present treatise he chooses the expression:
"His own true flesh and blood under the bread and wine" (sec.
12). This would soon to indicate that in this writing he already
holds the opinion which he soon afterward expressed in the
_Babylonian Captivity_. But while he believed in the real
presence of Christ's "own true flesh and blood," this body of
Christ he regards--at this time, when he has not yet had to meet
the spiritualistic interpretation of the Sacramentarians--as a
sign only, a thing signifying the blessing of the sacrament,
which is forgiveness of sins and life eternal (sec 10). Exactly
the same view is expressed in the _Sermon_ of 1519[10]. "Luther
does not yet speak of 'any value which this body, sacramentally
imparted, is supposed to have in and of itself.'" [11]

The question next arises: How does the recipient of the sign
(body and blood under bread and wine) become partaker of that
which is thereby signified? It is through faith, as the receiving
organ (sec. 13). So, too, in the _Sermon_ of 1519, where it is
called the "third part of the sacrament," "in which the power
lies" (_wo die Macht anliegt_). At a later time Luther found it
necessary to emphasize the fact that it is not through the faith
of the recipient that the sacrament gains its power and efficacy,
since this attaches to it simply by virtue of the Word[12]; but
that faith is the receiving organ for the blessing of the
sacrament is a conviction which he never gave up.

The object of faith is the Gospel, i. e., the promise of the
forgiveness of sins contained in the Words of Institution, which
are a "testament," a "new and eternal testament" (secs. 5-10).
Hence the title of the work, _Treatise on the New Testament_.
While the _Sermon_ of 1519 speaks of the Gospel only in general,
we have here a special emphasis on the words of institution as
embracing "in a short summary" the whole Gospel (sec. 33). The
words of institution are still further emphasized and interpreted
in the work _On Abuse of the Mass_, of 1522. Because of the
importance of the Word in the sacrament, Luther declares that the
words of institution should be spoken aloud, not whispered, as
was and is done in the Roman churches, and in a language which is
understood by the people (sec. 16).

An especially striking feature of this treatise is the repeated
assertion that faith, which leans on the Word, and is the
"principal part of the mass," does not absolutely need the
sacram