The Great Error of Transubstantiation

Tudor Alexander
Feb 16, 2024
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Today over 2 billion people believe in the teaching of transubstantiation -- that Christ's actual body and blood are present in the bread and wine offered at church on Sunday. I grew up with these beliefs as well, but what if tradition has made a great error? Either Protestantism is wrong and those who reject this teaching are rejecting a key command from Christ, or Catholicism and Orthodoxy are wrong and they have espoused a teaching with blasphemous implications and outcomes. The stakes are high on either side, so regardless of our position we must be sure and convicted of our beliefs using objective evidence and history, as well as the perfect testimony of God's word.

References for this message are cited at the bottom of this post. To download the PDF file of my personal presentation notes, along with the video file for this episode, you can do so in the dedicated folder of the library:

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Timeline

  • 00:00 - Introduction

  • 07:24 - Scriptural Foundations of Transubstantiation

  • 09:45 - Implications

  • 13:15 - Tradition vs. Scripture

  • 18:46 - Official Positions of Catholicism

  • 41:57 - Official Positions of Orthodoxy

  • 52:13 - Implications

  • 54:43 - Response #1: The Nature of Salvation

  • 1:24:05 - The Nature of the Atonement

  • 1:31:11 - Response #2: Works of the Church & Fruits of the Spirit

  • 1:35:51 - What God Really Cares About

  • 1:45:29 - The Problems of Relying on Tradition

  • 2:02:07 - CONTEXT FOR JOHN 6: Verses Concerning Blood

  • 2:06:57 - CONTEXT FOR JOHN 6: Typology

  • 2:11:40 - CONTEXT FOR JOHN 6: Eating & Food as Metaphors

  • 2:31:57 - John 6 Exegesis

  • 2:47:03 - Objection: 1 Corinthians 10:16-21

  • 2:49:00 - 4 Reasons the Last Supper is Symbolic

  • 2:54:35 - The Temple as a Spiritual Reality

  • 2:58:20 - How to Actually Celebrate Communion

  • 3:00:54 - Lutheranism & Transubstantiation

References

Catholic Encyclopedia, Sacrifice of the Mass, https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10006a.htm

Thirteenth Session of the Council of Trent (Eucharist), https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/library/thirteenth-session-of-the-council-of-trent-1479

Dignity of the priesthood, p.32-33, https://archive.org/details/alphonsusworks12liguuoft/page/n37/mode/2up

Eucharist necessary for salvation, https://www.catholic.com/qa/is-the-eucharist-necessary-for-salvation

Communion as Salvation, https://www.oca.org/reflections/fr.-stephen-freeman/communion-as-salvation

The Orthodox Understanding of the Eucharist, https://mospat.ru/en/news/87972/

The Confession of Dositheus, https://www.crivoice.org/creeddositheus.html

Augustine, the former gnostic, and his many heretical views, https://bjorkbloggen.com/2012/04/03/augustine-the-former-gnostic-and-his-many-heretical-views/

Exposing the Heresies of the Catholic Church, https://www.gty.org/library/blog/B130228/exposing-the-heresies-of-the-catholic-church-the-mass

Lutheranism and Transubstantiation, https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=3013

https://christianity.stackexchange.com/questions/35744/what-is-the-lutheran-doctrine-of-consubstantiation-and-how-does-it-differ-from-t

Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joint_Declaration_on_the_Doctrine_of_Justification