Covenanter Witness Vol. 55 - Rparchives.org

sacrament."scandalous,"saved."authority"argument"practice."communion,"communion,"Is Close Communion Scriptural?"The Reformed Presbyterian standard of admission to the sacrament is that commonly referred toas "Close Communion.' "Synod's Committee, to which was referred thepaper from the Santa Ana Session re the Scripturalrequirements for admission to the Lord's Supper,brought in a report which was adopted by Synodand was published in the August 24 issue of theCovenanter Witness. The paper from the Santa AnaSession set forth what appear to be the Scripturalrequirements for admission to the Lord's Supper. Ifthese are accepted as valid then it follows as a logicalcorrolary that Errors 6 and 8 of Chapter XXII ofthe Declaration and Testimony should be deleted.Dr. Vos and myself were appointed as co-principals to conduct this inquiry as to the scriptural requirements for partaking of the Lord's Supper. Ihave a high regard for the ability, thoroughness, andfairness of my co-principal so we are confident thatthere will be no resort to ridicule, the impugning ofmotives, or charges of disloyalty to our Church. Theaction of Synod in opening this question to publicdiscussion is in accord with the best traditions of ourChurch. It should be welcomed most of all by thosewho are convinced that close communion has asound scriptural basis as it affords them the opportunity to make that scriptural basis clear to all.Since each side is limited to one page of theCovenanter Witness once a month then it is necessary to get to the question at issue at once. We shallstart therefore with the question whether our present practice of close communion has scriptural authority. Some years ago in answer to an inquirywhether close communion was a principle or a practice my esteemed co-principal answered, "It is apractice maintained as an application of a principle.. . . The principle I understand to be that set forthin the Larger Catechism, Q. 173 : "Such as are foundto be ignorant or scandalous . . .may and ought tobe kept from thatScripture passagesare cited for that principle. Of course that is a principle which we all accept. There may be some whowould say that all believers in Christ who are notmembers of the Covenanter Church are either "ignorant orbut most of our members willreject that as Scripture authority for our practiceof close communion.Without Scripture AuthorityTo many of us at least the practice of closecommunion appears to be without Scripture authority. We are aware of the report made to the Synodof 1953 by a special committee and published in the1935 Minutes of Synod. This report contains "AScriptural Argument for Close Communion," andis found on page 145. So for the present we qualifythe above statement "without Scriptureand sav that such Scripture authority is not foundin our Standards. The "Scripturalin theMinutes has never been adopted by the Synod andthe Sessions of our Church. Later we shall seek toevaluate this "Scriptural228By Walter McCarrollWe turn first to Chapter XXV of the Testimonydealing with the Sacraments. In section 3 speakingof the Lord's Supper the Testimony says, "It is administered only by a lawful minister of the Word,to such baptized persons as, making a credible profession of their faith, have a corresponding practice."The conditions are plainly stated: "Baptized,Thecredible profession, correspondingscripture passages cited would be cited by any evangelical church. The gimmick of course is in thephrase: "a credible profession of faith." What is acredible profession of faith ? Some would say that itis as little as Rom. 10:9, "If thou shalt confess withthy mouth Jesus as Lord, and shalt believe in thineheart that God raised him from the dead, thou shaltbe Others will say that to have a credibleprofession of faith that profession must include allthat is in the Confession of Faith, the CatechismsLarger and Shorter, the Testimony, Covenant of1871, the Book of Church Government and the Directory for Worship. The truth likely lies somewherebetween these twoextremes. The correspondingchapter of the Confession of Faith, XXIX, limitsthe participants in the phrase, "the sealing of benefits thereof unto true believers." Will anyone saythat "true believers" are found only in the Covenanter Church?We turn now to the chapters in the Testimonydealing with the Christian Church and Church Fellowship, Chapters XXI and XXII. It is in ChapterXXII that Errors 6 and 8 are found. First we wishto note the use of the word "communion" in thesechapters. Chapter XXI-4, "It is the duty of a Christian to pray for the reformation of every part ofChrist's Church ; to inquire what part adheres mostclosely to the Scripture plan; and without prejudicejoin in that communion which is most pure, and inwhich he may prove most useful in the service ofChrist."Here the word "communion" means denomination. But in the next section XXI-5, "When anychurch imposes sinful terms oftheword "communion" seems to mean fellowship. InChapter XXII-1, "It is the duty of all who hear thegcspel to enter into the communion of the ChristianChurch,"the word "communion" seems to meanmembership. Again in XXII-4, "The ChristianChurch must have explicit terms ofthe word "communion" seems to mean membership.So far the word has been used with three differentmeanings. But in Errors 6 and 8 we have a fourthmeaning for the word "communion," i.e. the Lord'sSupper. In this chapter on Church Fellowship thereis no. discussion of the Lord's Supper, yet in Errors6 and 8 the word "communion" is used as though itmeans the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. And thatis the meaning generally attributed to it,althoughDr. Vos once wrote, "I take the word 'communion'in the Testimony XXII-4 and errors 2, 4, 6, and 8 asmeaning Church Fellowship or the right of enjoyment of Church privileges. Certainly it is not equivalent to the 'sacrament of the Lord's Supper.' " Forthe rank and file of church members this multipleuse of the word "communion" is confusing. Error 6COVENANTER WITNESS