Institutes 4.17.30 — OF THE LORD’S SUPPER, AND THE BENEFITS CONFERRED BY IT

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**OF THE LORD’S SUPPER, AND THE BENEFITS CONFERRED BY IT**

Granting what they absurdly talk of the invisible presence, it will still be necessary to prove the immensity, without which it is vain to attempt to include Christ under the bread. Unless the body of Christ can be everywhere without any boundaries of space, it is impossible to believe that he is hid in the Supper under the bread. Hence, they have been under the necessity of introducing the monstrous dogma of ubiquity. But it has been demonstrated by strong and clear passages of Scripture, first, that it is bounded by the dimensions of the human body; and, secondly, that its ascension into heaven made it plain that it is not in all places, but on passing to a new one, leaves the one formerly occupied. The promise to which they appeal, “I am with you always, even to the end of the world,” is not to be applied to the body. First, then, a perpetual connection with Christ could not exist, unless he dwells in us corporeally, independently of the use of the Supper; and, therefore, they have no good ground for disputing so bitterly concerning the words of Christ, in order to include him under the bread in the Supper. The French adds, “veu qu’ils confessent que nous l’avons aussi bien sans la Cene;”—seeing they acknowledge that we have him as well without the Supper. French, “Il faisoit Jesus Christ homme en tant qu’il est Dieu, et Dieu en tant qu’il est homme.”—He made Jesus Christ man, in so far as he is God, and God in so far as he is man.

Source

• source-manifest/institutes — Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, tr. Beveridge 1845 (PD)
• evidence_grade: D_doctrinal_textbook