A Biblical Showstopper For Catholic Eucharistic Theology

Introduction:

The Roman Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation teaches that during the mass, the bread and wine are transformed into the literal body and blood of Jesus Christ. This transformation is said to occur under the appearance of bread and wine, while their substance becomes Christ Himself, body, blood, soul, and divinity. While this belief is central to Catholic worship, it faces serious theological challenges when examined in light of Scripture, particularly Acts 17:24–31.

In this passage, the Apostle Paul addresses the philosophers of Athens with a sweeping declaration of God’s transcendence, self-sufficiency, and spiritual nature, a declaration that stands in stark contrast to the idea of God being localized or physically consumed through ritual.

God Is Not Contained Or Controlled:

“The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. Nor is He served by human hands, as if He needed anything…” (Acts 17:24–25)

Paul’s words dismantle any theology that suggests God can be summoned, manipulated, or made present through human ritual. The Roman Catholic claim that a priest can consecrate bread and wine into the literal presence of Christ implies that God responds to human action in a way that contradicts Paul’s teaching. If God is not served by human hands, then He is not dependent on liturgical formulas or priestly invocations to manifest Himself.

This passage is not merely a rejection of pagan temple worship. It is a sweeping theological statement about the nature of divine presence. Paul presents a God who is radically independent of human mediation, who “gives everyone life and breath and everything else.” To suggest that God’s presence is triggered by ritual action reverses this relationship, making the creature the initiator of the Creator’s manifestation.

The Divine Nature Is Not Material:

“We ought not to think that the divine nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by human skill and imagination.” (Acts 17:29)

This verse challenges the notion that God can be physically present in created elements. Bread and wine are tangible, earthly substances, crafted by human hands and subject to decay. To claim that these elements become the full presence of Christ equates the divine with material form, a concept that the Apostle Paul explicitly rejects.

Roman Catholic theology attempts to resolve this tension through Aristotelian metaphysics, distinguishing between “substance” and “accidents.” Yet this explanation introduces a philosophical framework foreign to Scripture. Paul appeals to the universal intelligibility of God’s nature, not to hidden metaphysical categories that require philosophical decoding. Why should a first-century Jewish audience understand Jesus’ words through a fourth-century Greek lens?

Moreover, Acts 17 presents a God who “commands all people everywhere to repent,” not a God who hides behind appearances. Transubstantiation introduces a kind of sacramental opacity, where what appears to be bread must be believed to be Christ, despite all sensory evidence to the contrary. This stands in tension with Paul’s emphasis on clarity and accessibility in divine revelation.

Symbolism, Not Transformation:

Catholics often cite Jesus’ words at the Last Supper, “This is my body… This is my blood,” as evidence for a literal transformation. However, Jesus frequently used metaphorical language (“I am the door,” “I am the vine”), and He was physically present when He spoke those words. The bread and wine served as symbols of His impending sacrifice, not as transformed substances.

The eucharistic elements do not become Jesus Christ, but an image of Himself. They are only an earthly depiction of the divine. This point is a springboard for a separate objection: if the bread and wine remain materially unchanged, then the act of worship directed toward them becomes indistinguishable from the kind of image-veneration Paul condemns.

Since the bread and wine are still bread and wine in substance, then worshiping them constitutes a form of idolatry. Paul’s warning in Acts 17:29 against thinking “the divine being is like gold or silver or stone” could just as easily be paraphrased: “or bread and wine.” The theological implication is unavoidable: worship directed toward created elements, however well-intentioned, violates the very nature of God’s transcendence.