Questioning Amillennialism

One Lutheran Woman's Search For Truth

 

Back to Home Page

Back to Does it Matter?

 

Why I still participate in Communion

My synod practices "close" Communion. That means that they don't allow anyone who is not a member of our same synod to participate. This is what they say about it:

The Scripture teaches that when Christians partake of the Lord's Supper together, they are expressing their unity. Through this act they are confessing that they agree on all the teachings of Scripture.

 I obviously do not hold some of the same views of Scripture that my WELS Lutheran church does. Therefore, by this line of thinking, I really should not be communing any more. So, how can I in good conscience?

I went through a period where I felt very much a "Me" and "Them" kind of thing. During that time, I said, "Lord, this is YOUR holy supper, not theirs. So, even though I do not agree with them, it doesn't matter. This is between you and me."

Over time, God taught me that the "Me and Them" attitude was sinful. This was the part of the Body of Christ that He had placed me in. I was there for a reason, and these were my brothers and sisters in the Lord. To feel displaced from them was the same as feeling displaced from my arm or my leg - a silly thing. But, where did that leave me with Communion? I put the question to God, and He answered! It wasn't any supernatural kind of thing. He just put people, places, books and ideas in my path, and from that, I came to a position that I believe is the one He wants me to hold. I can't say that the way I understand it now is the full truth from God's point of view, but at least I no longer feel like a hypocrite.

Lutheran churches teach that Jesus' body and blood is actually present in the bread and the wine. It doesn't BECOME the body and blood through any kind of special words given by the pastor. It just IS, based on these verses and others like them in Mark, Luke and John:

Mat 26:26 And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed [it], and brake [it], and gave [it] to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body.
Mat 26:27 And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave [it] to them, saying, Drink ye all of it;
Mat 26:28 For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.

This is how the Lord's Supper is defined on the WELS web site:

We believe that God bestows all spiritual blessings upon sinners by special means established by him. These are the means of grace, the gospel in Word and sacraments. We define a sacrament as a sacred act established by Christ in which the Word connected with an earthly element gives the forgiveness of sins.

We believe that all who join in the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper receive the true body and blood of Christ in, with, and under the bread and wine (1 Corinthians 10:16). This is true because, when the Lord instituted this sacrament, he said, "This is my body. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins" (Matthew 26:26,28). We believe that Christ's words of institution cause the real presence--not any human action. As believers receive his body and blood, they also receive the forgiveness of sins (Matthew 26:28) and the comfort and assurance that they are truly his own. Unbelievers also receive Christ's body and blood, but to their judgment (1 Corinthians 11:29).

Do I agree with all of that? Not necessarily, I have to admit. At this point in my understanding, I can't agree that "an earthly element gives the forgiveness of sins." I don't see anything in these verses that says it's the Lord's supper that gives forgiveness of sins. To me, these verses clearly say that Jesus' shed blood gives forgiveness of sins. Nor do I see that in the similar verses:

Mar 14:22 And as they did eat, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and brake [it], and gave to them, and said, Take, eat: this is my body.
Mar 14:23 And he took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave [it] to them: and they all drank of it.
Mar 14:24 And he said unto them, This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many.

Luk 22:19 And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake [it], and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me.
Luk 22:20 Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup [is] the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.

1Cr 11:23 For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the [same] night in which he was betrayed took bread:
1Cr 11:24 And when he had given thanks, he brake [it], and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.
1Cr 11:25 After the same manner also [he took] the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink [it], in remembrance of me.

I do agree that if you are going to take the Bible as literally as possible, in its plain sense meaning, that somehow, the body and blood of Jesus are present in the bread and wine. That was apparently how the Early Church Fathers saw it, too. Their words have to be taken carefully, because if they were without error, their writings would be part of the Bible. It's interesting, though, that none of them mention that Communion is for the forgiveness of sins.

