The Major Shift:

Doctrine in The Alternative

Service Book 1980
Dermis Peterson
The Archbishop of York said to the General Synod in November 1985,
' ... we did not face openly enough the major shift in doctrinal emphasis in
the new services'. The Alternative Service Book 1980 (ASB) is moving
towards the end of its life and revision is now in hand. It is therefore even
more appropriate now to 'face openly enough the major shift in doctrinal
emphasis', to consider what it was and what is its significance.

During the last few decades what might be called the 'Old Anglican'
position (analogous to Old Catholic), that of The Book of Common Prayer,
seems to have been largely untaught and increasingly unknown. A young
ordinand told me he had never taken part in a 1662 Communion Service. It
would be a grave dereliction of responsibility to ignore this major element
in our Anglican heritage when considering further revision.

Communion, a Sacrament of the Gospel

There is a precise definition of the Gospel in Scripture, ' ... the Gospel ...
wherein ye stand; by which also ye are saved ... that Christ died for our sins
according to the scriptures; ... and that he rose again the third day according
to the scriptures' (1 Cor 15:1-4). The word 'stand' indicates continuing
acceptance and favour with God. This standing before God is because
'Christ died for our sins', 'by whom also we have access by faith into this
grace wherein we stand' (Rom 5:2). It is by faith in the death of Christ, not
by receiving the sacrament, that we stand in continuing acceptance before
God. To be 'saved' is to be totally and permanently forgiven for 'there is
therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, (Rom
8:1). Again, this is not through a sacrament, for' ... being justified by faith,
we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ' (Rom 5:1 ).

The function and purpose of the Lord's Supper (to use the scriptural title
of the sacrament), indeed the only explanation given in Scripture, is that
' ... as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's
death till he come' (1 Cor 11 :26). The word translated 'shew'
(xaT<X')'')'eA.A.en:) is a common word for 'preach'. It is used in Acts 4:2,
' ... and preached through Jesus the resurrection of the dead'. (See also

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13:5, 38; 15:36; 16:17, 21; 17:3, 13, 23; 26:23; Rom 1:8; 1 Cor 2:1; 9:14;
Phil 1:16, 18; Col 1:28.) Sixteen times in the New Testament it is used to
express the concept of preaching and only that.

The Greek word is from xc:xTa indicating 'down' and &."Y"YeAX.ELv

meaning 'to announce'. So in our eating the bread and drinking the cup
God announces down to us that Christ died for us personally, making a
communion or fellowship with those with whom we share the sacrament.
The use of xc:xTa precludes completely any idea that the communion is
Godward, and that it is primarily a 'Eucharist' or thanksgiving. The very
term 'Eucharist' at least tends to divert attention from the preaching of the
death of Christ to our response. It introduces the complex but speculative
theology associated with the term 'Eucharist', a title never used in The
Book of Common Prayer. 1

There is another Greek word, &.vc:x"Y"Ye"A"AELv, from &.va 'up' and

&."Y"YeAAELV 'to announce'. Although used often to mean simply conveying
a message, its basic meaning is to speak to a superior, eg 'they were
welcomed by the church and the apostles and elders, to whom they
reported everything' (Acts 15:4 NIV). If the communion were meant to be
Godward, this surely is the word which would have been used.

The Gospel is 'that Christ died for our sins'; as the Lord's Supper
preaches the Lord's death, it is then a sacrament of the Gospel.

A Gospel of the Sacrament

If I am to preach the death of Christ, I do not focus attention upon myself,
nor offer myself, nor claim myself to hold the benefits of Christ's death nor
the ability to bestow them. The theological emphasis upon which the ASB
is based directs the receiver's attention, not to the death of Christ, but to
the bread and wine as the instrument of God's blessings. The attention of
participants in Rites A and B of the ASB is directed towards the Prayer of
Consecration as effecting a change in the bread and wine so that after
consecration the bread and wine are the direct means of receiving God's
blessings.

a In Rite A para 33 there is an unprecedented rubric giving the president

the opportunity to use unspecified prayers but with a specified response:

The president may praise God for his gifts in appropriate words to
which all respond

Blessed be God for ever.

