# Lehre und Wehre_St. Louis Missouri_Mai 1856_S146
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

146 Questions Concerning the Effect of the Holy Supper, etc.

...of his bones, since they have the same human nature that Christ has; but rather by virtue of an analogy that obtains, in that we are joined to him by so intimate a bond as spouses are accustomed to be joined, who, because of the marriage bond, are not two but one flesh and one body, Gen. 2:24, Matt. 19:6, 1 Cor. 6:16. —

d. Christ gives his flesh in the Holy Supper, that it may profit us, and his Supper is celebrated in remembrance of his death. Therefore Christ must dwell in us bodily. —

Answer. Christ's flesh is not given to us in the Holy Supper so that it may serve for an essential transformation of our flesh into the flesh of Christ, nor so that we celebrate the Supper in remembrance of the body and blood of Christ with the intention of thereby testifying, as it were, that his body and blood are now changed into our body and blood, and thus become our body and blood; but rather Christ's flesh is presented to our mouth in the Holy Supper by means of the bread, so that from there it may be brought to the soul, laid hold of with firm faith, and so our whole person assured of the making-alive — namely, that just as he has now, through this means of communion, been renewed again from spiritual death to the life of grace, so also on the last day, through the benefit of the same means, he shall be raised from bodily death and renewed to the life of glory, Rom. 8:11. Then, too, the remembrance of the body and blood of Christ in the use of the Supper is not undertaken by us for the purpose of asserting that his body and blood are transformed into our body and blood, but because there in the Supper, by means of the outward signs, we have become partakers of the body and blood themselves, as of the weapons and instruments with which the Savior struck down and overcame our enemies — sin, the world, and the devil — and which offer us the most effective means of defense against all the attacks of our enemies.

e. As Adam dwells in us, so also Christ; but Adam dwells in us essentially, for we have from him a nature which, in kind, is one and the same as Adam's nature. Therefore: likewise also Christ.

Answer. 1. The major premise is not contained in Scripture, for it is not stated in Scripture that Christ's indwelling in us will be exactly the same as Adam's; 2. it is contrary to Scripture, for "the gift is not like the trespass," Rom. 5:15; — 3. it is absurd, for the indwelling of Adam in us is a general one, extending both to believers and to unbelievers, "forasmuch as they are all of one," Heb. 2:11, whereas the indwelling of Christ is a particular one, since it comes about through faith, Eph. 3:17, which is not everyone's affair, 2 Thess. 2:3. — 4. It may be granted, not with respect to essence: as Adam, through his indwelling, communicates to us his nature, so also Christ, who has given power to become children of God to those who receive him through faith, John 1:12 — but rather by way of comparison,