An early reformer who would not join with Luther because of a disagreement over the meaning of communion.

The early reformer who would not join with Martin Luther because of a disagreement over the meaning of communion was Ulrich Zwingli. Here are the steps that led to this:

1. Ulrich Zwingli was a Swiss priest and biblical scholar who was one of the early leaders of the Protestant Reformation. He was born in 1484, seven years after Martin Luther.

2. Zwingli began his reformist preaching in Zurich around 1519, a couple of years after Luther had posted his 95 Theses in Wittenberg, Germany. Both men were critical of the Catholic Church's practices, but they developed their own distinct theological ideas.

3. In 1529, Luther and Zwingli met at the Marburg Colloquy, a meeting of Protestant leaders, to try to unify their movements. They agreed on many points, but they could not agree on the meaning of communion, also known as the Eucharist or the Lord's Supper.

4. Luther believed in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, meaning that Christ is physically present in the bread and wine of the sacrament. This is known as the doctrine of "consubstantiation."

5. Zwingli, on the other hand, viewed the Eucharist as a symbolic act. He believed that the bread and wine are symbols of Christ's body and blood, not the actual body and blood of Christ. This is known as "memorialism" or "symbolism."

6. Because of this disagreement, Zwingli and his followers did not join with Luther's movement, leading to a split in the early Protestant Reformation.