Real presence of Christ in the Eucharist

=== Reformed ===
{{main|Lord's Supper in Reformed theology}}
[[File:A Scottish Sacrament.jpg|thumb|''A Scottish Sacrament'', by Henry John Dobson]]
Those in the [[Reformed tradition|Reformed]] tradition (inclusive of [[Continental Reformed]], [[Presbyterian]], [[Congregationalist]], [[Evangelical Anglican|Reformed Anglican]]/[[Reformed Episcopal]] and [[Reformed Baptist]] churches), particularly those following [[John Calvin]], hold that the reality of Christ's body and blood do not come corporally (physically) to the elements, but that "the Spirit truly unites things separated in space" (Calvin). This view is known as the real spiritual presence, spiritual presence, or pneumatic presence of Christ in the Lord's Supper.

Following a phrase of [[Augustine of Hippo|Saint Augustine]], the Calvinist view is that "no one bears away from this Sacrament more than is gathered with the vessel of faith". "The flesh and blood of Christ are no less truly given to the unworthy than to God's elect believers", Calvin said; but those who partake by faith receive benefit from Christ, and the unbelieving are condemned by partaking. By faith (not a mere mental apprehension), and in the Holy Spirit, the partaker beholds God incarnate, and in the same sense touches him with hands, so that by eating and drinking of bread and wine Christ's presence penetrates to the heart of the believer more nearly than food swallowed with the mouth can enter in.

This view holds that the elements may be disposed of without ceremony, as they are not changed in an objective physical sense and, as such, the meal directs attention toward Christ's "bodily" resurrection and return. Actual practices of disposing of leftover elements vary widely.

The Reformed doctrine of Holy Communion (The Lord's Supper, The Eucharist) is the belief in the Real Presence (pneumatic) in the sacrament and that it is a Holy Mystery. Reformed theology has traditionally taught that Jesus' body is seated in heaven at the right hand of God; therefore his body is not physically present in the elements, nor do the elements turn into his body in a physical or any objective sense. However, Reformed theology has also historically taught that when the Holy Communion is received, not only the Spirit, but also the true body and blood of Jesus Christ are received through the Spirit, but these are only received by those partakers who eat worthily (i.e., repentantly) with faith. The Holy Spirit unites the Christian with Jesus though they are separated by a great distance. See, e.g., [https://web.archive.org/web/20051215020019/http://www.pcanet.org/general/cof_chapxxvi-xxx.htm#chapxxix Westminster Confession of Faith, ch. 29]; [http://www.crcna.org/pages/belgic_articles33_37.cfm Belgic Confession, Article 35].{{fcn|date=April 2023}}

The Congregationalist theologian Alfred Ernest Garvie explicated the Congregationalist belief regarding the pneumatic presence in ''The Holy Catholic Church from the Congregational Point of View'':<ref name="Garvie1920">{{cite book |last1=Garvie |first1=Alfred Ernest |title=The Holy Catholic Church from the Congregational Point of View, namely, the One Church in the Many Churches |date=1920 |publisher=Faith Press |location=London}}</ref>

{{quotation|He is really present at the Lord's Supper without any such limitation to the element unless we are prepared to maintain that the material is more real than the spiritual. It is the whole Christ who presents Himself to faith, so that the believer has communion with Him.<ref name="Garvie1920"/>}}

The [[1689 Baptist Confession of Faith]], in which Reformed Baptists believe, affirms the Lord's Supper to be a means of "spiritual nourishment and growth", stating:<ref name="CrossThompson2007"/>

{{quote|The supper of the Lord Jesus was instituted by him the same night wherein he was betrayed, to be observed in his churches, unto the end of the world, for the perpetual remembrance, and showing to all the world the sacrifice of himself in his death, confirmation of the faith of believers in all the benefits thereof, their spiritual nourishment, and growth in him, their further engagement in, and to all duties which they owe to him; and to be a bond and pledge of their communion with him, and with each other.<ref name="CrossThompson2007">{{cite book|last1=Cross|first1=Anthony R.|last2=Thompson|first2=Philip E.|title=Baptist Sacramentalism|date=1 January 2007|publisher=Wipf & Stock Publishers|isbn=9781597527439|page=182}}</ref>}}

In 1997, three denominations which historically held to a Reformed view of the supper—the [[Reformed Church in America]], the [[United Church of Christ]], and the [[Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)]] (representative of the Continental Reformed, Congregationalist and Presbyterian traditions)—signed ''[[A Formula of Agreement]]'' with the [[Evangelical Lutheran Church in America]], a document which stressed that: "The theological diversity within our common confession provides both the complementarity needed for a full and adequate witness to the gospel (mutual affirmation) and the corrective reminder that every theological approach is a partial and incomplete witness to the Gospel (mutual admonition) (A Common Calling, page 66)." Hence, in seeking to come to consensus about the real presence (see [[open communion]]), the churches have affirmed the real spiritual presence of Christ in the Lord's Supper:

{{quote|In the Lord's Supper the risen Christ imparts himself in body and blood, given up for all, through his word of promise with bread and wine; ... we proclaim the death of Christ through which God has reconciled the world with himself. We proclaim the presence of the risen Lord in our midst. Rejoicing that the Lord has come to us, we await his future coming in glory. ... Both of our communions, we maintain, need to grow in appreciation of our diverse eucharistic traditions, finding mutual enrichment in them. At the same time both need to grow toward a further deepening of our common experience and expression of the [[Sacred Mysteries|mystery]] of our Lord's Supper.|''A Formula for Agreement''|title=|source=}}