As you know, you are worshiping God in a Protestant church. This means, of course, that we do deny certain things, and this lines up with the common modern understanding of the word. The word Protestant is thought of as a variant of protestor. But in the Reformation the term was originally more of an affirmation than a denial – think of a word like pro-testimony.
Now of course when you affirm one thing you must of necessity deny its opposite. If you face the east, your back is to the west. If you affirm that two and two make four, you deny that it is three.
So in this sense, we do deny the doctrine of transubstantiation. We deny that this bread and wine turn into the actual body and blood of the Lord. We do deny that that happens. But it would be a mistake to think that this denial does not have a corresponding affirmation. We do believe in transubstantiation, just not transubstantiation of the bread and wine.
We affirm and rejoice in the transubstantiation of the congregation. The process started when we were born again unto God, and as we gather week after week we continue to be transformed from one degree of glory to another (2 Cor. 3:18). While our outer man is decaying and withering, our inner man is being renewed daily (2 Cor. 4:16). We all together are being grown up into a perfect man, and that perfect man is Jesus Christ (Eph. 4:13). We are united to Christ, and we are being knit together in Him (Col. 2:2).
A transformation is occurring here. And it is a transformation of entities who were far apart from Christ, who are now through Christ being made partakers of the divine nature (2 Pet. 1:4). This is glory—that which was far away from Christ has been brought near. Not only have we been brought near, but we have been made one. It is glory, but it is glory that is the result of a miraculous transformation.
When a heart of stone is made into a heart of flesh, what is this? When a valley of dry bones is raised up into a living congregation, what is this? It is the work of the Spirit of God.
So come, and welcome, to Jesus Christ.
I think the debate about “transubstantiation,” or part of the debate, is about what extra-Biblical words best express what God means. Jesus said “This is my body…this cup is the new covenant in my blood.” Whatever He meant, it is no business of ours to be ashamed of the words He did choose to use. They must be the best and the right words, however we may choose to expand on them to clarify them. And I am not sure what experiment would distinguish the theory that the bread and wine become body and blood while retaining all the appearances… Read more »