Augustine of Hippo on the Lord's Supper

354 – 430 · LATIN FATHER

DISPUTED AMONG SCHOLARSINTERNALLY CONTESTED°

STANCE

Real but spiritual presence, received by faith

THE POSITION

Augustine's sacramental language — sign, symbol, and reality held together — has been read in support of nearly every later position. Genuinely contested rather than simply unclear.

SCRIPTURE

JOHN 6:53-56 · BSB

53 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of Man, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. 55 For My flesh is real food, and My blood is real drink. 56 Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood remains in Me, and I in him.

8 OTHERS HOLD THIS

Calvin Jonathan Edwards Tim Keller Second London Baptist Confession John Owen R.C. Sproul Wesley Westminster Confession

The elements become Christ's body and bloodAQUINAS

True bodily presence in, with, and under the elementsLUTHER · PHILIP MELANCHTHON

A memorial and sign; no presence in the elementsM. HEISER · JOHN MACARTHUR · ZWINGLI

Truly the body and blood, with no account of the modeBASIL THE GREAT · CHRYSOSTOM · IRENAEUS

See all 23 figures on the lord's supper →

ABOUT THIS FIGURE

Bishop of Hippo. The single most influential theologian in Western Christianity; both Catholic and Reformed traditions claim him. Anti-Pelagian works, the Enchiridion, and On Baptism Against the Donatists.

8 OF 14 POSITIONS QUOTED

Everything Augustine holds →

Cite this page

"Augustine of Hippo on the Lord's Supper", Examined Doctrine, July 2026 edition, https://examineddoctrine.com/position/augustine/lords-supper (archived at https://examineddoctrine.com/editions/2026-07/position/augustine/lords-supper).

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