[Article X(IV): Of the Lord's Supper]
Written in Latin by Philip Melanchthon (1531)
Translated from the Latin into German by Justus Jonas (1531)
English Translation by Ambrose and Socrates Henkel (1851), Revised by W. F. Lehmann (1854)
Link to Bente/Dau Translation from Latin (1921)
[1(54)] Our adversaries do not object to the tenth article, in which we confess that the body and blood of Christ our Lord, are truly present in the holy Supper, and there administered and received with the visible elements, the bread and wine, [2(55)] as hitherto maintained in the church, and as the Greek Canon shows. [3(56)] And Cyril tells us, that Christ is corporeally administered and given to us in the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper ; for he says: "We do not deny that, by true faith and pure love, we are spiritually united with Christ. But that we should have no union at all with him according to the flesh, we certainly deny; besides, it is also utterly repugnant to the Scriptures. For who will doubt that Christ is even thus the vine, and that we are the branches that receive nourishment and life from him? Hear Paul, 1 Cor. 10:16-17: 'For we being many are one bread and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread.' Think you, that the power of the divine blessing in the Eucharist is unknown to us? For when we receive it, the consequence is, that Christ even dwells in us bodily, through the participation of his flesh and body. Again, hence it is to be observed that Christ is in us, not only by spiritual union, through love, but also by natural communion." [4(57)] And we are speaking of the presence of the living body; for we know, as Paul says, Rom. 6:9, that "Death hath no more dominion over him."
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