What Mean Ye?
5. The Promise Fulfilled: Passover Replaced
We may now approach the New Testament meal of the Lord's Supper with an Old Testament
understanding of the Passover. If our model (hypothesis) regarding the Passover is
correct, then we should expect to find certain features surrounding it in the New
Testament. Additionally, we would be surprised (based on our model) if we found certain
other features incorporated.
For instance, on the basis of Deuteronomy 16:2, we would expect to see participants
(covenantal adult males) going to Jerusalem to keep the Passover. Additionally, on the
basis of our understanding of Exodus 12:26-27, we would expect to see the children of the
participants involved in catechism. Moreover, based on Exodus 12:3-4 and 12:21, we would
expect to see a counting of adult males (a.k.a. "men") taking place around the
time of the Passover. Finally, based on Numbers 9:1-6 and II Chronicles 30:8, we would
expect to see an increased awareness and concern over ceremonial cleanness.
On the other hand, if our understanding of Scripture is correct, we would be surprised to
find women partaking of the Passover meal. Additionally, our model would be falsified if
we found children partaking of the Passover apart from catechetical activity. We would
have cause to suspect our hypothesis if we saw the Passover taking place outside
Jerusalem. Finally, if there were little or no concern over ceremonial cleanness on the
part of Passover participants we would be required to find a reason for the lack of
concern. So then, let us take a look at the New Testament based on our model and see if
our hypothesis accounts for the facts that we find there.
We are told very little in Scripture about the childhood of Jesus. However, the one
incident that the Holy Spirit has chosen to tell us, in Luke 2:40 ff., regards the
Passover and Christ as a child. In this account we see at least two of the features
associated with the Passover that we would expect to find. We see both a
"pilgrimage" to Jerusalem on the part of Passover participants and catechism of
children being associated with the meal.
At this point in His life, Jesus was no longer a young child, but was about twelve years
old (vv. 40, 42). It was obvious that the grace of God was upon Him. That is, He was no
longer a child so young that He could not discern between good and evil (v. 40). His
parents went up to the feast of the Passover every year, but it is recorded that Jesus
went up to the Passover at Jerusalem when He was twelve (vv. 41-42).
There is no evidence whatsoever in this passage that Christ Himself partook of the
Passover at the age of twelve. Luke records the fact that He went up to Jerusalem and that
His parents first missed Him when they were some distance from Jerusalem during their trip
home (vv. 44-45). Even if it were the case that Jesus actually partook of the Passover at
the age of twelve, the passage clearly tells us that previous to going up to Jerusalem at
the age of twelve, He had already "waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and
the grace of God was upon him." This was no infant at the Passover; not even the
infant Savior.
When Joseph and Mary finally found Christ after three days, He was involved in what we
would today call a catechism class (vv. 46-47). Christ was both hearing and answering
questions from the doctors in verse 46. More than that, He astonished His hearers by
posing questions and indicating His understanding of the answers to both His
questions and the doctors'. Here we have an excellent example of what our Larger
Catechism calls "years and ability to discern the Lord's body" (Larger
Catechism, # 177). Christ had reached an age at which it was apparent to all who knew
Him that the grace of God was upon Him. At that time, He went to Jerusalem and there He
demonstrated by questions and answers His ability to understand what the Passover
entailed.
Luke concludes this incident in the life of Christ with the information that the child
Jesus continued subject to His parents. He continued to grow in wisdom. He did not simply
begin to grow in grace and wisdom and favor at that time. The wisdom had obviously been
there previously, both before going to Jerusalem and while in Jerusalem. We can therefore
say that in the case of our Savior, His first Passover meal was eaten after He had shown
both years and ability. Our model caused us to expect that in the case of children being
admitted to the Passover we would see prior or contemporary catechetical instruction. That
is precisely what we find in the New Testament, even in the case of our Lord.
