John Knox On The Lord’s Supper, Part 2: Treatise On The Sacrament

by on July 15, 2025 | Comment

In our previous installment, we noted the possibility of a trend among modern-day Protestants in adopting a softer stance toward the Roman Mass than would have been held among previous generations. Though not as prolific in his theological writings as men like Luther and Calvin, John Knox’s writings on the matter are instructive and illuminating when it comes to discerning classical Protestant views towards Rome and her Mass. In our previous article, we considered his view on the Roman Mass as articulated in his “Vindication of the Doctrine that the Sacrifice of Mass is Idolatry.”1

While Knox’s “Vindication” certainly provides a sweeping negation of the medieval doctrines of transubstantiation and the Eucharist, a far briefer document, “A Summary, According to The Holy Scriptures, of the Sacrament of The Lord’s Supper,” provides a positive articulation of Knox’s convictions concerning the sacrament.2 While no specific date is mentioned on the treatise itself, it is believed to be dated to the year 1550, the same year in which Knox offered his scholastic indictment against the doctrine of the Mass. One can only speculate that this brief treatise was prepared by Knox as a summary of the Reformed view of the doctrine of the Lord’s Supper or as an abridgment of some of his arguments from the “Vindication,” with this explanation perhaps crafted for wider dissemination and general use among Church of England, where he was ministering at the time.

Knox’s Doctrine of the Lord’s Supper

In this brief document, Knox articulates that the sacrament is a holy action, ordained of God, in which the Lord Jesus sets forth “earthly, invisible things” in order to exalt our spirits to experience “heavenly and invisible things.”3 In setting forth bread and wine to eat and drink, Christ confirms his promise that we shall be partakers with him in his kingdom, and he represents and confirms this promise to us plainly, with simple and tangible items that human senses can plainly detect and experience.4

He reminds his readers that the sacrament sets forth the doctrine that the Lord Jesus gathers his people into one visible body, that there is a catholicity and an affirmation of the mutual bonds of love within the church that is exhibited and of which the church is reminded every time she partakes of it.5 As well, Knox notes that it is a ritual to which Christians must come reverently, with sincere faith and repentance, partaking in the symbols of the Christian faith because they have converted hearts, not supposing that their sins are somehow forgiven because they participate in this sacrament.6 He articulates that not only is it a sacrament of remembrance whereby the congregation is spiritually nourished, but it is also, in its own right, a confession of faith. In partaking of the sacrament, the people are, in a sense, visibly professing and exhibiting their faith in Christ, as well as the doctrine to which they hold.7

Regarding such doctrine, Knox then proceeds to address the oft-debated words, hoc est corpus meum, and counters the traditional Roman understanding regarding transubstantiation. He argues that belief in transubstantiation is no necessary article of faith that a person must believe in order to avoid eternal damnation. It is Christ’s presence in his people’s hearts through faith in his blood that saves them, not his presence in the foodstuffs of bread and wine. He notes that many do, in fact, believe in the bodily presence of Christ in the elements, and yet they receive it to their damnation because they do not have genuine faith in Christ. According to Knox, genuine faith in Christ involves, at a minimum, believing that his blood has washed out the sins of his people and pacified God’s sin-wrought wrath against them. Indeed, he argues, the thing which invites damnation upon people is not the absence of Christ’s presence in the elements, but rather the absence of belief in the people’s hearts.

