Thus the bread is not his body, though Christ so calls it; but it is a memorial of his body, which he has given for us. For Christ said to his disciples: He that receiveth you receiveth me. Matt. 10:40. And he also says: Whosoever shall receive such a child in my name receiveth me. Luke 9:48. These words must not be so understood, that they receive Christ bodily; but they that received such a child or his disciples, did virtually as much as though they had received Christ; for they were his messengers, and they received them in his name. Paul also says that the Israelites drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, which Rock was Christ (1 Cor. 10:4); though Moses with his rod did not smite Christ, but a stone, which signified Christ (Ex. 17:6). For as through the smiting with Moses’ rod water ran out of the stone, so that the Israelites drank; so God the Father by his power caused the water of eternal life to flow, to give drink to the spiritual Israelites; hence he says: which Rock was Christ. They also, he says, did eat the same spiritual meat; though they yet ate only the figurative heavenly bread in the wilderness; but God gave us the true bread from heaven (John 6:50), which is Christ, of which the bread which the Israelites ate was a figure. Therefore Paul writes: They did all eat the same spiritual meat. 1 Cor. 10:3. Christ and his apostles were wont to call the signs and figures as though they were the substance, as in the case of the two wives (Gal. 4:24): Which things are an allegory; for these are the two covenants; though the wives were not the covenants, but they signify the covenants.
So one is also not to understand, that the bread is the body of Christ; else the cup must also be the testament, and the wine his blood, which is not so, but they are only symbols by which his body, and his blood, which was shed on the tree of the cross, are to be remembered. Hence Christ says: This do in remembrance of me.
8. I further also confess a Christian excommunication, or exclusion from the church, which Christ and his apostles themselves ordained and instituted, and this in a twofold manner. In the first place, Christ said to Peter and his other apostles: Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Matt. 18:18. For he previously says: I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. 16:19. And he also says to his disciples: “Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. [And when he had said this,] he breathed on them, and said unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: whosesoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whosesoever sins ye retain, they are retained.” John 20:21–23. From this no one is to understand, that Christ gave the apostles such power that they might govern the kingdom according to their will. God forbid; but he appointed unto them the kingdom, as it had been appointed to him by his Father; that they should govern it according to his will. Hence he made them vicegerents, because he could not remain with them. As the King of Spain, when he wished to travel out of his dominion, he appointed vicegerents in his place, that they should govern the people according to his will; however, he does not make them lords over it, but he commits to them his laws, decrees and mandates. Hence, whatever they have bound or loosed here in this country, that is, what they have judged, must stand before the King, as far as they have judged according to his laws and customs; or he would not be a true king. Thus Christ also gave his apostles a rule, after which they were to govern themselves; and he, moreover, gave them his Spirit, in order that they might fully expound it to the church. Hence Christ said to them: “And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched.” The same he also says with regard to the feet and the eyes. Mark 9:43. Now as among them of Corinth there was such an offensive member, who had his father’s wife, Paul determined with his spirit and with the power of Christ, when they were gathered together, to deliver him to Satan, for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit might be saved. 1 Cor. 5:1. Hence, that which Paul bound on earth was bound in heaven, for he did it with the power of Christ; for this was the power which they had received, to cut off such offensive members, and to purge out that old leaven, that they might be a new lump. Hence he writes to the Thessalonians: “Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us.” 2 Thess. 3:6. For the dead may not remain among the living, lest their offensive smell be imparted to them, and they also become unclean; hence one is to withdraw himself from all unclean brethren and sisters. The apostle also writes: “A man that is a heretic, after the first and second admonition, reject; knowing that he that is such is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of himself.” Tit. 3:10,11; Rom. 16:17. “Such are to be avoided--for they cause contention and offenses--that the church may not be corrupted by their false doctrine. Hence we are to have nothing to do with those who are excommunicated from the church (1 Cor. 5:11), that we may not defile ourselves with them; in the second place, that they may be ashamed, and repent (2 Thess. 3:14), for it is a punishment for amendment, and not for destruction. Not as Israel’s excommunication which was done by death (Deut. 13:5); but we are to withdraw ourselves from all [such] brethren or sisters without regard of person; for as Moses with his severe, deadly excommunication did not make a distinction of persons, so Christ makes no distinction with his excommunication, which tends to amendment. Hence the apostle writes: “I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such a one no not to eat.” 1 Cor. 5:11.