A Study on the Sacrament of Lord's Supper in the Theology of Karl Barth and Jürgen Moltman

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to articulate the sacrament of Lord’s Supper in the theology of Karl Barth and Jürgen Moltman. In church history the sacraments have been understood to be visible signs of an invisible grace; they are the embodiment of promises given to us in Scripture. Sacraments are rites which reveal God’s saving grace to be uniquely active in human experience. Historically, both Protestant and Roman Catholic theologians have accepted Augustine’s (354-430) definition of sacrament, as a "visible sign of an invisible reality." But there remain differences of interpretation as to how one should understand the relationship of invisible reality to the visible sign. Barth spoke of sacraments as the indispensable means of grace and as instruments used by God to speak objectively (in sign) within world history. Our human responses to God in worship are and remain fully human, but God can use them objectively to unite us to Him through faith, grace, and revelation. We participate in objective revelation (Jesus Christ) through the Holy Spirit. This is the subjective reality of revelation, and if we wish to understand the Holy Spirit, we must look at Christ Himself. Barth uses the word sacrament to speak of the church as a sign bearing witness to revelation and of Christ’s humanity as sacramental. In the theology of Barth, incarnation is God’s special action of unveiling Godself and the great Christian mystery; the humanity of Jesus is the first sacrament. Moltman, however, sees the real presence of Christ in the Lord’s Supper in terms of time and space and analyzes it with a messianic hope, explaining it in the eschatological and pneumatological perspectives. In this eschatological messianic hope, the Lord’s Supper becomes an important understanding for faith and Christian life.