By Luke Welch
At Kuyperian, it would be fair to peg us as proponents of including all the baptized in the Lord’s Supper. In earlier months, I kept writing as if I were going to be discussing the topic, but I kept falling short and only talking about baptism. So I have been dying for a chance to finally enter into the discussion of that blessed fourteen letter word: paedocommunion.
And here we are. I will start now. And today’s post will be relatively short: a summary of longer, future arguments.
LOCUS CLASSICUS
1 Corinthians is the place the battle must be won or lost, though many other passages matter to the discussion. For today’s listeners, 1 Cor 11 is the roadblock. In soon-to-come posts the following will be spelled out. For now a summary of my series of arguments.
THESIS
1 Corinthians 10-13 teaches paedocommunion implicitly, and does not exclude children from the Lord’s table.
A – BODY means THE CHURCH
1 Corinthians 10-13 is a section intensely focused on the unity of the church; the controlling metaphor for the section is “one body made of many members (body parts).” We should expect “body” in this section to be a reference to the church, unless in some instance it is clearly a reference to something else.
B – IF YOU ARE WASHED, YOU EAT
There is a one to one correspondence between those who are baptized and those who are in the body, and then also between those who commune and those who are in the body. All the baptized commune. There is no non-communing member of the church.
C – PAEDOCOMMUNION PRECEDENCE
In this section, Paul explains the Eucharist by telling story after story illustrated by feasts that included children.
D – THE “WORTHINESS-TEST” IS NOT NEW IN THE NEW TESTAMENT
Those same feasts also required that participants be worthy and examine themselves. All the while, they included children.
E – THE WARNINGS ARE NOT TO CHILDREN
The major problems being addressed are high-handed sins: idolatry, flagrant immorality, and hypocritical use of the unity meal to treat the poor as second class citizens in the kingdom.
F – PAUL WANTS REPENTANT EATERS, NOT HARD HEARTED ABSTAINERS
No positive command is given as a prerequisite for entrance to the meal. Mostly we mistake corporate or liturgical actions as individual tests of worthiness.
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SINCE YOU ARE ITCHING FOR HOMEWORK
See if you can identify what I mean before I post longer explanations!
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UPDATE: Part 2 of this discussion can be found here:
Paedocommunion – One of the Most Un-Well Reasoned Things Calvin Ever Said
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Luke Welch has a master’s degree from Covenant Seminary and preaches regularly in a conservative Anglican church in Maryland. He blogs about Bible structure at SUBTEXT. Follow him on Twitter: @lukeawelch<>
