By Schubert Ogden
Page History
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Gerrish points out that, in his _Treatise on the NeulNew Testament, that is, the Mass _ (1522), Luther "identified the sign \[_sc_. the sacramental sign in the Eucharist\] not with the elements, but with the actual presence of Christ's body and blood _under _ the bread and wine to confirm the promise of forgiveness" (_Thinking with the Church_: 118). Although Gerrish gives no specific reference, I assume that the passage he has in mind is the following: |
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This |
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is |
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what |
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Christ |
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has |
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done |
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in |
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this |
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testament. |
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He |
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has |
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affixed |
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to |
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the |
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words |
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a |
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powerful |
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and |
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most |
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precious |
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seal |
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and |
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sign: |
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his |
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own |
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true |
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flesh |
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and |
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blood |
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under |
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the |
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bread |
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and |
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wine. |
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For |
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we |
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poor |
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men, |
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living |
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as |
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we |
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do |
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in |
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our |
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five |
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senses, |
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must |
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always |
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have |
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along |
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with |
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the |
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words |
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at |
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least |
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one |
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outward |
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sign |
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to |
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which |
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we |
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may |
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cling |
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and |
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around |
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which |
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we |
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may gather – in such a way, |
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however, |
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that |
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this |
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sign |
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may |
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be |
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a |
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sacrament, |
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that |
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is, |
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that |
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it |
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may |
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be |
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external |
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and |
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yet |
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contain |
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and |
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signify |
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something |
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spiritual; in |
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order |
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that |
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through |
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the |
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external |
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we |
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may |
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be |
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drawn |
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into |
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the |
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spiritual, |
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comprehending |
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the |
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external |
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with |
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the |
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eyes |
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of |
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the |
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body |
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and |
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the |
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spiritual |
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or |
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inward |
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with |
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the |
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eyes |
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of |
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the |
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heart. |
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Now |
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we |
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see |
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how |
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many |
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parts |
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there |
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are |
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in |
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this |
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testament, |
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or |
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mass. |
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There |
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is, |
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first, |
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the |
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testator |
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who |
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makes |
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the |
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testament, |
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Christ. |
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Second, |
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the |
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heirs |
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to |
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whom |
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the |
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testament |
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is |
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bequeathed, |
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we |
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Christians. |
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Third, |
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the |
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testament |
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itself, |
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the |
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words |
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of |
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Christ |
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– when |
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he |
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says, |
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'This |
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is |
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my |
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body |
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which |
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is |
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given |
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for |
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you. |
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This |
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is |
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my blood |
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which |
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is |
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poured |
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out |
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for |
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you, |
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a |
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new |
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eternal |
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testament, |
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' etc. |
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Fourth, |
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the |
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seal |
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or |
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token |
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is |
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the |
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sacrament, |
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the |
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bread |
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and |
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wine, |
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under |
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which |
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are |
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his |
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true |
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body |
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and |
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blood. . . . |
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|
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Gerrish speaks of the sense in which Luther uses the notion of sacramental sacram,ental sign here as "peculiar," presumably because Luther uses it to refer, not \[just\] to the elements, but to Christ's "own true flesh and blood _under_ the bread and wine" 2 (Gerrish's italics). But this usage is hardly "peculiar," given Luther's own allowance elsewhere that "if \[he\] were to speak according to the usage of the Scriptures, \[he\] should have only one single sacrament, but with three sacramental signs \[i.e., baptislnbaptism, penance, and the bread\]" (_LW_, 36:18; cf. 93, where he says expressly that "Christ hilnselfhimself is called a 'sacrament' in 1 Tim 3\[:16\]"). Of course, there are signs and there are signs, and Luther's distinction here between "sacrament" and "sacramental signs" anticipates the distinction I and others make between "primal sacrament" and "secondary sacraments," allowing "primary sacrament" to refer to the church itself and as such, since it is evidently included somehow in the Vulgate's "nzagn.um_magnum sacramentum_" as the agency whereby Christ is proclaimed among gentiles and believed in throughout the world. But Luther recognizes, rightly, that and how Jesus Christ himself is in his own way re-presentative. |
In other passages, however, it's not quite as clear that he is thinking and speaking of Clu;-ist himself as a sacraInent. Consider, for instance: of Christ himself as a sacrament. Consider, for instance:
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Aside from what may be only the verbal difference of speaking here of the body and blood of Christ "in" the bread and wine instead of "under" them, Luther goes on to say, simply, that "the bread and wine are the sacrament," instead of speaking of Christ's own body and blood "in" the bread and wine as the sacrament in the mass.
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3 Even so, we have Tillich's profound analysis of SYlnbolssymbols generally, including "the religious symbol", to remind us that "dils_das Symbolisierte selbst \[kawzkann\] wieder Symbol_ _sein fUrfür ein_ _Symbolisiertes_ lzoheren_höheren RllngesRanges_" -- to the point, indeed, that even talk about "_den erlosendenerlösenden Handeln Gottes list\[ist\] selbst symbolischer Ausdruck fUrfür eine Erfahrung des Unbedingt-Transzendenten_" (_GW_, 5:196). \!vIyMy thought is that just as the explicit primal source of authority is constitutive relative to the primary (formal) authority and all secondary (merely substantial) authorities, so the prim.al sacrament is constitutive relative to the primary sacrament of the church and all secondary means of salvation, including all "sacramental signs." But insofar as the secondary means are administered and received as re-presentative of the church and, through it, of the explicit primal source through which the church itself is authorizedI authorized/constituted, that primal source and the church are both really present "under" them, or, alternatively, "in" theInthem, as is the _implicit_ primal source-the transcendental source -- that is strictly ultimate reality itself. |
7 January 2010
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