LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2026, Page 256

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256

THEOLOGICAL DOCUMENTS­­—COMMISSION ON THEOLOGY AND CHURCH RELATIONS
The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

Proper Administration of the Lord’s Supper

105:40; Neh. 9:15; John 6:31). And, of course, Christ refers to Himself as the true
bread or bread of life (John 6:31–59).

tion (1 Cor. 10:14–22; 11:20–34).33 Although grain was certainly used for the bread of
the Last Supper and in Corinth, no text explicitly describes the kind of grain used
in either case.

The Bible knows more than one kind of bread, although wheat bread is mentioned
more than other grains or bread. Jesus uses wheat in parables such as the Parable
of the Weeds (Matt. 13:24–30) and of the Dishonest Manager (Luke 16:1–30). Bread
made from the “finest wheat” seems to have been the preferred bread for the Old
Testament. For example, “fine wheat flour” is used for the unleavened bread offered during the consecration of priests (Ex. 29:2; see also Deut. 32:14). Barley is
also frequently mentioned in the Bible, but it evidently was a humbler grain or, at
any rate, less costly than wheat (e.g., Rev. 6:6). Of note are the twenty barley loaves
that Elisha used miraculously to feed one hundred men (2 Kings 4:42–44) and the
five barley loaves from which our Lord fed five thousand men and their families
(John 6:9–13).

The early church practice of the Lord’s Supper was distinguished from the Jewish
Passover, as was the case in Corinth. In the earliest Christian centuries, there is
no evidence of controversy over the kind of bread—whether leavened or unleavened—that should be used in the Supper. It appears that ordinary leavened bread
was used most widely throughout the early church. Over time, however, a division regarding leavening developed between the Eastern and Western branches
of Christianity. Eventually unleavened bread was used almost exclusively among
the Roman—or Western—Church and leavened bread was used in the East.34 This
became one of the factors leading to the Great Schism.35
In the thirteenth century Thomas Aquinas concluded that only unleavened wheat
bread should be used in the Sacrament. Although he argues that only wheat bread
should be used, he concedes that there are other practices in some places where
cereal grains that resemble wheat were used in the Sacrament. He allows that
some mixture of other grains with wheat may be acceptable for use in the Sacrament, as long as wheat predominates. He also mentions that some have thought
wheat starch could be used in place of wheat flour. As for leavening, Thomas is
more circumspect. Wheat is “necessary,” while unleavened bread is only “suitable” because it is in accord with the Roman rite, while leavened bread is suitable in the East according to their rite. Nevertheless, overall, unleavened bread is
“more reasonable.”36

The passages from Matthew, Mark, and Luke all describe the Last Supper in the
upper room with Jesus and His disciples as the Passover. Thus the bread that Jesus
used at that meal would almost certainly have been unleavened bread since Passover directly preceded the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Lev. 23:4–6). Given their
proximity, Luke refers to Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread as one event
(Luke 22:1). Houses were cleansed of leaven in preparation for Passover and the
following Feast of Unleavened Bread (Ex. 12:15–20; Deut. 16:16).31 The leavening to
be cleansed would have included any leavened grain bread, such as barley as well
as wheat.32
Given the direct connection between Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread,
it is of note that the word for bread in the first three Gospels is artos, the general
term for bread, and not the specific Greek term for unleavened bread (azymos).
Then, in Paul’s teaching about the Lord’s Supper in 1 Corinthians 10 and 11, there
is no mention of a Passover setting or of unleavened bread. In those chapters Paul,
too, speaks only of bread generally (artos, not azymos) without further qualifica-

31

See Francis X. E. Albert, “Azymes,” The Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 2 (Robert Appleton Company,
1907), http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02171a.htm.

32

There is specific mention of barley in Rabbinic Judaism (Tosefta, Pisha, 3:8f.). Later Talmudic Judaism holds that matzah (unleavened bread) is to be made from one of the grains mentioned in the
Torah (wheat, barley, spelt, rye, oats). See “Passover: Matzah,” Jewish Virtual Library, https://www
.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/matzah. Karaite Jews used only barley, believing it to be most suited to serve
as the “bread of affliction” (Deut. 16:3) since it was the bread commonly eaten by the poor.

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The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

33

Paul’s only mention of Passover in 1 Corinthians is in chapter 5, where the subject is the incestuous
sexual relationship of a man in Corinth. In arguing for the necessity that the man be disciplined by the
church, Paul says: “Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Cleanse out the old
leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has
been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice
and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” (vv. 6–8).

34

Augustin Joseph Schulte, “Altar Breads,” The Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 1 (Robert Appleton Company,
1907), http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01349d.htm.

