The Institution of the Eucharist by Nicolas Poussin,

1640

Christ also associated himself with the

poor of the world and this is also called
the Body of Christ. “If we truly wish to
encounter Christ, we have to touch his
body in the suffering bodies of the poor, as
a response to the sacramental communion
bestowed in the Eucharist. "The Body of
Christ, broken in the sacred liturgy, can be
seen, through charity and sharing, in the
faces and persons of the most vulnerable
of our brothers and sisters”, said Pope
Francis on launching the World Day of the
Poor.[1]

There are significant differences in how

Christians understand the term as used by
Christ at the Last Supper and as developed
in Christian theology of the Eucharist. For
some it may be symbolic, for others it
becomes a more literal or mystical
understanding.

As used by Saint Paul in the Pauline

epistles The Body of Christ refers to all
individuals who "heard the word of truth,
the gospel of your salvation, believed in
him, were sealed with the promised Holy
Spirit" Ephesians 1:13 , "are being built
together into a dwelling place for God by
the Spirit" Ephesians 2:22 , are "joined and
held together by every joint with which it is
equipped, when each part is working
properly, makes the body grow so that it
builds itself up in love" Ephesians 4:16 .

In Roman Catholic theology the use of the

phrase "mystical body" distinguishes the
mystical body of Christ, the Church, from
the physical body of Christ, and from a
"moral body" such as any club with a
common purpose.[2]

The Eucharist and real

presence
A belief in the real presence of Christ in the
Eucharist is taught in Catholicism, Eastern
Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, the Church
of the East, the Moravian Church,
Lutheranism, Anglicanism, Methodism and
Reformed Christianity, though each
tradition teaches a unique view of the
doctrine.[3][4][5][6] Efforts at mutual
understanding of the range of beliefs by
these Churches led in the 1980s to
consultations on Baptism, Eucharist and
Ministry by the World Council of Churches.

Catholicism …
While teaching that in the bread
consecrated in the Eucharist there is
absolutely no change open to the senses
or to scientific investigation, the Catholic
Church supports the real presence, i.e. that
the reality of the bread is changed into that
of the body of Christ. The Church
teachings refer to this change as one of
the "substance" or "transubstantiation".[7] It
rejects the Lollard doctrine of
"consubstantiation", which suggests that
the substance or reality of the bread
remains after the consecration, instead of
being converted or changed into that of
the body of Christ. At the same time, the
Church holds that all that can be examined
either directly or by scientific
investigation – what in Aristotelean
philosophy are called the "accidents" (as
opposed to the reality) – remains quite
unchanged.

In the Roman Rite, the priest or other

minister who gives the consecrated host
to a communicant says: "The body of
Christ", indicating what is held to be the
reality of what is given.
Since the consecrated bread is believed to
be the body of Christ and sacred, what
remains of the host after celebration of
Mass is kept in the church tabernacle. This
is primarily for the purpose of taking
Communion to the sick, but also to serve
as a focal point for private devotion and
prayer. On appropriate occasions, there
may be public Eucharistic adoration.

Eastern Orthodoxy …

The Eastern Orthodox Church also believes

that the Eucharistic elements of bread and
wine become the actual body and blood of
Christ. It has authoritatively used the term
"Transubstantiation" to describe this
change, as in The Longer Catechism of The
Orthodox, Catholic, Eastern Church[8] and in
the decrees of the 1672 Synod of
Jerusalem.[9]

Lutheranism …

Martin Luther reasoned that because

divinity involves omnipresence, the body of
Christ can be present in the Eucharist
because of its participation in the divine
nature.[10]

In current Lutheran teachings, the Body of

Christ is used in a somewhat similar form
to the Catholic teachings, but the
Lutherans reject the Catholic teaching of
transubstantiation, instead teaching the
doctrine of the sacramental union. For the
Lutheran, the Body of Christ is the formal
title of the sacramental bread in the
Eucharist, as seen in the Lutheran Divine
Service.
Moravianism …

