Francis Turretin: The Matter, Form, and Consecration of the Lord's Supper

 

[Francis Turretin, Institutes of Elenctic Theology, 3:428-442]

The external matter of the Eucharist is the elements of bread and wine. Christ instituted bread and wine on account of the similitude of analogy and properties between the elements and His body and blood. For just as the bread and wine nourish our souls with an intimate communion, such also is the relation between Christ and believers.

The form of the Eucharist is the relation between the sign and the thing signified. The sign and the thing signified are one not in genus or species, but by analogy. This union between the sign and the thing signified consists in three aspects:

[1]. Signification - The external symbols are representative signs, and the internal matter is represented.

[2]. Sealing of the thing signified - The bread and wine are tokens and pledges of Christ's body and blood.

[3]. Exhibition and Conferring of the thing signified - The external elements of bread and wine are the moral instruments by and with which God really communicates the body and blood of Christ to the believer, as it is apprehended by faith. 

The Consecration of the Elements

Question: Is a consecration made in the Eucharist by the utterance of the words Hoc est enim corpus meum? We deny against the Papists.

"This faith was always in the church, that immediately after the consecration, the true body of our Lord and the true blood exist under the species of bread and wine, together with his soul and divinity; but the body, indeed, under the species of bread and the blood under the species of wine from the force of the words." (The Council of Trent, Session 13, ch. 3)

Bellarmine teaches that the words hoc est enim corpus meum are "true instruments of consecration so that they have power as instruments of God." (De Missa, bk. 2, ch. 4)

However, the view of the orthodox and Reformed is that it is the blessing and prayer which consecrates the elements. 

There is a twofold relation in the sacramental blessing: 1) There is a relation to God, in that we make thanksgiving towards Him for the satisfaction and redemption that we have in Christ; 2) There is a relation to the elements, so that they might be rendered efficacious to the spiritual benefit of communicants. This sacramental blessing is what (implicitly) effects the consecration of the elements, which is proven by the following reasons:

1) A blessing is the sanctification of the things being blessed, and it is done to no other end but that the things that are blessed might be rendered sacred and holy. No doubt the blessing of Christ at the Last Supper was heard, and this was that which formally consecrated the elements.

2) If the Eucharistic consecration were contained in the words hoc est corpus meum, there would not be any variation between the Gospels regarding their content. Compare Matthew, Luke, and Paul. One has "This is my blood"; while the other accounts have "This cup is the new testament in my blood."

3) A conversion by which Christ's body is present under the accidents of bread and wine, cannot take place by these words, since they are historical, state a present state of affairs, and declare a thing already in existence. This is why the particle enim is contained in the Canon of the Mass.

4) It was the belief and practice of the ancient Church in antiquity that the consecration was based on the blessing of the elements, not the Papal formula. A few examples will suffice to prove this point:

"We offer to You, our King and our God, according to His constitution, this bread and this cup, giving You thanks, through Him, that You have thought us worthy to stand before You, and to sacrifice to You; and we beseech You that You will mercifully look down upon these gifts which are here set before You, O God, who standest in need of none of our offerings. And accept them, to the honor of Your Christ, and send down upon this sacrifice Your Holy Spirit, the Witness of the Lord Jesus' sufferings, that He may show this bread to be the body of Your Christ, and the cup to be the blood of Your Christ, that those who are partakers thereof may be strengthened for piety, may obtain the remission of their sins, may be delivered from the devil and his deceit, may be filled with the Holy Ghost, may be made worthy of Your Christ" (Apostolic Constitutions, 8.2.12 [ANF 7:489])

"Then having sanctified ourselves by these spiritual Hymns, we beseech the merciful God to send forth His Holy Spirit upon the gifts lying before Him; that He may make the Bread the Body of Christ, and the Wine the Blood of Christ; for whatsoever the Holy Ghost has touched, is surely sanctified and changed." (Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures, 23.7)