Straddling the Communion Fence

I have been contemplating the issue of a “closed communion” lately. I had never given it much thought until my oldest daughter became a Christian (she is currently 5, almost 6 years old). We allow her to take communion, but not her younger sisters, because they have not come to an understanding of the gospel in such a way as to be deemed saved. They speak of Jesus and sing songs to him, but they do not get the fact, yet, that they are sinners who, apart from Christ, are doomed to an eternity in hell to pay for their sins. And that Christ’s broken body and shed blood on the cross is the only way for our sins to be atoned. It is because of an understanding of and faith in this sacrifice that we are obedient to Christ’s command to take communion in remembrance of him. Reflecting on his broken body and poured out blood for the remission of our sins is what communion is all about.

The issue that I have is with “fencing the table.” Is it right to refuse the Lord’s Supper to those who do not believe in this sacrifice? I have heard all of the reasons in support of it, but I am still left unsettled about it. The primary reason to fence the table, as far as I have heard, is because of what is written in 1 Corinthians 11:27-29, “Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning 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.” The argument (for lack of a better word) is that if a person is a non-believer that he or she would be partaking in communion in an unworthy manner and therefore eating and drinking judgment on himself. My concern is that when Paul says “an unworthy manner” is he speaking of whether or not the person is saved. A look at the context does not lead me to believe so. In this passage, Paul is addressing the atrocious practices of the Corinthians during communion. The rich and fat were eating and drinking first, even to the point of getting drunk while leaving the rest of the poor folk nothing. Communion was not a time of reflecting upon Christ’s sacrifice for our sin, but rather was a time to pull rank and strut your status feathers. Anyone who sat down at the communion table in order to be served was coming in an unworthy manner. It was his belly that was on his mind, not his wretchedness.

We as Christians often come to communion in unworthy manners. Do not let this be interpreted as an out for all people, but rather a higher bar for believers. Any time that we treat communion flippantly, we are disgracing the wonder and the glory of the marvelous work of the cross. We have taken the miraculous and over abundantly gracious act of atonement for our sins and treated it like old mundane news or something that is barely worth our time or effort. Either this or we make it into some sort of religious rite that we can check off in order to tilt God’s scale to the side of his favor. If this is the case, then we don’t understand the significance of the atoning sacrifice that communion represents in the first place. Christian, do not eat or drink communion in an unworthy manner, lest you eat or drink communion on yourself. Paul wrote his letter to the church, not to unbelievers. Do not think he is not talking to or about you here.

So if I’ve upped the bar on the worthiness of communion, is it still inclusive of salvation? This is probably where I’ll catch the most flack (or perhaps get corrected and shown where I have faulty understanding). I don’t think it is. I don’t see anywhere in the context that salvation is even remotely addressed. Logically, it might be inferred, but then why did Jesus let Judas Iscariot take the first communion? Luke 22:21, “But behold, the hand of him who betrays me is with me on the table.” Unless you could say that Judas turned Christ over to be killed in faith and was a Christian at the time of the first Lord’s Supper, then Christ himself offered communion to a non-believer. It cannot be a sin to offer communion to a non-Christian since Jesus did not sin. I don’t think that many people would say that anyway (some may, I don’t know), but for the most part it is to protect the non-Christian from God’s judgment. But are not all non-Christian still children of wrath? Are they not all still under God’s judgment? Yes, of course. Judas did not take communion in a worthy manner, he couldn’t he had not seen the glory of God in Christ. He had not seen his own unworthiness before Jesus and could not see the grace in his [future] sacrifice.

My issue, though, is why keep them away? Why prevent someone who is watching Christian behave like Christians from tasting and seeing the Lord in this way? If it is a time of participating in the body and blood of Christ and taking that upon ourselves, why tell someone that they are not allowed and they have to stay in their seat? Yes, communion is a family meal; non-Christians don’t get it. The thing is why would anyone even want to take communion if it doesn’t mean anything to them? Let the person decide whether or not they want to participate. Don’t block them out. If a neighbor came by while you were eating a meal with your family, would you tell them to go away until you were finished, or would you invite them in to dine with you? Would you show them hospitality or a cold shoulder? I think that anyone who feels a desire to experience the grace and hospitality of our savior should be allowed to take communion so that just maybe it becomes real to them. Maybe the conviction of their unworthiness and God’s grace through the broken body and spilled blood will overtake them and our neighbor would become a member of our family at the dinner table.

Please leave comments and teach me where I am wrong here if I am. I am not out to prove people wrong, but to learn or perhaps teach. It is ONLY the truth of God’s word that I am after here, not divisiveness or subversiveness. I am a member of a wonderful church that fences the table. I am and will continue to gladly stay submissive to my elders as my authority. It is my pleasure to do so.