Why do Protestants not believe in the Real Presence?

Some question why Protestants don’t believe John 6 when it says that Jesus’ flesh is real food and that His blood is real drink. For many, it is likely that they have never been in an environment which nurtures this reality of God’s closeness to us.

When the Protestant movement began by the Augustinian monk and Roman Catholic priest, Martin Luther, it did not take long for others who followed after him to formally deny that the Holy Eucharist is Jesus, and to enshrine this disbelief in their official teachings. It didn’t stop there. For some, it meant also rejecting infant baptism, for others it was the denial of free will, and so forth. Most Protestant churches believe some major teachings of Jesus, but to be Catholic means we must believe all of Jesus’ teachings as handed down to us through the apostles and their successors.

Martin Luther, who officially broke away from full communion with the Church regarding some major teachings, actually believed the Eucharist is Jesus’ body and blood. Be that as it may, this can’t be said about many Lutherans today. Both historically and practically, the more one is disconnected from the Catholic Church the less one will believe what Jesus taught. This applies to Catholics, too.

I think back to the day of my first Holy Communion at Sts. Peter and Paul in New Hradec. I remember my first confession a few days before. I remember the pictures taken. I remember the date. I remember getting money from people, a whopping $75! But I don’t remember receiving Jesus’ in Holy Communion. I was told that the Holy Eucharist is Jesus, but I didn’t give it much thought—that is until a few years passed. I thank my parents greatly for building an environment where the Catholic faith could grow. Prayer was habitual throughout the day at specific times. Sundays meant the Lord’s Day. If Dad and Mom had not built this environment, the chances of my believing John 6 would have diminished greatly, and I most likely would never have been ordained a priest.

For many Protestants and Catholics who don’t believe John 6, it’s because they have never had an environment where the mystery of faith is explained, lived out and treasured.

So how do we get more people to believe in this gift from God to us? Here’s a twofold answer.

The first is me and you. We must love Jesus in the Holy Eucharist really well, like a lot, in our thoughts, words and actions. Do we stop by the Catholic church for a few minutes when we drive by? It’s true, we can talk to Jesus wherever we are, just like we can talk on the phone to people, but to be in Jesus’ Real Presence in the Eucharist is different. Do we keep bringing our minds back to this great mystery during Mass again and again? Do we pray the fifth luminous mystery of the rosary? The more we fill our mind with prayer, the Bible and closeness to the Church, the greater environment there will be for us to believe and live out all that Jesus taught.

The second is the historical side of John 6. Some may think this sacrament is unbelievable, but the opposite is quite true. It is believable. Because Jesus is believable. I’ve pulled together a few phrases of how the early Church believed Jesus’ words. I’ve even included one from Martin Luther himself.

St. Ignatius of Antioch, who was born about the year of Jesus’ death and resurrection, writes this in his letter to the Romans: “there is a water that lives and speaks within me, saying, ‘Come to the Father.’ I have no desire for corruptible food or for the pleasures of this life. I want the bread of God that is the flesh of Jesus Christ, of David’s seed, and I want his blood as my drink that is love incorruptible.” (Mystery of the Altar by K.J. Howell & J. Crownwood, p373)

St. Justin Martyr about 50 years later in writing to the emperor says, “…we are taught that the food that is made the Eucharist by the prayer of His word is, in fact, the flesh and blood of that Jesus who was made flesh.” (Ibid, p157)

St. Irenaeus living in Lyon, which is in present day France, writes this a few decades later. “Since we are members of Him, and are nourished by creation—and He himself holds the creation, causing the sun to rise and rain to fall as he wishes—so He professed that the cup from creation was His very own blood. He affirmed the bread from creation to be His very body from which our bodies grow.” (Ibid, p26)

St. John Chrysostom about the year 400 says, “Ponder then in Communion, that as many of us as share the body and taste this blood, we share in that which is no different, nor divided, from that body. For, we taste of Him who is seated above, next to the incorruptible Power, where He is worshipped by the angels.” (Ibid, p79)

Martin Luther, connecting the Old Testament Passover lamb with Jesus the new paschal Lamb, something the Church has always done beginning with St. John the Baptist, says this. “Now, there is no doubt that Christ spoke these words in contrast with the old paschal lamb, which he abrogates here, as if to say, “Up to now you have eaten a lamb, the body of an animal. But here in its stead now is my body—mine, mine, I say with perfect clarity.” And earlier in the same work Luther stated, “he who drinks of this cup really drinks the true blood of Christ…. Here is received no mere figure or sign of the new testament or of the blood of Christ.” (Luther’s works, vol. 37: Word and Sacrament III)

When you think about this great mystery, it is truly humbling that Jesus becomes our food so that we can be more easily nourished and strengthen by Him. He really is the bread that came down from heaven, that we may live forever.