See discussion in The Tutorial Prayer Book Neil and Willoughby (The Harrison Trust
1912) p 287.

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In this place in the Roman Mass there are two prayers with exactly that
response which would have been extremely difficult to reconcile with
Anglican formularies, for they not only assert a change in the bread and
wine, but also that the change is transubstantiation: ' .. .it will become for
us the bread of life'. The Lord Jesus said, 'I am that bread of life' (John
6:48), so the only possible inference is that the bread actually becomes
Jesus. Similarly the prayer said over the cup is: 'It will become our
spiritual drink'. Jesus said: 'If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and
drink' (John 7:37). Compare also ' ... for they drank of that spiritual Rock
that followed them: and that Rock was Christ' (1 Cor I 0:4). What else can
the prayer mean but that the wine becomes Christ? The Roman Catholic
composers of these prayers intended, of course, that they should teach
transubstantiation, for that is the Roman doctrine.

If these prayers had been suggested openly, it would have been difficult
to reconcile them with the Anglican position that: 'Transubstantiation (or
the change of the substance of Bread and Wine) in the Supper of the Lord,
cannot be proved by holy Writ; but it is repugnant to the plain words of
Scripture, overthroweth the nature of a Sacrament, and hath given occasion
to many superstitions' (Article XXVIII). Needless to say, from the cue of
this rubric, prayers from the Roman Mass are frequently interpolated, and I
know of no other prayers which are used here. Thus the apparent freedom
implied by 'in appropriate words' is surely nothing but sophistry.

For many these prayers may signify not much more than some mystical
attributes ascribed to the bread and wine, which is sad enough and
misleading, but for those so inclined, it is the opportunity to infer the full
Roman position of a miraculous change of the 'substance' of the bread and
wine into the actual body and blood of Christ. By the device of this
strange, unique and devious rubric Anglicans are being accustomed to a
doctrine which was most unlikely to be accepted, had it been presented
openly. Was it in the hope that by the next revision it would have become
familiar enough to be accepted?

b The change in the Prayer of Consecration, from a prayer for the

recipients, as in The Book of Common Prayer, to a prayer for the Holy
Spirit to act upon the bread and wine, implies that the Prayer of
Consecration by the action of the Holy Spirit effects a change in the bread
and wine. Thus Gardiner said of these words in the 1549 Prayer Book that
they taught 'that Christ's most precious body is made present to us by
conversion of the substance of bread into His precious body' .2 For that
reason they were omitted in the final revision of The Book of Common
Prayer.
2 C S Carter The English Church and the Reformation (Longmans, Green and Co 1925)
p 147

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c The introduction of the words 'celebrate' and 'memorial' into the

Eucharistic Prayers, though innocuous to the uninitiated, has a technical
history, and they were omitted from the reformed Prayer Book for good
reason. In the first attempt at making the Communion Service scriptural in
1549, the words used were: ' ... we thy humble servants do celebrate and
make here before thy divine majesty, with these thy holy gifts, the
memorial which thy Son hath willed us to make'. The Catholic opponents
of scriptural reform claimed that in these words they could intend the
offering of the sacrifice of Christ, that is, the Mass. For that reason the
Reformers omitted the words from the final revision.

d The inclusion in the Prayer of Consecration of references to the

Resurrection and Ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ goes beyond
Scripture which tells us that in the sacrament we proclaim the Lord's death.
It is at first sight attractive to add these thoughts, but it takes attention
away from the great issue between God and man, our sin and God's grace
in dealing with it. Further, these inclusions not only dilute the theme of the
sacrament, but prepare people instead to concentrate upon the risen and
ascended Lord's alleged presence in the bread and wine rather than his
death. A desire to praise God for Christ's Resurrection and Ascension is
laudable, but the Prayer of Consecration in the Lord's Supper is an entirely
inappropriate place for it.

e The Prayer of Consecration rehearses the Lord's words over the bread
and wine, 'Take eat ... Drink ye all of this ... '. These are words of
administration and should immediately be followed by the receiving of the
bread and wine as in The Book of Common Prayer. The insertion of the
Lord's Prayer, other prayers and anthems separates the Lord's words of
administration from the act of receiving. By thus isolating the Prayer of
Consecration from the eating and drinking the impression is strengthened
that the Prayer of Consecration is a self-contained element which makes
the bread and wine the sacrament rather than the eating and drinking to
preach the Lord's death.

