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they who believed continued steadfastly in the breaking of bread; and in I Cor. 11:28,29 the
necessity of self-examination before partaking of the Lord’s Supper is stressed. The grace
received in the sacrament does not differ in kind from that which believers receive through the
instrumentality of the Word. The sacrament merely adds to the effectiveness of the Word, and
therefore to the measure of the grace received. It is the grace of an ever closer fellowship with
Christ, of spiritual nourishment and quickening, and of an ever increasing assurance of
salvation. The Roman Catholic Church names specifically sanctifying grace, special actual graces,
the remission of venial sins, preservation from mortal sin, and the assurance of salvation.
2. THE MANNER IN WHICH THIS GRACE IS WROUGHT.
How does the sacrament function in this
respect? Is the Lord’s Supper in any way a meritorious cause of the grace conferred? Does it
confer grace irrespective of the spiritual condition of the recipient, or does it not?
a. The Roman Catholic view.
For the Roman Catholics the Lord’s Supper is not merely a
sacrament, but also a sacrifice; it is even first of all a sacrifice. It is “the unbloody renewal of the
sacrifice of the cross.” This does not mean that in the Lord’s Supper Christ actually dies anew,
but that He undergoes an external change, which is in some way equivalent to death. Did not
the Lord speak of the bread as His body that was broken for the disciples, and of the wine as His
blood that was poured out for them? Roman Catholic controversialists sometimes give the
impression that this sacrifice has only a representative or commemorative character, but this is
not the real doctrine of the Church. The sacrifice of Christ in the Lord’s Supper is considered to
be a real sacrifice, and is supposed to have propitiatory value. When the question is raised,
what this sacrifice merits for the sinner, Roman Catholic authorities begin to hedge and to
speak inconsistent language. The statement of Wilmers in his Handbook of the Christian
Religion, which is used as a textbook in many Roman Catholic schools, may be given as an
example. Says he on page 348: “By the fruits of the sacrifice of the Mass we understand the
effects which it produces for us, inasmuch as it is a sacrifice of atonement and impetration: (a)
not only supernatural graces, but also natural favors; (b) remission of sins, and of the
punishment due to them. What Christ merited for us by His death on the cross is applied to us
in the sacrament of the Mass.” After the sacrifice of the Mass is called a sacrifice of atonement,
the last sentence seems to say that it is after all only a sacrifice in which that which Christ
merited on the cross is applied to the participants.
As far as the Lord’s Supper as a sacrament is concerned, the Roman Catholic Church teaches
that it works ex opere operato, which means, “in virtue of the sacramental act itself, and not in
virtue of the acts or disposition of the recipient, or of the worthiness of the minister (ex opere
operantis).” This means that every one who receives the elements, be he wicked or pious, also
receives the grace signified, which is conceived of as a substance contained in the elements.