Yesterday, I saw a video from Eastern Orthodox apologist and blogger Jay Dyer, in which he claimed that Calvinism/Reformed theology denies that Christ's flesh is life-giving in the Eucharist, or at least some sort of denial of the Real Presence altogether. More specifically, he insinuated that the Reformed faith runs in opposition to the teaching of Cyril of Alexandria and the Council of Ephesus on how Christ's flesh is vivified. Either this is a case of woeful ignorance, or if Dyer is as familiar with historic Protestantism as he says he is, then it is dishonesty intended to deceive his listeners (especially the modern YRR "Calvinists" who are disconnected from the historic Reformed tradition).
In this article, I wish to make clear the actual teaching of the historic Reformed confessions, divines, and our scholastics. More specifically, I want to show that Reformed theology teaches that the flesh of Christ is vivifying on account of the hypostatic union and because Christ defeated death and sin through His flesh. I will be putting more emphasis on the former aspect, since it comes into play especially in the Lutheran-Reformed debates on christology, and it is that which is emphasized the most by St. Cyril.
The chief disagreement with the Eastern Orthodox and Lutherans is that we do not believe that the vivification of Christ's flesh is done by a transfusion of the essential property of life (as it is in the divine essence) to the human nature, since this would lead to Eutychianism and a destruction of the true humanity of our Lord.
St. Cyril of Alexandria's Doctrine
Throughout his many christological writings, Cyril of Alexandria is very clear that the divine person of the eternal Logos "divinized" His flesh yet without any confusion of the two natures in any way. In this sense it is life-giving to us, and we participate in this when we take the sacrament of the Eucharist.
"Even after the resurrection the same body which had suffered continued to exist, although it no longer contained any human weakness. We maintain that it was no longer susceptible to hunger or weariness or anything like this, but was thereafter incorruptible, and not only that but life-giving as well since it is the body of Life, that is the body of the Only Begotten. Now it is radiant with divine glory and is seen to be the body of God. So, even if someone should call it ‘divine’ just as one might call a man’s body ‘human’, such a fitting thought would not be mistaken. In my opinion this is what the most-wise Paul said: ‘Even if we have known Christ according to the flesh, nonetheless we know him so no longer’ (2 Cor.5.16). As I have said, because it was God’s own body it transcended all human things, yet the earthly body itself did not undergo a transformation into the nature of Godhead, for this is impossible, otherwise we would be accusing the Godhead of being created and of receiving into itself something which was not part of its own nature. It would be just as foolish an idea to talk of the body being transformed into the nature of Godhead as it would to say the Word was transformed into the nature of flesh. For just as the latter is impossible (for he is unchangeable and unalterable) so too is the former. It is not possible that any creature could be converted into the essence or nature of Godhead, and the flesh is a created thing. We maintain, therefore, that Christ’s body is divine in so far as it is the body of God, adorned with unspeakable glory, incorruptible, holy, and life-giving; but none of the holy Fathers has ever thought or said that it was transformed into the nature of Godhead, and we have no intention of doing so either." (First Letter to Succensus)
"If any one confess not that the Flesh of the Lord is Life-giving and that it is the own Flesh of the Word Himself That is from God the Father, but say that it belongs to another than He, connected with Him by dignity or as possessed of Divine Indwelling only and not rather that it is Life-giving (as we said) because it hath been made the own Flesh of the Word Who is mighty to quicken all things, be he anathema." (Third Letter to Nestorius, Anathema 11)
"And do not disbelieve what I have said, but rather accept the word in faith, having gathered proofs thereof from a few examples. When you cast a piece of bread into wine or oil, or any other liquid, you find that it becomes charged with the quality of that particular thing. When iron is brought into contact with fire, it becomes full of its activity; and while it is by nature iron, it exerts the power of fire. And so the life-giving Word of God, having united Himself to His own flesh in a way known to Himself, endowed it with the power of giving life. And of this He certifies us Himself, saying, "Verily, I say to you, he that believes in Me has everlasting life. I am the bread of life." And again, "I am the living bread, that came down from heaven; if a man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I shall give is My flesh for the life of the world. Verily, I say to you, that if you eat not the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh, and drinks My blood, has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink. He that eats My flesh, and drinks My blood, abides in Me, and I in him. As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father; so He that eats Me shall also live because of Me." When therefore we eat the holy flesh of Christ, the Saviour of us all, and drink His precious blood, we have life in us, being made as it were, one with Him, and abiding in Him, and possessing Him also in us." (Commentary on the Gospel of Luke, Homily 142)