I desire the bread of God, the heavenly bread, the bread of life - which is the flesh of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. . .and I desire the drink of God, namely His blood, which is incorruptible love and eternal life

-- Ignatius 105 AD, 1.77 (Volume and page of Ante-Nicene Fathers)

Take heed, then, to have only one Eucharist. For there is one flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ, and one cup to the unity of His blood

-- Ignatius 105 AD, 1.81

They (the Gnostics) abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer, because they do not believe the Eucharist to be the flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ. . .Those, therefore, who speak against this gift of God, incur death.

-- Ignatius 105 AD, 1.89

We do not receive these as a common bread and common drink. Rather, Jesus Christ our Savior, having been made flesh by the Word of God, had both flesh and blood for our salvation. So, likewise, we have been taught that the food which is blessed by the prayer of His word, and from which our blood and flesh by transmutation are nourished, is the flesh and blood of that Jesus who was made flesh.

-- Justin Martyr 160 AD, 1.185

Our opinion is in accordance with the Eucharist, and, in turn, the Eucharist establishes our opinion. For we offer to Him His own, announcing consistently the fellowship and union of the flesh and spirit. For the bread, which is produced from the earth, when it receives the invocation of God, is no longer common bread, but the Eucharist - consisting of two realities, earthly and heavenly. So also our bodies, when they receive the Eucharist, are no longer corruptible, having the hope of the resurrection to eternity.

-- Irenaeus, 180 AD, 1.486

If the Lord belonged to another Father, how could He, with any justice, have acknowledged the bread to be His body and declared the mixed cup to be His blood, while He took it from that creation to which we belong?

-- Irenaeus, 180 AD, 1.507

But if (the flesh) indeed does not obtain salvation, then neither did the Lord redeem us with His blood, nor is the cup of the Eucharist the communion of His blood, nor the bread which we break the communion of His body.

He has acknowledged the cup (which is a part of the creation) as His own blood, from which He refreshes our blood. And the bread (also a part of the creation) He has established as His own body, from which He gives increase to our bodies. When, therefore, the mingled cup and the baked bread receive the Word of God, an the Eucharist of the blood and the body of Christ is made (from which things the substance of our flesh is increased and supported), how can they (the Gnostics) maintain that the flesh is incapable of receiving the gift of God?

(The wine and the bread) having received the Word of God, become the Eucharist, which is the body and blood of Christ.

-- Iranaeus, 180 AD, 1.528

These slaves had nothing to say that would meet the wishes of their tormentors, except that they had heard from their masters that the divine communion was the body and blood of Christ. Now, imagining that it was actually flesh and blood, those slaves gave their inquisitors answer to that effect.

-- Iranaeus, 180 AD, 1.570


To drink the blood of Jesus is to become a partaker of the Lord's immortality. . .As wine is blended with water, so is the Spirit with man. . .And the mixture of both - of the water and of the Word - is called the Eucharist, renowned and glorious grace. Those who by faith partake of it are sanctified both in body and soul.

-- Clement of Alexandria, 195 AD, 2.242

He declared plainly enough what He meant by the bread, when He called the bread His own body. He likewise, when mentioning the cup and making the new testament to be sealed in His blood, affirmed the reality of His body.

-- Tertullian, 207 AD, 3.418

I believe that you already have to have faith in Jesus' sacrifice on the cross for Lord's Supper to be meaningful. In that case, I already have forgiveness of sins. Yet, something DOES happen during Communion. I can say that from personal experience. These seem to speak to that:

1Cr 10:16 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?

Or, as the NASB puts it:

1Cr 10:16 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?

At any rate, the Lutheran church sees the bread and wine as also being the body and blood of Jesus. They believe that this verse has to do with that:

1Cr 11:29 For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body.

This is the reason that some Lutheran churches don't allow non-members to participate. They don't want them to "eat and drink damnation" if they don't recognize the body and blood of Jesus. I accepted that for a long time, but when I asked God to teach me what Communion was about, I decided to study it for myself. I'm under no illusion that I have the whole story, but this is what I discovered. There are several places in the Bible that speak about the Lord's Supper in addition to Jesus' words in Matthew, Mark and Luke:

Act 2:42 And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship (koinonia), and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.


