The Lord's Supper: Is It a Church or a Christian Ordinance and Who Should Partake of It?

THE

BY

The Reverend W. T, JORDAN

'HE Church has two ordinances, baptism and communion. Because inseparably related it is not possible to consider them separately. They are of the same authority, dignity and value. One cannot take the place of the other. Each receives its authority and value from the express command of Christ, "Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them." "This do in remembrance of me." Clothed with equal importance each is to continue perpetually. Coupled with the command to preach and baptize is the promise, "Lo, I am with you alway." "As often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till He come." Looked at from every standpoint, whether in relation to Christ, the believer, the church or the world they are of equal authority and stand or fall together. The same reasons must be given for maintaining one as the other. They can never be changed either in their nature, relationship or design without doing violence to the scriptures, and disregarding the authority of Christ.

What is baptism? What is communion? These questions must be answered together. Baptism is putting on Christ sacramentally.

This is done spiritually in accepting Christ by faith, orally by confessing Him in word (Rom. 10:10) and sacramentally in baptism, and in baptism only (Gal. 3: 27). Communion is the continuous confession that the new life in Christ, received by faith and confessed in baptism, is being continued by fellowship with Him. Baptism declares that we have come to Him; communion says we are continuing with Him. Baptism

is a confession that we have renounced sin and become separated from the world; communion is the act of one thus separated. Baptism speaks of life accepted in Christ; communion of life lived with Christ. The two ordinances stand as antecedent and consequent, birth and growth.

Each ordinance recalls an historical fact, and each points to blessings yet to be enjoyed. Baptism points back to the death, burial and resurrection of Christ, and forward to the blessings of the resurrection life of the believer (Rom. 6:4-6). Communion points back to the death of Christ and forward to His coming again and to perfect fellowship with Him in His Kingdom (1 Cor. 11:26; Luke 22:16).

If all the scriptures were lost except those which refer to baptism and communion we would still have left a clear teaching upon the fundamental doctrines of Christianity-the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. As the believer is buried with Christ by baptism he is voluntarily placed in the same position. in which he will be placed when buried beneath the sod. The hands are folded reverently upon the breast and he is buried under the water in a horizontal position. By this act he says to the world, "I believe that Christ died and was buried." As he is raised up out of the water by the hands of the administrator, he says by the very act, "I believe that Christ was raised from the grave by the operation of the Holy Spirit (Col. 2:12); and since He died for me, was buried, and rose again, I hereby, in my baptism, confess that I have died to sin through faith in His death for me, and by my resurrection from the water I also confess that it is my purpose to live the new, or resurrection, life in Christ (Rom. 6:4-6). It would be a crime to bury a man who is not dead, and a shame not to bury him when he is dead. Hence a man is baptized, buried, because he has died to sin. In other words he is baptized not to save him, but because he is already saved. As in baptism he confesses his death to sin, in communion he confesses his new life in Christ, and that that life is being sustained by fellowship with Him.

The organization of the church is based upon the ordinances. An organization without them has no more right to the claim of being a church than has a debating society or a literary club. They set forth the very life of the church. They symbolize the very essence of the gospel. They can never be altered or set aside because of the symbols in which they are clothed. The symbols fix their meaning.

But they are more than acts of symbolic meaning. Baptism is the act of initiation into the church. "For in one spirit we all were baptized into one body" (1 Cor. 12:13). To what body does this refer? To the spiritual and invisible body or to the visible body, the church? Certainly to the visible body, the church. It is visible baptism into a visible body. It cannot mean a spiritual baptism into an invisible body. "The New Testament recognizes no visible churchoutside of visible churches." The Bible teaching is plain that no one is a member of the church until he is baptized. It is baptism that constitutes membership. The New Testament recognizes no baptism except that of believers, and no authority to administer the ordinances except that of a church.

All orthodox churches, or denominations, agree in the practice of admitting none to the Lord's Table until they become members of a Christian Church, and none are considered members of a Christian Church until they have been baptized. This practice agrees with the New Testament teaching. Baptism was instituted before the Lord's Supper, and it was the invariable practice of the apostles to baptize all believers before they admitted them to the Lord's Table. To this practice there is not a single exception. See the account of Pentecost in Acts 2; the eunuch, Acts 8; Lydia and the jailor with their households, Acts 16; Cornelius and his friends, Acts 10; Saul, Acts 9. These were all baptized as soon as they believed, and not one of them enjoyed the communion of the Lord's Supper until after they had been baptized. This practice was strictly adhered to because it was required by the great commission. The order of the commission is, 1. Teach all men to repent

and believe on Jesus Christ for salvation. 2. Baptize all who believe. 3. Teach them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.

Among the commands to be observed after baptism is, "This do in remembrance of me." The apostles understood the commission and strictly adhered to it, and the same order has been observed by all orthodox denominations since the days of Christ. To this all the authorities agree from Justin Martyr in A. D. 150 to the present time.

Communion is a privilege of the church. One must be initiated into a society before he can enjoy its privileges; and baptism being the initatory act, therefore it necessarily precedes communion. Thus the position of communion has already been determined by the position of baptism.

It follows necessarily that communion is a church ordiance. Believers are commanded to be baptized; these believers being baptized constitute the Church, and as a Church they partake of the one loaf in compliance with the dying request of Him into whom they have been baptized, and by whom they are now being sustained. The ordinances then set forth the life of the believer and constitute the basis of church organization. Left just where Christ placed them, in the Church, and properly observed, they body forth the very gospel of God's salvation. Taken out of their place, they are stripped of all meaning, and become mere forms without any significance whatever. The harmony of Christian order is broken and only confusion follows. Communion is a Church ordinance because no organization can preserve it in its ordained order except the Church. The ordinances cannot maintain themselves. They were committed to the Churches, and if the Churches do not preserve them who will?

It is clear from the scriptures that the Supper is not an individual or social or family ordinance. For regarding it as a social ordinance the Apostle Paul severely rebuked the Church at Corinth and commanded the members to wait one for another, and, with the whole Church partake of the Supper.

"For we being many, are one bread and one body; for we are all partakers of that one bread" (Cor. 10:17). It is said of the disciples immediately after Pentecost, "And all that believed were together, and they continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and in breaking bread from house to house" etc. (Acts 2:44-46). "They worshipped daily in the temple; they broke bread at home".

Paul says to the Corinthians that he received the information which he gave them concerning the Supper from the Lord Jesus (1 Cor. 11:23). He is writing to the Church as a body and not to individuals. Individuals were exhorted to examine themselves before partaking of the Supper in order to be sure that they were observing it from proper motives, not as a feast but simply in memory of Jesus. Heavy responsibility is placed upon the individual, it is true, but the burden of responsibility is placed upon the Church. If there should be a conflict between the judgment of the individual and his Church as to his fitness, the individual should yield. A Church cannot escape responsibility on the plea that each one must judge for himself. The laws concerning the ordinance have been given to the Church, and it is her duty to enforce them. Paul told the Corinthians not to keep company, not to eat with any brother reputed to be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a drunkard, or an extortioner (1 Cor. 5:11). According to the best authorities this means, not to eat at the same table with such: whether the love feast, or in private intercourse, much more at the Lord's Table.

"That the man should be a converted man, a baptized man, a Church member, is as plainly declared in the scriptures as that he should be a moral man and just in his deportment. If it is the province and duty of the Church to judge the communicant as to his possession of a part of these scriptural qualifications, and the apostle distinctly asserts that it is, no less can it be the province and duty of the Church to judge the communicant as to his possession of all the scriptural qualifications. And if the Church has not this right, aye, if