Nicolaus Zinzendorf, a bishop of the

Moravian Church, stated that Holy
Communion is the "most intimate of all
connection with the person of the
Saviour."[11] The Moravian Church adheres
to a view known as the "sacramental
presence",[12] teaching that in the
sacrament of Holy Communion:[6]

Christ gives his body and blood

according to his promise to all
who partake of the elements.
 When we eat and drink the
bread and the wine of the
Supper with expectant faith, we
thereby have communion with
the body and blood of our Lord
and receive the forgiveness of
sins, life, and salvation. In this
sense, the bread and wine are
rightly said to be Christ's body
and blood which he gives to his
disciples.[6]

Reformed Christianity …
The Reformed Churches, which include the
Continental Reformed, Reformed Anglican,
Presbyterian, Congregationalist and
Reformed Baptist traditions, teach the
pneumatic presence of Christ in the Lord's
Supper—that Christ is really spiritually
present in the sacrament of Holy
Communion.[5] The Congregationalist
theologian Alfred Ernest Garvie explicated
the Congregationalist belief regarding the
pneumatic presence in The Holy Catholic
Church from the Congregational Point of
View:[13]
 He is really present at the Lord's
Supper without any such
limitation to the element unless
we are prepared to maintain
that the material is more real
than the spiritual. It is the
whole Christ who presents
Himself to faith, so that the
believer has communion with
Him.[13]

Methodism …
Methodists teach the real presence of
Christ in the Eucharist, but maintain that
the way He is made present to be a Holy
Mystery.[14] The Discipline of the Free
Methodist Church thus teaches:[15]

The Lord's Supper is a

sacrament of our redemption by
Christ's death. To those who
rightly, worthily, and with faith
receive it, the bread which we
break is a partaking of the body
of Christ; and likewise the cup of
blessing is a partaking of the
 blood of Christ. The supper is
also a sign of the love and unity
that Christians have among
themselves. Christ, according to
his promise, is really present in
the sacrament. –Discipline, Free
Methodist Church[15]

The Church

Catholicism …
1 Corinthians, from the Douai Bible, 1749

For as the body is one, and hath

many members, and all the
members of that one body, being
many, are one body: so also is
Christ. For by one Spirit are we
all baptized into one body,
whether we be Jews or Gentiles,
whether we be bond or free; and
 have been all made to drink into
one Spirit. For the body is not
one member, but many. — 1
Corinthians 12:12–14

The first meaning that Catholics attach to

the expression "Body of Christ" is the
Catholic Church. The Catechism of the
Catholic Church quotes with approval, as
"summing up the faith of the holy doctors
and the good sense of the believer", the
reply of Saint Joan of Arc to her judges:
"About Jesus Christ and the Church, I
simply know they're just one thing, and we
shouldn't complicate the matter."[16] In the
same passage, it also quotes Saint
Augustine: "Let us rejoice then and give
thanks that we have become not only
Christians, but Christ himself. Do you
understand and grasp, brethren, God's
grace toward us? Marvel and rejoice: we
have become Christ. For if he is the head,
we are the members; he and we together
are the whole man.... the fullness of Christ
then is the head and the members. But
what does 'head and members' mean?
Christ and the Church." In light of all this,
the Catholic Church calls itself the
"universal sacrament of salvation" for the
whole world, as it dispenses the
sacraments which give the grace of Christ
to the recipient.

