The Lord’s Supper as a Means of Grace

The following are some notes from Richard Barcellos, “The Lord’s Supper as a Means of Grace,” ARBCA General Assembly, 2011.

“The Lord’s Supper is a means of grace at which Christ is present by His divine nature and during which the Holy Spirit nourishes the souls of believers with the benefits wrought for us in Christ’s humanity, which is now glorified and in heaven at the right hand of the Father.”

I. The Biblical Data

A. 1 Cor 10:14-22

1. Emphasis on the “vertical” communion in the Lord’s Supper, as expressed in the contrast against fellowship with demons.

2. This passage speaks of a present communion with the body and blood of the living Christ.

B. Ephesians 1:3

1. The Spirit is the one Mediator between Christ and men. 

2. We have already begun to experience God’s blessings in the heavenly realm through the Spirit bringing treasures from the age to come to our souls. 

II. The Confessional Formulation

A. Bases for the Confessional Witness

1. The words of Jesus recorded in the Gospel accounts .

2. The words of the Apostle in 1 Corinthians 10-11.

3. The grace of faith, and how it grows and develops through the use of means.

4. Union with Christ;

5. The mediatorial work of the Spirit in bringing the benefits of Christ to believers.

B. The Confessional Witness (2LBCF 30:7)

1. “The Supper confirms the faith of believers in the benefits of Christ’s death.”

2. “The Supper is a means through which spiritual nourishment and growth in Christ occurs.”

3. “The Supper is a bond and pledge of communion with Christ.”

III. Final Thoughts

A. The Supper is not ONLY a memorial meal.

        B. In taking the Supper, our focus should be less introspective and more Christ-focused.

        C. The Lord’s Supper is directly connected with Lord’s Day worship in the Bible and sub-apostolic            tradition.

        D. We must highlight the past, present, and future work of Christ in taking the Supper.

Some Reasons to Deny the Physical Presence of Jesus' Body in the Elements of the Lord's Supper

And when He had taken some bread and given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, "This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me." And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, "This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood. (Luke 22:19-20 NASB)

In general, the faithful Christian should be cautious about taking any kind of "just me and my Bible"
approach to forming convictions concerning the Faith. The Lord Jesus established a community of believers and He appointed teachers within that community. We should have humility to learn from the past generations of the faithful.

On the other hand, Christians who self-consciously hold to the principles of the Protestant Reformation must declare that the Bible is necessary, authoritative, sufficient and clear: Scripture alone is the final authority regarding matters of faith and practice. Other authorities are composed of men who are fallible and subject to error, while God's Word is perfect (cf. Psa 19:7): infallible and inerrant.

And so, though major streams of religious tradition that self-identify as "Christian"–and, indeed, perhaps the majority of actual followers of Christ throughout the ages–have believed that the physical body and blood of the glorified Christ are somehow present in the elements of the Lord's Supper, the first and foremost examination regarding this issue should not take place on the basis of human history books or opinion polls, but on the basis of the biblical data.

In regard to the words from Jesus, quoted above, one must note:

1. Jesus does not use the verb "become," but the simple verb "to be" [in this case, "is"].
2. In other passages, Jesus uses the verb "to be"in ways that are clearly metaphorical–ways in which "become" clearly cannot be supplemented to it–no one, for example, argues that Jesus became a literal door when He declared "I am the door" (John 10:9).
3. Likewise, in Luke 22:20 (repeated in 1 Corinthians 11:25), the words “This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood” cannot be taken literally, “for clearly the cup itself is not actually the new covenant;” “Paul means, rather, that the cup represents the new covenant inaugurated by Christ’s blood. Similarly, when Jesus says that the bread 'is My body,' it likely means that it represents what Christ has done on behalf of the church through his sacrifice." (Schreiner, New Testament Theology)
4. In reviewing Jesus' institution of the Lord's Supper in 1 Corinthians 11:23-26, the Apostle Paul quotes Jesus as twice saying: "Do this in remembrance of Me." This seems to point to the character of the Lord's Supper, not as a partaking in ingesting the physical body and blood of Jesus, but as a memorial feast, antitypical of the Passover (see below).
5. The Lord's Supper clearly has its background in the Passover: in the Passover there is no thought of the bread and wine becoming the body and blood of the sacrificial lamb.
6. In the cultures to whom the Gospels and Epistles were addressed (note Paul's comparison between the Lord's Supper and idol feasts, 1 Cor 10:21), there was no thought of the elements in religious feasts becoming the physical body and blood of a deity/religious figure.
7. If the Lord's Supper was meant to involve the physical presence of the body of Jesus in the elements, therefore, this aspect of the Lord's Supper would be a point of explicit contrast to both the Passover and to idol feasts; in order to make this point of contrast clear to the earliest church, more explicit instruction would be required from the apostolic writings.

