Featured Believer’s Communion with Restrictions: Not Closed, Close, or Open--But Biblical

Believer’s Communion with Restrictions: Not Closed Communion, Not Close Communion, Not Open Communion—But Biblical Communion.

While canvassing the community for my church, I met a couple who were not interested in us because they believe in closed communion. This was even though they were not going to any church because they couldn’t find one suitable. This led to an intensive study of Scripture on my part and I learned a lot of new things I would like to share.

1. Both ordinances of the church are about the Gospel. Baptism (by immersion) is focused on the work of Christ for our salvation (Romans 1:16, 1 Corinthians 15:2-8). It symbolically portrays our being co-crucified, co-buried, and co-risen with Christ (Romans 6:3-9).

Communion is focused on the person of Christ (John 20:31). For salvation a person needs to get the work of Christ right (Romans 1:16) and the person of Christ right (John20:31). There are a number of verses that need to dovetail for how communion fits into this:

A. John 6:29-58 Jesus says that a person needs to eat His body and drink His blood to receive eternal life. However, five times (verses 29, 35, 36, 40, 47) in this passage He states that eternal life is received by believing in Him. It is obvious that the eating and drinking are symbolic of belief. Eating and drinking represent believing from the heart, not just from the head, which was the problem with those in His audience. Communion is the public proclaiming of our already existing, saving faith by eating and drinking the elements. It acts out the message of John 6. As a mnemonic device, baptism acts out Romans 6 and communion acts out John 6. Both act out the Gospel.

B. At the end of the meal in which Jesus gave the Last Supper/First Communion He prayed a lengthy prayer for the disciples and for those who would believe in Him through them. In John 17:21,23 of that prayer Jesus asked the Father to give us believers the same unity within those in the group of all believers that He and the Father have in each other, that we would all be one. This has nothing to do with ecumenical unity, in which many professing believers are actually false. By contrast, the Shepherd knows His sheep (John 10:14). It is a spiritual unity, one which every believer automatically has through the indwelling Holy Spirit with every other believer. God accurately knows the exact spiritual status of every person, even if we don’t. These verses teach that every true believer is in God and He is in all true believers. Communion symbolically portrays Christ in us because of our faith in Him and us in Him as we all make up the one bread (See 1 Corinthians 10:16-17 discussed next). Every believer possesses this indwelling and unity; it has nothing to do with local church membership.

C. 1 Corinthians 10:16-17. Eating the bread during a communion service is participating in the body of Christ by physically acting out the eating of Jesus’ body in John 6 mentioned above. It represents salvation by faith by one who already believes its symbolism. Likewise, drinking of the cup is participating in the blood of Christ. It represents salvation by faith by one who already believes its symbolism.

Verse 17 talks about how there is one bread which consists of all who believe in Christ, per John 17. That one bread, which symbolizes Christ, is to be taken by all believers present, as representing how Christ is present in every believer. Limiting this to a local church destroys the message Christ is trying to portray. Church membership is NOT a part of the Gospel. So, 1 Corinthians 10 has all believers in its perspective and has nothing to do with local church membership.

2. 1 Corinthians 12:13 talks about how everyone who believes in Christ is baptized into the body of Christ at the moment of his salvation. It is at this time that he drinks of the Spirit (i.e., receives the indwelling Holy Spirit) and receives His spiritual gift(s). 1 Corinthian 12 relates the gift a person receives with his position in the body. Equating “body” in 1 Corinthians 12 with the local church leads to a false Gospel. Since a person is not saved unless he possesses the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:9), then he cannot be saved until he is placed in this body and receives the Holy Spirit. However, he cannot join a church until he has been saved and baptized. So, there are only two options: salvation, baptism, and church membership are simultaneous, mutually required events or 1 Corinthians 12 has nothing to do with church membership. A Gospel which requires all three as simultaneous events is a false Gospel, so 1 Corinthians 12 has nothing to do with church membership. The body of Christ in 1 Corinthians 12 refers to all believers, all who are in Christ per John 17:21.

3. Sandwiched between 1 Corinthians 10 and 12, both of which talk about the universal body of Christ is 1 Corinthians chapter 11. There is no Scriptural basis to claim that the Corinthian church practiced closed communion as a basis for discounting the message of this chapter. The context of chapters 10 and 12 requires otherwise. This chapter explains how to conduct communion.

The message here is very simple. Verse 11:28 says, “But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup.” This is the key, basic verse telling the proper procedure on how to conduct a communion service.