Saint Paul the Apostle spoke of this unity

of Christians with Christ, referred to in the
New Testament also in images such as
that of the vine and the branches,[17] in
terms of a single body that has Christ as
its head in Romans 12:5 ,1 Corinthians
12:12–27 , Ephesians 3:6 and 5:23 ,
Colossians 1:18 and 1:24 .
According to the Catechism of the Catholic
Church, "the comparison of the Church with
the body casts light on the intimate bond
between Christ and his Church. Not only is
she gathered around him; she is united in
him, in his body. Three aspects of the
Church as the Body of Christ are to be
more specifically noted: the unity of all her
members with each other as a result of
their union with Christ; Christ as head of
the Body; and the Church as bride of
Christ."[18] The Catechism spells out the
significance of each of these three
aspects.
To distinguish the Body of Christ in this
sense from his physical body, the term
"Mystical Body of Christ" is often used.
This term was used as the first words, and
so as the title, of the encyclical Mystici
Corporis Christi of Pope Pius XII. In that
document, Pope Pius XII in 1943 states,
"the mystical Body of Christ... is the
Catholic Church." But in 1964 the Catholic
bishops gathered at the Second Vatican
Council, while acknowledging that “full
incorporation” in the Church required union
with the Sovereign Pontiff, described
various degrees of being “conjoined” or
“related” to the Church including all
persons of good will,[19] which was not
something new.[20] The Council's decree on
Ecumenism stated that "all who have been
justified by faith in Baptism are members
of Christ's body" (3).[21] Following this
understanding, Karl Rahner coined the
term “anonymous Christians”.[22]

Eastern Orthodoxy …

The Orthodox see the description of the

Church (Ecclessia) as the "Body of Christ"
as being inextricably connected to Holy
Communion. According to Saint Ignatius
(c. 35–107), the unity of the Church is
expressed in Eucharistic terms. Just as
there are many offerings made throughout
the world on any given day, and yet all
partake of one and the same Body of
Christ, so the Church, though existing in
many separate localities, is only one.

Protestantism …

In modern teachings, the "Body of Christ" is

used by other Protestants to collectively
describe believers in Christ, as opposed to
only those who are members of the
Catholic Church. In this sense, Christians
are members of the universal body of
Christ not because of identification with
the institution of the Church, but through
identification with Christ directly through
faith. This theology is based on several
passages in the Bible, including Romans
12:5 ,1 Corinthians 12:12–27 , Ephesians
3:6 , 4:15–16 and 5:23 , Colossians 1:18
and 1:24 . Jesus Christ is seen as the
"head" of the body, which is the church,
while the "members" of the body are seen
as members of the Church. In this way,
Protestantism defines the "Body of Christ"
in a much broader way than does the
Catholic Church. This has allowed for a
broad base within Christianity to call
themselves part of the "Body of Christ."