f The Prayer Book of 1549 was a step away from mediaeval error
towards scriptural worship, but it contained ambiguities which the Catholic
party claimed could imply the Mass, so it proved to be a half-way step to
reform. The re-introduction of the features mentioned above, coupled with
explicit teaching often linked with them, make the ASB a step back from
scriptural reform to what Old Anglicans believe are the very errors which
brought about the Reformation. This is a step which has been taken
without openly considering any alteration in the Anglican formularies to
justify the liturgical changes. One cannot help surmising that the liturgical
changes have been introduced as a preliminary to doctrinal changes, surely
putting the cart before the horse. The omission from the ASB of the

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Articles by which such changes could be judged is unfortunate, if not

suspicious!

One current Companion to the ASB says that at the Prayer of

Consecration Christ becomes 'present', another gives the meaning of
communion as that in eating the bread and drinking the wine 'we receive
Christ's life'. Why is it that such Companions, meant to educate lay
people, make no mention of the sacrament as preaching the death of
Christ? It cannot be denied that in many Anglican churches the
congregation is pointed to the consecrated bread and wine of communion
as effecting the Lord's special presence and as the source of the blessings
which God wishes to bestow. It is quite emphatically the sacrament which
is offered as God's Good News, not the death of Christ. Instead of the
communion being a sacrament of the Gospel the congregation is offered a
Gospel of the sacrament.

The Underlying Doctrines

a The Lord's Presence

The Lord's presence was particularly and specifically promised by him in
Matthew 18:20 and 28: 19-20; there was no mention of the bread and wine.
The promise was firstly 'where two or three are gathered in my name', and
secondly to those who go out making disciples, baptising and teaching
them. The presence of God is in the believer: 'Know ye not that ye are the
temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?' (1 Cor 3: 16).
(Compare 'That he would grant you ... that Christ may dwell in your hearts
by faith' Eph 3: 16-17). With such promises of Christ's presence actually in
the believer and among the fellowship it is difficult to see any point in a
presence in or under the consecrated bread and wine. The importance
given to a presence through the Prayer of Consecration demands some
mention somewhere in Scripture. The total absence of such a mention led
Hooker to affirm that: 'The real presence of Christ's most blessed body
and blood is not therefore to be sought for in the sacrament, but in the
worthy receiver of the sacrament'. 3

b The Life and the Blood

The view that the communion imparts the life of Christ ('like a blood
transfusion' it is sometimes sairl) seems to originate with Westcott's
Additional Note to his comment on 1 John 1:7, where he said, 'The Blood
always includes the thought of the life preserved and active beyond
death' .4 James Denney in his monumental work The Death of Christ wrote
of' ... the strange caprice which fascinated Westcott', and ' ... a more

3 Hooker Ecclesiastical Polity V lxii 6

4 B F Westcott The Epistles ofSt John p 34 ff 1883, also Epistle to the Hebrews p 293 ff

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groundless fancy never haunted and troubled the interpretation of any part
of Scripture' .5 Nevertheless, prominent men have taken up this 'strange
caprice' and developed it, transforming the doctrines of death, atonement
and Holy Communion as taught in Scripture.

Westcott took the three texts, Leviticus 17:11 ('the life of the flesh is in
the blood') together with Genesis 9:4 and Deuteronomy 12:23, linked them
with the ways in which the blood of a sacrificial victim was applied by
sprinkling on the horns of the altar and the mercy seat, for instance, and
then deduced that the shed blood was 'this life made available for another
end'. Alan Stibbs has provided a different interpretation:

These Scriptures say not that the 'blood' is the 'life' in isolation, but
that the blood is the life of the flesh. This means that, if the blood is
separated from the flesh, the present physical life in the flesh will
come to an end. Bloodshed stands therefore, not for the release of
life from the burden of the flesh, but for the bringing to an end the
life of the flesh. 6

Westcott's deduction equates the blood with the soul, an equation for
which no scriptural support has been forthcoming.

