This is going to be another foray into speculative theology. In other words, I am not willing to bet the farm on how accurate my thinking is, and I am certainly willing to be corrected.
Reformed sacramentology has long been a fascination of mine. On the one hand, we reject the Roman Catholic conception of transubstantiation as well as the Lutheran concept of physical presence. On the other hand, we reject the bare symbolism typically, though I think erroneously, associated with Zwinglianism. The Westminster Confession states the position this way:
Worthy receivers outwardly partaking of the visible elements in this sacrament, do then also, inwardly by faith, really and indeed, yet not carnally and corporally, but spiritually, receive and feed upon Christ crucified, and all benefits of His death: the body and blood of Christ being then, not corporally or carnally, in, with, or under the bread and wine; yet, as really, but spiritually, present to the faith of believers in that ordinance, as the elements themselves are to their outward senses. – Westminster Confession of Faith, 29.7
While it is crucial to understand the nature of the bread and wine as they relate to the body and blood of Christ, I do not think we should stop there? How do we better understand the benefits associated with the elements? Central to Reformation soteriology is the doctrine of union with Christ (especially as understood in section 19 here), and I think our right understanding of the benefits of the Supper should likewise rest on this doctrine. Building off of a previous article, I think the wine, as it is sacramentally linked to the blood of our Savior, is tied to His resurrection life. We really do receive the life of Christ – and all its benefits – in the wine when we drink it in faith. Hypothetically, can we consider the active obedience of Christ to have been imputed to us through the participation in the element of wine? Is this one of the means by which we, with Paul, can say that “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20b)?
In the same manner, perhaps we receive the death of Christ – with all that means – in the bread when we eat it in faith. Here, we think back to some of the sacrifices of the temple and tabernacle services. 1 Corinthians 10:16 and 18 say, “The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?… Consider the people of Israel: are not those who eat the sacrifices participants in the altar?” The people were receiving benefits promised in the sacrifices when they ate of them. As we understand the ties of the sacrificial system to the imputation of guilt and punishment to the substitute, can we read that an eating of the bread represents the imputation of our sins to Christ? Is this one of the ways that we can confess “I have been crucified with Christ” (Galatians 2:20a)?