See also
Christian Church
Eucharist
Sacramental bread
Blood of Christ
Bride of Christ
Mystici corporis Christi
References
1. McElwee, Joshua J. (13 June 2017).
"Launching World Day of the Poor, Francis
says 'no Christian may disregard' serving
them" . National Catholic Reporter.
2. Mystici corporis Christi, a papal encyclical
issued by Pope Pius XII, sections 60–62
3. Losch, Richard R. (1 May 2002). A Guide to
World Religions and Christian Traditions.
Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. p. 90.
ISBN 9780802805218. "In the Roman
Catholic Church the official explanation of
how Christ is present is called
transubstantiation. This is simply an
explanation of how, not a statement that, he
is present. Anglicans and Orthodox do not
attempt to define how, but simply accept
the mystery of his presence."
4. Neal, Gregory S. (19 December 2014).
Sacramental Theology and the Christian
Life. WestBow Press. p. 111.
ISBN 9781490860077.
5. McKim, Donald K. (1998). Major Themes in
the Reformed Tradition. Wipf and Stock
Publishers. ISBN 978-1-57910-104-6. "The
Westminster Confession emphatically
declares that Christ is truly present in the
elements and is truly received by those
partaking, "yet not carnally and corporally,
but spiritually" (chap. 31, par. 7). The
insistence is that while Christ's presence is
not physical in nature it is no less a real and
vital presence, as if it were a physical
presence. ... Those of us in the Reformed
tradition are under strong obligation to
honour the notion of the real presence of
Christ in the Lord's Supper."
 . Veliko, Lydia; Gros, Jeffrey (2005). Growing
Consensus II: Church Dialogues in the
United States, 1992–2004. Bishop's
Committee for Ecumenical and
Interreligious Affairs, United States
Conference of Catholic Bishops. p. 90.
ISBN 978-1574555578.
7. Council of Trent, The Thirteenth Session
Archived February 11, 2008, at the
Wayback Machine
. "The bread and wine are changed, or
transubstantiated, into the very Body of
Christ, and into the very Blood of Christ"
(question 339 ).
9. "In the celebration (of the Eucharist) we
believe the Lord Jesus Christ to be present,
not typically, nor figuratively, nor by
superabundant grace, as in the other
Mysteries, nor by a bare presence, as some
of the Fathers have said concerning
Baptism, or by impanation, so that the
Divinity of the Word is united to the set
forth bread of the Eucharist hypostatically,
as the followers of Luther most ignorantly
and wretchedly suppose, but truly and
really, so that after the consecration of the
bread and of the wine, the bread is
transmuted, transubstantiated, converted
and transformed into the true Body Itself of
the Lord, Which was born in Bethlehem of
 the ever-Virgin, was baptised in the Jordan,
suffered, was buried, rose again, was
received up, sitteth at the right hand of the
God and Father, and is to come again in the
clouds of Heaven; and the wine is
converted and transubstantiated into the
true Blood Itself of the Lord, Which as He
hung upon the Cross, was poured out for
the life of the world." (Decree XVII
Archived 2011-09-27 at the Wayback
Machine)
10. The Encyclopedia of Protestantism by Hans
Joachim Hillerbrand 2003 ISBN 0-415-
92472-3 page 676
11. Knouse, Nola Reed (2008). The Music of
the Moravian Church in America. University
Rochester Press. p. 34. ISBN 978-
1580462600. "Holy Communion, of course,
is a central act of worship for all Christians,
and it should come as no surprise that it
was also highly esteemed in the Moravian
Church. Zinzendorf referred to it as the
"most intimate of all connection with the
person of the Saviour." The real presence of
Christ was thankfully received, though,
typically, the Moravians refrained from
delving too much into the precise way the
Savior was sacramentally present"
12. Atwood, Craig D. (1 November 2010).
Community of the Cross: Moravian Piety in
Colonial Bethlehem. Penn State Press.
p. 165. ISBN 9780271047508. "In the
eighteenth century, the Moravians
consistently promoted the Lutheran
doctrine of the real presence, which they
described as a "sacramental presence.""
13. Garvie, Alfred Ernest (1920). The Holy
Catholic Church from the Congregational
Point of View, namely, the One Church in
the Many Churches. London: Faith Press.
14. Neal, Gregory S. (19 December 2014).
Grace Upon Grace. WestBow Press. p. 107.
ISBN 9781490860060.
15. Oden, Thomas C. (2008). Doctrinal
Standards in the Wesleyan Tradition:
Revised Edition. Abingdon Press. p. 184.
ISBN 9780687651115.
1 . Catechism of the Catholic Church, 795
Archived December 25, 2007, at the
Wayback Machine
17. John 15:4–5
1 . Catechism of the Catholic Church, 789
Archived December 25, 2007, at the
Wayback Machine
19. Vatican II Decree on the Church
20. Lumen Gentium, Chapter 2, Footnote 19.
21. "Unitatis redintegratio" . www.vatican.va.
Retrieved 2019-09-24.
22. Anonymous Christians

Further reading
Kim, Yung Suk. Christ's Body in Corinth:
The Politics of a Metaphor (2008)
ISBN 0-8006-6285-7
Kim, Yung Suk A Theological Introduction
to Paul's Letters (2011) ISBN 978-1-
60899-793-0

External links
Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913).
"Mystical Body of the Church"  . Catholic
 Encyclopedia. New York: Robert
Appleton Company.

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