Genesis 4: 10 is sometimes invoked to strengthen Westcott's view that

the blood is alive after the death of the body: ' ... the voice of thy brother's
blood crieth unto me from the ground'. Are we to deduce that wisdom
(Prov 8: 1), the gate and the city (Is 14:31 ), stones (Luke 19:40) and wages
(James 5:4) all have some mystical, sentient life because they are said to
cry out? The words 'cry out' are simply and obviously a metaphor of
strong evidence. There are other references to the word 'blood' in
Scripture, about 160 in the Pentateuch alone! Interpreting Scripture by
Scripture gives a different picture from Westcott's speculation. A violent
death is usually accompanied by the visible shedding of blood, so that
'blood' is universally a metaphor of violent death. Thus Matthew 27:24-5
says: 'Pilate ... washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am
innocent of the blood of this just person; see ye to it. Then answered all the
people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children'. (Cf also Matt
23:35 'That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the
earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias'.) And
of course, there are many, many other Scriptures. They do not convey that
the life is 'released', but most clearly destroyed; hence the term
'bloodguiltiness' (Ps 51:14).

5 James Denney The Death of Christ R V G Tasker ed (Tyndale Press 1951) p 149
6 A M Stibbs The Meaning of the Word 'Blood' in Scripture (Tynda1e Press 1962) p 11

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The SPCK New Commentary on Hebrews expresses a view similar to

Westcott's: 'So sacrifice consisted of two elements: death the symbol of
supreme self-surrender, followed by the dedication to God (which is what
offering means) of that which had been surrendered, the victim's body and
the life(= blood) belonging to it'. 7 But in Scripture death is not primarily
'the symbol of self-surrender'. Death is 'the wages of sin' (Rom 6:23) for
'in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die' (Gen 2: 17).
Likewise, 'The soul that sinneth, it shall die' (Ezek 18:4), and 'Wherefore,
as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death
passed upon all men, for that all have sinned' (Rom 5: 12) etc.

The death of the victim of a biblical sacrifice is a substitute for the death
of one who through sin is under sentence of death. The Gospel is 'that
Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures'. Prominent among the
Scriptures referred to by the Lord and his apostles is Isaiah 53 (the New
Testament refers to eight of its twelve verses). There we are told ten times
that the death of God's servant is a death that is as a proxy punishment for
condemned sinners, eg 'He was cut off out of the land of the living: for the
transgression of my people was he stricken'.

The application of the blood after a sacrifice, sprinkling it upon people

or objects, is taken as a pattern of the ministry of the risen Christ
presenting his blood-life to the Father. 8 Hence the fundamental teaching
about the Eucharist is that it is the participation of the church in this
ministry of the risen Christ to the Father, followed by the bestowal of life
to the communicants as they receive the blood-life under the consecrated
wine. There is a view that is simpler and more in accord with the
Scripture: death occurs in time, and there are situations after the time of
death where there needs to be proof or assurance that the death has taken
place and that the price has been paid ( 1 Pet 1: 18-19). The purpose of the
application of the blood of a sacrifice is evidence that the required death
has, in fact, been exacted and by sprinkling the benefits of that death
applied to a specific need. On the night of the Passover every first-born
was under sentence of death. A lamb was to be slain as a substitute for the
condemned first born and its blood sprinkled over the door. God then said
'When I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be
upon you to destroy you' (Ex 12:13). Every use ascribed to the blood of a
sacrifice is satisfactorily explained by the blood being used as evidence
that the required death has taken place and the associated guilt purged.

When Christ died, his life was not released ' ... so that this life became

7 A New Commentary on The Holy Scriptures Including The Apocrypha Charles Gore,
Leighton Gouge and Alfred Guillaume edd (SPCK 1955) p 599
8 Bicknell A Theological Introduction to the Thirty-nine Articles of the Church of England
(Longmans, Green and Co 1936) p 498

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available for another end' (Westcott). Christ was dead. He said 'I lay my
life down', not 'I release my life'. As the Creed puts it '[He] Was
crucified, dead, and buried'. It took a special act of the Father to bring him
to life again in the Resurrection: ' ... whom they slew and hanged on a tree:
Him God raised up the third day' (Acts 10:39-40); 'I am he that liveth, and
was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore' (Rev 1: 18).