Our model requires us to expect more than pilgrimages and catechism, however. Our model
additionally requires that there would be a counting near the Passover, and that it would
specifically be a counting of adult males (men). For an examination of that aspect, we
must turn to some parallel passages in the New Testament: John 6:1-13 together with
Matthew 14:15-21, Mark 6:30-44, and Luke 9:12-17. These are definitely parallel passages,
because in each we find 5,000 men, five loaves, two fishes and twelve baskets full of
fragments.
Many paedocommunionists make the claim that the count that was commanded in Exodus 12 was
to include the entire family and that the entire family, including women and children, was
to partake of the Passover with the adult males. They produce as evidence for this the
fact that everyone ate the manna in the wilderness and that Elkanah's family partook of
the offering in I Samuel chapter one.
But if paedocommunionists want to know how the counting for lambs worked, the best and
irrefutable way to do it would be to find an example in Scripture of that very counting
taking place, and not to resort to the eating of manna or bullocks. Does Scripture contain
such an example? If the paedocommunionist cannot produce an example from Scripture of
either infants or young children taking part in the Passover or the Lord's Supper, then he
has no argument. But he claims that the counting that is to take place for the lambs is
precisely that example. If we show that the counting that took place was of men only and
not of entire families regardless of age or sex, then the paedocommunionist has no further
argument.
John tells us in John 6:4 that the Passover was near. John apparently included this
information to let us know why such a large company was following the Lord on this
occasion. Because it was near the Passover, we can understand why such a large crowd would
be walking through the Galilean wilderness. They were on their way to Jerusalem; and they
had a count of the number of men in the party. We do not have scriptural information on
the age of the lad in the party who gave his lunch to Andrew, but from Luke 2:40 ff. we
can surmise that he was at least twelve years old. The Greek word that is translated
"lad" in John 6:9 is paidavrion which, according to
Bauer's Greek-English Lexicon, means "a youth who is no longer a child"
or "a young slave."
In John 6:10, the disciples (i.e., the apostles) made the men sit down on the
grass; and we are told that the men numbered about five thousand. The disciples then
distributed fish and barley loaves to them that were set down (v. 11). After
gathering up twelve baskets full of fragments, the passage tells us, "then those men,
when they had seen . . . " (v. 14). The parallel passage in Matthew is even clearer,
for in Matthew 14:21 we read, "And they that had eaten were about five thousand men, beside
women and children." It is very clear that the count was of men only (not
because this was Passover, but because Passover was nigh).
The word used in Matthew 14:21 is often made to read besides, as though the men
were in addition to women and children who were also present but uncounted. Although that
alone would be sufficient to prove that the counting for the lambs was a counting of men
only, the underlying Greek is even more devastating to the paedocommunionist's view. The
Greek of v. 21 is chôris gunaikon, i.e. chôris
plus genitive. The primary meaning of chôris plus genitive is
"separated from someone, far from someone, without someone" (e.g. I Corinthians
11:11, which reads, "Nevertheless neither is the man without the woman,
neither the woman without the man, in the Lord" [emphasis added]). Note also
that the cognates of this preposition have similar meanings. The verb means
"divide" or "separate" and the noun, chôrismos, means
"a division." So Matthew 14:21 at least teaches that the men (only) were
numbered for the Passover feast.
Mark 6:44 seems also to bear this out, for Mark informs us "they that did eat of the
loaves were about five thousand men." Period! Also Luke 9:13-14 says that "all
this people" consisted of "about five thousand men." The only gospel that
mentions women and children insists that the men were apart from them with the Passover
nigh (Matthew 14:21; cf. John 6:4).
A further confirmation of our Old Testament model is found in the concern, particularly
just prior to Passover, on the part of many people in the New Testament. During the last
week of Christ's earthly ministry, for example, He referred to the Pharisees as
"whited sepulchres." Alfred Edersheim, in his book The Temple: Its Ministry
and Services as They Were at the Time of Christ, explains the background for this
(pp. 216-217).
