Frequency
of Communion
Rev. Robert Grossmann
Reformed Church in the U.
S.
[The
following is a letter from Rev. Grossmann that appeared on an RCUS forum on the
internet, January 8, 2001.
It has been edited very
slightly and is reprinted by permission.]
Dear Brothers,
The question about the frequency
of the Lord's Supper is one that should have been answered in both your systematic
course in Ecclesiology and your Church History course in Reformation.
Let me make a few points.
1. The fundamental principle of the
Reformed Reformation is Sola Scriptura, not "Sola Scriptura et
Sacramenta." The Reformed,
beginning already with Zwingli, reformed worship by replacing a sacrament
centered worship service with a word centered worship service because they
realized that the purpose of worship is the glory of God and not primarily the
salvation of man. In God's wisdom, the preaching of the word also leads to the
salvation of man but those who worship for what "we can get out of
it," are missing the Reformed boat.
The reading and preaching of the
word is the center of worship because in it we properly submit our hearts to
the sovereign promises and commandments of God. The word is necessary to
worship, the sacraments are not. Even Luther said, "Without the word, the
sacraments are empty ceremonies.” Therefore baptism is to be administered as
needed, and the Lord's Supper as an occasional confirmation of the word, but
not as an equal with it.
2. This use agrees with the fact
that the Bible holds the sacraments to be secondary, that is inferior means of
grace. In the same way that Abraham was
saved by faith received through the word and Spirit BEFORE he was circumcised,
thus making circumcision a confirming but not primary means of grace (Rom.
4:10, etc.) so Paul says, "Christ sent me NOT to baptize but to preach the
gospel....lest the cross of Christ should become of no effect" (1 Cor.
1:17). It is wrong to elevate a secondary means of grace to equality with the
primary means of grace, "faith comes by hearing and hearing comes by the
word of God." Compare the frequent and terrific emphasis on the word of
God as the source of faith, the test of truth, etc., etc., compared to the very
few and far less emphatic teaching about the necessity of the sacraments in the
NT.
This is not by chance.
3. Biblical theologically, if
the Lord's Supper replaces the Passover, which it does, why would the Passover
be celebrated once a year and the Lord's Supper half a hundred times?
4. Why would Christ celebrate
the Supper only once in three years of ministry if He wanted his disciples to
celebrate it in a weekly fashion? He is certainly a poor example for His
disciples on this issue if the weekly boys are right.
5. How can Paul give full
regulation for the New Testament worship service in 1Cor. 14, giving great
emphasis to preaching the word in the common tongue, etc., etc., and never
mention the Supper if it is to be a part of every worship service?
6. It is the specifically
Lutheran reformation that began with the issue of man's salvation and
eventually through that saw sola scriptura. Being primarily interested in man's
salvation rather than God's glory, Lutheranism hung on to the Roman practice of
weekly communion. Since to them salvation is communicated through the sacrament
as much as through the word, as Luther again said (the Lutheran church after
the 1577 Formula of Concord has never been the same as the one Luther started),
"when the cups become golden the preachers become wooden." He thus
predicted what would become the Achilles heal of the Lutheran churches.
7. The shrug of the shoulders,
saying, "because we always did it that way," betrays either an
ignorance or ignoring of church history. (Its too bad in my eyes that so little
of the really practical teaching of the Reformers, etc., is taught in Church
history classes today, so I cannot blame some of you for not knowing these
things but better information is important.) The fact is that literally
thousands of dedicated Reformed and Presbyterian divines and hundreds of synods
in Switzerland, Germany, Holland and Scotland, all of whom were great students
and followers of Calvin, came to the conclusion that he was wrong about the
frequency of the Supper. Calvin was not successful in Strassbourg or Geneva in
convincing his peers, including men like Martin Bucer in Strassbourg who was
leader of the Reformation there when Calvin worked among the ministers, that he
was right. The fact of the matter is that for the reasons mentioned above, and
a number of others, our dear Father and Mentor was wrong. This does not lessen
his value to all of us, but removes him from the pedestal he himself would have
abhorred. Nor did Calvin INSIST of weekly communion, he wanted it, but did not
resign when he did not get it.
8. Michael Horton's article in the
Mid-America Journal of Theology is very ill advised on many of these issues. It
doesn't even deal with primacy of Scripture as a means of grace, much less
answer it. I think the brothers there were somewhat remiss in publishing it
without some critical comment, but even so, we should all be able to read these
things and deal with them critically, instead of swallowing a few camels and
then throwing out the baby with the bathwater.
9. The fact is that the Bible
does NOT teach that the early church observed the Supper weekly. That is simple
speculation. Saying, for
example, as Luke does in Acts 20 that the church observed the Supper on the 1st
day of the week, says only that. It simply does not say that it was the first
day of EVERY week. Other points of exegesis could be made. For example, in Acts
2 the breaking of bread is most likely the use of hospitality for fellowship as
a few verses after 42 it is said, "breaking bread from house to
house." Nevertheless, even were it the Supper that is in view, as it most
likely is in Acts 20, there is not a hint of how often it was done.
Well, it's past my bed time
again, so Good Night, and God Bless. Bob Grossmann.
For reprints write:
Trinity Covenant Church
Reformed Church in the U. S.
6050 Del Paz Drive
Colorado Springs, Co. 80918
719-590-1477
Email:
mailto:budpow@ureach.com?subject=Frequent
Communion