Words of Institution (1928 BCP)

Words of Institution (1928 BCP) are the dominical words embedded in the Prayer of Consecration in "The Order for the Administration of the Lord's Supper, or Holy Communion" in the 1928 American Book of Common Prayer. They recount Christ's taking, thanksgiving, breaking, giving, and commanding at the Last Supper, and they are surrounded in the 1928 rite by thanksgiving for the Cross, anamnesis, oblation, invocation, worthy reception, and the self-offering of the communicants.

Text in the 1928 Rite

In the 1928 Holy Communion office the Words of Institution are not printed as an isolated formula. They stand inside the Prayer of Consecration, immediately after the prayer confesses Christ's death as "a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction" and before the "Wherefore" that begins the memorial and oblation:

For in the night in which he was betrayed, he took Bread; and when he had given thanks, he brake it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, Take, eat, this is my Body, which is given for you; Do this in remembrance of me. Likewise, after supper, he took the Cup; and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of this; for this is my Blood of the New Testament, which is shed for you, and for many, for the remission of sins; Do this, as oft as ye shall drink it, in remembrance of me.

The words are therefore both narrative and liturgical. They tell what Christ did, but in the 1928 rite they also authorize what the Church now does: the priest takes bread and cup, gives thanks in the consecration prayer, and the Church obeys the command, "Do this in remembrance of me."

Scriptural Institution

The Prayer Book says that Christ "did institute, and in his holy Gospel command us to continue" this perpetual memory. Saint Paul's received tradition in 1 Corinthians is the closest New Testament parallel to the 1928 wording:

For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread:

And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.

After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood.

Matthew gives the same fourfold action with bread and cup: Christ takes, blesses or gives thanks, gives, and interprets the gifts by his own words:

And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body.

And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it;

For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.

The 1928 form draws these biblical witnesses together. "For you" echoes Luke and Paul; "for many, for the remission of sins" follows Matthew; and "as oft as ye shall drink it" follows Paul's wording. The result is a Prayer Book institution narrative that is not merely decorative Scripture quotation but the biblical warrant for the eucharistic action.

Doctrinal Boundaries

Article XXVIII gives the doctrinal frame within which the 1928 Words of Institution are received. It rejects both a bare sign and a carnal or transubstantiated explanation:

The Supper of the Lord is not only a sign of the love that Christians ought to have among themselves one to another; but rather it is a Sacrament of our Redemption by Christ's death: insomuch that to such as rightly, worthily, and with faith, receive the same, the Bread which we break is a partaking of the Body of Christ; and likewise the Cup of Blessing is a partaking of the Blood of Christ.

Transubstantiation (or the change of the substance of Bread and Wine) in the Supper of the Lord, cannot be proved by Holy Writ; but is repugnant to the plain words of Scripture, overthroweth the nature of a Sacrament, and hath given occasion to many superstitions.

The Body of Christ is given, taken, and eaten, in the Supper, only after an heavenly and spiritual manner. And the mean whereby the Body of Christ is received and eaten in the Supper, is Faith.

This Article is especially important for explaining the words "this is my Body" and "this is my Blood." In a classical Anglican reading, Christ is truly given and received in the sacrament, but the mode of that gift is heavenly and spiritual, and its saving benefit is received by faith.

Edward Harold Browne, a nineteenth-century Anglican bishop and Norrisian professor of divinity at Cambridge, summarized Article XXVIII in exactly this middle register:

The doctrine of a real, spiritual presence is the doctrine of the English Church, and was the doctrine of Calvin, and of many foreign reformers. It teaches that Christ is really received by faithful communicants in the Lord's Supper; but that there is no gross or carnal, but only a spiritual and heavenly presence there; not the less real, however, for being spiritual. It teaches, therefore, that the bread and wine are received naturally; but the Body and Blood of Christ are received spiritually.

The Words of Institution therefore should not be read as a detached explanation of mechanism. They are Christ's authoritative words within a sacramental action whose meaning is governed by the Cross, faithful reception, and the Prayer Book's refusal to define the manner beyond "heavenly and spiritual."

