The Lord’s Supper as the Testament of Jesus

Abstract

THE CLAIM THAT GODLESS SINNERS ARE JUSTIFIED BY FAITH ALONE WITHOUT THE deeds of the law entails also the claim that the Lord’s supper is properly understood and used only when it is administered and received as gospel—as sheer, unmerited gift. It is a beneficium not a sacrificium. What happens in the supper, that is, is simply, the gospel. What our Lord did at supper “on the night in which he was betrayed” must therefore be conceptualized, taught, and proclaimed as pure gospel if we are to approach what might be called a “Lutheran” understanding of that supper. The absolute basis for such understanding and practice is first, last, and always, that it is gospel promise.