"In general, cemeteries were outside the cities; but any dead body found in the field
was (according to an ordinance which tradition traces up to Joshua) to be buried on the
spot where it had been discovered. Now, as the festive pilgrims [to the Passover] might
have contracted `uncleanness' by unwitting contact with such graves, it was ordered that
all `sepulchres' should be `whitened' a month before the Passover. It was, therefore,
evidently in reference to what He actually saw going on around Him at the time He spoke,
that Jesus compared the Pharisees `unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful
outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.'"
Similar examples are found throughout the gospels, but particularly in John, of meticulous
attention to the details of ceremonial or Levitical cleanness at the time of the Passover.
In John 11:55, many of the Jews of that day "went out of the country up to Jerusalem
before the Passover, to purify themselves." We are told that when the Chief Priests
took Jesus to Pilate, "they themselves went not into the judgment hall, lest they
should be defiled; but that they might eat the Passover" (John 18:28b). This
purification, or preparation, continued through the entirety of the week of the feast of
unleavened bread. In fact, that entire week was known as Passover at that time because the
commencement of it was the Passover day. John chapter nineteen affords several examples of
the attention to this preparation or purification (see John 19:14, 31, 42).
We find in the New Testament, then, exactly what our model or hypothesis would suggest,
viz., meticulous attention to the details of Levitical cleanness at the time of the
Passover. The tragic part of this detailed attention on the part of the Pharisees is that
they had great concern over the typical but not for what was being represented by the
types. Their concern, in other words, was only for the outward ceremonies and not for the
inward heart relationship toward God that was required by II Chronicles 30:6-8.
The Pharisees, Chief Priests and Scribes had perverted the meaning and intent of God's
law. That should come as no surprise, because they had also perverted the meaning of the
Sabbath (Matthew 12:2, 7; John 5:16, 18; 7:23-24), honoring father and mother (Matthew
15:4-9; Mark 7:8-13) and the righteousness of the law in general (Matthew 5:20; 20:18;
etc.). But the fact that the Pharisees perverted God's law should not cause us to lose
sight of the fact that God's law enjoined the Jews to examine themselves and to discern
the proper applications of God's law. This is a requirement that was placed only on adult
males at the sacrament of the Passover (Deuteronomy 16:2, 16-17). With the advent of
Christ, we no longer have priests to examine us with respect to God's law (cf. Numbers
9:1-13), but are required to examine ourselves. This should shed some additional light on
Paul's intention in I Corinthians 11:27-30 when we come to that place in Scripture.
We come now to the actual institution of the Lord's Supper by Christ. Significantly, the
institution of the sacrament of the Lord's Supper took place at Christ's last Passover. In
becoming our Passover the next day (I Corinthians 5:7; 11:23 ff.), Christ additionally
abrogated the Passover together with all the Old Testament ceremonial feasts (Hebrews
8:4-5; Colossians 2:14-17; cf. Westminster Confession 19:3).
Luke identifies the feast of unleavened bread with the Passover in Luke 22:1, "Now
the feast of unleavened bread drew nigh, which is called the Passover." The original
institution of the Passover included not only the actual Passover meal, but an entire week
of eating no leaven (see Exodus 12:15-17 and Leviticus 23:5-8). This will become evident
when we examine Paul's injunction in I Corinthians 5:7 to "purge out the old
leaven."
In Luke 22:7 we read that "the day of unleavened bread" is identical to the day
in which the "Passover must be killed." Luke goes on in verse 13 to inform us
that after finding an appropriate place within the city of Jerusalem "they made ready
the Passover." Christ then proceeded at that very Passover meal to institute the
Lord's Supper in verses 19-20.
At this meal we see precisely what our Old Testament model led us to expect. Although
Christ had shown supreme love for His female disciples and for children during His earthly
ministry, at this Passover meal only adult males were invited. The meal did not take place
in His hometown of Nazareth nor in His adopted hometown of Capernaum, nor even in His
birthplace of Bethlehem, but in Jerusalem within sight of the temple.