Place in the Consecration Prayer

The 1928 Prayer of Consecration continues after the institution narrative:

Wherefore O Lord and heavenly Father, according to the institution of thy dearly beloved Son our Saviour Jesus Christ, we, thy humble servants, do celebrate and make here before thy Divine Majesty, with these thy holy gifts, which we now offer unto thee, the memorial thy Son hath commanded us to make; having in remembrance his blessed passion and precious death, his mighty resurrection and glorious ascension; rendering unto thee most hearty thanks for the innumerable benefits procured unto us by the same.

This "Wherefore" is decisive. The Words of Institution lead into the Church's commanded memorial of Christ's passion, death, resurrection, and ascension. The rite does not stop at recital; it proceeds to anamnesis, oblation, invocation, Communion, and thanksgiving.

Richmond Shreve, Dean of Quebec, set the American liturgy among ancient and later eucharistic structures by listing its order this way:

The American Liturgy.

Sursum Corda. Tersanctus. Words of Institution. Oblation. Invocation. Prayers for the Living. Communion. The LORD'S Prayer.

Thanksgiving.

Shreve's comparison helps explain why the 1928 article should not call the Words of Institution the whole consecration. In the American rite, they are central, but they stand in a sequence that includes oblation and invocation.

Clause-by-Clause Reading

"In the night in which he was betrayed" fixes the Eucharist at the threshold of the Passion. The sacrament belongs to Christ's voluntary self-giving, not to a general meal of fellowship. "He took Bread" and "he took the Cup" establish the outward signs commanded for the sacrament. "When he had given thanks" places the action in eucharistic blessing and praise.

"Take, eat" and "Drink ye all of this" make the sacrament a commanded reception. The Words of Institution are not only words over elements; they direct communicants to receive what Christ gives. "This is my Body" and "this is my Blood of the New Testament" identify the sacramental gift with Christ himself, while the Article's language keeps the mode heavenly and spiritual rather than carnal.

"Given for you" and "shed for you, and for many, for the remission of sins" connect the sacramental action directly to the atoning Cross. The communicant receives under the sign of Christ's once-for-all death. "Do this in remembrance of me" is not bare mental recollection; in the Prayer Book it becomes "the memorial thy Son hath commanded us to make" before the Father's Divine Majesty.

Historical Anglican Use

The American 1928 text stands in the American Prayer Book line rather than simply reproducing the 1662 English consecration prayer. E. Clowes Chorley, writing in 1929 just after the new American book appeared, connected the American consecration prayer with the first English Prayer Book of 1549:

The Prayer of Consecration in the American Book is, in the main, taken from this Book of Edward VI. Communion was to be in both kinds.

That historical connection matters for the Words of Institution because the 1928 American prayer keeps them within a fuller eucharistic prayer. The biblical narrative is followed by the oblation and invocation, and the communicants' self-offering follows from the sacramental gift rather than replacing it.

Pastoral and Catechetical Use

For parish teaching, the Words of Institution are a concise doorway into the theology of Holy Communion. They teach that the Eucharist is instituted by Christ, centered on his Passion, received in both kinds, and continued by his command. They also show why the 1928 rite speaks carefully: Christ's Body and Blood are truly given and received by the faithful, yet the saving gift is received "after an heavenly and spiritual manner" and by faith.

The words also protect the communicant from two errors. They prevent reducing Communion to a community symbol, because Christ says, "This is my Body" and "This is my Blood." They also prevent treating the sacrament apart from the Cross and faithful reception, because the same words say "given for you," "shed for you," "for the remission of sins," and "Do this in remembrance of me."

See Also

• Book of Common Prayer (1928)
• Holy Communion (1928 BCP)
• Prayer of Consecration (1928 BCP)
• Sacraments in the 1928 BCP
• Articles of Religion (1928 BCP)

External Links

• Holy Communion - The 1928 Book of Common Prayer
• Articles of Religion - The 1928 Book of Common Prayer
• Browne, Exposition of the Thirty-nine Articles - Article XXVIII
• Shreve, The Prayer of Consecration in the Holy Communion Office
• Chorley, The New American Prayer Book