Ulrich Zwingli's Perspective On The Eucharist

Name Tutor Course Date Ulrich Zwingli’s Perspective on The Eucharist As one of the early reformers, Ulrich Zwingli greatly influenced the direction in which Protestantism evolved. His criticism of Roman Catholic doctrines sparked spirited debates on the issues, making him loved and hated in equal measure. One of the most controversial issues of his ministry was his perspective on the Eucharist and in particular Christ’s presence in it. According to Zwingli, Jesus Christ has a symbolic and special spiritual presence in the Eucharist but no bodily presence whatsoever. Zwingli’s perspective, though controversial, is supported by the fact that Christ only assures his spiritual presence where others gather in His name, and not His physical presence (Matt. 18:20) (Holy Bible: NIV). Zwingli’s perspective is based on several scriptures contained in the Bible. The first and most important scripture is John 6:63 (Holy Bible: NIV) which states “The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are Spirit, and they are life.” Using this scripture, Zwingli highlights the importance that Christ places on the Spirit and its importance over the body. In essence, Zwingli demonstrates that insisting on the bodily presence of Christ in the Eucharist is illogical seeing as Christ Himself places no value in the body, and only affirms that His Spirit gives life (Barron). Secondly, using Matthew 18:20, Zwingli highlights Christ’s assurance of His presence in the Eucharist (Holy Bible: NIV). In the scripture, Christ says, “For where two or three gather in my name, there I am with them.” Seeing as the Eucharist is a gathering of Christians for communion, worship, and remembrance of Christ, His spiritual presence is affirmed. These scriptures affirm Zwingli’s assertion of Christ’s special spiritual presence in the Eucharist, with no affirmation of a bodily presence. Secondly, Zwingli also underscores Christ’s symbolic presence in the Eucharist. Although Christ mentions that the bread and wine are His body and blood respectively (Matthew 26: 26-29), these statements are symbolic (Holy Bible: NIV). The words “This is my body” and “This is my blood” are intended to signify one is the other, and not to show that one literally transforms into the other. Furthermore, assuming that this scripture indicates anything more than a symbolic signification, would indicate Christ’s real and physical presence in the Eucharist through the bread and blood (Wandel 50). This is a contradiction of Christ’s own words. In John 17:11, Christ says, “I will remain in the world no longer….” which refutes any possibility of Christ being physically present in the Eucharist in whatever form (Holy Bible: NIV). One argum...