First, an explanation needs to be given during a communion service that a person needs to make an honest evaluation of his spiritual condition. If he is not a believer in Christ as Savior and participates, then God takes severe offense of his public proclamation of believing when he doesn’t. If a person is a believer, he needs to examine himself to make sure that there is nothing between him and God and that there is not some sin that needs to be confessed. Otherwise, he is commanded to refrain. Once a person has made a satisfactory self-examination, he is free to participate. Then there is joy in publically acknowledging our Savior and identifying with Him and other believers in this proclamation. But, woe to the person that participates unworthily. God can judge him severely.

The Biblical standard of a proper communion service is that first a person examines himself. This is a formal examination that needs to be led by the one who is officiating the service. Next, 1 Corinthians 11:18 says, “and so let him eat and drink.” The church is not to evaluate the self-judgment—God specifically declares that He Himself is the One to do this.

As a Baptist, I believe in the priesthood of the believer. Closed communion denies the priesthood of the believer, it denies the protocol God established in this chapter, and it denies the oneness of all believers with all believers in Christ and Christ in all believers, as Jesus taught in John 17:21, 23. As such, it changes the message God wants conveyed and is to be shunned.

4. The logic behind closed communion is mostly based on human reasoning, starting with all references to the church in the New Testament being of the local church, of the church being guardian over the service, and of communion being given for special, private fellowship of a local assembly. None of this stated directly in Scripture. It is only implied and requires a sequence of logically sounding steps based on human reasoning. Closed communion sets aside clear teachings of Scripture, placing human reasoning ahead of clear teaching. It changes the message from representing the Gospel and the universal relationship of all believers in Christ through the Gospel to one of special fellowship by a small subset of believers for their private benefit. This changes the message, cheapening it in the process. As such it should not be expected to please God.

5. Church discipline can override communion privileges. However, that is a disciplinary issue, made in consequence to specific actions that need correction. Closed and close communion deny participation rights of some believers even when there have been no disciplinary actions taken. This is not the biblical standard as presented in these verses.

This is a short synopsis of an analysis posted online at www.trbap.org/communion.doc

 

Hi Iconoclast,
Thanks for your reply. If you have opportunity to read the full article linked at the end of the post before replying, it has ten times as much content as the post, literally. You might better understand why I believe closed communion corrupts the message God wants conveyed (acting out the inherent unity of all believers Jesus taught in John 17, which was presented during the same meeting in which the Last Supper was instuted). The potential significance of closed (and close) communion is discussed. Moses was disciplined for messing up the symbolism in the message God wanted communicated when he struck the rock twice at Kadesh instead of merely speaking to it. In response God kept him from entering the promised land.
I believe closed communion corrupts the message God wants conveyed. As such, it is potentially a sinful practice. If you have comments based on the full analysis, that would be appreciated. If I have missed something, I would like to know about it. On the other hand, I believe it is serious enough an issue to warrant a full discussion.

http://www.trbap.org/communion.doc is the link to the full article.

 

Hi Youthguy.
I am new at this, too. Yesterday was my first post.

The problem from my perspective is that the arguments you present make complete sense rationally, but contradict Scripture, at least from how I understand it. The Biblical standard is that a formal time of self-examination precede the distribution of the elements. This self-examination is a witnessing opportunity to any unsaved present. It presses home the issue of, "What are you going to do with Christ? Reject Him? Recognize His holiness and authority and repent of anything between you and Him? It needs to be made clear that God evaluates a person's response, whatever it is, and that the response has eternal consequences for everyone, saved and saved alike. It concerns the level of eternal rewards for believer and the level of condemnation for the unbeliever. I do not have the ability to judge whether a person is qualified to take communion. I do not want a person to think that if he manages to pass my evaluation that everything is OK between him and God.

God does not ask me to judge the requirements for participation. This is His responsibility according to 1 Corinthians 11. The Biblical procedure is clear:

1 Corinthians 11:28 "But let a man examine himself [this is the formal time of examination mentioned above] and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup [after the self-examination, the church is to let the one who still desires to participate to do so]. Disciplinary issues are different. But, discipline is to be done to those who have committed some action worthy of it. Closed communion effectively disciplines Godly believers on the basis that maybe they are not actually Godly.

I would suggest you get the complete article into the hands of your church leadership. See if there are weaknesses in the analysis or if it makes sense. The goal of all of us (hopefully) is to be faithful before God, not man.