"Christ therefore gave His Own Body for the life of all, and again through It He maketh Life to dwell in us; and how, I will say as I am able. For since the life-giving Word of God indwelt in the Flesh, He transformed it into His Own proper good, that is life, and by the unspeakable character of this union, coming wholly together with It, rendered It life-giving, as Himself is by Nature. Wherefore the Body of Christ giveth life to all who partake of It. For it expels death, when It cometh to be in dying men, and removeth corruption, full in Itself perfectly of the Word which abolisheth corruption." (Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on John, Book IV, ch. 2)
John Calvin
Here, I just want to list a number of testimonies from the Reformed divines to witness our belief in the real vivification of Christ's flesh, on account of its union with the divine nature in the person of God the Word, and because through it Christ accomplished redemption for us. I will start with Calvin, who actually has one of the most detailed explanations of this matter.
"By these words he declares, not only that he is life, inasmuch as he is the eternal Word of God who came down to us from heaven, but, by coming down, gave vigour to the flesh which he assumed, that a communication of life to us might thence emanate......But the flesh of Christ does not of itself have a power so great as to quicken us, for in its first condition it was subject to mortality; and now, endowed with immortality, it does not live through itself. Nevertheless, since it is pervaded with fullness of life to be transmitted to us, it is rightly called “life-giving.” In this sense I interpret with Cyril that saying of Christ’s: “As the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself” [John 5:26, cf. Vg.]. For there he is properly speaking not of those gifts which he had in the Father’s presence from the beginning, but of those with which he was adorned in that very flesh wherein he appeared. Accordingly, he shows that in his humanity there also dwells fullness of life, so that whoever has partaken of his flesh and blood may at the same time enjoy participation in life. We can explain the nature of this by a familiar example. Water is sometimes drunk from a spring, sometimes drawn, sometimes led by channels to water the fields, yet it does not flow forth from itself for so many uses, but from the very source, which by unceasing flow supplies and serves it. In like manner, the flesh of Christ is like a rich and inexhaustible fountain that pours into us the life springing forth from the Godhead into itself. Now who does not see that communion of Christ’s flesh and blood is necessary for all who aspire to heavenly life?" (John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, 4.17.9)
"If a more familiar exposition is required Cyril will supply it ; for, in his third book, when explaining our Saviour's discourse contained in the 6th chapter of John, he acknowledges that there is no other eating in the Supper than that by which the body of Christ gives life to us, and by our participation in it leads us back to incorruption. And in his fourth book (cap. 13) he says : Our Lord gave his body for the life of all, and by it again infuses life into us : how he does this I will briefly explain, according to my ability. For when the life-giving Son of God dwelt in the flesh, and was in whole, so to speak, united to the ineffable whole by the mode of union, he made the flesh itself vivifying, and hence this flesh gives life to those who partake of it. As he asserts that this takes place both in the Supper, and without the Supper, let Heshusius explain what is meant by " sending life into us." In the seventeenth chapter he says, Were any one to pour wax on melted wax, the one must become intermingled with the other. In like manner, when any one receives the flesh and blood of the Lord, he must be united with him he must be in Christ and Christ in him. In the twenty-fourth chapter he distinctly maintains, that the flesh of Christ is made vivifying by the agency of the Spirit, so that Christ is in us because the Spirit of God dwells in us." (John Calvin, "The True Partaking of the Flesh and Blood of Christ," in Tracts and Treatises on the Reformation of the Church [Edinburgh, Calvin Translation Society, 1849], 2:541)
"The flesh of Christ becomes vivifying to us, inasmuch as Christ, by the incomprehensible agency of his Spirit, transfuses his own proper life into us from the substance of his flesh, so that he himself lives in us, and his life is common with us." (John Calvin, "The True Partaking of the Flesh and Blood of Christ," in Tracts and Treatises on the Reformation of the Church [Edinburgh, Calvin Translation Society, 1849], 2:506; emphasis mine.)
