Let’s talk about three things involved in communion: 1) the bread and wine; 2) the body and blood; and 3) what is a sacrament? We’ll begin with the question about a sacrament.
A Christian sacrament is a religious sign or symbol that is associated with the church, in which a sacred or spiritual power is believed to be transmitted through material elements, which are viewed as channels of divine grace.
A sign or a symbol is something that refers to or suggests something else. The sign or symbol is not the thing that is represents anymore than the word “shirt” is the thing that covers my torso. Going back to the definition of a sacrament: a power is transmitted. What power?
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth’” (Acts 1:8).
The power that they were to receive would be transmitted by the Holy Spirit, and it would be the power or the ability to witness to the reality of Jesus Christ. And we see that in Acts 2 when the Holy Spirit came upon them and they began speaking in tongues. They began speaking the truth about Jesus Christ in their various native tongues, their native languages. Such speech constitutes the ability to witness or speak to the reality of Jesus Christ.
The sacrament of communion symbolizes this transmission of Holy power or ability. The sacrament is not the power, but it represents the ability. But the ceremony of communion is not the reality of this transfer of grace. Or is it? Does something real happen through the ceremony of communion? Or is the ceremony simply a symbolic representation of this transfer of grace? Of course it is a symbolic representation, but is that all it is?
No, something physical happens…
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