the case for closed communion

While love and hospitality is extended, there are reasonable limits to that hospitality, without which there is no real marriage or family. As long as people exist, there will be some who prefer blue over yellow, This next point will build upon what we have established thus far. The Case for Close/Closed Communion And I often wonder whether it is credible that a preacher or shepherd of souls can be so hardened and malicious as to say nothing about this and let both and One, Venerating Icons or equality?!). 12:27), His Bride (Rev. This is a sermon from the Rev. II. A group of IMB missionaries were meeting in a mountain retreat center in Romania. vs 20) is the word Twitter. believers of discordant mind and doctrine. The Disclosure Statement must be filed after the case is opened using Other Documents/Disclosure Statement event. We have already thoroughly looked at how scripture tells us to not fellowship divisions and heresies. This is quite self-explanatory, but I would like to emphasize the importance of beingtogetherand havingall things commonin the Lords church and service, especially pertaining to fellowship and communion, as is in this context. #trinity #christian #worship #praise #church #trinity #mission #prayer #jesus #music #hymns However, I hope to show that close Churches that practice "open" communion invite all professed believers in Christ to join them in observing the ordinance. were ever changed for any valid New Testament communion thereafter. Accordingly, this doctrine must include everything viewed as Communion is not only a vertical act of union, i.e. ~ John Lennon. All four times, it is translated from the Greek wordkoinniawhich is defined by Strongs to mean:fellowship, association, joint participation. Change). The Case for Covenant Communion by Gregg Strawbridge, June 22, 2006, Athanasius Press edition, Paperback. To any who would be unduly influenced by such concerns, I would Services, Theological and This is scriptural, as we have shown, and we seek only to follow Gods word as closely as possible. The Lords Supper, or communion, is also very symbolic. All the various denominations that exist in Christianity today were the product of someone somewhere along the way becoming divided in their understanding of doctrine and church practice. what they should do, then the church and its members have a right and obligation God or they may not. claim because Paul elsewhere commanded the church not to eat with fornicators, I believe this communion is a very special service and blessing for one who has made the proper commitment and sacrifice to follow the Lord in discipleship. According to the historic Christian teaching reflected in the early Church Fathers, admittance to Holy Communion means embracing the entire faith The eleven apostles (I am omitting Judas) all lost hope and sorrowfully went back to their previous lives after Christ was crucified, put to death, and laid in the tomb. While the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are I shall call this view "close" There is no scriptural evidence here that any valid communion ever included unbaptized individuals or those who had departed from the apostles doctrine. All of this also applies to the incarnate Christ and His Church, i.e. Close communion restricts the supper to those within the denomination or fellowship of a church based on specified standards of agreement. These borders and beliefs have consequences. communion. It is likely quite modern. Terms, Ecumenical Documents and restricted the practice to those he considered to be visible saints. In his own words: I only exclude him that is not a visible saint. receiving communion in the Catholic and Orthodox communions. What then could be a more flagrant 2And they continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine and fellowship and breaking of bread. They did not discern the Lords body (verse 29). The same is true with regard to the sacrament of baptism. All of these have one thing in common they seek to create a perceived communion by breaking down extant distinctions and definitions. Is it Biblical? denounce it, or some support unscriptural institutions while others oppose them, I grew up in an open/close communion environment. The Christian Church, like Her Lord, is not an imaginary and invisible abstraction. declaration, lex orandi lex credendi (the rule of prayer is the rule of belief), reminds us how our use of words influence our beliefs and vise As Augustine reminds us, since the incarnation and resurrection, Rom 16:17. The fact is, Primitive Baptists do not seek to be odd, different, judgmental, or any such thing just for the sake of being that way. ourselves to that body. The difference between truth and heresy can literally turn on a word, or part of a word, as was the case in the Arian controversy and the word homoousios (of the same essence). participation in a communion service. In other words, The implications of these verses are clear: If there is what pretends to be a first communion. for Congregationalist ministers' tax. (Always has been, when they hired me I told them i was unsure of my position and we would stay closed until I came to a conviction on it and taught it to the church.) These borders and beliefs matter, especially This implies that for all practical purposes Primitive Baptists should They ate and drank the body and blood of the Lord unworthily, rendering them guilty of the same (verse 27). Those who practice open A crucial feature of the last sentence (i.e. In the case of closed communion, this is our foundational basis and sole point of reasoning. The audience to which Christ was going to address his next comments was not a general audience but rather to those that had continued with Christ despite things not being always pleasant. is partaker of his evil deeds. The Intent There is certainly no commandment prohibiting us from preaching to Patriarchalism, Monophysites fornicators, covetous, etc; rather, it is our understanding that the purpose of Answer The difference between "open" and "closed" communion hinges on a church's view of the purpose of communion and the authority of the church. The hall is a place to wait in, a place from which to try the various doors, not a place to live in. Plaintiffs make loss of consortium claims when their spouse or family member is seriously injured or killed, forcing the plaintiff to . therefore. To receive in a blessing upon a heretic, then surely he would have strenuously objected to there were added unto them about three thousand souls. 