Even though a great deal of historic Reformed theology was written in English, our native language, we do have to take care to note certain changes in the meanings of some words.
When it comes to the Lord’s Supper, the great theologian John Owen said that Christ was exhibited in it. That same word is used with regard to the baptism in the Westminster Confession, where it says that in baptism the grace promised is “not only offered, but really exhibited, and conferred, by the Holy Ghost” (WCF 28.6).
If you go to an exhibition at a modern museum, you are going to look at something behind a velvet rope. You go to an exhibition in order to see things, and then to go home. But in the seventeenth century, to exhibit meant something much stronger. To exhibit meant to hold something out in order that it might be received.
It is in this older sense that Christ is exhibited here at the Table. He is offered, He is conferred, He is extended to you. Part of that exhibition is found in the fact that the bread and wine are visible, but this offer goes far beyond the fact—true enough as far as it goes—that this sacrament is a visible Word. It is a visible Word, but when you sit down at your ordinary meals you do not dwell on the fact that your food is visible. It is visible, but, being food, it is also edible. The fact that it is visible helps you to find it, but it is not how you use it. The Lord says take and eat, not watch and think.
So this is the edible Word, and it is the exhibited Word. So God exhibits Himself so that you might receive Him in the person of His Son. What is the spiritual member you have that enables you to receive Him so exhibited? That member, that grace, that kindness is living and evangelical faith.
So come, and welcome, to Jesus Christ.
I appreciate the emphasis on Christ being exhibited, but the Lord’s Table isn’t “come and welcome” so much as “come and die.” It is an invitation to legal witness, to martyrdom, a testimony which begins in the partaking. Only the representatives of the people ascended Sinai in Ex. 24 to dine with Yahweh, and yet all were included in the worship. If this faith is to be truly evangelical, it must begin with the hearing of the Gospel and a response to it. Otherwise the sacraments are rival Gospels. It is telling that Owen and the WCF have to be… Read more »
Mike, the sacraments are gospels.
No they aren’t. Sinners voluntarily repenting, submitting to baptism and examining their hearts before participating symbolically in the sufferings of Christ are Gospels – living epistles. This is the New Covenant. The sacrifices are people.
And allowing infants to participate is quite a different Gospel, a Judaized one that’s all about seed. Jesus took that into the grave. Let’s leave it there.
Mike, once a person has been baptized by the Spirit, they should be baptized here.
We don’t “allow” this, we ask “What should prevent this?!”
Yep, I agree wholeheartedly with that statement. But the bread and wine do not exhibit Christ. It is the voluntary act of filling up His sufferings which exhibit Christ. The first fruit of the Spirit in the Scriptures is legal testimony, and a desire to be baptized. Perhaps the baptizand should be the one saying “What should prevent this?” rather than you. “What should prevent my infant from being baptised?” Well nothing. Except the Scriptures, where the qualifications and purpose are clear: legal representation of Christ, unto death. “What should prevent a male from marrying another male?” Well nothing. Except… Read more »
Mike — the audience in this play is the Church and all the world.
The lead characters tell the audience: come & eat.
The audience becomes the characters.
The Word is a main character spoken to the audience, which is Church & world.
It also becomes our food.
Distasteful to the world, true — but eat they must.
The audience becomes the characters.
In Mike Bull’s scheme — the audience writes the play.
They choose whether to play their parts or be left out.
That’s a really confusing analogy. Mine is better: baptism is knighthood and communion is the round table – legal representation and accountability, for those who share the mind of Christ and are thus qualified to be His ambassadors.
Sacramentalism is evidence of how deceitful the human heart is. It depersonalises Jesus and turns Him into a commodity, or worse, baby food.
Mike — whilst you’re going all Lancelot on us, do send the kiddos over for din-din.
We’ve got what they need.
The problem with you guys is you don’t know the difference between *your* dinner table and God’s. It’s the difference between Exodus 12 and Exodus 24, and it’s enormous.
Our kids don’t need to be told they are Christians by birth, or some magical rite. If you have to coerce someone to be baptised or to come to the table, it’s not the “If you want to follow me…” table of Jesus. It’s your own invention. It’s just bread and wine. Jesus’ table is for those willing to be broken and poured out.
And my knighthood analogy is only necessary because it cuts through all the unbiblical stuff you guys think of when somebody says “baptism.” You’ve redefined it and turned it into something else entirely, something which does not represent the Gospel at all, which is hear, repent, believe, and follow.
We see a child baptized in heaven, so we celebrate it here.
Only the sons of God appear before God, not the sons of men. Where exactly do you see a child baptized in heaven? I see a full grown man who humbled Himself in baptism, then death, and was only then exalted.
Do you mean the kingdom of heaven belongs to our babies? (Luke 18:15-17)
We are the babies.
We can’t get in by means of the old “adult” manishness.
We have to be born again — as completely dependent babies.
Babyhood is the only state through which we squeeze into heaven.
Of course, babies are made to grow.
So in heaven, and hopefully somewhat here, we’ll grow up.
“Follow me” – not “if you want”
Mark 8:34 says want or wish. The point is that Jesus puts the ball in our court. Baptism is the public testimony of the first step of obedience.
Mike — with the RC’ers, you see baptism & communion as something WE initiate, rather than receiving these as gifts He gives.
We see that this child or that adult was baptized in heaven, and so she or he is given to us as a gift to the church.
So we baptize her here below in reflection of that heavenly reality.
We see all us folks nourished & communing with Him in the surrounding heavenly reality.
So we remember & celebrate here.
So, are you saying the children of believers go to Hell if they die before an age at which they can profess faith? Answer, please.
The Supper-eaters Show forth the Lord’s death until He come. Do the children of believers have part in his death? If so, do we show that part?
I agree that Ex 24 feeds into the Lord’s Supper, but the NT text emphasizes Passover. Somewhere in this link (“Feed God’s babies”) I speculate on why a meal with 12 replaced a meal with 70 + 4: https://andrewlohr.wordpress.com/2013/02/01/infant-communion-paedocommunion-feed-gods-babies/
Hi Andrew The New Covenant isn’t about our children. It’s about God’s children. We have no guarantees about the salvation of infants unborn or born, and neither did Israel. But our God is merciful. We have been told to preach the Gospel to our kids, not count the chickens before they hatch. Supper eaters? See above. Also see who ate on Sinai in Exodus 24. The Lord’s supper occurred after the Passover meal, and made it redundant. It also made the disciples into sacrificial lambs. The 70 elders relate to the 70 nations in Genesis 10, and the four would… Read more »