Question
Should believers practice communion?
Response
I am fully persuaded that communion is something for saved people in this present dispensation of God’s grace to participate in, being the members of God’s “new creature,” the church the body of Christ that we are.
However, it is not, as some believe, something in which a person must participate in order to be saved. There are a number of perversions of “the gospel of Christ” in existence which take the issue of communion and by handling God’s word deceitfully make participation in it to be a requirement for salvation. For example, Roman Catholicism does this with their perversion of the Mass.
Simply and briefly put, my understanding from I Corinthians 10 and 11 is that “the Lord’s table” clearly does have a definite role in this present dispensation of God’s grace, and throughout its duration. In fact, it has a specific role and function both with the remnant of Israel in the climactic stage of God’s program with Israel, as well as with us, the church the body of Christ, during this present dispensation. However, my understanding is that it is also clear from what Paul teaches in I Corinthians 10 and 11 that its specific role and function with us today is not the exact same as it is with the remnant of Israel during the climactic stage in God’s program with Israel. For as the apostle Paul sets forth in I Corinthians 10 and 11, its role and function with us has to do with the privilege that we have in this dispensation of making an impact to God’s honor and glory on the angelic realm. And indeed, this is the very thing that “the Lord’s table” provides for us to do when we “eat this bread, and drink this cup” and thereby do “shew the Lord’s death til he come”. For when we by means of “the Lord’s table” do “shew the Lord’s death til he come” we participate in a special operation that God has specifically designed to be the means by which He keeps displaying to the princes of this world the issue of the supremacy and glory of His manifold wisdom in the cross of Christ, especially as it pertains to the matter of Him dealing with their self-professed wisdom and determined opposition to His purpose. And as we participate in this privileged operation of God, we actually hold a celebration together with God. We celebrate the issue of God’s unrivaled genius in what He has done by means of Christ’s cross; i.e., taking these foolish princes of this world in their own craftiness when they went ahead and crucified Him, and in so doing ended up doing the very thing that provides for God to be able to bring them and their complete rebellion to naught. Moreover, by means of the nature of the “the Lord’s table” we actually hold this celebration in their very sight, and in so doing we make an impact for God’s honor and glory before them.
So in view of my understanding, “the Lord’s table” is applicable to us in this present dispensation.
Keith Blades
Enjoy The Bible Ministries
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