c A Perpetual Offering
Westcott's doctrine of the 'life released' is an embellishment of the much
older teaching that when, in Hebrews 7:25, the writer says, 'He ever liveth
to make intercession for them', that intercession is the continual offering
of himself in which we join through the communion. A J Tait traces this to
the Vulgate where Jerome, in several instances, erroneously translated the
Greek aorist tense (simple past) by the Latin present participle. 9
Completed towards the end of the fourth century, the Vulgate was 'for
more than a thousand years the parent of every version of the Scriptures in
Western Europe'. 10

Tait gives several misinterpretations based on the Vulgate:

We may notice Lanfranc's exposition of Heb 1:3 (exhibendo

humanitatem quam assumpsit pro nobis), which confuses the
completed propitiation with the perpetual intercession. See also the
translation of Heb 1:3 in the Douay Bible: " ... making purgation of
sins, sitteth on the right hand ... " and Heb 10:12: " ... but this man,
offering one sacrifice for sins, for ever sitteth on the right hand".
Such renderings would have been impossible if the version had been
a translation of the Old Latin. (p I 07)

Modern attempts to combine the theology emanating from the Vulgate

with correct translations of the Greek are rather tortuous. For instance, the
SPCK New Commentary (p 613) gives:

'Once for all' stands in opposition to 'daily', ie repeatedly. It is

consistent with perpetual offering in the heavenly shrine.

Most lay people could explain the difference between a 'once for all'
payment and a 'perpetual' payment, especially any with contact with the
Child Support Agency!

When Christ died, he cried 'It is finished'. Our salvation is given as a

complete and finished gift ' ... that whosoever believeth in him should not
9 A 1 Tait The Heavenly Session of Our Lord (Robert Scott 1912) p I 07
10 1 Paterson Smyth How We Got Our Bible (Sampson Low, Marston and Co Ltd undated)
p 32

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perish, but have everlasting life' (John 3: 16). See also: 'He that heareth my
word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not
come into condemnation' (5:24); 'And this is the will of him that sent me,
that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have
everlasting life' (6:40); 'I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall
be saved' (10:9); 'My sheep hear my voice ... and I give unto them eternal
life; and they shall never perish' (10:27-8); 'Whosoever believeth in him
shall receive remission of sins' (Acts 10:43); 'Therefore being justified by
faith, we have peace with God' (Rom 5:1); 'There is therefore now no
condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus' (Rom 8: 1) and so on.

This life-transforming assurance is because 'Christ died for our sins

according to the Scriptures', but it is weakened and undermined by the
doctrine that the communion imparts the life of Christ as a continuing
process from communion to communion. Assurance seems to be pledged
only as far as the last communion. Theologians may be able to explain it
away, but that is how many lay people understand and receive it.

The thinking which leads to this can be seen, for example, in the
comment: 'It would seem to him [the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews]
quite natural that our Lord should enter upon the priestly part of his work
at the ascension, and that this ministry should consist in the offering of
Himself'. 11 Further, Bicknell goes so far as to imply that the death of
Christ does not effect our atonement but is only a preliminary to it:

We are saved by the life of Christ that was surrendered to God in

death, and thus set free to be the means of our atonement. Christ's
redeeming work did not end on the Cross. It was consummated when
as our High-priest he entered into heaven to present his life to the
Father. 12

But Scripture says in 1 Peter 2:24 that ' ... his own self bare our sins in his
own body on the tree', not in heaven, and that he took our trespasses and
the handwriting of ordinances that was against us 'out of the way, nailing it
to his cross' (Col2:14).

What then does the Lord's cry 'It is finished' mean? How can we know
we are finally and completely saved by faith in the death of Christ as
Scripture affirms, if Christ's redeeming work is a 'perpetual offering'
never to be finished? This doctrine can come only from a changed Gospel,
not that Christ died for our sins, but Christ is a perpetual offering for our

11 A New Commentary on The Holy Scriptures Including The Apocrypha Charles Gore,
Leighton Gouge and Alfred Guillaume edd (SPCK 1955) p 599
12 Bicknell A Theological Introduction to the Thirty-nine Articles of the Church of England
(Longmans, Green and Co 1936) p 113

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sins. This is a 'major shift' from: 'Who made there (by his one oblation of
himself once offered) a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and
satisfaction, for the sins of the whole world' (The Book of Common
Prayer).

