flesh, Christians are literally of one flesh with him. Calvin did not hold that Christ’s body was locally present in the Lord’s Supper, nor that it was received by the mouth, nor that it was received in any sense by unbelievers. He did hold, however, that the sub- stance of Christ’s glorified body, as enthroned in heaven, was in some miraculous way communicated to believers together with the bread in that ordinance. He, therefore, understands the apostle as here referring to that fact, and asserting that we are members of Christ’s body because the substance of his body is in the Eucha- rist communicated to us.* There are two objections to these interpretations :—1. That, according to the com-
* Dicit nos esse ejus membra, ex carne et ossibus. Primum non est hyper- bolica loquutio, sed simplex ; deinde non tantum significat Christum esse naturae nostrae participem, sed altius quiddam exprimere voluit, καὶ ἐμφα- τικώτερον. Refert enim Mosis verba, Gen. 2, 24. Quis ergo exit sensus? quemadmodum Heva ex Adae mariti sui substantia formata est, ut esset quasi pars illius; ita nos ut simus vera Christi membra, substantiae ejus communicatione nos coalescere in unum corpus. Denique eam nostri, cum Christo unionem hic Paulus describit, cujus in sacra coena symbo- lum et pignus nobis datur... Paulus nos ex membris et ossibus Christi esse testatur. Miramur ergo si corpus suum in coena fruendum nobis ex- hibet, ut sit nobis vitae aeternae alimentum? ita ostendimus nullam nos in coena repraesentationem docere, nisi cujus effectus et veritas hic a Paulo praedicatur. CALVIN.
On the following verse, he says, Totum autem ex eo pendet quod uxor ex carne et ex ossibus viri formata est. Eadem ergo unionis ratio inter nos et Christum, quod se quodammodo in nos transfundit. Neque enim ossa sumus ex ossibus ejus, et caro ex carne, quia ipse nobiscum est homo;
sed quia Spiritus sui virtute nos in corpus suum inserit, ut vitam ex eo hauriamus.