Sacramental union

Sacramental union (Latin, unio sacramentalis; German, sakramentliche Einigkeit)Weimar Ausgabe 26, 442; Luther's Works 37, 299-300. is the Lutheran theological doctrine of the Real Presence of the body and blood of Christ in the Christian Eucharist. 
== Type of union ==
The sacramental union is distinguished from the other "unions" in theology like the "personal union" of the two natures in Jesus Christ, the "mystical union" of Christ and his Church, and the "natural union" in the human person of body and soul. It is seen as similar to the personal union in the analogue of the uniting of the two perfect natures in the person of Jesus Christ in which both natures remain distinct: the integrity of the bread and wine remain though united with the body and the blood of Christ.Formula of Concord Solid Declaration VII.36-38 (Triglot Concordia, 983, 985; Theodore G. Tappert, The Book of Concord: The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1959), 575-576.
In the sacramental union the consecrated bread of the Eucharist is united with the body of Christ and the consecrated wine of the Eucharist is united with the blood of Christ by virtue of Christ's original institution with the result that anyone eating and drinking these "elements"—the consecrated bread and wine—really eat and drink the physical body and blood of Christ as well. Lutherans maintain that what they believe to be the biblical doctrine of the manducatio indignorum ("eating of the unworthy") that even unbelievers eating and drinking in the Eucharist really eat and drink the body and blood of Christ1 Corinthians 11:27-29 sustains this doctrine as well as any other doctrine affirming the Real Presence. This view was put forward by Martin Luther in his 1528 Confession Concerning Christ's Supper:
It is asserted in the Wittenberg Concord of 1536 and in the Formula of Concord.Formula of Concord Epitiome VII, 7, 15; FC Formula of Concord Solid Declaration VII, 14, 18, 35, 38, 117; Triglot Concordia, 811-813, 977, 979, 983-985, 1013. The Formula of Concord couples the term with the circumlocution ("in, with, and under the forms of bread and wine") used among Lutherans to further define their view: 
== Words of Institution ==
Lutherans believe that the words spoken by Jesus Christ at his Last Supper, the Words of Institution, bring about the sacramental union then and at all times whenever the Christian eucharist is celebrated according to his mandate and institution. 
== Distinction from other doctrines of the Real Presence ==
This view is sometimes identified as consubstantiation in that it asserts the simultaneous presence of four essences in the Eucharist: that of the consecrated bread, the Body of Christ, the consecrated wine, and the Blood of Christ; but it differs in that it does not assert a "local" (three dimensional, circumscribed) presence of the Body and Blood in the sacramental bread and wine respectively, which is rejected as "gross, carnal, and Capernaitic" in the Formula of Concord.FC Epitiome, VII, 42; Solid Declaration, VII, 127; Triglot Concordia, 817, 1015. The term "consubstantiation" has been associated with such a "local" inclusion of the Body and Blood of Christ in the sacramental bread and wine as has the term "impanation." Lutherans have also rejected the designation of their position as consubstantiation because they believe it, like transubstantiation, is a philosophical explanation of the Real Presence, whereas the Sacramental Union is a description of the doctrine.
Martin Luther distinguished this doctrine from that of transubstantiation and impanation in this way: 
== Notes ==
==See also==
*Confession Concerning Christ's Supper
*Crypto-Calvinism
*Eucharistic theologies contrasted
*Marburg Colloquy
*Martin Luther
*Real Presence
==Bibliography==
*Luther, Martin. D. Martin Luthers Werke, Kritische Gesamtausgabe. 65 vols. Weimar: Verlag Hermann Böhlaus Nochfolger, 1883- (The comprehensive Weimar Edition of Luther's works in German and Latin).
*_____. Luther's Works: American Edition. Jaroslav Jan. Pelikan, and Helmut T. Lehmann, gen. eds. 55 vols. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House; Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1955-86.
*Triglot Concordia: The Symbolical Books of the Ev. Lutheran Church. St. Louis: CPH, 1921 (An English translation of the Book of Concord).
Category:Martin Luther
Category:Lutheran Eucharistic theology
Category:Sacraments