THE LORD’s SUPPER AND CHILDREN

THE LORD’s SUPPER AND CHILDREN

Pastor Jan T.Knopper

This is a complex topic to deal with. We have not much biblical information. Also in the writings of Ellen G.White, which are a continuing authoritative source of truth (SDA Believe, ed.1988 p.216) we have virtually no information re the importance or principles at which age children should be allowed to participate in the Lord’s Supper

Scripture references are from the KJV, if not, it will be indicated.

Jesus took bread and wine from the Passover table and dedicated these two items as a
memorial service for the New Testament Christian. For that reason we will first deal with the Passover and its meaning and then comparing it with the NT communion table.

The Old Testament Passover Festival.
We will discuss the Passover feast and comparing it with the NT communion table and using certain aspects of it which may apply to the Lord’s Supper.

The Passover was instituted at the time of Israel’s deliverance from Egyptian slavery as
recorded in Exodus 12.A lamb was to be killed, roasted and eaten with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. Ex.12:3-8. While we do not have biblical information, there was also wine (grape juice) on the table. This is what Jesus used when He instituted what we call The Lord’s Supper. The Passover was to be celebrated as a memorial, Ex.12:14 and was later listed among the annual national feasts to be kept by Israel. Lev.23:5-8; Numb.28:16-25; Deut.16:1-8

If children would ask for the reasons of celebrating the Passover feast they were to be told the Exodus story, Israel’s deliverance from Egyptian bondage. Ex.12:25-27 Keep this in mind for the communion table. It is to be understood that parents would be the first ones to inform their children. Usual children ask their parents first.

Another stipulation was that the people who would participate in this feast had to be circumcised, Ex.12:43-48. Also a stranger or foreigner expressing interest in the feast had to be circumcised, ib.48. We will discuss this later in regard to the Lord’s Supper.

Israel has not always been faithful in keeping annually the Passover feast. In Solomon’s time the Passover feast was kept, 2Chron.8:13In Hezekiah’s time there was an apparent neglect in keeping the Passover, 2Chron.30:5 they had not done it for a long time. There had been a lack of sanctification among the priests. 2Chron.30:3We read in 2Chron.30:6-9 and 16-20 what kind of preparations had to take place in order to be ready to participate in celebrating the Passover feast. We could say it in one word, sanctification, a complete return to the Lord from whom they had wandered away. During the reign of Josiah there was another revival and renewal in keeping the Passover feast, see 2Chron.35. There was first the reading of the words of the book of the covenant, 2Chron.34:30 followed by the call to sanctify yourselves 2Chron.35:6 Celebrating the Passover feast were regarded as a serious matter. Should the Lord’s Supper be taken less serious? We’ll deal with that later.

What have we learned so far form the OT Passover feast which Jesus was celebrating the evening He instituted what we call The Lord’s Supper?

It was a national memorial feast celebrating the Exodus from Egyptian slavery.
If children would ask about its meaning they should be told the Exodus story.
Those participating had to be circumcised.
Proper cleansing and sanctification had to take place
A complete turn around to the Lord, a deep conversion experience.

These points should be kept in mind when we appraise the Lord’s Supper of the New Testament and the attitudes of those participating.

The Passover Feast also made Israel to look forward. While this was not so much as talked about at the time of being instituted, and when children would ask about its meaning the forward looking aspect may not have been mentioned as much as may it should, the killing of a lamb, the blood used as a symbol this was clearly looking forward to the real Lamb of God, Joh.1:29 When John the Baptist mentioned this in public, people understood what he was talking about. Isa.53 also was not foreign to the people.

We read in Patr.& Proph. P.539
“On the fourteenth day of the month, at even, the Passover was celebrated, its solemn, impressive ceremonies commemorating the deliverance from bondage in Egypt, and pointing forward to the sacrifice that should deliver from the bondage of sin. When the Saviour yielded up His life on Calvary, the significance of the Lord’s Supper was instituted as a memorial of the same event of which the Passover had been a type.”