35

For a brief discussion, see “East-West Schism,” Encyclopedia Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/
event/East-West-Schism-1054 (accessed September 19, 2024).

36

Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, vol. 58, trans. William Barden (Blackfriars, 1965), 35–39 (Part 3,
ques. 74, arts. 3, 4).

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Proper Administration of the Lord’s Supper

Thomas’s conclusion that unleavened wheat should be used in the Sacrament was

procedures that would alter the nature of bread.” 39 Here the judgment is not what

endorsed by the Council of Florence in 1439 for use in the West, stating that “the

may be more “suitable” or “reasonable.” An “invalid” sacrament is no sacrament.

body of Christ is truly confected in both unleavened and leavened wheat bread,

The use of low-gluten hosts made by authorized providers is suggested as the only

and priests should confect the body of Christ in either, that is, each priest accord-

acceptable alternative to gluten-free hosts.40

ing to the custom of his western or eastern church.”37 For Rome, this teaching

With the Reformation came a significant reconsideration of the nature of the Sac-

remains unchanged. Trent reaffirmed it as did John Paul’s Instruction Redemptionis

rament and also its elements. While the doctrine of the sacrifice of the mass was

Sacramentum in 2004. Paragraph 49 is explicit:

the central point of contention, Luther also addressed other matters, including
the bread used in the Lord’s Supper. In Luther’s Against the Heavenly Prophets in

The bread used in the celebration of the Most Holy Eucharistic Sacrifice must be unleavened, purely of wheat, and recently made so that there is no danger of decomposition. It
follows therefore that bread made from another substance,
even if it is grain, or if it is mixed with another substance
different from wheat to such an extent that it would not commonly be considered wheat bread, does not constitute valid
matter for confecting the Sacrifice and the Eucharistic Sacrament. It is a grave abuse to introduce other substances, such
as fruit or sugar or honey, into the bread for confecting the
Eucharist. Hosts should obviously be made by those who are
not only distinguished by their integrity, but also skilled in
making them and furnished with suitable tools.38

the Matter of Images and Sacraments he discusses sacramental bread in the context
of his rejection of the view that has the validity of the Lord’s Supper hanging on
duplication of doing everything that Christ does. “But we are of the opinion that
it is not necessary to do or refrain from doing all that Christ has done or refrained
from doing.”41 It is what Christ teaches—the Word alone—that matters.
Attempts to mimic Christ’s actions exactly would lead to “utter foolishness,” says
Luther, even to avoiding the Sacrament completely due to uncertainty about exactly what Christ did or did not do (or say) at the Last Supper. Sarcastically he
writes: “Since we do not know and the text does not state whether red or white
wine was used, whether wheat rolls or barley bread were used, we must by reason
of doubt at this point refrain from observing the Last Supper, until we become
certain about it, so that we do not make any external detail differ a hairsbreadth
from what Christ’s example sets forth.”42 To the contrary, Luther concludes: “No
one is to command or prohibit anything which he has neither commanded nor
forbidden.”43 The kind of bread and the color of wine are adiaphora.

The same ruling was reiterated in 2017 by Cardinal Robert Sarah in a letter on behalf of Pope Francis. “Hosts that are completely gluten-free are invalid matter for
the celebration of the Eucharist. Low-gluten hosts (partially gluten-free) are valid
matter, provided they contain a sufficient amount of gluten to obtain the confection of bread without the addition of foreign materials and without the use of

37

“Council of Basel-Ferrara-Florence, 1431–49 AD,” Session 6, July 6, 1439, Papal Encyclicals Online,
https://www.papalencyclicals.net//councils/ecum17.htm (accessed February 19, 2026).

38

The Holy See, “Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacrament,” III 1, paragraph
48,
https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/ccdds/documents/rc_con_ccdds
_doc_20040423_redemptionis-sacramentum_en.html.

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2026 Convention Workbook

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39

“Letter to Bishops on the Bread and Wine for the Eucharist,” Vatican Radio, July 8, 2017, https://www
.archivioradiovaticana.va/storico/2017/07/08/letter_to_bishops_on_the_bread_and_wine_for_the
_eucharist/en-1323886.

40

Four providers of hosts are named by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB),
Committee on Divine Worship, “Celiac Disease, Alcohol Intolerance, and the Church’s Pastoral Response,” updated April 20, 2016, https://www.usccb.org/prayer-and-worship/the-mass/order-of-mass/
liturgy-of-the-eucharist/celiac-disease-and-alcohol-intolerance.

41

Martin Luther, Against the Heavenly Prophets, AE 40:131.

42

AE 40:132–33.

43

AE 40:133.