At this point we know from scriptural testimony that at least Peter was married, for
Matthew 8:14-15 refers to his mother-in-law. But not only are no children present, there
are no wives present either. We would additionally expect from Exodus 12:45 that no
servants would be present, and we learn from John 13:4 ff. that such was the case.
Moreover, the Passover was to be an evening meal, and we learn from Matthew 26:20 that
"when even was come, He sat down with the twelve."
We should additionally expect a count of adult males for the meal. Matthew 26:20 informs
us that "He sat down with the twelve." Mark 14:17 tells us "And in
the evening He cometh with the twelve." Luke 22:14 refers to the fact that "He
sat down and the twelve apostles with Him."
There was a heightened concern also on the part of Christ and His apostles over ceremonial
cleanness as represented by the purging of leaven from the entire dwelling in which the
meal took place. Matthew 26:17 clearly indicates that the preparation for Passover
involved more than simply buying the provisions. The disciples came to Jesus on the first
day of the feast of unleavened bread and asked, "Where wilt thou that we prepare
for Thee to eat the Passover?" If we had no Old Testament background for this
question, we might suppose that the disciples were merely asking Christ where they should
rent a room. But we know that as part of the preparation for Passover, Exodus 12:15
commanded, "even the first day [of the feast of unleavened bread] ye shall put away
leaven out of your houses."
The ancient Israelites were commanded not to eat any leaven for the entire period of the
feast. But more than that, they were required to purge out the leaven from their houses on
the first day of the feast. This typified their responsibility to remain pure during their
entire lives, but especially during Passover week (Leviticus 2:4-5, 11; cf. Matthew 16:6,
11-12). This, of course, is also typified by the required Levitical cleanness of Numbers
9:1-13.
So at the final Passover and first Lord's Supper we have found exactly what our model
demanded that we find. There was a counting of adult males only, household servants were
not present, no women or children were present, there was a heightened concern over
ceremonial cleanness and it was eaten on the first day of the feast of unleavened bread,
during the evening meal.
Someone might object at this point that this could not have been Passover because John
18:28 tells us that the servants of the high priest had not yet eaten the Passover.
Furthermore, it was still the "preparation of the Passover" when Pilate
delivered Christ for crucifixion (John 19:14 ff.). Also, John 19:31 and 42 inform us that
it was still the "Jews' preparation day" when Jesus died and was laid in His
sepulchre. All of these events took place after Christ had instituted the Lord's Supper,
so if it was still the "preparation," surely the Lord's Supper was not
instituted during the Passover meal.
The difficulty with leaning so heavily on John's testimony taken alone is that the
synoptic gospels are unanimous in their claim that the supper was, in fact, the Passover
meal. The difficulty, in other words, does not lie in harmonizing all four gospels, but
only in harmonizing John's gospel with the other three. Specifically, John 13:29; 18:28;
19:14; 19:31 and 19:42 seem to indicate that the Passover meal was still future right up
to the time of Christ's entombment. But this objection misses the importance of Luke 22:1,
in which the entire feast of unleavened bread is called the Passover.
Luke, though possibly a Gentile convert himself, is following Old Testament usage by
referring to the entire seven-day festival as Passover. Deuteronomy 16:2-3 speaks of
sacrificing the Passover and "seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread
therewith." When the Passover was eaten in the days of King Josiah, it again was kept
for seven days, as it had been in the days of Hezekiah (II Chronicles 35:17; 30:21).
The "preparation of the Passover," then, could be referring to the remainder or
some part of the remainder of the feast of unleavened bread. According to Alfred
Edersheim, in the work cited earlier, a special Chagigah was offered on the day
after Passover. "It is this second Chagigah which the Jews were afraid they
might be unable to eat, if they contracted defilement in the judgment-hall of Pilate"
(p. 218). This would also explain that the feast mentioned in John 13:29 is not merely the
Passover meal, but the entire feast of unleavened bread (Exodus 12:15-17; Leviticus
23:6-8; etc.).
