In 2001, the Missouri Synod, in convention, passed Resolution 3-16, “To Encourage Use of Only Wine in Administration of Lord’s Supper.”[1] This resolution attempted to curtail the use of elements other than natural bread and wine in the celebration of the Lord’s Supper.
Throughout LCMS congregations it is not uncommon to see elements other than natural bread and wine used. The most common element substituted for natural wine in synodically affiliated congregations is grape juice. The most extreme substitution which has been shared with me was grape soda and Doritos. Resolution 3-16 was intended to reign in abuses such as these.
But it doesn’t succeed in doing that at all. In fact, it makes things far worse. The resolution “encourages” the use of natural bread and natural wine. What did Christ use on the night in which He was betrayed? Natural bread and natural wine. Lutherans confess this in the seventh article of the Formula of Concord:
Now, all the circumstances of the institution of the Holy Supper testify that these words of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, which in themselves are simple, plain, clear, firm, and indubitable, cannot and must not be understood otherwise than in their usual, proper, and common signification. For since Christ gives this command at the table and at supper, there is indeed no doubt that He speaks of real, natural bread and of natural wine, also of oral eating and drinking. (SD VII.48)
The Formula goes on to say:
To preserve this true Christian doctrine concerning the Holy Supper, and to avoid and abolish manifold idolatrous abuses and perversions of this testament, the following useful rule and standard has been derived from the words of institution: Nothing has the nature of a sacrament apart from the use instituted by Christ” or “apart from the action divinely instituted.” That is: If the institution of Christ be not observed as He appointed it, there is no sacrament. This is by no means to be rejected, but can and should be urged and maintained with profit in the Church of God. And the use or action here does not mean chiefly faith, neither the oral participation only, but the entire external, visible action of the Lord’s Supper instituted by Christ. (SD VII.85-86)
Let’s put these two things together. First, we confess that Christ institutes the Sacrament using natural bread and natural wine. Second, we confess that if the Sacrament is celebrated in a manner that doesn’t follow Christ’s institution, what is being celebrated is not the Sacrament. What does this mean for using grape juice or grape soda? It isn’t Christ’s blood because it is not being celebrated with the element Christ used when He instituted the Sacrament.
Here’s the real issue. By encouraging and not mandating natural wine in the sacrament, the Missouri Synod had officially said, in convention, that it is not necessary to use natural bread and natural wine, contrary to Christ’s institution and the Lutheran Confessions, which it claims to uphold. In passing this resolution, the LCMS has violated their own confession and Christ’s institution of the Sacrament. Christ didn’t encourage us to use natural wine. He said, “Do this.”
The resolution could have mandated the use of natural bread and natural wine, but even then, there is a problem because all pastors of that synod swear before the altar of the Triune God that they will perform their ministry according to the Holy Scriptures and the Lutheran Confessions. By “encouraging” the use of natural bread and natural wine, the Missouri Synod has confessed that those things are not necessary for the Sacrament to be the Sacrament. She has also confessed how little she thinks of her public confessions or that she is ignorant of them.
Now to the issue of grape juice because I know a lot of LCMS congregations make that available for folks who have had trouble with alcohol abuse. Lutherans in the 17th century dealt with this issue in a completely different manner than the LCMS today. Johann Gerhard writes,
One actually finds few people who cannot ingest the [small] amount of [wine] required for use in the holy Supper. However, if they indeed cannot ingest even a tiny droplet of wine, then it is more advisable that they abstain from the holy Supper rather than have one undertake to do something contrary to Christ’s institution. And, such persons are to be instructed that it is not the deprivation of the Sacrament because of a case of necessity, but rather than despising of the Supper which is damnable.[2]
Rather than violate Christ’s institution by offering a substitute for wine or by offering the communicant only the body of the Lord, it would be better for the one who cannot ingest wine to abstain from the Lord’s Supper. Gerhard immediately reminds his readers that it’s not the deprivation of the Sacrament—having to go without it—but the despising of the Sacrament which is damnable.
Gerhard also writes about using “non-alcoholic” wine or any other substitute for natural wine and declares that “under no circumstances can or should one substitute other elements, which might be comparable, in place of the bread and wine.”[3] For Gerhard, it is absurd to consider substituting another element, even something close to natural bread or wine, because anything other than bread or wine would nullify the Sacrament. Apply this to Baptism and see how absurd this is. Should we merely encourage the use of water in Holy Baptism? Could we use Coca-Cola? Gatorade? Beer? All are comparable because all contain water as a major ingredient. Some may think that requiring natural bread and wine is legalistic. If the matter were a human tradition, then that would be true. However, the Lord’s Supper is divinely instituted, and the church does not have the authority to change what Christ has instituted.
This resolution demonstrates that the LCMS knows many of its pastors and congregations violate the Scripture and Lutheran Confessions regularly yet refuses to discipline those who willfully disregard the Lord’s institution and the Confessions.
[1] The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, “Resolution 3-016: To Encourage Use of Only Wine in Administration of Lord’s Supper,” Tell The Good News About Jesus: Convention Proceedings, Sixty-First Regular Confession, the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, St. Louis, MO, July 14-20, 2001. (St. Louis, Concordia, 2001), 141.
[2] Johann Gerhard, A Comprehensive Explanation of Holy Baptism and the Lord’s Supper (1610), trans. Elmer Hohle (Malone, TX: Repristination Press, 2014), 426.
[3] Ibid., 229.