Note: In the above quote from Calvin, he is talking not so much about how Christ communicates to His flesh to power and efficacy of vivifying, but more so about how that life is applied to us through the work of the Holy Spirit dwelling in us.
"But an objection is brought, that the flesh of Christ cannot give life, because it was liable to death, and because even now it is not immortal in itself; and next, that it does not at all belong to the nature of flesh to quicken souls. I reply, though this power comes from another source than from the flesh, still this is no reason why the designation may not accurately apply to it; for as the eternal Word of God is the fountain of life (John 1:4), so his flesh, as a channel, conveys to us that life which dwells intrinsically, as we say, in his Divinity. And in this sense it is called life-giving, because it conveys to us that life which it borrows for us from another quarter. This will not be difficult to understand, if we consider what is the cause of life, namely, righteousness. And though righteousness flows from God alone, still we shall not attain the full manifestation of it any where else than in the flesh of Christ; for in it was accomplished the redemption of man, in it a sacrifice was offered to atone for sins, and an obedience yielded to God, to reconcile him to us; it was also filled with the sanctification of the Spirit, and at length, having vanquished death, it was received into the heavenly glory. It follows, therefore that all the parts of life have been placed in it, that no man may have reason to complain that he is deprived of life, as if it were placed in concealment, or at a distance." (John Calvin, Commentary on John 6:51)
"Calvin appropriates the notion in Cyril’s theology that the flesh of Christ is ‘life-giving’, ‘pervaded with the fullness of life’, and then ‘transmitted to us’ in the Lord’s Supper. Cyril’s language of vivification and indwelling has deep resonance with Calvin. In one of his many summaries of Cyril, Calvin says that ‘the flesh of Christ is made vivifying by the agency of the Spirit, so that Christ is in us because the Spirit of God dwells in us’. Indeed, this language of vivification is included in Calvin’s liturgy for the Lord’s Supper in Geneva. Through the Supper the souls of the faithful are ‘nourished and fed with his [Jesus Christ’s] substance’. This is followed by a participation of believers in the ascension of Christ, wherein they are ‘raised above all terrestrial objects, and carried as high as heaven, to enter the kingdom of God where he dwells.' While Calvin certainly uses Cyril’s writings for his own early modern purposes, he nevertheless draws heavily upon Cyril’s language of vivification in his own account of what it means to partake of Christ in the Supper.....When applying his metaphysics of the sacraments to the Lord’s Supper, the union of sign and substance means that the ‘reality’ of the flesh and blood of Christ are ‘exhibited’ (re ispa . . . exhibentur) through the signs. In this, believers receive Christ, who is the ‘life-giving Word of the Father, the spring, and source of life’, for ‘the flesh of Christ is like a rich and inexhaustible fountain that pours into us the life springing forth from the Godhead into itself’. The fact that Christ’s flesh is life giving is a consequence of the Incarnation, for when the eternal Word ‘came down from heaven for us’, the Word ‘poured that power upon the flesh which he took in order that from it participation in life might flow unto us’.......Calvin draws heavily upon Cyril of Alexandria, emphasizing that the Lord’s Supper involves truly partaking of the life-giving, transforming, heavenly flesh and blood of Christ by the Spirit" (J. Todd Billings, Calvin, Participation, and the Gift: The Activity of Believers in Union with Christ [New York: Oxford University Press, 2007], pgs. 50, 134, 140)
