Communion

Introduction

We, as Protestants, observe 2 sacraments. This is in contrast to other traditions that have cut back in the last few hundred years to 7 sacraments by adding matrimony, ordination, extreme unction, penance, and confirmation. We have two because we only find 2 in Scripture. We have spent some time on baptism and now we need to discuss the second which is the Lord’s Supper. In contrast to baptism, our observance of communion is supposed to continue throughout our lives. With baptism providing a representation of our justification we have communion giving a representation of our sanctification. Our justification is once for all by the completed work of Christ on the Cross. Our sanctification is a progressive work that we live out before the face of God in fellowship or Communion.

As we begin our study of the Lord’s Supper I have to say that one thing that I find remarkable in works discussing this sacrament and that is the common lack of discussion of the foundation provided by Passover for the Lord’s Supper. Jesus illuminated the elements in the Last Supper but the Godhead had established the meal in Old Testament times. This relationship to Passover is sometimes passed over; for example, Grudem’s Systematic Theology discusses meals in which God has a part of Jewish worship in the Old Testament but doesn’t mention Passover. I’ve wondered about this but I don’t want to spend too much time on it. I’ll just offer three potential “issues” that might have produced this result. First, the Church has had a negative reaction to all things Jewish for about 2000 years. Secondly, some in the Church have had an unhealthy relationship with the Jewish law and fallen into error by teaching obedience to the law for righteousness sake. Thirdly, we have 2000 years of tradition to deal with annd we never get to the original tradition. In any case, I’ll mention aspects of the Passover tradition that reflect spiritual aspects consistent with our observance of the Lord’s Supper.

First, as usual, let’s read the Scriptures that tell us about the Lord’s Supper. We’ll do Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Then I’ll also have some references from John but he stresses the teaching and so it runs from Chapter 13 to 17. It is a little much to read in here for our study but I’d recommend you read that thinking about communion and especially before taking communion.

Matthew 26:17-29

Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Where will you have us prepare for you to eat the Passover?” He said, “Go into the city to a certain man and say to him, ‘The Teacher says, My time is at hand. I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples.’ ” And the disciples did as Jesus had directed them, and they prepared the Passover.

When it was evening, he reclined at table with the twelve.  And as they were eating, he said, “Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.” And they were very sorrowful and began to say to him one after another, “Is it I, Lord?” He answered, “He who has dipped his hand in the dish with me will betray me. The Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.” Judas, who would betray him, answered, “Is it I, Rabbi?” He said to him, “You have said so.”

Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”

Mark 14:12-25

And on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they sacrificed the Passover lamb, his disciples said to him, “Where will you have us go and prepare for you to eat the Passover?” And he sent two of his disciples and said to them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him, and wherever he enters, say to the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says, Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ And he will show you a large upper room furnished and ready; there prepare for us.” And the disciples set out and went to the city and found it just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover.

And when it was evening, he came with the twelve. And as they were reclining at table and eating, Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me, one who is eating with me.” They began to be sorrowful and to say to him one after another, “Is it I?” He said to them, “It is one of the twelve, one who is dipping bread into the dish with me. For the Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.”

And as they were eating, he took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to them, and said, “Take; this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank of it. And he said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. Truly, I say to you, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”

Luke 22:7-23

Then came the day of Unleavened Bread, on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. So Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat it.” They said to him, “Where will you have us prepare it?” He said to them, “Behold, when you have entered the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him into the house that he enters and tell the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says to you, Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ And he will show you a large upper room furnished; prepare it there.” And they went and found it just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover.

 And when the hour came, he reclined at table, and the apostles with him. And he said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, “Take this, and divide it among yourselves. For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.  But behold, the hand of him who betrays me is with me on the table. For the Son of Man goes as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed!” And they began to question one another, which of them it could be who was going to do this. 

John Chapter 13 to 17 are teachings that were likely delivered during the meal and are therefore relevant to the Lord’s Supper.

