716. The Lord Himself and His Redemption Are Fully Present in the Holy Supper

The Lord's own words show that he is fully present in the Holy Supper - that both his glorified humanity and his divinity, which was the source of his humanity, are present in it.

The following passages show that his humanity is present in the Holy Supper: "Jesus took the bread, broke it, gave it to the disciples, and said, 'This is my body. ' And he took the cup, gave it to them, and said, 'This is my blood'" (Matthew 26:[26-28]; Mark 14:[22-24]; Luke 22:[17-20]). Similarly in John, "I am the bread of life. Anyone who eats this bread will live forever. The bread that I will give is my flesh. Truly, truly I say to you, those who eat my flesh and drink my blood live in me and I in them, and they will live forever" (John 6:[48, 51, 56, 58]). These passages clearly show that the Lord is present in the Holy Supper in his glorified humanity.

[2] The following passages make it clear that the Lord is also wholly present in the Holy Supper in his divinity, which was the source of his humanity: He is the bread that came down from heaven (John 6:[51]). He in fact came down from heaven with all that divinity; we read that "The Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made by it. And the Word became flesh" (John 1:1, 3, 14). This point is also supported by the statements to the effect that the Father and he are one (John 10:30); that all things that belong to the Father are his (John 3:35; 16:15); and that he is in the Father and the Father is in him (John 14:10-11, and so on).

For another thing, his divinity could not have been separated from his humanity any more than a soul can be separated from its body. Therefore the statement just above that the Lord is fully present in the Holy Supper in his glorified humanity leads to the fact that his divinity, which was the source of his humanity, is also present in the Holy Supper.

Given that his flesh means the divine goodness of his love, and his blood means the divine truth of his wisdom, it is clear that both the Lord's divinity and his glorified humanity are fully and infinitely present in the Holy Supper. As a result, it is a meal that is spiritual in nature.