We have learned previously that the Passover and subsequent feast of unleavened bread
required a detailed knowledge of God's law. The participants were to "examine
themselves" for conformity to the law and to refrain from eating if they were in any
way ceremonially defiled. Although the Pharisees had polluted this requirement with their
own leaven, or impure doctrine, nevertheless they still had respect to the letter of God's
requirement. Paul has not added a new requirement of self-examination to the Old Testament
sacrament, but has stated the Old Testament principle in New Testament terms.
Anti-paedocommunionists today do not, properly speaking, add a requirement to the New
Testament sacrament which was not present already for the people of God in the Old
Testament. Westminster Confessional Presbyterians do not narrow the covenant of grace as
do anti-paedobaptists. The infants of the Church enjoy all the privileges of the covenant
under the new economy that they did under the old. As they were circumcised, so are they
baptized. As they were taught to examine themselves and then confirmed by catechism before
partaking of Passover, so are they before partaking of the Lord's Supper.
This brings us finally to Paul's interpretation of Passover in light of the death and
resurrection of Christ. The paedocommunionists are correct when they say that Paul gives
no separate instructions for children. What they fail to observe is that the reason no
separate instructions are needed is that the children never rightfully partook of the
Passover. Without so much as a single example of children partaking of Passover apart from
catechism in either the Old Testament or Gospels, we should not expect Paul to repeat the
requirement that children are to ask meaningful questions and receive understandable
answers. Rather, what we should expect is an explanation from Paul of the spiritual
significance of the Passover (II Corinthians 3:6). Such is just what we find in the three
places in I Corinthians in which Paul treats of the Passover and Lord's Supper.
As we have learned, Passover was the first day of the feast of unleavened bread (Exodus
12:15-17; Leviticus 23:6-8; John 13:29; etc.). We saw that the Israelites were to refrain
from eating leaven, but also that they were required to "put away leaven out of your
houses." Furthermore, we saw that the Old Testament meal offering was without leaven
(Leviticus 2:11; 6:17; etc.). Leaven is obviously typical of something beyond itself.
Numbers 9:1-13 taught us that any sort of Levitical uncleanness would disqualify even a
circumcised adult male from keeping Passover. The men who approached Moses and Aaron in
Numbers 9 were apparently aware of their state of ceremonial uncleanness (Numbers 5:2) and
thus they asked, "Wherefore are we kept back" from the Passover? The question is
a legitimate one in those circumstances. Exactly one year earlier the men of Israel had
been commanded to slay the Passover, "and this day shall be unto you for a memorial;
and ye shall keep it a feast to the Lord throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a
feast by an ordinance forever" (Exodus 12:14; cf. vv. 17, 24, 42; 13:10). Now a
second time God commanded Israel to keep the Passover "in his appointed season:
according to all the rites of it, and according to all the ceremonies thereof, shall ye
keep it" (Numbers 9:4).
These men desired to offer an offering to the Lord, but were unqualified to do so. Their
awareness of their condition in light of God's law prevented them from partaking of
Passover at that time. The spiritual significance of a people sanctified to the
Lord was to be maintained. Just as there was a spiritual significance to purging out the
leaven from their houses, so was there a spiritual significance to each man examining
himself in light of God's law.
Both Christ and Paul speak in the New Testament of the true spiritual significance of
leaven. Christ warns us of the leaven of false doctrine (Matthew 16:6) and Paul warns us
of the leaven of a defective life (I Corinthians 5:6-8). These two cannot be separated,
for the Scriptures principally teach "what man is to believe concerning God and what
duty God requires of man" (Shorter Catechism, # 3, emphasis added).
Paul used the illustration of the Passover to insist that the Church is to discipline
those whose lives continue out of accord with the teaching of God's law.
Paul asked the Corinthian Church in I Corinthians 5:6, "Know ye not that a little
leaven leaveneth the whole lump?" All leaven is dangerous, Paul insisted. Even one
fornicator in the Church will corrupt the entire Church, just as a little leaven in the
house disqualified the ancient Israelite from the feast. The command that Paul then gives
us is not a new command, but the obvious application of Exodus 12:15 and Leviticus 2:11.
