Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions

by Paul Timothy McCain

1. The papistic transubstantiation. It is taught that the consecrated or blessed bread and wine in the Holy Supper entirely lose their substance and essence. They are changed into the substance of Christ’s body and blood in such a way that only the mere form of bread and wine is left, or the accidents without the object. The bread is no longer bread. According to their assertion it has lost its natural essence. Christ’s body is present under the form of the bread even apart from the administration of the Holy Supper [e.g., when the bread is enclosed in the pyx or is carried about for display and adoration). For nothing can be a Sacrament without God’s command and the appointed use for which it is instituted in God’s Word, as was shown above.

Transubstantiation