2842 koinonia {koy-nohn-ee'-ah}

1) fellowship, association, community, communion, joint participation,
intercourse
1a) the share which one has in anything, participation
1b) intercourse, fellowship, intimacy
1b1) the right hand as a sign and pledge of fellowship

Act 2:46 And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,

1Cr 10:16 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?
1Cr 10:17 For we [being] many are one bread, [and] one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread.

Or, as in NIV:

1Cr 10:17 Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf.

Rom 12:5 So we, [being] many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.

Jud 1:12 These are spots in your feasts of charity (agape), when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds [they are] without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;

The word translated "feasts of charity" is agape - the selfless love form of "love."

26 agape {ag-ah'-pay}

AV - love 86, charity 27, dear 1, charitably+2596 1,
feast of charity 1; 116

1) brotherly love, affection, good will, love, benevolence
2) love feasts

1Cr 11:20 When ye come together therefore into one place, [this] is not to eat the Lord's supper.
1Cr 11:21 For in eating every one taketh before [other] his own supper: and one is hungry, and another is drunken.
1Cr 11:22 What? have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? or despise ye the church of God, and shame them that have not? What shall I say to you? shall I praise you in this? I praise [you] not.
1Cr 11:23 For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the [same] night in which he was betrayed took bread:
1Cr 11:24 And when he had given thanks, he brake [it], and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.
1Cr 11:25 After the same manner also [he took] the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink [it], in remembrance of me.
1Cr 11:26 For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come.
1Cr 11:27 Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink [this] cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.
(How were they doing this unworthily in this particular instance? This refers back to 11:21 - one is hungry, and another is drunken. They failed to recognize the importance of what they were doing, participating in the Lord's death - AND they failed to recognize the importance of each other as part of the body of Christ)
1Cr 11:28
But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of [that] bread, and drink of [that] cup.
1Cr 11:29 For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body.
1Cr 11:30
For this cause many [are] weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.
1Cr 11:31 For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.
1Cr 11:32 But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.
1Cr 11:33 Wherefore, my brethren, when ye come together to eat, tarry one for another.
1Cr 11:34
And if any man hunger, let him eat at home; that ye come not together unto condemnation. And the rest will I set in order when I come.

It is interesting that part of the taking of the Lord's Supper "unworthily" was failing to wait for one another. It is also interesting what Paul goes on to talk about in the very next section:


1Cr 12:1 Now concerning spiritual [gifts], brethren, I would not have you ignorant.
1Cr 12:2 Ye know that ye were Gentiles, carried away unto these dumb idols, even as ye were led.
1Cr 12:3 Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and [that] no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.
1Cr 12:4 Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.
1Cr 12:5 And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord.
1Cr 12:6 And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all.
1Cr 12:7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.
1Cr 12:8 For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit;
1Cr 12:9 To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit;
1Cr 12:10 To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another [divers] kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues:
1Cr 12:11 But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.

1Cr 12:12 For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also [is] Christ.
1Cr 12:13
For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether [we be] Jews or Gentiles, whether [we be] bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.
1Cr 12:14 For the body is not one member, but many.

1 Corinthians 11:20 - 11:34 is about the Lord's Supper. Chapter 12 begins immediately following, with discussion of the "one body" again. Every discussion that Paul makes about the Lord's Supper adds in the idea of the church being the body of Christ. Therefore, I believe it is reasonable to put this verse:

1Cr 11:29 For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body.

Along with this one:
1Cr 12:12
For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also [is] Christ.

So, I believe the not discerning the Lord's body includes not only the idea that the bread and wine are the body and blood of Christ, but also that other Christians are part of the body of Christ.

For that reason, I believe that for me to refuse to participate would be to fail to recognize the Lord's body.

Is this correct thinking? I can't say for sure, but it is where I'm at right now. You might read these same verses and come to a different conclusion. God's not through with me, and I have much to learn.

 

Do you have comments or questions?

Contact me

Hosted by www.Geocities.ws

1