🧭 Theology Compass
🍞 Table
Sacramental ↔ Memorial
The sacramental view holds that God really gives grace through the sacraments: Christ is truly present in the Supper, and baptism is a means by which God joins a person to Christ and his church; most churches on this side also baptize infants, whether as children of the covenant or for the washing of new birth. The memorial view holds that the Supper is a remembrance and proclamation of Christ's death until he comes, and baptism a believer's public confession of faith, so both are ordinances that believers keep in obedience rather than channels of grace: whatever blessing comes with them comes by the faith of those who take part, not through the elements themselves. Many stand between the poles, baptizing believers only while holding that Christ spiritually feeds his people at the Table (Reformed Baptists) or that God forgives sins in baptism (Churches of Christ).
How the question arose
- c. 110 — Ignatius of Antioch calls the Eucharist the flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ.
- c. 743 — John of Damascus, Exact Exposition IV.13: the bread and wine are changed into Christ's body and blood by the invocation and presence of the Holy Spirit, 'not merely figures'.
- 1215 — Fourth Lateran Council affirms transubstantiation in its profession of faith; Trent defines it in 1551.
- 1525–26 — Zwingli argues that 'is' in 'this is my body' means 'signifies': the Supper is a memorial of thanksgiving.
- 1525–27 — First believers' baptisms in Zurich begin the Anabaptist movement; the Schleitheim Confession sets out believers' baptism and a memorial Supper.
- 1529 — Marburg Colloquy: Luther and Zwingli agree on fourteen of fifteen articles but not on whether Christ's body is bodily present in the bread and wine: Luther affirms, Zwingli denies.
- 1559 — Calvin's final Institutes (IV.17): a real spiritual presence, received by faith through the Spirit.
- 1609–89 — English Baptists, out of Separatism rather than Anabaptism: John Smyth's Amsterdam congregation baptizes believers, and the Particular Baptists' London Confessions specify immersion and confess Christ 'spiritually present to the faith of believers' at the Supper.
Passages both sides argue from
John 6:51–63 · Matthew 26:26–28 · 1 Corinthians 11:23–29 · 1 Corinthians 10:16–17 · Acts 2:38–41 · Colossians 2:11–12 · Romans 6:3–4 · Matthew 28:19–20 · Acts 8:36–38 · 1 Peter 3:21