Theological Term of the Week

transubstantiation
The Roman Catholic teaching that in the Eucharist the physical elements of bread and wine materially change into the body and blood of Christ, although the accidents of the bread and wine (their appearance, taste and smell, for instance), remain unchanged.

• Scripture used to defend the doctrine of transubstantiation:

The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. (John 6:52-53 ESV)

• From Fundamentals of Catholic Doctrine by Ludwig Ott:

Christ becomes present in the Sacrament of the Altar by the transformation of the whole substance of the bread into His Body and of the whole substance of the wine into His Blood.

•  From Systematic Theology by Louis Berkhof:

The supposed Scriptural ground for [transubstantiation] is found in the words of the institution, “this is my body”, and in John 6:50 ff. But the former passage is clearly tropical2, like those in John 14:6; 15:1, 10:9 and others; and the later, literally understood, would teach more than the Roman Catholic himself would be ready to grant, namely that every one who eats the Lord’ Supper goes to heaven, while no one who fails to eat it will obtain eternal life (cf. verses 53,54). Moreover, verse 63 clearly points to a spiritual interpretation. Furthermore, it is quite impossible to conceive of the bread which Jesus broke as being the body which was handling it; and it should be noted that Scripture calls it bread even after it is supposed to have been transubstantiated, I Cor. 10:17; 11:26,27,28. This view of Rome also violates the human senses, where it asks us to believe that what tastes and looks like bread and wine, is really flesh and blood; and human reason, where it requires belief in the separation of a substance and its properties and in the presence of a material body in several places at the same time, both of which are contrary to reason. Consequently, the elevation and adoration of the host is also without any proper foundation. 

Learn more:

1. Theopedia: Transubstantiation
2. Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry: Transubstantiation and the Lord’s Presence
3. James White: The of the Development of the Concept of Transubstantiation

Related terms:

• Lord’s Supper

Filed under Isms

1From The Christian Faith by Michael Horton.

2figurative

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