I have been reading Bishop J. C. Ryle’s 1890 book on the Marian martyrs, Light From Old Times. The stories of the bravery and single-minded devotion to Christ shown by these English reformers as they were delivered to be burned at the stake, most within view of the churches where they had pastored, are striking, humbling, and challenging.Ryle’s account of the reason why these men were burned is shocking. He identifies the doctrine of the real presence as the reason for their burning. What is the doctrine of the real presence? In Catholic doctrine, the elements of communion, the bread and the wine, after the priest’s words of consecration, are taught to be corporally, literally, locally, and materially changed into the physical body and blood of Christ. No matter what other charge was brought against them, the documents of history seem to confirm that it was their rejection of this doctrine which led to their condemnation.Why would these men have regarded this doctrine as being so significant that they judged it necessary to die as a martyr rather than accept the doctrine? Ryle summarizes what was at stake this way:
[T]he Romish doctrine of the real presence, if pursued to its legitimate consequences, obscures every leading doctrine of the Gospel and damages and interferes with the whole system of Christ’s truth. […] [G]rant for a moment these things, and then see what momentous consequences result from these premises. You spoil the blessed doctrine of Christ’s finished work when He died on the cross. A sacrifice that needs to be repeated is not a perfect and complete thing. You spoil the priestly office of Christ. If there are priests that can offer an acceptable sacrifice to God besides Him , the great High Priest is robbed of His glory. You spoil the scriptural doctrine of the Christian ministry. You exalt sinful men into the position of mediators between God and man. You give to the sacramental elements of bread and wine an honour and veneration they were never meant to receive and produce an idolatry to be abhorred of faithful Christians. Last, but not least, you overthrow the true doctrine of Christ’s human nature. If the body born of the Virgin Mary can be in more places than one at the same time, it is not a body like our own, and Jesus was not “the last Adam” in the truth of our nature.
That paragraph from Ryle is densely packed with gospel truth. I highly recommend that you take the time to deliberately read the paragraph again. Truly the heart of the gospel is packed up within those few words.