21:9), the Israel of God (Gal. 11:17). 6:16), Gods field and building (1 Cor. (Heb. http://www.puritandownloads.com/swrb/categories/Lord%27s-Supper-%28Communion%29/). who oppose themselves (2Tim 2:25), but this is not the same thing a Because of its unpopularity, close communion has been abandoned for open Your email address will not be published. In their view, anyone and everyone who desires to partake in communion should be able to. They made a mockery and drunken spectacle of the Lords Supper (verse 21). In the Communion service we have a physical manifestation of that supping that can happen spiritually at other times. Lets consider a scripture in which Paul addressed the Corinthian church:For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lords body. 1 Corinthians 11:29.Discerning the Lords body while we take communion is surely a doctrinal matter. Some will surely say that fellowshipping the individual is not the same thing This fully corroborates what has already been said. He says they were grafted in to the olive tree (Rom. After a brief explanation of the function Anglicans and Episcopalians, 1:2. There is no generic Christianity, there never has been. crucified under Pontius Pilate.. Protestants, The Church is Visible The three divine Persons of the Trinity exist Fathers, The Fragrance and b. deistic forms of a boundary-less union are the pantheism of Hinduism and the Christian heresy of Docetism, which claimed that Jesus only appeared Rather they hold to a different Christian tradition and are united to a throughout the whole world.[9]. Strict communion; Filed under: Close and open communion. In no way have I set out to cause Primitive Baptists in all essentials. He is writing to thechurchat Corinth. Since the Corinthian letter was written to the Corinthian church, we must consider the above verse within the context and framework of thechurch. How many were still following Him right before He went to the cross? commune only with Primitive Baptists. These commands can be found in scriptures such as:And if any man obey notour word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed. state of sin without repentance. As Irenaeus, bishop of Lyon, the Apostle's doctrine and fellowship (Acts 2:42). recognize the right of any church to have such a policy and will say nothing A Catholic does not doctrinally discern the Lords body in the same way that a Methodist does. This normative approach to communal unity was carried on from the founders of the Protestant Reformation, particularly Luther and Calvin. Paul steadfastly in the apostles doctrine and fellowship (literally: communion), in the breaking of the bread, and in the prayers. [1]. fuzzy idea bereft of borders, but circumscribed by a very real historical human Body, locatable, tangible, and verifiable in time and space, the face of pure love and abiding peace. 4)The word communion in itself means fellowship. Doctrine is the foundation and basis by which a division, or heresy, is recognized, identified, and determined to have taken place, and thus is what defines the denominational distinctions and lines of fellowship pertaining to churches.In the Thessalonian passage, they were tohave no company withanybody that did notobey our word by this epistle. It would be a blatant violation of scripture, and as Peter said in Acts 5:29, We ought to obey God rather than men. So, either the denominational line is wrong or the communion/fellowship is wrong. Now I praise you, brethren, that ye remember me in all things, and keep the ordinances, as I delivered them to you. The church I pastor is closed communion. the World, Love and Respect for the The young missionary who had planned the opening worship service announced we would have a foot-washing service where each missionary would wash another's feet. This is an unreasonable The practice and expectation of open communion is a very modern phenomenon without precedence The terms are used interchangeably. Close or closed Communion In the recent answer about fellowship and Communion (question was from an AALC member), the response included the words "closed communion." I am a lifelong WELS member, and have been taught that we observe "close" not closed communion. We see this vividly in the scriptural account of the first church community, for all who believed were together, and had all things in common (Ac. And yet again, the breaking of bread is mentioned, which indicates that communion is still consistently part of the context throughout this passage. Some believe it should consist only of farce. Indeed, there Cunningham resumes the study of the Articles of Faith of the Amarillo Primitive Baptist Church and considers the 11th Article of Faith. The Church is communion. These abuses also contributed to the invalidation of Whoever, therefore, has such preachers or suspects them to be such, let Therefore, doctrine determines who we are able to sit down with at the Lords Supper table in His church when we observe the communion service. K. Chesterton so aptly put it: What is the good of words if they aren't important enough to quarrel over? Criterion of Truth, How to Read the Holy Christians of other confessions are not excluded from Holy When it comes to closed communion, and one considers these six scriptural points and the sum of their parts, there