A Chorus of Voices on the Lord’s Supper

Last week we saw that weekly communion does not belong to the Roman Catholic church. It predates their church by centuries and at the height of the medieval period, in which many of the accretions the Reformers objected to were introduced, the Roman Catholic church was withdrawing the supper from the church so that many were only partaking once a year.

This week I want to step back and simply let us hear some voices from centuries past within the Reformed tradition so we can hear how our theological forebears thought about the Lord’s Supper. Not all of them use language that I would (looking at you Spurgeon), but it is helpful to hear how these godly men thought about this ordinance:

John Calvin (1509-1564)

Plainly this custom which enjoins us to take communion once a year is a veritable invention of the devil, whoever was instrumental in introducing it. …By this it has come about that almost all, when they have taken communion once, as though they had beautifully dune their duty for the rest of the year, go about unconcerned. It should have been done far differently: the Lord’s Table should have been spread at least once a week for the assembly of Christians, and the promises declared in it should feed us spiritually. (Institutes of the Christian Religion, IV.xvii.46)

It would be desirable that the Holy Supper of Jesus Christ be in use at least once every Sunday when the congregation is assembled, in view of the great comfort which the faithful receive from it as well as the fruit of all sorts which it produces—the promises which are there presented to our faith, that truly[1] we are partakers of the body and blood of Jesus Christ, His death, His life, His Spirit, and all His benefits, and the exhortations which are there made to us to acknowledge and by a confession of praise to magnify those wonderful things, the graces of God bestowed upon us, and finally to live as Christians, joined together in peace and brotherhood as members of the same body. In fact, our Lord did not institute it to be commemorated two or three times a year, but for a frequent exercise of our faith and love which the Christian congregation is to use whenever it is assembled. (Articles Presented to the Geneva Council)

Thomas Doolittle (1632-1707)

Baptism is but once to be administered, but the Lord’s Supper is often to be received. The frequency of it is not determined; often it must be, but how often is not expressed. If you had the opportunity every Lord’s Day, and you redeemed and improved it, your soul would thrive and grow the more in grace and holiness. Meals which are for nourishment must be often. You eat often, and you drink often for the nourishment of nature, and yet you are not told how often you must eat, or how often you must drink; but the sense and feeling of the want of your food will direct you unto this. So if you have but a sense and feeling of the want of this ordinance, and the things that are there to be conferred upon believers, that would guide you to a frequent application of this ordinance. (A Treatise Concerning the Lord’s Supper)

John Gill (1697-1771)

Baptism is to be administered once, when we first make a profession of Christ, and of faith in him; but the ordinance of the supper is to be frequently administered, and continued through all stages of life, it being our spiritual food, for the support and maintenance of our spiritual life. (Body of Practical Divinity)

Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892)

So with the Lord’s Supper. My witness is, and I think I speak the mind of many of God’s people now present, that coming as some of us do, weekly, to the Lord’s table, we do not find the breaking of bread to have lost its significance—it is always fresh to us. I have often remarked on the Lord’s day evening, whatever the subject may have been, whether Sinai has thundered over our heads, or the plaintive notes of Calvary have pierced our hearts, it always seems equally appropriate to come to the breaking of bread. Shame on the Christian church that she should put it off to once a month, and mar the first day of the week by depriving it of its glory in the meeting together for fellowship and breaking of bread, and showing forth of the death of Christ until he comes. Those who once know the sweetness of each Lord’s day celebrating his Supper, will not be content, I am sure, to put it off to less frequent times. Beloved, when the Holy Spirit is with us, ordinances are wells to the Christian, wells of rich comfort and of close communion. (Sermon 763, Songs of Deliverance)

Herman Bavinck (1854-1921)

Of primary importance in the Lord’s Supper is what God does, not what we do. The Lord’s Supper is above all a gift of God, a benefit of Christ, a means of communicating his grace. (Reformed Dogmatics, vol. 4)

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I end with that quote from Bavinck because I think it gets at the most important point: the Lord’s Supper is a gift from God.

Next week, we are going to look at how we can prepare to celebrate the Lord’s Supper together.

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[1] Calvin’s language is sometimes unclear, but what is clear is that by “truly” he does not mean “physically.” Calvin explicitly rejects the Roman Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation.