http://steve-finnell.blogspot.com/2017/03/who-can-take-lords-supper-by-david.html
Who Can Take the Lord's Supper?
by David Vaughn Elliott
Who
can receive communion? Who can partake of the bread and the cup of the
Lord's Supper? Can visitors? Can everybody, anybody? Should communion be
"open" or "closed"?
On
one hand, there is the practice of asking all visitors to leave, and
then serving the Lord's Supper to the members who remain. On the other
hand, there are those who will announce before the emblems are passed:
"It is the Lord's Table. We neither invite nor debar." Which practice is
correct? Or is there a better way somewhere in between these two
extremes?
Scripture
nowhere directly addresses this question. But neither does it lack
principles that can give us guidance. First of all, in the NT, it is
always the Christians who are partaking. When first mentioned in Acts
2:42, "the breaking of bread" is one of four items that "they were
continually devoting themselves to." And who are "they"? The preceding
verse tells us: "Those who had received his word were baptized; and that
day there were added about three thousand souls." Thus, in this initial
instance, the communion is something that baptized believers were
doing.
The
most extensive text on the Lord's Supper is 1 Cor. 11:17-34. Paul first
upbraids the Corinthian brethren for not understanding what the Lord's
Supper is all about. He says, "When you meet together, it is not to eat
the Lord’s Supper." In the context, Paul is saying that what they were
doing was not at all what the Lord's Supper was to be like. He proceeded
to explain the whole thing to them. But the question here is, who was
he speaking to when saying, "when you meet together"? Just a couple of
verses earlier it is clearer: "when you come together as a church"
(vss.18-20). So it is the church that should come together to partake of
the Lord's Table, to commune with Jesus, their Savior.
Both
texts speak of the breaking of bread, the Lord's Supper, as being
something the Christians are doing, something for the church. What if
visitors are present in the assembly? That issue, as I have said, is not
directly addressed. However, there are several things mentioned,
especially in the well-known verses beginning with verse 23 of 1 Cor.
11, that can help answer the question.
From
among various considerations, let's zero in on what is perhaps the
strongest and clearest point: "A man must examine himself, and in so
doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup" (vs. 28).
Self-examination. How can a person who is not a Christian come out fine
in a self-examination? He and she are still in their sins. They have not
sought for the blood of Christ to blot out their sins in repentance and
baptism. They have not yet yielded their lives to Jesus. They have not
committed themselves to following Him in the way the NT ordains. They
may not realize all this, in which case they do not even know how to
examine themselves. Someone will say, well, it says that each person is
to examine him/herself. However, in the context we have seen that it is
members of the church in Corinth who are to examine themselves.
Outsiders are not being considered.
No
one comes to the table without sin, of course. But is the Lord's Supper
a place for the sinner to obtain forgiveness? Jesus said, "He who has
believed and has been baptized shall be saved" (Mark 16:16). Peter,
baptized with the Holy Spirit, said, "Repent, and each of you be
baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins"
(Acts 2:38). The apostle Paul taught, "all of you who were baptized into
Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ" (Gal. 3:27). When a person
is baptized, he/she is clothed with Christ. That same person continues
at the Lord's Table week by week to remain clothed with Christ.
What Then Should Be Done About Visitors?
Without
explicit Scriptural teaching or example, it seems to me we should do
that which is most beneficial to the visitor. I think none of us would
agree to extreme customs that historically have been practiced, such as
dismissing all the non-Christians before the Lord's Supper. Should we in
that way or some other way "forcefully" make sure the elements do not
get in the hands of the unconverted? Dealing with visitors whom we do
not know – and don't know if they are believers or not – surely we would
let them make the decision.
Whatever
may happen the first (and maybe only) time a person visits the
assembly, many of us would agree that the main thing is to teach the
unconverted that they should pass the emblems by. If we invite an
unconverted person to the service, it would be well to explain to that
person, before attending the first time, that it is for Christians, and
they can just pass the elements on to the next person. If someone is not
a Christian and it is passed to them and they partake, we do not need
to get all upset. But I believe we need to reach out to them at an
appropriate time and place.
As
Christians, when we know a visitor is not a Christian, do we not have a
spiritual obligation to him/her? The only way a non-Christian can come
out fine in a self-examination is through ignorance. It is our task to
teach them the way. Someone will say that it does the unsaved person no
harm to partake because they are already lost anyway, so what difference
does it make?
The
best example I know is what happened several decades ago. A neighbor of
a Christian was attending and partaking without anyone saying anything.
The Christian asked my advice. I said to make it an opportunity to
teach the visitor. What happened? The visitor said she thought she was
fine in taking the Lord's Supper – and she might have continued
"forever" without ever being converted. But because the Christian sat
down with her and explained the whole thing, the visitor began to see
that she was not right with the Lord. I don't remember all the details
or the length of time involved, but the end result of the explanation
was to open the door for Bible studies, and the neighbor was eventually
converted to Christ. Praise the Lord!
So,
in the case given, by allowing the visitor to partake Lord's Day after
Lord's Day, she was made to feel fine, a part of the church, in
communion with the Lord. That was not good for her soul. By explaining
to her why she should not partake, the door was opened for her
conversion and salvation. And she is faithful to the Lord to this day.
That's the outcome we want to work toward.