Voices: Lord’s Supper open to all who profess faith in Christ

When I throw a party, I get to determine the guest list. When I attend a party someone else is hosting, I have little say in the matter.

Even if the host invites me to help with the dinner, I would be stepping beyond my responsibilities if I began culling the guest list according to my own preferences. The host rightly would be furious if I let people in who were not invited. He also would be justifiably angry if I refused to admit those who were on the list.

Which of those would be the worst offense? Baptists have come up with different answers. Those advocating for closed communion appear to believe the greatest offense when serving the Lord’s Supper would be accidentally to admit some to the table who God excludes.

Their main argument comes from Paul’s discussion of the Lord’s Supper in his first epistle to the Corinthians.

Paul on the Lord’s Supper

Paul challenges every believer to examine oneself before observing the Lord’s Supper (11:28). Those who fail to do so, and fail to discern the body of Christ, “eat and drink judgment on themselves.” (11:29).

The argument is made that any who participate in the meal with unconfessed sin bring judgment upon themselves and perhaps upon the entire congregation. Churches, therefore, should carefully fence the table against the unrepentant lest judgment fall heavily upon Christ’s church.

This necessitates, in their view, a prohibition against any unrepentant believers and all unbelievers. For many churches, this takes the form of prohibiting anyone not baptized by immersion from participating, with a few churches going so far as to limit participation to their own church membership.

Clearly, Paul’s warning is a serious one. All the more reason to make sure we understand his argument.

A closer look at Corinth

A close reading of the text reveals the issue in the Corinthian church was not one of permitting unqualified people to participate in the meal. Instead, it involved the opposite offense. Some in the Corinthian church were rushing ahead with the meal before the entire church could gather to eat (see 11:21).

More specifically, the wealthy feasted, while the poor went hungry, mirroring the social inequalities of their day. Paul sharply criticized this behavior, emphasizing the Lord’s Supper was not a private dinner party, but is a communal meal meant to reflect Christ’s selfless love. If they gathered and ate before everyone arrived, the meal they ate could not be considered the Lord’s Supper (see 11:11).

Paul’s warning against eating in an “unworthy manner” had to do with the way in which the church was excluding certain members from participation in the Lord’s Supper, not with any unconfessed sin of an individual believer. How ironic that these very words have been used to exclude believers from table fellowship.

Jesus’ example

This does not mean we should come carelessly to the table. Properly remembering Christ’s sacrifice for our sins always should call us to thoughtful times of reflection, confession and repentance.

But to use the table as an opportunity to exclude someone Christ intends to include is to take the meal in an unworthy manner—the very thing Paul warns against.

My approach is also influenced by Jesus’ own example. Our Lord constantly irritated the religious gatekeepers of his day by the table company he kept. Paul, likewise, seemed continually to provoke his adversaries by arguing rich and poor, Jew and Gentile, slaves and free all could sit down at the same table, thanks to Jesus.

Who should be excluded

An honest reading of the biblical text reveals we are not given specific instructions about where the limits of this inclusion should be in regard to the Lord’s table. Is there someone who should not be allowed to participate in the Lord’s Supper?

There are verses in the New Testament that speak to the exclusion of believers who are actively sinning in significant ways. But these seem to be extreme cases where inclusion of a particular person would bring great shame upon the congregation, because their sins were obvious even to outsiders (see 1 Corinthians 5:1-13).

Where I fall

When I reflect on Jesus’ table practice and Paul’s teaching, I find myself wanting to err on the side of inclusion when it comes to the Lord’s Supper.

I am reminded there are plenty of people who would exclude me from Christ’s table if they could—people who think I am incorrect on some point of doctrine or another. I’m grateful they ultimately are not in charge of the guest list. Of course, neither am I.

When it comes down to it, I think I would rather dine with someone I wasn’t supposed to than to exclude someone Jesus intends to include.

A proper reading of 1 Corinthians 11 helps us understand the one instance Paul criticized was an instance of improper exclusion, not improper inclusion. This is why I have chosen not to heavily fence participation in the Lord’s Supper, but instead, to invite all those who have professed their faith in Christ, or would like to in this moment, to come and have a seat at the table of the Lord.

Taylor Sandlin is the senior pastor of Sugar Land Baptist Church in Sugar Land. The views expressed in this opinion article are those of the author. A contrasting view can be read here.