"Calvin clarified precisely what this means Christologically in his explanation of John 6:51. There, he speaks of the eternal Word of God as the source of life. Life resides in the divinity of the Son, but through the incarnation, the flesh becomes the channel through which life flows to humanity. In other words, the hidden power to share life belongs to the divine essence. This power descends onto the flesh of Christ, making it a wellspring from which life can be drawn. Calvin speaks of the descent of power as a second step. The life that is intrinsic to the eternal Word descends onto the flesh.....Because Calvin maintains classical Christology and the doctrine of the Trinity, pneumatic Christology must be understood here as pneumatological Christology. The life inherent in the flesh of Christ is a gift of the Spirit to the human nature of Christ. The Holy Spirit sanctifies the human nature of Christ (gratia habitualis). However, the gift of the Spirit must not be viewed separately from the union of natures given in the incarnation. It is the effect of gratia unionis. The Logos, who is the source of the life He shares with the Father, becomes through the Spirit the life of the flesh, which is why the flesh is called caro vivifica." (G.C. van der Kamp, "Calvijns spreken over de caro vivifica in de avondmaalsleer christologisch verstaan," Theologica Reformata 61, no. 1 [March 2018], pgs. 15, 22. https://doi.org/10.21827/5a781a33bd850)
William Bucanus
"Seeing, the end why we are united to the flesh of Christ is, that being quickened by it we may live a life eternal, by what means is the flesh of Christ, that is, the humanity, quickening vs? Not by habitual grace, (as they speak in schools) but by grace only of union, not by any virtue ingrafted into the flesh it self, as if the power of quickening were really poured forth into the flesh of Christ, or this were adorned with it in it self, or that life were in it self, or quickening in it self, for it is a property incommunicable of the godhead alone to quicken: For as Cyril saith: "It agreeth to God alone, to be able to quicken that which is void of life."
But first, by reason of union, because it is the proper flesh of the Word, quickening all things, (as speaketh the Synod of Ephesus:) either because the Word is the fountain and author of life, being life it self, dwelleth in it, not only after the operative manner, as he is said to dwell; in those that be his, but also in a bodily manner, personally: or because, that flesh is so straightly united to the essential life, that these two natures do make one subsistence, or because this man is essentially God: from whence it comes to pass, that the death of that flesh, because it is the flesh of the Son of God, hath been precious enough to obtain life for us. And Cyril saith that, "That the flesh is not quickening in it self but in the Word Hypostatically united unto it." (William Bucanus, Institutions of Christian religion framed out of Gods word, and the writings of the best diuines [London: George Snowden, 1606], pg. 916)
Peter Martyr Vermigli
"[Brenz]: I think we should ignore your offerings since they are not to my taste. But I want you to answer me this: Do you think that only the Godhead is life-giving?
[Vermigli]: I agree, if by life-giving you mean per se and (if I may use scholastic terminology) independently; otherwise it is communicated, because I would not deny that the flesh of Christ is life-giving, not because it has that of its own power but from the fountain of the Godhead with which it is united through the person." (Peter Martyr Vermigli, Dialogue on the Two Natures in Christ, trans. John Patrick Donnelly [Moscow, ID: The Davenant Press, 2018], pg. 75)
John Forbes
In the words just recited, observe these four assertions of Cyril of Alexandria: 1) The flesh of Christ in the participants of the Eucharist is life-giving. (For those who approach unworthily do not partake of the flesh of Christ.) 2) This occurs not by the virtue of the flesh, as it is flesh, but by the virtue of the Deity with which this flesh is united in hypostasis. And the preservation of us and the wondrous effects related to the flesh are to be attributed to the glory of the Deity. 3) For the accomplishment of these things, the bodily presence of the flesh is neither required nor desired. Christ, by the power of His Deity, accomplishes these things, being present with us through His ineffable Deity even though He has departed from us in the flesh. 