PROPER COMMUNION (2)

PMW 2024-082 by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr.

In my previous posting, I introduced a new, five-part series on the proper administration of the Lord’s Supper. This article continues the study (which requires your reading the first article for a proper orientation). I am offering this study series due to my concern that the church in America has become too palsy-walsy and superficial. And I believe this is especially dangerous in regard to the sacrament of communion, which is a holy ordinance that distinguishes Christians from the world. So let us continue.

GENERAL ARGUMENT FOR FENCING

As we engage our inquiry into the biblical warrant for fencing the Table, we must begin with an irrefutable observation: the New Testament provides strong evidence that some form of fencing is required in inviting people to partake of the Lord’s Supper. Once this is recognized we have laid the essential, basic, foundational cornerstone for fencing as a general truth in Scripture. This then will open the more specific evidence for our particular form of fencing. We would argue on the basis of the following evidence that “open communion” without any fencing whatsoever is not only unbiblical but anti-biblical and dangerous.

First, the issue of faith in Christ

The most basic element in fencing the Table is the call for faith in Christ. Some liberal confessions allow access to the Lord’s Supper to any interested inquirer regardless of his or her current profession. Most evangelicals, however, disagree, noting that the Lord’s Supper is only for believers. After all, Paul expressly declares: “Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ?” (1 Cor 10:16). How can unbelievers “share” in the blood and body of Christ — while in unbelief and therefore not “in Christ”? Peter denounces Simon the Sorcerer for his false (Acts 8:13) profession of faith: “You have no part or portion in this matter, for your heart is not right before God” (Acts 8:21). The same declaration would surely be true of someone who has no profession of faith in Christ whatsoever.

What is more, consider the implications of Paul’s command that “you not to associate with any so-called brother if he should be an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler — not even to eat with such a one” ( 1 Cor 5:11). If the Apostle forbids mundane fellowship-eating with rebellious claimants to Christ (one who is a “so-called brother,” i.e., one who professes to be a brother), surely he would forbid eating the Lord’s Supper with them in the context of worship (we will see later that he does, when we highlight 1 Cor 11:27–29). And if he forbids eating with such professing Christians, surely he would forbid eating the Lord’s Supper by non-Christians who do not even profess Christ.

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Thus, since the Lord’s Supper may be given only to those who profess faith in Christ, this in and of itself becomes a fencing issue. Such a recognition endorses the general principle of fencing. So then, for most Bible-believing Christians fencing of some kind is inescapable. And now in light of this, the question arises: How shall unbelievers know they should not partake if the minister does not inform them? How shall they refrain from partaking if some sort of fencing statement is not made?

In addition, a dangerous conclusion of the theology that would dismiss fencing in general quickly arises: On the non-fencing principle if a minister should not make a basic fencing statement before the Lord’s Supper, how shall church officers require a profession of faith from anyone before they are allowed to join the church from outside its boundaries? Open communion with its denial of fencing the Table implies open membership. That is, does not anti-fencing imply that even allowing church officers to examine potential church members is illegitimate, for this puts someone (a church officer) between Christ and the individual?

Second, the issue of water baptism

Virtually all evangelical Christians agree that baptism is the initiatory sacrament of the visible church in the new covenant. That is, baptism is the sacrament which introduces a person into the visible church as an historical entity. The Lord’s Supper is not an initiatory sacrament, but one that necessarily follows after baptism.

We see that baptism is the initiatory sacrament in the missionary context of the Apostolic church. When people are converted to Christ we read of their immediately being accepted for baptism, never of their first partaking of the Lord’s Supper. Baptism represents their entry into the kingdom of God as we see from the following biblical evidence:

• Christ gives his church the Great Commission in such a way as to demand the initiatory nature of baptism: “Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’” (Matt 28:18–20)

• Peter preaches the gospel to the Jews in Jerusalem, offering them entry into the visible church through baptism: “‘Repent, and let each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit’ . . . . So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and there were added that day about three thousand souls. . . . And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.” (Acts 2:38, 41, 47)

• Of Phillip’s evangelistic encounter with the Samaritans we read of the converts’ reception through baptism: “But when they believed Philip preaching the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were being baptized, men and women alike.” (Acts 8:12)

• Peter reports of his evangelistic encounter with the Gentile Cornelius in similar terms: “While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who were listening to the message. And all the circumcised believers who had come with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out upon the Gentiles also. For they were hearing them speaking with tongues and exalting God. Then Peter answered, ‘Surely no one can refuse the water for these to be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we did, can he?’” (Acts 10:44–47)

