“Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the
Lord, unworthy (No one is ever worthy), shall
be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord (1st Corinthians 11:27, NASV).
In
my younger days, the phrase, “of
like faith and order” was often heard in Baptist churches as the local
church prepared to observe the Lord’s Supper. By this the church would
welcome visitors “Of like faith and order” to join them in this
celebration.
Southern
Baptist receives as members into the body only those who have been “baptized
as believers by immersion. This is
affirmed in “The Baptist Faith and Message;” (Revised 2000), Under section
VII, under, “Baptism and the Lord’s Supper:” “…Baptism
(believers baptism by immersion)…,
being a church ordinance, is
prerequisite to the privilege of church membership and to the Lord’s
Supper.” Secondly, under the section, “The
Lord’s Supper,” “… is a symbolic act of obedience whereby members of the church,
through partaking of the bread, and the fruit of the vine, memorialize
the death of the redeemer,...”
SBC
Press: “So we hold that only members of the church who first have been
baptized by immersion on a profession of their faith in Christ, and who are
associated together in harmonious fellowship in the church are eligible to
partake of this ordinance (the Lord’s Supper).” (Boone, “What We
Believe” [1936, 1959, 1960] Convention Press, page 82).
Therefore,
since believer’s baptism by immersion “is prerequisite to the privilege of
church membership and Lord’s Supper” as stated in our “Baptist Faith and
Message,” it is vitally important that all who have not yet met these
conditions, to be advised to wait for further counsel: (Salvation and
Believer’s Baptism).