4) Indeed, the power of Deity accomplishes that we can hold onto Him even when absent, by imitating faith in heaven. We partake of Him when absent by believing, as Augustine teaches. And even when absent in the flesh, He spiritually nourishes us with that same flesh, and His flesh becomes for us life-giving bread, as Cyril teaches here. For this spiritual nourishment is the operation of Deity and is not the least part of that preservation and those miraculous works, which Cyril says should be attributed not to the bodily presence of the flesh but to the glory of the Deity. Therefore, elsewhere, Cyril says the same: just as (he says) the root sends its quality to the branches, so the only-begotten Son of God, by giving the Spirit, bestows the affinity of the Father and His own nature (so to speak) on the saints connected to Him by faith and sanctity, nourishing them with piety and all kinds of virtue. He calls the Father the Farmer so that this might not seem to be the work of the Son alone, but rather a marvelous work of the entire Trinity. Therefore, He nourishes us with piety and faith through the Son in the Spirit, and the Farmer does the work, looking after and nurturing, and reducing everything to virtue, also through the Son in the Spirit. In my judgment, we understand this more correctly. ------ Nor is this from the Father, nor that from the Son, nor both separated from the Spirit. For all things are from the Father through the Son in the Spirit. ------ Neither will the Father be separated from cultivating us, nor will the Son be estranged from His care. ------ Therefore, Christ holds the place of the vine, and we, hanging from it, draw the power and grace of the Spirit for our nourishment and spiritual fruit. This is what Cyril says in book 10 of the Gospel of John, chapter 13. Namely, as the Lord speaks in John, chapter 6, 'It is the Spirit that gives life; the flesh is of no avail.' The flesh of Christ is not life-giving from itself but by the power of the Deity dwelling corporeally within it. It is substantially life, and from itself, it gives life. He gave to the body in which He dwells the power of giving life, not by the confusion of the two natures in Christ or the operation of natural properties but by the hypostatic union of natures. So that the flesh of the Word becomes life-giving, for it is the flesh of God; and being spiritually united to this flesh, we are connected to God, and thus, being already connected to Him, we are infallibly given life: as Cyril teaches in book 4 of his Commentary on the Gospel of John, chapter 14, and the following chapters until the end of chapter 25, and in book 1, chapter 21. And the operation of Deity is so powerful that it unites us to His flesh by its consenting will, nourishes us, and allows us to draw from His fullness. Therefore, for the salutary eating of the flesh of Christ, the bodily presence of the flesh is not required with the one partaking, as we explained a little earlier from the same Cyril. However, ignorantly or dishonestly, Bellarmine (in Book 2, On the Eucharist, chapter 25) abuses certain words of Cyril, attributing to them a meaning entirely alien to Cyril's own mind, as if they favored transubstantiation and the bodily eating of the flesh of Christ. He first cites certain words from a letter of Cyril to Nestorius, intending to convey that Cyril meant nothing other than that the flesh of Christ, of which we are participants in the mysteries, is not common flesh, the mere flesh of a man or a sanctified man (as Nestorius deliriously claimed), but the proper flesh of the Word Himself. Read that letter of Cyril that contains twelve anathemas, and you will find nothing else there, not even in those very words that Bellarmine excerpts. Having discussed this at length, he promises us clearer passages from Cyril and adduces some from Cyril's books on the Gospel of John, from which he draws three arguments." (John Forbes, Instructiones Historico Theologicae [Geneva: John Pictetum, 1680], pgs. 590-591)
Matthias Martinius
"You repeatedly object that Cyril says the flesh of Christ is vivifying, as in Book 4 on John, chapters 14 and 24. The flesh of Christ is indeed vivifying, insofar as it was given for the acquiring of life for the world, as explained in John 6, which Cyril interprets in chapter 14 of his fourth book. However, the power of vivification is not the same in the Word and in the flesh, and the vivification of both, even though of one person, is distinct." ((Matthias Martinius, A Theology of the Singular Person of Our Lord Jesus Christ in Two Natures [1614], pgs. 640-641)
"For we do not deny that the flesh of Christ is life-giving because of the union. Therefore, absolve us from Nestorianism, or listen, although we do not seek absolution from Eutychians or Ubiquitarians, whose jurisdiction we do not acknowledge......However, since we do not want to be Eutychians, we deny that the flesh of Christ is life-giving in a manner that is proper to the Deity" (Matthias Martinius, A Theology of the Singular Person of Our Lord Jesus Christ in Two Natures [1614], pgs. 668-669)