So from John we find out that Jesus while John and Peter got the meal organized Jesus washed the disciples feet before the meal (John 13:1-17).  The Lord’s Supper is then also the context for our Savior’s teaching that God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit will be with us (communion; John 14:15-23). The next time you drink the juice think about Jesus teaching that He is the true vine and don’t forget that the Father is the vine dresser (John 15:1-2). God’s pruning action in our lives is to make us bear more fruit but we can only bear fruit when we are in the vine. The next time you take the bread remember that Christ prayed specifically for you (John 17:20) and that He said “The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.” (John 17:22-23). What John adds is truly a blessing. It really makes you feel more like you were present at the meal.

There is also 1 Cor. 11:25 that teaches, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” This teaches both a covenant aspect as well as a remembrance aspect to communion. There are also other examples of meals in the presence of God (Ex. 24:9–11; Deut. 14:23, 26) and as Jesus said when He instituted the meal we will have another in heaven.

From Genesis to Revelation, then, God’s aim has been to bring his people into fellowship with himself, and one of the great joys of experiencing that fellowship is the fact that we can eat and drink in the presence of the Lord. It would be healthy for the church today to recapture a more vivid sense of God’s presence at the table of the Lord.

In the context of sexual immorality in the Corinthian Church, Paul says, “Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

Passover is instituted by God in Exodus 12. The ceremony is a remembrance for the deliverance from Egypt. The ceremony also foreshadows the way in which we remembering of our deliverance in communion. Jesus re-signified and illuminated the elements. The lamb disappears (because Christ our lamb was sacrificed once for all) and the wine and bread then became the focus. Modern Passover doesn’t have a lamb. It can’t because the temple is gone now. There is plenty of irony there. You can actually celebrate communion within Passover and some Christians do that. For example, in Passover you do a ritual search of the house leaven and purge the house from leaven before the Passover meal. Leaven is a scriptural picture of sin. In communion, we search our own heart before we partake of the Passover meal (1 Corinthians 11:28). For a little additional irony I mention the following. If you are Jewish then you may get a gentile neighbor to rent a closet in your house and then you may place all of your leavening agents in that closet for the duration of Passover. Pretty funny huh? Well how often have you compartmentalized your sin and kept on taking communion in spite of a knowledge that you needed to repent from your disobedience or lack of obedience towards God?

Galatians 3:2 Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith— just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”? 

We need to be reminded that our walk is a constant walk of faith and with its basis in the work of Christ. We began in faith and we walk in faith as a result of the work of God in our lives. Communion is a way in which we are reminded repeatedly that we are helpless apart from the work of Christ.

In Communion we show Christ’s death (1 Cor. 11:26), we claim the benefits of discipleship by obeying the command of Christ to the disciple’s to eat (Matt. 26:26), we are claiming spiritual nourishment and claiming that apart from communion with Him we will experience spiritual starvation (John 6:53–57), and we are claiming a membership or oneness within the Body of Christ (1 Cor. 10:17).

All of these things and more can be part of our meditation when we take communion. For example, the love Christ has for us, the promises of Christ in our salvation, the living faith birthed in my heart by the Holy Spirit. So this combination of happy things and sad things are combined in a meditation for communion.

The nature of Christ’s presence in Communion is a topic of great discussion and argument. Some in the Baptist tradition have argued that there is no presence. Many have at least argued that there is not extraordinary presence just the ordinary presence we expect when we gather together. There have been some who quit using the word sacrament and started saying ordinance to distance themselves principally from the Roman Catholic version of the story. So when you see someone picking one synonym over another in an argument you’ve got to figure that something is going on underneath.

You can find plenty of Baptists who would give a “no presence” argument today and while it may be a common response I don’t think it is so common as to be necessary. I think it represents an overreaction to the Roman Catholic teaching. My interpretation is consistent with Grudem’s as far as I can tell and it seems Grudem is consistent with Calvin and differs from Luther and very much differs from the Roman Catholic version of Christ’s presence in communion.

To be consistent with Scripture it is necessary to be sure that we examine ourselves and then make sure that we discern the Lord’s body in communion. The Scripture reference in 1 Corinthians 11:27-32. 

1 Corinthians 11:27-32 Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world. 

So we must discern the body to be in accord with Scripture. It is that discerning of the presence of Christ in Communion that is required of us and that varies so widely among denominations. The reason I have a problem with a view that teaches communion purely as a memorial or sign is because this scripture and the words of Christ, in my opinion teach otherwise.

