THE BAPTIST POSITION
ON
THE LORD'S SUPPER
By
"Now
I praise you, brethren, that ye remember me in all things, and keep the
ordinances, as I delivered them to you." (I Cor. 11:2)
"Then
they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were
added unto them about three thousand souls. And they continued steadfastly in
the apostles doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking
of bread, and in prayers." (Acts 2:41-42)
"Since
the Supper is an ordinance of the church, it must inevitably follow that
whatever would debar a man from the church must also debar him from the Lord's
table in that church. It is logically inconceivable that one should be deprived
of membership in the church and yet not also be deprived of coming to the
Lord's table in that church, since the first privilege
is the source and foundation for the second. " George
W. Truett (The Supper Of Our Lord, p. 19)
"That
the local church is the custodian of this ordinance, and must judge of the
qualifications of those desiring to partake of it, is shown by the fact that
the command to observe it was given, not to individuals, but to a company (Luke
New
Testament Baptists hold that the New Testament is our sole authority on the
nature of the ordinances and the manner of their observance.
We
disagree flatly with those who hold that fellowship between Christians is more
important than observing the ordinances according to the Scriptures. This is a
principle which has disastrous results in evangelical interdenominationalism,
where obedience to the whole Word of God has been subordinated to religious
fellowship and activity. The Lord's Supper was not given in order that Christians
might commune with each other, but in order that they might commune with the
Lord. It is a divine ordinance, not a religious festival.
The Nature Of
The Lord's Supper
"The
cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ?
The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?"
(I Cor. 10:16)
The
Supper is the Lord's Supper. Since this is true, He alone must prescribe the
rules regulating and governing it. He alone is to say the
what and how and why and where concerning it. This He had done in His
Word.
God's
people have no authority nor option to set aside the
Word of God. It is not their table. If it were, then they might invite their
friends according to their inclinations. If the table belonged to men they
might invite whosoever they would.
Human
sentiment does not govern it. Long established customs have no authority apart
from the Word of God. The Lord's Supper belongs to the Lord. It is under the
administration of the local church. The Church is under the authority of the
Word of God. The ordinances are to be administered scripturally and for
hundreds of years the church has considered that it is
its duty to administer it according to the Word of God, and even to
ex-communicate under some circumstances.
The Lord's Supper Is For
Scripturally Baptized
Disciples Within
The
Our
Lord gave the Supper to His baptized disciples, not to the world. If this is
true, then the first pre-requisite in coming to the Lord's Table is that one
must be a baptized Christian, born of the Spirit and baptized in the manner set
forth in the Scriptures. In the Scriptures the order of the ordinances is
clear. "For they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same
day there were added unto them about three thousand souls. And they continued
steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread,
and in prayers." (Acts 2:41-42)
D.B.
Ray (Baptist Succession, p. 220) says, "And the commission itself fixes
baptism as the first duty after believing (Matt. 28:19,20);
therefore, under the commission no one can commune before baptism. The
communion is one of those things which is commanded to
be observed after baptism."
Robert
C. Walton (The Gathered Community, p. 165) says, "Baptism is the normal
means of entrance into the Christian Church and of access to the Lord's Table.
Both in New Testament times and throughout Church History an unbaptized
Christian has been, in general, a contradiction in terms. It is ironical to the
last degree that Baptists, of all people, should have come increasingly to
despise Baptism, and to admit to membership unbaptized persons. Whilst we
reject Infant Baptism and cling tenaciously to the form of immersion, we are
apparently complaisant that church members should not be baptized at all.
"
The
Statement of the Baptist Union of Great Britain and Ireland (The Lord's Supper,
p. 33) says, "We believe that, although there is no statement on the point
in the New Testament, our brethren who belong to 'Closed Communion' Churches
are undoubtedly right in maintaining that membership of the Christian Church
(and therefore presumably participation in the Lord's Supper), seems in the
earliest days to have been confined to persons who were baptized upon
profession of faith. We honor the sincerity and earnestness of those who have
contended for this aspect of the truth, sometimes under very great
difficulties. We believe the
The
historic denominations for hundreds of years, the Catholics and Anabaptists
before them, have always held to this order: baptism, church membership and
then communion. They have always reserved the right to refuse communion to
anyone considered heretical or unworthy.
The Lord's Supper Is Only For
Christians Who
Are Walking Orderly Before God
Paul
says, "But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man
that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a
railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such a one no not to eat. " (I Cor. 5:11,13) The
obligation here to break company does not rest upon the "conscience"
of the disorderly, but upon the believer to break company and walk no more with
the disorderly.
Again,
Paul said, "But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they
sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have
fellowship with devils. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of
devils: ye cannot be partaker of the Lord's table, and
the table of devils." (II Cor. 10:20,21) We are
sure that Paul would apply this prohibition in our day to apostates who have
departed from the faith, "giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines
of devils." (I Tim. 4:1)
Again
we are told, "Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ, that ye, withdraw yourselves from every
brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which ye received
us." (II Thess. 3:6) Here again the separation is not left to the
"conscience" of the disorderly, but Paul commands the believer to
take the initiative. Such a person is to be disfellowshipped, if all efforts to
recover him from his disorder fails.
John,
in effect, demands the same, "Whosoever transgresseth and abideth not in
the doctrine of Christ, bath not God. He that abideth not in the doctrine of
Christ, bath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he bath both
the Father and the Son. If there come any unto you, and bring not this
doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him godspeed:
For he that biddeth him godspeed is partaker of his evil deeds." (II John
9-11) Here again the initiative is to be taken by the believer in breaking off
all relations with those who deny the doctrine of Christ as set forth in the
Scriptures. This definitely forbids, among other things, any type of communion
with modernists and apostates who deny or pervert the New Testament Christ.
Again,
the Lord's Supper is not for churches torn with strife and factions. Later in
his first epistle to the Corinthians, after noting that there were
"divisions" and "heresies" among them, Paul said,
"When ye come together therefore in one place, this is not to eat
(literally ye cannot eat) the Lord's Supper." (I Cor.11:20)
The Christian Is To Examine Himself
The
Christian is to examine himself, "and so let him eat of the bread, and
drink of that cup." The Statement of the Baptist Union of Great Britain
and
The Lord's Supper Is To Be Received
In Faith
By The Faithful
Anyone
may go through the motions of receiving the elements, but if they are not saved
by the blood of Christ, they cannot commemorate the death of Christ for their
sins. Concerning the unworthy participation, Calvin says, "A sacrament is
separated from the reality by the unworthiness of the partaker, so that nothing
remains but an empty and useless figure" (Institutes of the Christian
Religion). Those who partake of the communion unworthily make a mock of this
sacred ceremony and bring additional guilt upon their soul.