The Protestant Reformation in European Church History
The Protestant Reformation, a pivotal movement in European church history, began in the 16th century and led to significant theological, ecclesiastical, and political changes. While often associated with Martin Luther's posting of the Ninety-five Theses in 1517, its roots and ramifications were far broader, challenging established doctrines and practices of the Roman Catholic Church.
One of the central points of contention during the Reformation concerned the nature of the Eucharist, or the Lord's Supper. Different reformers and emerging traditions developed distinct understandings of Christ's presence in the sacrament. Lutherans, for instance, affirmed the real presence of Christ's body and blood "in, with, and under" the elements of bread and wine. Martin Luther himself, in his Larger Catechism, instructed catechumens to assert that "the bread in the Lord’s Supper is the body of Christ," even against those who might question how this could be [1]. This view, often termed consubstantiation, maintains that both the substance of bread and wine and the substance of Christ's body and blood are present simultaneously. The Augsburg Confession also emphasized the practice of giving "Both Kinds in the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper" to the laity, citing Christ's command in Matthew 26:27 ("Drink ye all of it") and Paul's example in 1 Corinthians 11:27, indicating that the entire congregation partook of both bread and wine [6].
In contrast, Reformed theologians like John Calvin articulated a different understanding. Calvin emphasized a spiritual presence of Christ in the Supper, where believers partake of Christ's body and blood by faith through the Holy Spirit, rather than through a physical presence in the elements themselves [4, 5]. For Calvin, eating Christ's body and drinking his blood meant abiding in Christ and having Christ abide in the believer [4]. This perspective highlights the efficacy and fruit of Christ's nativity, death, and resurrection being eternally communicated to the believer through faith [5]. The Reformed tradition also stressed that the Church is "of His flesh and of His bones," drawing parallels between Eve's formation from Adam's side and the Church's birth from Christ's death [2].
The Roman Catholic Church, prior to and during the Reformation, maintained the doctrine of transubstantiation, which posits that the entire substance of the bread and wine is converted into the substance of the body and blood of Christ, while the outward appearances (accidents) remain [3]. Thomas Aquinas, a foundational scholastic theologian, discussed miraculous apparitions of flesh or blood in the sacrament, explaining that such phenomena could occur either as a change perceived by the beholder or as an actual change in the sacrament itself [3].
Beyond the Eucharist, the Reformation brought forth other significant theological shifts. The doctrine of sola Scriptura (Scripture alone) asserted the Bible as the sole infallible rule of faith and practice, challenging the authority of tradition and the magisterium of the Church. Sola fide (faith alone) emphasized that salvation is received solely through faith in Jesus Christ, apart from good works, contrasting with the Catholic emphasis on faith and works. These doctrinal differences led to the formation of distinct Protestant denominations, each with its own confessional standards and ecclesiastical structures. The Reformation thus fragmented Western Christendom, leading to centuries of religious conflict but also fostering new theological developments and a renewed focus on biblical authority and personal faith.
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”
- 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”
- 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”
- 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) “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”
- Augsburg Confession (Lutheran) “Augsburg Confession (Lutheran, 1530), 1 To the laity are given Both Kinds in the Sacrament of the Lord’s: 1 To the laity are given Both Kinds in the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, because this usage has the commandment of the Lord in Matt. 26:27: Drink ye all of it, 2 where Christ has manifestly commanded concerning the cup that all should drink. 3 And lest any man should craftily say that this refers only to priests, Paul in 1 Cor. 11:27 recites an example from which it appears that the whole congregation did use both kinds. 4 And this usage has long remained in the Church, nor is it known w”