# Lehre und Wehre_St. Louis Missouri_Februar 1856_S41
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

Consubstantiation and Impanation. 41

...-ness, but rather the substance of the body and blood of Christ Himself is present in the Holy Supper; for they have set this expression of spiritual presence, as it is defined by the adversaries, in opposition — by no means, however, did they intend by this that the body of Christ is present in a bodily and quantitative manner (one describing and occupying a certain size and a certain space). (Loc. de sacra coena §. 98. ed. Cott.)

Since it is thus so clear that we Lutherans know nothing of either a consubstantiation or an impanation, and in general do not wish to determine the manner of the sacramental presence at all, it may nevertheless seem to many, at first sight of all these our explanations, to contradict this, that we are accustomed to say: In, with, and under the bread is the body of Jesus Christ in the Holy Supper.

To demonstrate the propriety of this grammatical and logical circumscription of the words of the Lord is not the business of this place; we reserve doing so for another occasion; we recall here only that, as follows of itself from the above, by those words neither an impanation nor a consubstantiation, but nothing other than faith in the real, true presence of the body and blood of Christ in the Holy Supper, is meant to be expressed. From binding him who confesses this belief without evasion to the words of interpretation — in, with, under — we Lutherans are therefore far removed; although we are indeed convinced that whoever believes from the heart the true presence, as the Lord promises it in the words, "This is my body," at the giving of the bread, and "This is my blood," at the giving of the cup, will not stumble at those words but will recognize in them a human manner of speech, as it cannot be otherwise given the faith of his heart. So, among others, Luther too writes: "That the fathers and we ourselves sometimes speak thus: Christ's body is in the bread — this happens in a simple sense, in that our faith wishes to confess that Christ's body is there; otherwise we are quite willing to allow it to be said: it is in the bread, it is the bread, it is where the bread is, or however one wishes. Over words we do not wish to quarrel; only let the sense remain, that it is not plain bread that we eat in Christ's Supper, but the body of Christ." (See the writing: That These Words of Christ, "This Is My Body," Still Stand Firm, from the year 1527. Opp. XX, 1011, 1012.)

Likewise Gerhard expresses himself on this matter. He writes: "Only grant us the true, real, and substantial presence of the body and blood of Christ in the Holy Supper; grant that the words of Christ, as they read (kata to rheton, i.e., according to the letter), are to be taken in their original, natural, and proper sense: and we shall readily come to an understanding with them concerning the use of these particles." (Loc. cit. § 96.)

A greater appearance of force might the objection made against us by the Reformed have, namely that we indeed sing in our church: