THAT THESE WORDS OF CHRIST, “THIS IS MY BODY,” ETC., STILL STAND FIRM AGAINST THE FANATICS 1527

Now, to come to grips with the subject, let us take up the saying of Christ, which Matthew and Mark record (Matt. 26:26, Mark 14:22. “Which is given for you,” however, appears in Luke 22:19 (in some texts, including the one Luther used), and in a related form in I Cor. 11:24. There are other minor variations also, which Luther examines when he analyzes the four texts individually in Confession Concerning Christ’s Supper, pp. 307 ff. The conflated text above, however, was the one used in public worship and instruction: Formula Missae, 1523, and Deutsche Messe, 1526 (LW 53, 27 f., 80 f.); Small Catechism, VI, 4, and Large Catechism, V, 3. Cf. also LW 36, 37, n. 84, 319.) “He took bread, and gave thanks, and broke it, and gave it to his disciples and said, ‘Take, eat; this is my body which is given for you.’ ” As I have said, I wish at this time to take up this saying alone, in defiance of the devil and all his spirits, in order to prove that this single text is strong and mighty enough to stand against all their rotten, empty prattle. The other texts will come to their right in their own good time. Now, here stands the text, stating clearly and lucidly that Christ gives his body to eat when he distributes the bread. On this we take our stand, and we also believe and teach that in the Supper we eat and take to ourselves Christ’s body truly and physically. But how this takes place or how he is in the bread, we do not know and are not meant to know. God’s Word we should believe without setting bounds or measure to it. The bread we see with our eyes, but we hear with our ears that Christ’s body is present. -Martin Luther