Luther Versus Zwingli: A Critical Comparison of The Eucharist

[This paper was for my Reformation and Enlightenment class at Capital University, where I'm seeking a minor degree in religion.]

Jesse Harmon

RELIG 321

March 15, 2012

Luther Versus Zwingli: A Critical Comparison of the Eucharist

Luther and Zwingli’s views on the Eucharist, or communion, will be discussed.  This essay will compare Zwingli’s On True and False Religion, and Luther’s The Large Catechism.  Although both Luther and Zwingli were both very prominent protestant leaders who agreed on many things, Zwingli’s view on the Lord’s Supper was vastly different, and more liberal than Martin Luther’s view.

Martin Luther was born on November 10, 1483 in Eisleben, Germany.  He was originally a Catholic monk, who taught at the University of Wittenberg in Saxony, Germany. On July 17, 1505 after a near death experience, he decided to enter a monastery after studying law for a year.  As a professor, he lectured on various aspects of the Bible including Paul’s letters.  There were two specific verses that really struck him.  These verses were Romans 1:16-17, which states, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.  For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it written: ‘The righteous will live by faith.’” 

This verse, along with the writings of Erasmus, set off Luther to write the 95 Theses, which he famously nailed to the doors of the University of Wittenberg, thus beginning the protestant reformation Luther died shortly after a stroke stole his ability to speak (Gallar, 2002.)

Ulrich Zwingli was born just nearly six weeks after the birth of Martin Luther, in Wildhaus, Switzerland, on January 1, 1484.  He is considered the leader of the Swiss reformation movement, which later became known as the Anabaptist movement.   Zwingli was ordained at the age of twenty-two in 1506.  He and Luther famously debated in Marburg in 1529.  They both agreed on fourteen of the fifteen debate topics, but clearly clashed on the discussion about the Eucharist, or communion.  Zwingli, who was very heavily into the politics of the time, was very stern on his belief that communion was nothing but symbolism of the actual event that took place the day before Jesus was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane.  Zwingli died after being killed in a bloody battle fought by the Catholics against the Protestants in Switzerland.

            Martin Luther virtually started the reformation movement.  Even though Erasmus had previously written pamphlets on reforming the Catholic Church, Martin Luther really set things off by nailing his 95 Theses to the front doors of Wittenberg University in Germany.  Luther disagreed from withholding the cup from laity.  This practice began in 1416 AD ("Roman catholic doctrinal.”)  Martin Luther’s The Large Catechism, which was written to go a little more in depth on the Christian tradition, asked a question.  “What is the Sacrament of the Altar?”  Luther’s response is, “It is the true body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, in and under the bread and wine, which we Christians are commanded by Christ’s Word to eat and to drink.”  As stated, Luther obviously believed that both the host and the cup should be taken by the communed.  Luther also states, “Take, eat; this is My body…Drink of it, all of you; this is My blood of the new testament,” (Luther, 1529.)

            According to The Lutheran Confessions blog, the Council of Lambeth in 1281 outlawed the serving of the cup to parishioners (McCain 2007.)  Why would the church withhold the cup from the laity?  Paul Timothy McCain, author of The Lutheran Confessions blog, as well as editor of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod’s edition of the Book of Concord, stated that the bread, or host, was good enough to serve to the laity.  However, it appears to the reader that McCain didn’t quite state exactly why the cup was withheld. 

A History of Christianity holds the answer.  In this book, the author states that the denial of the cup to the laity was because of the danger of simply spilling the wine Since Catholics believe in transubstantiation (which is the actual conversion of bread and wine to flesh and blood), many were afraid of spilling the newly converted blood.  Thus, priests started only serving the bread to the laity.  (Latourette 1975.)  Luther believes that, “[just] as we have said that Baptism is not simply water, so here also we say that though the Sacrament is bread and wine, it is not mere bread and wine, such as are ordinarily served at the table,” Luther stated after answering the question, “Now, what is the Sacrament of the Altar?”  Luther believed all believers should receive both the body and the blood of Jesus Christ, just like the original apostles did. 

            Luther believed the only sacrifice that one should have was at the Lord’s Table, and nothing else.  He believed the Catholic Church’s view on “good works and a sacrifice” was the “most wicked of all,” according to Trevin Wax’s blog post called, “Luther vs. Zwingli 2: Luther on the Lord’s Supper,” (Wax, 2008.)