Hebrews could not be more clear that Christ's saving work is complete
and our salvation is complete: ' ... when he had by himself purged our sins,
[he] sat down on the right hand ofthe Majesty on high' (1:3). See also 'For
he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as
God did from his' (4:10); 'Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to
offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people's: for this
he did once, when he offered up himself' (7:27); 'How much more shall
the blood of Christ, who ... offered himself without spot to God, purge your
conscience from dead works to serve the living God?' (9:14); 'So Christ
was once offered to bear the sins of many' (9:28); 'By the which will we
are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all'
(10:10); 'But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever,
sat down on the right hand of God' (10:12).

Not only did Jesus cry, 'It is finished', not only is the Gospel ' ... that
Christ died [Greek tense: aorist indicative, ie simple past] for our sins', but
that he ' ... died for our sins according to the Scriptures'. In Isaiah 53, the
death of the Servant for the sin of others is a past and finished work: 'But
he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we
are healed ... the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all ... for the
transgression of my people he was stricken ... he poured out his life unto
death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of
many' (NIV). (Exceptions are found in verses 10-11, but the text here is
said to be difficult, eg Yahweh is spoken of in the first, second and third
person.) The Lord's Supper preaches the Lord's death, the bread and wine
received in emphatic separation touch the worshippers, preaching to them
personally the Lord's death and pledging that their salvation is complete:
'It is finished'. There is nothing more for a desperate, lost sinner to do
than to 'believe on him whom the Father sent'.

d John 6
John 6:44-65 is often cited as referring to the communion: 'A difficulty is
removed if the issue was intended to lie not between the Jews' literal
interpretation of His words and a final explanation that eating our Lord's
flesh meant receiving His teaching, but between that literal interpretation
and the sacramental explanation which the eucharist afforded' .13 The mind
of the compilers of the ASB is revealed by the use of John 6:53-8 as the
Gospel for the Thanksgiving for the Holy Communion on the Thursday of
13 Essays Catholic and Critical E G Se1wyn ed (SPCK 1929) p 432

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Trinity week. This juxtaposition strongly conveys the idea that John 6 is
directly referring to the communion. John 6:49-59 can only be a direct
reference to faith in the death of Christ. Jesus said, 'Whoso eateth my
flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at
the last day' (v 54). Out of context this might be taken to be the
communion, but in the same passage Jesus had just said 'He that believeth
on me hath everlasting life' (v47). So he is referring to an exercise of
faith, not to literal and physical eating and drinking. In verse 51 Jesus said,
'The bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the
world'. He gave his flesh for the life of the world when he was crucified,
so the bread he gives is his death. As our bodies receive life from the bread
we eat, so our souls receive life by exercising faith in the death of Christ.

When the Philippian jailer cried out, 'Sirs, what must I do to be saved?'
Paul did not say, 'Receive the consecrated bread and wine and you will
receive eternal life and be raised up at the last day'. In all the sermons in
Acts, and the teaching of the Epistles, not once are we enjoined to eat and
drink the consecrated bread and wine to receive eternal life and to be
raised up at the last day. Times without number we are enjoined to repent
and believe on the death of Christ for these benefits. That is the message
of the sacrament. It preaches Christ's death with a view to our exercising
faith in that death. As our bodies receive life from bread and drink, so our
souls receive life from Christ's death. Both John 6 and the Lord's Supper
point to the work of Christ on Calvary as the food for our souls.

