(The following article is an excerpt from The Presbyterian Standards: An Exposition of the Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms by Francis Beattie.)

In some respects this is the most difficult point to explain in connection with the doctrine of the supper. In a general way, the Lord’s supper is said, in the Standards, to be an ordinance showing forth the death of Christ, a remembrance of the sacrifice of Christ till he comes. But this is a general statement, and by no means the whole doctrine of the Standards upon this point. It is to be kept in mind, too, that the relation between the sign and the grace signified, and the nature of the sacrificial bond between them, again appears. Several particulars are noted in order.

1. The Lord’s supper shows forth and commemorates the sufferings and death of Christ in the church and to the world until he comes again. It is thus a memorial service, looking back to his sufferings and death as a sacrifice upon the cross for our sins. It is also a prophetic ordinance, looking forward to, and reminding us of, his coming a second time without sin unto salvation.

2. The Lord’s supper is designed to signify and seal the benefits of Christ and the covenant of grace to believers. Previous explanation of the sacraments in general have shown what is meant by this. All the blessings which flow from the death of Christ for us are set forth in the supper; and by the blessing of Christ through the Spirit to the worthy recipient he obtains, by means of this sacrament, and has sealed to him thereby, the blessings exhibited to him in the ordinance to his spiritual nourishment and growth in grace.

At this point it may be well to explain the teaching of the Standards in regard to the way in which Christ is present in the elements of the supper. The body and blood of Christ are not corporally present in, with, or under the bread and wine in the supper. This is really the Lutheran view, which is rejected by the Standards here, just as the Romish doctrine was stated and rejected in the preceding section. Yet the body and blood of Christ, that is, his sufferings and death, are spiritually present to the faith of the worthy receiver, no less truly and really than the outward elements are present to the senses. This seems an admirable statement. It rejects the real presence which Rome asserts, it sets aside the mystical view which Lutheranism favors, it is not content with a mere symbolic view, such as Zwingle maintained, but it ascribes a spiritual presence of Christ crucified in the ordinance, and that presence has reality, not because of the ordinance itself considered, but only where faith is present. It is to this faith only that the spiritual presence of Christ in the supper has reality, and that only as Christ grants blessing by his Spirit. It is a spiritual presence, therefore, and not a real, or a mystical, or a symbolical presence which is the true doctrine of the Standards upon this important topic of great controversy.

3. The sacrament of the supper is designed to express the believer’s thankfulness, and to be a constant and repeated pledge of his engagement to be the Lord’s. By this sacrament believers testify and renew their gratitude to God for all his wonderful mercy and grace towards them, in the gift of the salvation which is in Christ. In this respect there will be spiritual nourishment. Then, too, every time believers partake of this ordinance they renew their vows of loyalty to Christ, and repeat their promise to discharge faithfully all the duties which they owe to him. It is their oath of allegiance to the Captain of their salvation.

4. The sacrament of the Lord’s supper is a means of communion with Christ, and of fellowship between believers. These two points may be grouped together. In regard to the first, believers are made partakers of the flesh and blood of Christ, with all his benefits, in the Lord’s supper. It thus is a pledge of their communion with Christ, and by means thereof they have their union and communion with him confirmed. The great underlying fact here is the union of believers with Christ. Upon this their communion with him rests securely. From this fact the second follows. Because believers are in union with Christ, and one in him, they have fellowship with each other. They are members of Christ’s mystical body, so that their mutual love and fellowship are thereby assured. Thus, the Lord’s supper is at once a pledge of the spiritual kinship of believers, and a means of fostering brotherly love and spiritual communion among them. This leads to the question of the efficacy of the Lord’s supper, and the discussion may now pass to that topic.