            Zwingli (1484-1531), a much more mild and subdued Swiss man, was at work also reforming the church.  In his book called, On True and False Religion, (from 1525), he states his positions on the Eucharist.  First, he believes that, “[the church] will not even brook the question whether the body of Christ is in the sacrament of the Eucharist in actual, physical, or essential form,” (Zwingli, 1525.)  He states, “…I do not think we have to listen to those who are so bold as to say, ‘I have always firmly believed that in this sacrament I eat the essential body, or the bodily and sensible flesh, of Christ.’”  Zwingli is saying that he believes we should not listen to those who believe in transubstantiation (Zwingli 1525.) 

The Catholic Church believed the bread and the wine changed form into the body and blood of Christ.  They believed the accidents, or the senses, sensed the consistency of bread and wine.  Luther believed that the bread and wine contained the body and blood of Christ, but wasn’t actually converted into flesh and blood (a term called consubstantiation).  Zwingli believed the bread and wine symbolized the body and blood of Christ, with no conversion of bread to flesh, and wine to blood at all.  Zwingli later said, “I have no use for that notion of a real and true body that does not exist physically, definitely and distinctly in some places, and that sort of nonsense got up by word triflers.”  The Gospel of St. John, chapter six, verse sixty-three tells us, “It’s the spirit that gives life; the flesh is of no avail.”  This text shows that Zwingli thinks that it’s only the spirit that will save people (Payne, 1984.)  Luther, Zwingli claimed that many of his views were normal trains of thought. 

Zwingli believed that since Jesus rose into Heaven (where there is no time), and no longer on Earth (where there is time), Jesus is no longer limited by space and time.  Thus, he cannot be both in Heaven and on Earth at the same time, proving that he cannot be part of the bread and the wine of communion. 

There was no need for ceremonies and rituals since the bread and wine weren’t actually flesh and blood (Wax, 2008.)  “It is eaten spiritually,” Zwingli wrote.  “For body and spirit are such essentially different things that whichever one you take, it cannot be the other,” (Zwingli, 1525.)

            One of the more interesting things in On True and False Religion is when Zwingli states, “They err…in applying faith to things of sense, and in saying that through these it brings us certainty.”  He is quite clearly stating here that our senses should not govern our faith.  Zwingli was not troubled by his own soul like Luther was.  Luther was paranoid about his sins, while Zwingli wasn’t.  Zwingli was more worried about the salvation of his people, while Luther was more worried about the salvation of himself.

            What’s the purpose of all of this?  It is to show that Zwingli really took things far when he started his own reformation movement.  He claims that the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ are not present in the Eucharist.  This is completely against scripture which says, “…he took bread, gave thanks, and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.’  In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, ‘this cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you,” (The Gospel of St. Luke, the twenty second chapter, versus nineteen through twenty.)  The word is is the third person singular present form of the infinitive to be.  Is does not mean “not really.”  Zwingli had it all wrong when he decided he had had enough with the Catholic Church himself.  If he hadn’t started his own, there would probably be only two church bodies in the world today: Holy Catholic Church, and the Lutheran Church. 

Works Cited

Gallar, J. S. (2002, November 05). Martin Luther and the reformation. Retrieved from https://webspace.utexas.edu/gallerjs/www/LutherReformationLecture.html

Latourette, K. S. (1975). The history of Christianity: Volume 1. (p. 531). New York, NY:             HarperCollins Publishers. Retrieved from http://books.google.com/books?id=Q4pzuXCiDdYC&pg=RA1-PA231&lpg=RA1-PA231&dq=denying cup to             laity&source=bl&ots=iRpULaYCId&sig=dul-Zeau5SOIF1QQaDwAH9DPtCw&hl=en&sa=X&ei=g5FeT_maPIPc0QGt8oHJBw            &ved=0CCoQ6AEwAg

Luther, M. (2005). The large catechism. In P. McCain (Ed.), Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions (pp. 622-624). Saint Louis: Concordia Publishing House.

McCain, P. T. (2007, August 07). [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://bookofconcord.blogspot.com/2007/08/round-table-23-various-abuses-corrected.html

Payne, J. B. (1984). Zwingli and Luther: The giant vs. Hercules. Christianity Today International/Christian History magazine, Retrieved from http://www.christiantodaylibrary.com

Roman catholic doctrinal evolution: Doctrinal flip flops. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.bible.ca/catholic-flip-flops-eucharist-withholding-communion-cup.htm

Wax, T. (2008, February 11). [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/trevinwax/2008/02/11/luther-vs-zwingli-2-luther-on-the-lords-supper/

Wax, T. (2008, February 12). [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/trevinwax/2008/02/12/luther-vs-zwingli-3-zwingli-on-the-lords-supper/

Zwingli, U. (1525). On true and false religion. In D. R. Janz (Ed.), A Reformation Reader (pp. 193-198)