Finally, Knox offers a brief rejoinder to the Roman insistence that the doctrine of transubstantiation is the most plain and simple interpretation of the words, hoc est corpus meum. He argues that Protestants do believe and confess God’s word to be true and that God is most certainly not a liar, but they believe that Christ himself spoke these words sacramentally and ordained the ritual of communion to be understood spiritually: the believers in Christ receive his body and blood in a spiritual manner.8 Knox concludes by invoking the names of several eminent church fathers such as Augustine, Jerome, Fulgentius, Vigilius, and Origen. In doing so, Knox is seeking to establish in the minds of his readers the catholicity and historical precedent and longstanding continuity of his views. By citing the names of such church fathers, Knox aims to situate his views (and the views of the Scottish Protestant Reformation more broadly) within the mainstream of historic, catholic Christianity. He hopes to persuade his readers that it is not he nor the Protestant Christians who represent an abrupt departure from the historic and precedented doctrines of the faith, but rather that it is Rome that has been innovative in her doctrinal developments as relates to the sacrament. Knox desires to communicate a theological posture of continuity and consistency with the apostolic and historic church, whereas Rome finds herself in a position of discontinuity and inconsistency. Knox argues that the Apostle himself maintained such a sacramental understanding, when Paul explains the spiritual nourishment whereby Christ fed the Old Testament saints.9

Conclusion

In this brief treatise, Knox succinctly articulates a Reformed view of the doctrine of the Lord’s Supper, bearing remarkable similarities to the view expressed by Calvin.10 He juxtaposes one of the prevailing Protestant interpretations of the doctrine of the Supper shared with many of the Continental Reformers vis-à-vis the traditional medieval and Roman interpretation. This treatment evidences one of Knox’s chief pastoral concerns at this juncture in his ministry: inculcating a Reformed and biblical understanding of the nature of the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper among the clergy and laity within the Church of England. Faced with internal theological tensions and residual sympathies to medieval-Roman teaching within the English Church, Knox felt compelled to set forth a plain and reasoned argument for what he believed was a Reformed and biblical view of the sacrament in order to advance further the cause of theological reformation in the Church of England, taking advantage of this opportune season during the reign of Edward VI.

Knox had a pastoral concern not only for preaching and administering the sacraments rightly but also for articulating, defending, commending, and propagating a correct sacramental theology. His concern was not only for the benefit of his own congregation but for the benefit of the wider church as well. Part of Knox’s pastoral theology was also polemical. He was committed to, on the negative side, disabusing Christians from adherence to the false doctrine of the Roman mass and, on the positive side, distinguishing a right and biblical understanding of the Lord’s Supper from the Roman Mass and inculcating that biblical understanding in the minds of Christians.

Having given some attention to Knox’s vehement opposition to the Roman Mass and positive articulation of the doctrine of the Lord’s Supper, we will return in our next article to consider Knox’s pastoral agenda in making these firm delineations between the Roman Mass and the Lord’s Supper (including his grave pastoral concern regarding superstition), and the theological and historical context that drove his ardent insistence on a proper administration and distribution of the Supper.

Notes

  1. Knox, “A Vindication of the Doctrine that the Sacrifice of Mass is Idolatry,” in The Works of John Knox (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 2015), 3:33–70.
  2. Knox, “A Summary, According to The Holy Scriptures, of the Sacrament of The Lord’s Supper,” in Works of John Knox (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 2015), 3:71–75.
  3. Knox, “A Summary, According to The Holy Scriptures,” Works, 3:73.
  4. Knox, “A Summary, According to The Holy Scriptures,” Works, 3:73.
  5. Knox, “A Summary, According to The Holy Scriptures,” Works, 3:73.
  6. Knox, “A Summary, According to The Holy Scriptures,” Works, 3:74.
  7. Knox, “A Summary, According to The Holy Scriptures,” Works, 3:74.
  8. Knox, “A Summary, According to The Holy Scriptures,” Works, 3:74.
  9. 1 Corinthians 10:4.
  10. John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, trans. Henry Beveridge (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2008), 897–99.

©Sean Morris. All Rights Reserved.

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  • Sean Morris
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    Sean was educated at Grove City College, Reformed Theological Seminary (Jackson, MS), Edinburgh Theological Seminary, and the University of Glasgow (Scotland). He earned his PhD from Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary. He is an ordained teaching elder in the Presbyterian Church in America, and serves as a minister at the Covenant Presbyterian Church in Oak Ridge, TN. He also serves as the Academic Dean of the Blue Ridge Institute for Theological Education and has published numerous theological and devotional articles. Sean lives in Oak Ridge with his wife, Sarah, and their children.

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