How Is Christ Present in the Lord’s Supper?

The Roman Catholic View: Transubstantiation.

For us as Baptists this is considered an extreme view because the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church is that the bread and wine actually become the body and blood of Christ. This is supposed to happen when the priest (and it must be a priest) raises the bread and says, “This is my body” during the celebration of the Roman Catholic mass.

At this point, they believe that grace is transferred to those present “ex opere operato” that is, “by the work being worked” but they do say that your disposition affects the amount of grace you receive. Every time that they celebrate communion they are supposed to believe that the sacrifice of Christ is repeated and that this is a real sacrifice (but not the same as the sacrifice that Christ paid on the cross).

So Ludwig Ott’s Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma teaches as follows:

Christ becomes present in the Sacrament of the Altar by the transformation of the whole substance of the bread into His Body and of the whole substance of the wine into His Blood....This transformation is called Transubstantiation. (p. 379)

The power of consecration resides in a validly consecrated priest only. (p. 397)

The Worship of Adoration (Latria) must be given to Christ present in the Eucharist....It follows from the wholeness and permanence of the Real Presence that the absolute worship of adoration (Cultus Latriae) is due to Christ present in the Eucharist. (p. 387)

Communion under two forms is not necessary for any individual member of the Faithful, either by reason of Divine precept or as a means of salvation....The reason is that Christ is whole and entire under each species....The abolition of the reception from the chalice in the Middle Ages (12th and 13th centuries) was enjoined for practical reasons, particularly danger of profanation of the Sacrament. (p. 397)

The Holy Mass is a true and proper Sacrifice. (p. 402)

In the Sacrifice of the Mass and in the Sacrifice of the Cross the Sacrificial Gift and the Primary Sacrificing Priest are identical; only the nature and mode of the offering are different....The Sacrificial Gift is the Body and Blood of Christ....The Primary Sacrificing Priest is Jesus Christ, who utilizes the human priest as His servant and representative and fulfills the consecration through him. According to the Thomistic view, in every Mass Christ also performs an actual immediate sacrificial activity which, however, must not be conceived as a totality of many successive acts but as one single uninterrupted sacrificial act of the Transfigured Christ.

The purpose of the Sacrifice is the same in the Sacrifice of the Mass as in the Sacrifice of the Cross; primarily the glorification of God, secondarily atonement, thanksgiving and appeal. (p. 408)

As a propitiatory sacrifice...the Sacrifice of the Mass effects the remission of sins and the punishment for sins; as a sacrifice of appeal...it brings about the conferring of supernatural and natural gifts. The Eucharistic Sacrifice of propitiation can, as the Council of Trent expressly asserted, be offered, not merely for the living, but also for the poor souls in Purgatory. (pp. 412–13) 

Generally we reject pretty much this entire teaching. While we may believe that Christ is present spiritually in communion. It is communion and not sacrifice for us. We believe that Christ was sacrificed once not perpetually. We believe that atonement was complete and our justification is accomplished. This a part of the general confusion of justification and sanctification in Roman Catholic teaching that has made the guilt and angst of Roman Catholics a standard literature and movie topic. They continually struggle with a lack of forgiveness and feel a need for additional acts to achieve adequate forgiveness even to the point of creating a doctrine of purgatory. In spite of Christ’s proclamation that “it is finished” regarding His work on the Cross (John 19:30) in this view forgiveness for sin is never finished. 

I’d say that I would not suggest participation in a Roman Catholic communion service. Now of course since I reject their teaching as either goofy or blasphemous depending on how much of it they accept I’m actually considered to be excommunicated and they would not give me communion. The following is from the Council of Trent (1545 to 1563): 

“If anyone denies that in the sacrament of the most holy Eucharist the body and blood together with the soul and divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ and therefore the whole Christ are truly, really and substantially contained, but says the he is in it only as a in a sign or figure or by his power, let him be anathema.” Neuner and Dupuis, 2000, The Christian Faith in the Doctrinal Statements of the Catholic Church 

So you can tell from what I said about their doctrine that they should not be happy with me in the congregation anyway and certainly would avoid giving me communion if they were aware of the facts. Even so … I’ve been invited before and it really does depend on the degree to which official teaching is ignored. 

