#55 The True Church Has The Sacrament of the Altar

Second, nobody will deny that we have the holy sacrament of the altar, just as Christ himself instituted it and the apostles and the whole of Christendom have since practiced it. Thus we eat and drink with the whole of ancient Christendom from one table, and we receive with them the same one ancient sacrament; we have done nothing new or different. Consequently, we are one church with them, or as St. Paul says in I Corinthians 11 [10:17], “one body” and “one loaf” since we eat of one loaf and drink of one cup. So the papists cannot call us heretics or a new church, unless they first call Christ, the apostles, and the whole of Christendom heretics, as in truth they do, for we are one church with the ancient church, in one sacrament. (Luther’s Works, v.41, p.195)

Picture: Front gate to History Trinity Lutheran Church, Souland Market, St. Louis MO

Posted in 2020 Church.