is overwhelming Biblical evidence that supports this church practice in which Primitive Baptists have historically held to and continue to hold to. I. faith, and an imaginary Christ that will some day disappear from our imaginations altogether. communion is in fact required by biblical principles. The word avoid obviously does not mean to mistreat them, or to His teaching is particularly pertinent since it relates directly to the nature of the Eucharist itself. Because whatever Jesus did, we can rest assured that it was right and perfect and irrefutably good. Protestant denominations (Note: Certainly this scripture intends a spiritual continuing, but for the disciples and to a degree this also intends a very literal and physical continuing as well.). Another view is that communion should consist only of those of Doctrine is important and essential. It isn't hard to do The second closes the communion to all but Christians of like faith and order or those within their own denominational boundaries. The Old Covenant was no different in this respect. hypocritical in that it pretends a state of unity that does not exist, but it They all faltered in that regard. Discussions of such central issues as Eucharistic communion should never be decided by emotions, but with a Paul clearly states, when ye come togetherthis isnotto eat the Lords Supper. service with what he had said before. versa. The first opens the Lord's Table to all who are present and wish to partake. c. We only truly can be a part of that Kingdom though when we are submitting ourselves to God and following after his commandments. There is only the practice of Christianity with a church body. This leads us to the meaning of communion itself. 3)Participating in communion is a doctrinal statement, not just practical and symbolic.We as Primitive Baptists believe that there are two ordinances of the New Testament church of the Lord Jesus Christ: Water Baptism and the Lords Supper (communion). 5)Paul rebuked the Corinthian church for divisions that made void their communion service.In the previous section, I felt it necessary to establish the essentiality and importance of doctrine as it pertains to church practice and church fellowship. b. approved may be made manifest among you. This is the I leave you with one simple admonition from the Apostle Paul: Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. 1stThessalonians 5:21. The Scripture for our consideration was caused to be recorded by the Holy Spirit in St. Paul's 1st Letter to the Corinthians, the 11th chapter. They had to be reminded of His resurrection after the fact, and they were upbraided by Jesus for their unbelief. As stated in our articles of faith, we believe in the Divinely-inspired scriptures of both the Old and New Testaments and that they are theonlyrule of faith and practice within the Lords church. Taking the bread and breaking and distributing. And yet again, I cannot stress it enough, please notice theunityof faith and practice that they enjoyed. creations invented to put a positive spin on an old sin, e.g. certain activities, it cannot be the case in all activities. preaching is to lead these offenders to repentance, but we are commanded that The tradition is more than a set of intellectual beliefs. But it seems also to contain an inherent bias and implicit agenda much like other recent secular as an abstraction, nor in imagination but just as We are one (Jn. communion service. pleases you best by its paint and paneling.[11] Without this, my communion is ultimately with me, myself, While both groups confessed and practiced an identical faith, liturgical and sacramental practice with that of the whole Church, shared communion Thus, we conclude that the divisions and heresies among them were the cause of their communion service being rendered null and void. One that eats and drinks the Lords Supper but does not discern the Lords body is in danger of eating and drinking unworthily and eating and drinking damnation to ones self. In closing, I would like to make a few statements about denominations. c. Today, this message is still intended to that same audience. 3:6). calling "communion" is not in fact what the Bible means by communion. 11:28,29. And our decision must be made on conviction of truth After you default on the assessments, the COA or HOA may foreclose. communion prudent, it is a merciful and potentially lifesaving practice! The only time in scripture that we read about Jesus commanding such things asTake, eat; this is my bodyandDrink ye all of itin a communion-type setting is when He communed with Histwelve disciplesright before He went to pray in the Garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:17-30; Mark 14:12-26; Luke 22:7-20). distinct and unique Persons, they are one; not mathematically, but in a communion of persons. "The Case for Close Communion" - A Sermon Preached at Amarillo Primitive Baptist Church - June 23, 2013 - Amarillo PBC Elder J.W. Whatever His example is, we as Christians should undoubtedly follow and not question.Throughout the earthly ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, it was very common for Him to address, teach, and preach to multitudes of people of mixed backgrounds, beliefs, and moral character. Enter your email address to receive updates. I am capable of having union with my wife because I know where she begins and where she ends, both in body and soul. Proponents of close communion, on the other hand, argue that just as churches of "like faith and order" recognize each other's authority in baptism and discipline, they can similarly offer communion to a properly baptized member in good standing of a sister church. This does not mean that we are to look down upon, judge, be hateful towards, or mistreat those that differ from us doctrinally. But it is in the rooms, not in the hall, that there are fires and chairs and meals.
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