"In the hypostasis of Christ, we acknowledge two natures, both the Word and the substance itself, against Nestorius. We teach a double vivification, not separated but distinct, because He vivifies by His infinite power, which created and governs all things, and also by His flesh in His hypostasis. This flesh, united in death, has become life for us, and thus life is merited for us, so that it can truly be said that we are redeemed by the flesh and blood offered for us by God Himself. We believe in the spiritual nourishment of this flesh and blood, namely, in the divine promise given for our life in the world. We trust that we are nurtured for eternal life in Christ and remain in Him. This doctrine is consistent with the scriptural teaching and was upheld by the blessed fathers against Nestorius." (Matthias Martinius, A Theology of the Singular Person of Our Lord Jesus Christ in Two Natures [1614], pg. 811)
"Since we differ in the manner and the cause of vivification and similar matters, it is important to explain clearly what mode of expression we use and for what reason we attribute vivification to the flesh of Christ. "Vivificum esse" (to be life-giving) is a term used by the Latins, signifying a certain accident to vivify. And this is not to be denied indiscriminately. For it is certain that the flesh of Christ is life-giving through the obedience of His passion. This, indeed, is considered an accident, whether we estimate the significance of the term from the category of predicates or from the categories themselves, although they do not always, but frequently coincide......Thus, the essence of Christ's flesh is also called life-giving, not simply because it, as it is, gave life to us, but because in that very essence, God acted and suffered, and thus, this very essence suffered in itself, as was required for the expiation of our sins. Moreover, the precious and life-giving nature of the Lord's flesh does not arise from itself, that is, from any inherent power or force of its nature that it shares with us. Instead, it arises from the fact that it is united to the person of the Son of God, from whom it obtains its sanctity and dignity. I will not say that it has occurred "συμβεβηκόπ" (as an incident befallen by chance), but rather "και συμβεβηκός," that is, per accidens (as an incident, at least as if by accident), and this, even by the acknowledgments of those who advocate ubiquity. Certainly, that union was freely established and, at least as if by accident, it occurred." (Matthias Martinius, A Theology of the Singular Person of Our Lord Jesus Christ in Two Natures [1614], pgs. 1467-1468)
Jerome Zanchius
"It is also easy to understand in what way the flesh of Christ vivifies, and how His spirit, or Deity, functions. Deity in and of itself and properly so: and this, the Spirit is the one that vivifies; but the flesh, both deservedly and instrumentally, because Deity, as the craftsman, vivifies through the flesh, that is, God through flesh. Thus, also, that [saying] from the Apocalypse: He himself has washed us in his blood, that is, through his own blood." (Jerome Zanchius, De Incarnatione Filii Dei [Heidelberg, 1593], pg. 462)
"Christ vivifies us truly and primarily, efficiently through His deity; instrumentally through His flesh and blood, yet in a secondary sense also efficiently. Not instrumentally in the manner of the Word or sacraments or ministers of the Word, but in a far more excellent way, due to the hypostatic union with the deity. The flesh, because of this union, functions as the source of all life and salvation. It is such an organ of the deity that although the flesh itself does not vivify perfectly and truly, through it, the deity immediately vivifies and communicates life, just as the sun's light shines through the solar body and vivifies the lower things. This aligns with Cyril's statement in his Commentary on John, Book 4, Chapter 14: 'He is life according to nature, who is begotten from the living Father; but not less does He vivify His own body. For it is ineffably united to the Son of God, through whom all things are vivified.' Therefore, the flesh of Christ is not an instrument like the iron in the hand of a craftsman but is like the human body to the soul and the solar body to light." (Jerome Zanchius, De Incarnatione Filii Dei [Heidelberg, 1593], pg. 538)
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