Blood of Christ

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Blood of Christ in Christian theology refers to (a) the physical blood actually shed by Jesus Christ on the Cross, and the salvation which Christianity teaches was accomplished thereby; and (b) the Eucharistic wine used at Holy Communion

1 Salvation
2 Eucharist
3 References
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Salvation

Main article: Salvation

The New Testament teaches that the Blood of Christ is the means by which salvation has been accomplished for mankind Romans 3:23-25, Acts 20:28, Romans 5:9, 1 Peter 1:2, 1:19 1 John 1:7, Revelation 1:5, Hebrews 9:10, Ephesians 1:7

[edit] Eucharist

Main article: Eucharistic theology

Ancient Christian Churches (Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodox Churches the Oriental Orthodox Churches and the Church of the East) together with some Anglicans, believe in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist.

The Roman Catholic Church uses the term "Transubstantiation" to describe the change of the bread and wine into into the body and blood of Christ. Eastern Orthodox too have authoritatively used the same term to describe the change, as in The Longer Catechism of The Orthodox, Catholic, Eastern Church^[1] and in the decrees of the 1672 Synod of Jerusalem.^[2]

The Lutheran churches follow the teaching of Martin Luther in defining the presence of Christ in the Eucharistic elements as sacramental union (often misconstrued as consubstantiation), meaning that the fundamental "substance" of the body and blood of Christ are present alongside the substance of the bread and wine, which remain present.

Most Protestant churches do not believe in the Real Presence, but observe Communion rites as Memorials.

[edit] References

^ "The bread and wine are changed, or transubstantiated, into the very Body of Christ, and into the very Blood of Christ" (question 339).
^ "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).