• Paul’s evangelistic encounter with Lydia follows the same pattern: “And a certain woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple fabrics, a worshiper of God, was listening; and the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul. And when she and her household had been baptized, she urged us, saying, ‘If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and stay.’” (Acts 16:14–15)

• Paul’s evangelism among the people at Corinth continues the practice: “And Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, believed in the Lord with all his household, and many of the Corinthians when they heard were believing and being baptized.” (Acts 18:8)

• Paul’s testimony of his conversion shows he was converted and then immediately baptized: “‘And now why do you delay? Arise, and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on His name.’” (Acts 22:16)

• Paul’s theology sacramentally associates baptism with entering into Christ: “For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.” (Gal 3:27)

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However, before the writer examines the idea of the covenant in the Bible, he first covers a number of other topics that a person needs to understand before he can understand the covenant. He spends at least one chapter revisiting the gospel. What is the gospel? He then establishes the meaning of such words as regeneration, conversion, election, and salvation. He is convinced that before a person can properly understand the covenant and covenant baptism there must be some agreement on the definition of these other terms.

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Thus, we see from the New Testament record itself that baptism is frequently administered in the very context of evangelistic encounters that result in conversion. We do not have a direct statement in Scripture that declares: “You must first be baptized and only then may you partake of the Lord’s Supper.” But neither do we have a direct statement in Scripture commanding that we baptize our children. Nor do we have a direct statement that informs us we are no longer to worship on Saturday (even though Saturday worship is the Fourth Commandment). Neither do we have a direct statement declaring “God is a Trinity.” Yet we hold these and many other such doctrines to be biblically-based truths. So then, from the recurring evidence just listed we may logically surmise that all who partake of the Lord’s Supper must be baptized first, just as we require in this fencing statement.

As the Westminster Confession says and as all evangelicals believe: “The whole counsel of God concerning all things necessary for His own glory, man’s salvation, faith and life, is either expressly set down in Scripture, or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from Scripture” (WCF 1:6). So then “by good and necessary consequence” we see another basic element for fencing the Table in addition to a profession of faith in Christ: all partakers must be baptized before they may share in the Lord’s Table. This is historically why all evangelical churches have required baptism as a pre-requisite for taking Communion.

Third, the issue of apostolic example

We must note that Paul specifically endorses fencing the Table in 1 Corinthians. In 1 Corinthians 10:21 he dogmatically declares to the Corinthians: “You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons.” We must also realize that the Corinthians profess faith in Christ, for Paul calls their church “the church of God which is at Corinth” (1 Cor 1:2a). Indeed, it is made up of “brethren” (1 Cor 1:10, 26; 2:1; 3:1; 4:6; 7:24; 10:1; 12:1; 14:6; 16:15) whom Paul calls “my brethren (1 Cor 1:11; 11:33; 14:39). Yet he warns them that they may not partake of the Lord’s Supper if they continue partaking of sacrificial meals offered to idols. They must “flee idolatry” (1 Cor 10:14) because idol sacrifices involve them in demon worship (1 Cor 10:20). To partake of idol sacrifices provokes the Lord to jealousy (1 Cor 10:22).

In fact, as noted above Paul forbids them to even “associate with any so-called brother if he should be an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater . . . not even to eat with such a one” (1 Cor 5:11). Surely this prohibits the idol-worshiping, professing Christian (“so-called brother”) from sharing the Lord’s Supper in the context of worship.

What is more, Paul expressly warns: “therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup” (1 Cor 11:27–28). At the very minimum this is a fencing statement that warns the rebellious Christian to forgo the Lord’s Supper. We will have more to say about this later, but for now we can see once again that the Bible generally endorses fencing the Table.

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Conclusion

So then, the New Testament does in fact establish the practice of fencing the Lord’s Table. It clearly demands that the administration of the supper must be given only to those who are professing Christians, who are baptized in Christ’s name, and who have examined themselves to see if they are spiritually ready to partake. Thus, the first two elements in our fencing statement (and our informal ministerial declaration) have been confirmed from Scripture.

Having established the biblical warrant for a basic fencing of the table, and having established the first two points in the formal statement, we are now ready to focus on issues impacting the last two fencing statements. Next time, that is!

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