The answer to 'How can this man give us his flesh to eat?' is: 'The
words [not the bread and wine] that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and
they are life' (John 6:63). As Cranmer said:

The spiritual eating of his flesh, and drinking of his blood by faith,
by digesting his death in our minds, as our only price, ransom, and
redemption from eternal damnation, is the cause wherefore Christ
said: 'That if we eat not his flesh, and drink not his blood, we have
not life in us; and if we eat his flesh, and drink his blood, we have
ever-lasting life.' And if Christ had never ordained the sacrament, yet
should we have eaten his flesh, and drunken his blood, and have had
thereby everlasting life; as all the faithful did before the sacrament
was ordained, and do daily when they receive not the sacrament. 14

The Gospel of John has no mention of the communion to clarify and

apply the words of chapter 6. The institution of the sacrament in John is
replaced by the foot washing which has the same message as the
sacrament: 'He that is washed [ie forgiven by faith in the death of Christ]
14 Writings and Disputations of Thomas Cranmer relative to the Sacrament of the Lord's
Supper J E Cox ed (Parker Society 1844) p 25 cited Churchman vo1 I 04/2 1990 p 112

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needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit' (John 13:10).
Nowhere does the Bible teach 'Except ye eat the consecrated bread and
drink the consecrated wine, ye have no life in you'. Cranmer once more:

Christ in that place of John spake not of the material and sacramental
bread, nor of the sacramental eating, (for that was spoken two or
three years before the sacrament was first ordained,) but he spake of
spiritual bread, ... and of spiritual eating by faith, after which sort he
was at the same present time eaten of as many as believed on
him, ... 15

Two Messages
a The significance and weight currently given to the Prayer of
Consecration cannot be sustained from Scripture. The Lord said 'Take, eat,
this is my body', not 'This is my body, take, eat it', a crucial difference
that Hooker pointed out:

... first, 'take, eat,' then 'this is my body which was broken for you';
first 'drink ye all of this'; then followeth 'this is my blood of the new
testament which is shed for many for the remission of sins.' I see not
which way it should be gathered by the words of Christ, when and
where the bread is his body or the cup his blood, but only in the very
heart and soul of him which receiveth them. As for the sacraments,
they really exhibit, but for aught we can gather out of that which is
written of them, they are not really nor do really contain in
themselves that grace which with them or by them it pleaseth God to
bestow. 16

Thus Paul's explanation can mean only that it is the eating and drinking
of the bread and wine to preach Christ's death which makes them a
sacrament: 'As often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew
the Lord's death' not 'as often as ye consecrate this bread and this cup'. By
the Lord's teaching the bread and wine are not sacraments except in the act
of eating and drinking. So the Anglican formularies assert that 'The
Sacrament of the Lord's Supper was not by Christ's ordinance reserved,
carried about, lifted up, or worshipped' (Article XXVIII).

b 'Consecration is the separation of any thing from a profane and worldly

use unto a spiritual and godly use' (Cranmer). 17 The consecration of
ground or of a banner or building does not effect a change in their nature

15 Writings and Disputations of Thomas Cranmer relative to the Sacrament of the Lords
Supper J E Cox ed (Parker Society 1844) p 307 cited Churchman vol I 04/2 1990 p 112
16 Hooker Ecclesiastical Polity V lxii 6
17 Writings and Disputations of Thomas Cranmer relative to the Sacrament of the Lords
Supper J E Cox ed (Parker Society 1844) p 177

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but simply in their use. The consecration of the bread and wine does not
signify a change in their nature but in their use, 'from a profane and
worldly use unto a spiritual and godly use'.

If I preach the death of Christ, I do not focus attention upon myself nor
offer myself nor claim myself to be the means of conveying the blessings
God wishes to bestow; I point away from myself to the Lord's death. If
attention is focused on the consecrated bread and wine, or if the bread and
wine are offered as the source of the blessings God wishes to bestow, the
sacrament is not preaching the Lord's death but itself. All Christians, of
course, hold the death of Christ in great reverence, but it is often not
realised that to offer benefits actually in the bread and wine is to steal
those benefits from the Cross. Accordingly, Scripture teaching about the
Cross is confused, and in practice almost ignored, and the death of Christ
is robbed of much of its glory.

In the theology which the ASB expresses the death of Christ is reduced
to being the means by which the 'real' source of blessing is made
available, namely, the consecrated bread and wine. This, in fact, is what
has actually been taught: 'Christ's redeeming work did not end on the
Cross' . 18 Again, 'The death was not the climax but rather the means
through which the life was set free' . 19 The celebration of the Eucharist is
often accompanied by such distinctive dress of the minister, elaboration of
ceremonial and instruction of the laity as to stress that the consecrated
bread and wine are, above all, the means of grace, and little regular
mention is made of the Cross. Yet in the New Testament there are at least
one hundred and fifty references to the death of Christ and its
consequences, but only two to the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, that it
preaches Christ's death and is a fellowship or communion in his death.

