Those who look to idols become like them (Psa 135:15-18).
Those who look to the Lord are radiant (Psa 34:5).
You will become like whatever you fix your gaze upon.
According to John Owen, “by faith alone” means:
1. Receiving only Christ (Jn 1:12)
2. Looking upon Christ (Jn 3:14–15)
3. Coming to Christ (Mt 11:28)
4. Refuge in Christ (Heb 6:18)
5. Leaning on Christ (2 Cor 12:9)
The Reformed view of the Lord’s Supper rejects both transubstantiation and consubstantiation, but it also refuses to reduce communion to a bare symbol. Something real and powerful happens at the Table. Christ is truly present, not physically but spiritually. By the power of the Holy Spirit, believers are lifted to commune with the risen Christ by faith. The bread and wine remain what they are, but they become for us means of grace. They’re not empty signs. They’re sacred instruments through which God nourishes our union with Christ, strengthens weak faith, and assures us of His promises.
The Spirit doesn’t turn the bread into Christ. He turns the believer’s heart toward Christ. This isn’t mechanical. It’s personal. The Table is a living encounter with the living Christ.
This is why Paul warns so seriously in 1 Corinthians 11. You don’t get sick and die from mishandling a mere symbol. And you don’t participate in Christ (1 Corinthians 10:16) if He’s absent. The Supper is more than memory. It’s communion. The same gospel that saved us now feeds us. We’re united to Christ’s death, nourished by His life, and strengthened by His grace.
Baptism and communion together tell the story of covenant love. Baptism is like our wedding ceremony. It’s a public declaration that we belong to Jesus, a sign of a love that already exists and is now being sealed. It doesn’t create the relationship, but it marks and confirms it. Communion, then, is a renewal of those vows. It’s not just remembering our first love, it’s returning to Him. It’s an act of covenant intimacy. Like a married couple’s union, the intimacy doesn’t create the love, but it nourishes and strengthens it. We don’t reestablish the covenant at the Table, we renew it. We come again to the one who gave Himself for us and hear Him say, “You are mine.” And we respond, “And You are ours.”
We don’t need transubstantiation to have something sacred. We don’t need consubstantiation to have something real. We need the Word, the Spirit, and faith. And with these, we feast on Christ.
He wore my crown, the crown of thorns; I wear his crown, the crown of glory.
He wore my nakedness; I wear his royal robes.
He bore my shame; I bear his honour.
Spurgeon
'To get you from the slaveries of sin and Satan, and home at last to the places of heaven, almighty God has come down. As you walked, so he walked, and will walk with you every step of the way until he gets you home to glory.'
– David Gooding
Learn more: https://t.co/GKBaeFg8mo
“The reason God will never stop loving you is that he never began.”
~ Geerhardus Vos reflecting on Jeremiah 31:3: “I have loved you with an everlasting love.”
@williamwolfe @sbcamendment Is this ordination to become a pastor? Or deacon? Is there more information that should be looked into before calling him unorthodox?