Adam Olive
Puritan Board Freshman
How would you state the difference in Zwingli and Calvin's views simply to someone less familiar with the Reformation era's controversies?
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On the Lord's supper Luther and Zwingli agreed on a number of points but could not agree on our Lord's words "this *is* my body." Luther was a hot head and some suggest he had a mental illness. But it seems to me this was a key point on which they broke fellowship.
Before Luther died, he read a treatise of Calvin on the Lord's supper, and said to his friend Melanchthon "in the matter of the sacrament we have gone too far. Pray do something about this after my death". Martyn Lloyd-Jones, in one of his lectures on the Puritans, describes it as a pathetic situation.
To say that a spiritual eating/drinking is negatively not the physical consumption of flesh and blood in the mouth is clear. But how would you personally positively describe spiritual eating/drinking?So, the common opinion of Calvin and Zwingli is that there is no carnal eating and drinking of the body and blood of the Lord; but where they differ is that Calvin maintained there was an actual (real) spiritual eating and drinking.
By any chance did Lloyd-Jones name the source for this?This does not cover all aspects of your question (it is a big topic), but I made this comment a few months ago.
There are times when a negative is all that can be said of the truth, and so the position is defined against one which positively states an error. So, my first counsel is not to disparage definition-by-denial as if intrinsically unworthy.To say that a spiritual eating/drinking is negatively not the physical consumption of flesh and blood in the mouth is clear. But how would you personally positively describe spiritual eating/drinking?
e.g. as we express our faith by taking part in the Table, the Spirit works in us strengthening us in our spirit in faith and applying the benefits of Jesus' death and resurrection.
Hmm... I'm not sure my statement is clear and simple.
How do you describe spiritual eating/drinking?
No. The comments came from Dr Lloyd-Jones 1969 lecture "Can we learn from history" in his book on the Puritans.By any chance did Lloyd-Jones name the source for this?