I wanted to pause for a little reminder on why we are studying the fundamentals of baptism and communion. One of the primary reasons is that God commands us to worship Him in these ways and therefore, in order to obey Him, we need to understand what we are doing and not slop through these issues. We only have 2 sacraments (or ordinances) so it isn’t a long list that we need to deal with. One of the greatest insults to our natural lazy nature is God’s command that you should; “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.” (2 Ti 2:15). We need to be able to answer that in the affirmative without arguing with others (2 Tim 2:14) and without letting false doctrine pass (2 Tim 2:16). This is ground we need to walk through to be obedient to God. As long as you can tell God that you have done your best to present yourself to Him as an approved worker who isn’t ashamed of his work in handling the word of truth then you have done what God has told you to do. If, on the other hand, you don’t want to think about the doctrines associated with the Gospel (the context of the command) to the degree you are able, then you are blowing off a command of God. That is the end of the public service announcement. 

The Lutheran View: Consubstantiation

Martin Luther moved away from the Roman Catholic view of the Lord’s Supper but he still insisted that the phrase “This is my body” had to be taken as a literal statement in some way. He ended up saying that Christ is present “in, with, and under” the bread of the Lord’s Supper like a sponge holding water. 

One passage that may be thought to give support to this position is 1 Corinthians 10:16, “The bread which we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?” We would say yes but that doesn’t mean physical body but rather the spiritual body of Christ. Martin never got to that point and his teaching continues to be a portion of Lutheran Doctrine. The teaching of the Council of Chalcedon (451 AD) is violated by both the Roman Catholic and Lutheran teaching. The teaching is that Christ has two complete perfect and entire natures (human and divine) without mixture, confusion, or separation. So you can’t have Christ’s physical body in two places at once because that would confuse character of his divinity with his human nature. Luther taught that Christ’s human nature became ubiquitous after the resurrection but he didn’t find that in scripture. It looks like he just needed it to be true to keep teaching what he was teaching.

We would say Jesus was speaking of a spiritual reality but not a physical reality when He said that it was His body. Chalcedon cuts both ways though and prevents, in my opinion, a purely memorial view of the Lord’s Supper. 

Most other Protestants: A Symbolic and Spiritual Presence of Christ.

Most other denominations say that the bread and wine of the Lord’s Supper did not change into the body and blood of Christ nor did they somehow contain the body and blood of Christ. So within some variation in interpretation most say that Christ is spiritually present in the Sacrament.

The important point to remember is that we “establish such a presence of Christ in the Supper as may neither fasten him to the element of bread, nor enclose him in bread, nor circumscribe him in any way (all which things, it is clear, detract from his heavenly glory).” (Calvin, Institutes 4.17.19; p. 1381)

Most of us would say that Christ is spiritually present in a special way as we take Communion. A famous Georgian named Flannery O’Conner (who was a Roman Catholic) had a particularly negative response to the suggestion that nothing really happens in Communion. While I don’t agree with her interpretation I do find it frustrating to hear some people try to take all of Christ out of Communion. To remove Christ from communion is inherently contradictory may be one of the reasons that many churches just see Communion as a logistical problem to be faced as infrequently as possible.

 Who Should Participate in the Lord’s Supper?

Generally only those who are baptized believers can participate. That makes since given the meaning of the sacrament. We also need to repeatedly warn people to examine themselves prior to taking communion “For any one who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment upon himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died” (1 Cor. 11:29–30). In this connection, Jesus’ teaching about coming to worship in general should also be mentioned: So if you are offering your gift at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. (Matt. 5:23–24)

Many would not want to restrict it to baptized believers because we don’t believe that someone is not a member of the Church. Remember that physical baptism represents a spiritual reality and that spiritual reality is what qualifies for communion. That would not be a common problem and I really don’t recall someone in that situation. 

Scripture doesn’t give restrictions for who can serve Communion and it doesn’t give instruction on frequency.