not in me, and in whom I abide not, say or think that he eats my body or drinks my blood.” Let ”
- CCEL (Reformed (Old Princeton)) “Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol. 3, section 64: answered, “Such as are found to be ignorant or scandalous, notwithstanding their profession of the faith, and desire to come to the Lord’s Supper, may and ought to be kept from that sacrament by the power which Christ hath left in his Church, until they receive instruction, and manifest their reformation.” This, according to Presbyterians, is the extent of the power of the Church, in the matter of shutting the doors of the kingdom of God. 579 Those, therefore, who, having been themselves baptized, and still professing their faith in the t”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “NPNF1 Vol 7: Augustine — Homilies on John — CHAPTER VI. 41-59. (part 13): Lord's table it is taken, by some to life, by some to destruction: but the thing itself, of which it is the sacrament, is for every man to life, for no man to destruction, whosoever shall have been a partaker thereof. 16. But lest they should suppose that eternal life was promised in this meat and drink in such manner that they who should take it should not even now die in the body, He condescended to meet this thought; for when He had said, "He that eateth my flesh, anti drinketh my blood, hath eternal life," He forthwi”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “ANF Vol 7: Lactantius, Venantius, Asterius, Victorinus, Dionysius — THE ECCLESIASTICAL CANONS OF THE SAME HOLY APOSTLES.(1) (part 6): do so, or let him be deprived. 45. Let a bishop, or presbyter, or deacon who only prays with heretics, be suspended; but if he also permit them to perform any part of the office of a clergyman, let him be deprived.(4) 503 46. We command that a bishop, or presbyter, or deacon who receives the baptism, or the sacrifice of heretics, be deprived: "For what agreement is there between Christ and Belial? or what part hath a believer with an infidel?"(1) 47. If a bishop”