Traditions that teach the physical presence of Jesus' body in the elements invariably neglect the implications of the fact that the glorified Christ is currently seated at the right hand of the majesty on high, having completed His gospel work once and for all (cf. Psa 110:1; Heb 1:3; 7:27; 10:10-14), and they make the Lord's Supper not just a crucial corporate proclamation of the gospel, but a part of a gospel-obscuring (at very best) sacerdotal system.

[See:

Peter Gentry, “The Lord’s Supper BF&M Article 7b,” An Exposition from the Faculty of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary on the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 (Louisville: The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2001), 25-28.

Thomas Schreiner, New Testament Theology: Magnifying God in Christ (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2008), 730-734.]

My Personal Testimony

Christians have always told the Good News of Jesus to people who are not Christians in two different but connected ways. Christians have focused on: 1. telling others about the teaching of the Bible; 2. speaking about their own personal relationship with Jesus.

We see examples of how the very first Christians told the Good News of Jesus through the teaching of the Apostle Paul. In Acts 17:22-31, we read how Paul told the Good News of Jesus by explaining teaching based on the Bible. In Acts 22:6-21 and 26:4-23 we read how Paul also told about his personal relationship with Jesus in order to share the Good News about who Jesus is and what He has done.

Recently, I was re-visiting the story of my personal relationship with Jesus. I would like to once again recount that story below:

From the time when I was a small child, I have always gone to church meetings with my grandmother or my parents and most people thought that I was a good person. When I was nine years old, I came to understand that I was not a good person: that I had broken God’s Law and my life needed to be changed or I would face God’s wrath forever. I had heard that if God was angry with me and I died, my soul would go to place of pain and fire called Hell. I talked to the preacher at the church I went to about what I needed to do to stay out of Hell. The preacher asked me some questions about Jesus and I gave him all the answers that he wanted to hear because I knew many facts about Jesus from having gone to church for so long. The preacher told me to repeat a prayer after him and to completely believe what I prayed. I prayed this prayer and wanted to believe what I prayed. Still, there was no basic change in my life. It was difficult to be certain in my mind that I had completely believed the prayer that I had prayed, so it was difficult to be certain that I was not headed for Hell when I died.

On one Sunday morning when I was thirteen years old, my Sunday school teacher, Russell Jones, spoke about how Jesus is Lord: how He is completely good and He is King over everything. The teacher said that if we had not called out to Jesus to take control of our lives and to take away our badness– and give us His goodness– then God was still angry with us for our sins and we would go to Hell for breaking His Law.

I then understood that I was someone who lived only for my wants and that I had not submitted to the Lord Jesus. I called out to Jesus to take control of my life. I asked Him to take away my badness and to give me His goodness.

Since that day, it has often been difficult to live for the Lord Jesus. I have often wanted to follow plans that I have made for myself rather than the plans that Jesus has for me, as found in His book, the Bible. Every day, I call out to Jesus to give me understanding from the Bible of how to live in a way that pleases Him. I believe that Jesus is in control of everything that happens in the world. I believe that Jesus became my friend when I called out to Him. I believe that everything that happens in the lives of Jesus’ friends is for our good, even if some things seem bad at first. I believe that anyone who calls out to Jesus to take control of his or her life, trusting in Him alone, can be certain that God will never be angry with him or her, that he or she will never go to Hell, and that he or she will live as Jesus’ friend forever.

Sermon Notes on "Why Am I Baptist?" by Tray Earnhart

[The were taken on February 20, 2011, at Kosmosdale Baptist Church.]

I. Introductory Question/Observations:
A. Question: in 1 Cor 3:1-9 is Paul prohibiting labels like "Baptist?"
B. Observations:
1. Many people define "Baptist" by what we do (or what we do not do).
2. Our first allegiance is to be to Christ and His gospel.
3. Denominations can be good and can help a local church to avoid confusion in worship.
4. If we believe another denomination is more biblical, we should leave Baptist life and join with that other denomination.

II. 8 Reasons Why I'm Baptist:
[Tray noted that these reasons are not original to him, but are drawn from a variety of sources. The first reason is foundational, and the second is what most easily distinguishes Baptists, but otherwise Tray said these are not presented in any particular order.]
1. Our view of Scripture: 2 Timothy 3:16-17.
2. Believers' baptism by immersion: Acts 18:8, belief precedes baptism.
3. Regenerate church membership: because the purity of the church is at stake (Ephesians 5:25-27).
4. The priesthood of believers.
5. Local church autonomy.
6. Evangelism and missions.
7. Confessions.
8. Religious liberty.

III. Additional Notes:
A. The above reasons focus on who we are, not just what we do, though who we are impacts what we do.
B. It is important to note that you can be a Christian and not be a Baptist; likewise, you can be a Baptist and not be a Christian.

-Turn to Christ today.