Reformation Day Reflection: Nicholas Ridley and the Lord’s Supper

Every year on October 31, churches around the world remember the Reformation — a movement that God used to bring his people back to the authority of Scripture and the good news of salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. This year, as we pause to give thanks for that work, we focus on the witness of Nicholas Ridley.

Ridley was a bishop in England during the 1500s. He was a brilliant scholar, a devoted pastor, and, under Queen Mary I (“Bloody Mary”), a prisoner for his faith. In 1555, while in captivity, he wrote A Brief Declaration of the Lord’s Supper. This little book explained what Christians should believe about Holy Communion and why the Roman Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation was wrong. Later, Ridley was executed for holding firm to these truths.

Why did Ridley write?

When Mary came to the throne in 1553, England returned to Roman Catholic teaching. Ridley, along with Thomas Cranmer and Hugh Latimer, was put on trial in Oxford. The debates centered on three big questions:

1. Does the bread and wine in Communion actually change into Christ’s body and blood?

2. Is the Mass a new sacrifice for sin?

3. Do unbelievers really eat Christ’s body?

Ridley’s treatise was his careful answer. He wanted to show from the Bible, the early church fathers, and sound reason that Christ is truly present in the Supper, but not in the way Rome claimed.

Ridley’s main teaching

Ridley’s central point is simple but profound: in Communion, believers really receive Christ — but by the Holy Spirit, through faith, not by the bread turning into flesh. The bread and wine remain what they are, yet by God’s promise they are signs that truly give us Christ’s benefits.

Ridley’s argument moves step by step:

• Scripture first. He pointed to Jesus’ words at the Last Supper (“Do this in remembrance of me”) and Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians (“The cup of blessing … is it not a communion of the blood of Christ?”). For Ridley, these passages show that the Supper is about fellowship with Christ, not magic words that change substances.

• How to understand “This is my body.” Ridley said the words are sacramental. Just as in the Bible Jesus says “I am the vine” or “I am the door,” so here the bread truly represents and communicates Christ’s body, without ceasing to be bread.

• Where is Christ’s body? Ridley said Christ’s natural body is in heaven at God’s right hand, not in many places at once. By the Spirit, Christ is really present in the Supper — but not locally in the bread. This matches the later Anglican “Black Rubric,” which says Christ’s presence in Communion is “heavenly and spiritual,” not “corporal.”

• The testimony of the Fathers. Augustine, Chrysostom, and other early church teachers spoke of the Supper as a mystery and fellowship, not as a change of substance.

• The unworthy eat judgment, not life. When unbelievers come to the Table, they receive the outward sign and bring judgment on themselves, but they do not receive the life-giving benefit of Christ. As Ridley put it: “For none is meet to receive … the food of eternal life, except he be regenerated and born of God before” (Brief Declaration, 259).

• The Mass is not a sacrifice. Christ’s death on the cross was once for all. The Supper is not a new offering for sin but a meal of remembrance and communion with Christ’s finished work.

What the Supper is — and is not

Ridley insisted that the Supper is God’s gift of life, not a ritual to dread. “Now the partaking of Christ’s body and of his blood, unto the faithful and godly, is the partaking or fellowship of life and immortality” (Brief Declaration, 249). The bread and wine “remain in their natural substance alike” (Brief Declaration, 253–254). For Ridley, to say otherwise dishonored Christ’s finished work and turned the Supper into superstition.

In Holy Communion, believers truly receive Christ by the Spirit through faith; therefore, come hungry, not terrified. For as the Black Rubric declares, Christ’s natural body and blood are not locally or corporally present in the bread and wine, but are truly given and received after a heavenly and spiritual manner—so that faith, not fear, is the way of communion, for here Christ gives himself to be received, not dreaded.

Why it matters for us

For Ridley, the Supper was not just a theological debate. It was about assurance and life in Christ. He warned: “Oh! How necessary then is it, if we love life and would eschew death, to try and examine ourselves before we eat of this bread and drink of this cup!” (Brief Declaration, 256). This isn’t about being “good enough” to come, but about coming with faith and repentance, trusting Christ’s promise.

A Reformation Day invitation

On this Reformation Day, we can hear Ridley’s invitation across the centuries. Don’t come to the Table terrified, as if Christ were being sacrificed again, or as if the bread itself should be adored. Come hungry, with faith, and feed on Christ by the Spirit.

May we remember, and receive, the full blessing of the Lord’s Supper — the very Body and Blood of Christ given for us, offered to us, received by faith.

On Reformation Day — and always — let us give thanks for Ridley’s witness, for Christ’s truth, and for the Supper that sustains.

Reference
Nicholas Ridley, A Brief Declaration of the Lord’s Supper, or A Treatise Against the Error of Transubstantiation, in The Works of Nicholas Ridley, Parker Society (Cambridge: University Press, 1841).