Purge out the leaven and keep the feast! But notice that the unleavened bread of our lives
is "sincerity and truth." Sincerity is here used for pure motives, as it is in
II Corinthians 2:17. We saw the importance of pure motives in offering sacrifices when we
looked at the offerings of Cain and Abel. We saw that one of the things that made the
offering of Abel acceptable to God was that it was offered from pure motives. Now here,
Paul insists that the Lord's Supper must also be celebrated with the unleavened bread of
sincerity or purity of motive. This is an obviously adult requirement, even as it was in
the case of Abel's sacrifice.
The word for "truth" is also a term that implies rationality at least to the
extent necessary to discern the true from the false. Paul in verse 8 insists that the
feast of unleavened bread was and still is to be observed with the adult-like qualities of
pure godly motivation and the discernment to know truth from error. If it should be
objected at this point that Paul applies sincerity and truth only to adult participants,
then we must once again remind the reader that any children present at the Passover were
to ask, "What mean ye by this service?"
Any children present at the service were required to be sufficiently rational to ask and,
we suppose, understand the meaning of the service. But Paul additionally informs
us that the meaning of unleavened bread has to do with motives and discernment. Here then
we see the reason for children being held back until such time as they demonstrate
sufficient lucidity to inquire into the actual meaning of the ordinance. The men in
Numbers 9:1-13 were held back because after examining themselves in light of God's law,
they found themselves unclean. They had the years and ability to make that discernment.
Paul declared in I Corinthians 5:8 that all who keep the feast must do so with pure
motives and discernment.
Paul makes his next reference to the Lord's Supper (table) in I Corinthians 10. He
introduces his subject with the reminder, "I speak as to wise men; judge ye what I
say" (v. 15). He begins his reference to the table by speaking of the cup of
blessing. This was the third cup of wine at the "Permanent" Passover. Remember
that the Passover usually was accompanied by four cups of wine; hardly a beverage or
quantity fitting for infants. Although it is not mentioned in Exodus 12, the wine was an
integral part of the meal as seen from the institution of the Lord's Supper and from
Paul's reference to it here in I Corinthians 10:16. The implication is unmistakable that
wine is part and parcel of the Lord's Supper and furthermore that in drinking it we also
bless it. This matter of "blessing" is also important for our discussion.
The term "we bless" is present indicative active of the verb eulogeô,
"speak well of." The Lord's Supper, in other words, requires rational speech on
the part of the participant. This is precisely the sort of rational speech used in the
catechetical exercise required in Exodus 12:26-27. When children finally became old enough
to take a catechetical role in the Passover, they were required to ask, "What mean ye
by this service?" They did not simply ask what their fathers were doing. That would
be obvious enough. Rather, they asked about the spiritual significance of what they saw
their fathers doing. Then, as the fathers answered that it was the sacrifice of the Lord's
Passover, the people would bow their heads and worship (or "speak well of" or
"bless") the Lord Himself (Exodus 12:27). It is also the rational speech in
which our Savior was engaged in Luke 2:47 where "all that heard Him were astonished
at His understanding and answers" [emphasis added], at the age of twelve.
Therefore, when the apostle Paul provides instruction respecting the Lord's Supper, it is
unnecessary for him to state that infants are not participants; rather, he presupposes
that they are not.
We come finally to the passage to which anti-paedocommunionists usually and naturally
refer first. "Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the
Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine
himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and
drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's
body. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. For if we would
judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the
Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world" (I Corinthians 11:27-32).
It was a general principle of Old Testament Levitical cleanness that the unclean person
was to be examined and then undergo whatever ritual was appropriate for his cleansing.
This was so much a part of the Old Testament economy that God told Israel through Moses
and Aaron, "But the man that shall be unclean, and shall not purify himself, that
soul shall be cut off from among the congregation, because he hath defiled the sanctuary
of the Lord" (Numbers 19:20).