We have then two messages. Either we receive life through repentance

and faith alone in the death of Christ; or we receive life through eating and
drinking consecrated bread and wine. This is confusing, because both
cannot at the same time be true; in practice the death of Christ recedes
behind the prominence given to the sacrament.

A Serious Departure
a These issues are not just academic niceties. Justification by faith in the
death of Christ is not merely an abstract doctrine, but an experience of
reconciliation to the Father through the Son implemented by the Holy
Spirit.

18 B F Westcott The Epistles of St John p 34 ff 1883, also Epistle to the Hebrews p 113
19 Westcott p 256

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In practice, a Gospel of the Sacrament is part of a system whereby

people understand that if they have been baptised, confirmed and receive
communion, they are complete Christians. Not necessarily so! They have
been made members of the visible church, as were Ananias and Sapphira,
Simon Magus and others, but what about membership of the invisible
church, the Bride of Christ for eternity? Under such teaching church
members are rarely challenged to seek the experience of an encounter with
the Cross, total repentance and the inner experience of being born again
which are externally taught by baptism and confirmation but need to be
inwardly realised.

We are meant to experience the peace with God which is part of being
justified by faith (Rom 5: 1); we are meant to experience his Spirit
witnessing with our spirits that we are children of God (Rom 8: 16); we are
meant to experience the love of God shed abroad in our hearts (Rom 5:5).
Thus John Wesley was not only baptised and confirmed but was an
ordained Anglican clergyman for many years before he could say: 'I felt
my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, in Christ alone for
salvation: and an assurance was given me that he had taken away my sins,
even mine'.

b People are taught to wonder at a miracle taking place on the altar, but
they seem rarely to be taught to seek one in their own hearts. Being taught
that the real presence is in the sacrament, they are not taught that it is
rather to be sought 'in the worthy receiver of the sacrament'. This inner
assurance is often discouraged by those who teach the unreformed
position. In spite of the promises of Scripture one is told, 'It is
presumptuous to say you are saved or going to heaven'.

Of course, under God's grace, many do come through to an experience

of salvation and the assurance of eternal life in spite of the teachings which
undermine that faith, but why make it so difficult when the Gospel is so
simple and its effects so real? If our liturgy does not aim at presenting
people with the Gospel, not many will be struck by the Gospel.

c If the things ascribed to the Eucharist have no scriptural authority,

detract from the Cross by transferring attention and faith to the
consecrated bread and wine, and if such teaching results in the preaching
of an unfinished salvation, it must be seriously considered whether a
Gospel of the sacrament is 'another gospel' in the sense of Galatians 1:8:
'Though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you
than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed'. The
'other gospel' Paul fought was, in fact, a gospel of a sacrament: that God's
blessings were bestowed through the sacrament of circumcision rather than
faith only in the death of Christ.

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Conclusion
The almost incredible boldness of the 'major shift' does not seem to have
been widely appreciated. The 1980 ASB presents as the 'normal' Service
of Holy Communion a liturgy which takes its shape and doctrine from the
mediaeval theology of the Roman Catholic Mass. The historic Anglican
liturgy has been given a clumsy face-lift, but sidelined to a place where its
use is impossible without creating confusion in a congregation trying to
find the pages. Surely Anglican integrity demands that it is the historic
Anglican Service of Holy Communion, solidly based on the Anglican
Articles and with its clear New Testament Gospel of salvation only
through repentance and faith in the death of Christ, which should have
been the pattern for the revisers.

It seems that the attraction of the modem language of the ASB and the
'happy' inclusion of the Peace so sugar-coated the pill that 'Old
Anglicans' did not realise what they were swallowing. As the ASB comes
under scrutiny for revision we should make sure that we do 'face openly
enough the major shift in doctrinal emphasis in the new services'.

DENNIS PETERSON was Vicar ofBrixton St Jude 1958-91.

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