Words of Institution
Lutherans believe that the words spoken by Jesus Christ at his Last Supper, the Words of Institution, bring about the sacramental union then and at all times whenever the Christian eucharist is celebrated according to his mandate and institution.
| “ | Thus it is not our word or speaking but the command and ordinance of Christ that, from the beginning of the first Communion until the end of the world, make the bread the body and the wine the blood that are daily distributed through our ministry and office. Again, "Here, too, if I were to say over all the bread there is, 'This is the body of Christ,' nothing would happen, but when we follow his institution and command in the Lord’s Supper and say, 'This is my body,' then it is his body, not because of our speaking or of our efficacious word, but because of his command in which he has told us so to speak and to do and has attached his own command and deed to our speaking." | ” |
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Famous quotes containing the words words and/or institution:
“There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
—Bible: New Testament Jesus, in Matthew, 8:12.
Referring to “the children of the kingdom ... cast out into outer darkness.” The words are also used in the parable of the talents, in Matthew 25:30, said of the “unprofitable servant.”
“What has ever threatened our liberty and prosperity save and except this institution of Slavery?”
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)