For example, a suspected leper was brought to the priest for examination. This was not
because the priest was a doctor, but because the priest was expected to know the details
of the law of God sufficiently to be able to examine and verify a case of leprosy.
"When a man shall have in the skin of his flesh a rising . . . then he shall be
brought unto Aaron the priest, or unto one of his sons the priests . . . then the priest
shall pronounce him unclean: it is a leprosy" (Leviticus 13:2, 8).
There are no longer specific persons set aside as priests in the New Testament. Instead,
each professor is a priest unto God (I Peter 2:9). Along with this privilege comes the
responsibility of knowing the law sufficiently to be able to examine oneself. The laws
regarding leprosy have passed with the passing of the ceremonial law, but the weightier
matters of God's moral law remain (Westminster Confession, ch. 19). The partakers
of the Lord's Supper are now responsible before God to "examine themselves of their
knowledge to discern the Lord's body, of their faith to feed upon Him, of their
repentance, love, and new obedience; lest coming unworthily, they eat and drink judgment
to themselves" (Shorter Catechism, # 97).
Paul requires the same thing of the partaker of the Lord's Supper that was required of the
partaker of the Passover in the Old Testament. There are some differences, obviously,
between the Old Testament sacrament and the New Testament sacrament. But the spiritual
aspects of the meals are the same and Paul insists throughout the book of First
Corinthians that those spiritual aspects be acknowledged. This is not an ordinary meal,
but a sacramental meal which points beyond itself. Paul requires that we understand that
there is a spiritual significance to the meal and that we be able to understand what the
spiritual significance is.
Just as the unrepentant were disqualified from the Passover, they are also disqualified
from the Lord's Supper. Just as the uncircumcised were disqualified from the Passover, the
unbaptized are disqualified from the Lord's Supper. Just as the uncatechized were
disqualified from the Passover, they are also disqualified from the Lord's Supper.
Partakers must be able to examine themselves and in order to do that they must have a
reasonable understanding of God's law.
In the Old Testament, a priest was required for the examination due to his specialized
knowledge of the law of God. Today we are to examine ourselves by the same standard. Such
examination presupposes a knowledge of the law and the ability to apply it properly. In
short, it requires previous catechetical instruction.
This should not be used as a discouragement to the young children in the church. Rather,
it should be an encouragement to them to learn and properly apply the means that God has
given for holy living. "But the man that is clean, and is not in a journey, and
forbeareth to keep the Passover, even the same soul shall be cut off from among his
people: because he brought not the offering of the Lord in his appointed season,
that man shall bear his sin" (Numbers 9:13). It is not simply desirable to partake of
the sacrament, it is as important as is baptism (Genesis 17:14). Avoiding the sacramental
meal does not avoid judgment.
Our children should be encouraged to partake in their appointed season. When the child has
learned enough to make a good confession he should fear God and partake of the meal. But
how does a session know that the child is truly confirmed in the faith (the session does
not confirm, but acknowledges the confirmation of the child)? The answer is that the child
must exhibit an understanding of what it is to partake of the sacrament worthily. To the
parents of such children, this means catechize, catechize, catechize your children. To the
children of the Church this means catechize, catechize, diligently catechize and ask until
you understand the answer to the question, "What mean ye by this
service?"
On the basis of the Shorter Catechism (# 97), just as adults in the church do,
the children should continue to ask themselves these four questions:
(1) Am I a believer?
(2) Do I judge my actions by God's law?
(3) Do I love God and my neighbor?
(4) Am I dealing with the sin that God has revealed?
These are the issues of life and it is to these very issues that the Lord's Supper calls
each of us: "It is required of them that would worthily partake of the Lord's Supper,
that they examine themselves of their knowledge to discern the Lord's body, of their faith
to feed upon him, of their repentance, love, and new obedience; lest, coming unworthily,
they eat and drink judgment to themselves" (Shorter Catechism, # 97).
Page Last Updated: 01/10/08 02:17:14 PM