This confirms clearly the dual purpose of the Passover feast, looking backwards and forward at the same time.
In dealing with the Lord’s Supper we have the same, looking backward to what Christ did for us on Calvary and looking forward to His coming in Glory.Matth.26:29;1Cor.11:26

From Passover to the Lord’s Supper
Bible references to the Lord’s Supper or the Communion Table are being found in Matth.26:26-29; Mark.14:22-25; Luke 22:17-20; 1Cor.10:16-18 and 1Cor.11:17-34

Christ being our Passover we find expressed in 1Cor.5:7 and indirectly by Peter in 1Pet.1:19. For our study re the Lord’s Supper we will use from the gospels, Matth.26:26-29 On the Passover table there were various items. But Jesus used only the unleavened bread and the wine (grape juice).Jesus took the bread, blessed it and shared it with the disciples declaring it to be His body. He also took from the wine, gave thanks and shared this also with His disciples declaring it to be his blood of the New Testament, shed for many for the remission of sins. Luke adds in 22:19 this do in remembrance of Me. Thus making it a memorial service as the Passover was a memorial service or feast. The apostle Paul confirms this in 1Cor.11:24, 25 this do in remembrance of me. The Lord’s Supper takes us back to Calvary but even further back into history where we find the story why it was necessary to institute a New Testament.

A Greek word study as is briefly done in “A Critical Lexicon and Concordance” by E.W. Bullinger D.D. concludes that testament in this case refers to covenant.
A number of translations use the word covenant instead of testament in Matth.26:28
ASV    blood of the covenant
NEB    my blood, the blood of the covenant
Gspd   blood which ratifies the agreement
NASB this is my blood of the covenant
NIV    blood of the covenant
NKJV  my blood of the new covenant
The story of the two covenants is found in Exodus. Briefly we will review what happened. Coming out of Egyptian bondage Israel was invited by the Lord to enter into a
covenant relationship with the Lord. Israel was told about the contents of the covenant and they promised three times to accept these conditions, Exod.19:8; 24:3, 7 “all that the Lord has spoken we will do”. This covenant was based upon human promises, which were faulty, Hebr.8:8. The covenant was sealed with animal blood by Moses Exod.24:6-8
The covenant did not last long. It was broken within 40 days by the Golden Calf Idolatry.
See Exod.32 for details.
There was no hope for redemption under the terms of this covenant. The Lord in His fury threatened to consume them and make a great nation out of Moses, Exod.32:10.All the words Moses had sealed with animal blood (Ex.26:8) included also Exod.23:21
Here we read beware of Him, and obey His voice, provoke Him not, for he will not pardon your transgression. Ellen G.White in P.P.p.372 comments as follows They could not hope for favour of God through a covenant which they had broken, and now seeing their sinfulness and their need  of pardon, they were brought to feel their need of the Saviour revealed in the Abrahamic covenant, and shadowed forth in the sacrificial offerings.

Moses used the Abrahamic covenant, which is part of the everlasting/new covenant to plead with the Lord for mercy for Israel, Exod.32:13 The Lord accepted Moses’ pleading (Ex.32:14), which made room to start all over again with Israel. The same content from the Old Covenant, broken because of Golden Calf idolatry, was used for the New Covenant, Ex.34:1. This time however introduced by and based upon better promises, Hebr.8:6. These better promises are recorded in Exod.34:6, 7 But this new set up or cut covenant was not ratified by Moses with animal blood. It had to wait until Christ’s sacrifice on Golgotha. When Christ came as the promised Messiah He was pointed at as being the Lamb of God, John 1:29 and fulfilling Isa.53. During that last Passover feast Jesus declared the wine to be a representation/symbol of the blood of the New Testament or New Covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. Matth.26:28; Hebr.9:22

It may be of interest to observe that the word NEW in relation to Covenant only appears in Luke 22:20 in the Greek text and not in Matth.26:28 or Mark 14:24. In the latter two they are supplied words. The Greek word is kainos and used in Luke 22:20 and Hebr.8:8.
According to CRITICAL LEXICON AND CONCORDANCE by Bullinger D.D. the meaning of kainos is not merely recent, but different from that which had been formerly; new as coming in the place of a thing that was formerly and as not yet used.
My Greek-Dutch dictionary states the same to replace an old one which is better

Now the time had come to seal or ratify with the blood of Christ this New Covenant established with Israel after the Golden Calf Idolatry which broke the Old Covenant.
This sealing or ratification of the New Covenant (Testament) is commemorated when we attend the ordinance of The Lord’s Supper when sitting at the communion table.

The contents of the New Covenant, while they are the same as in the broken covenant, are to be written not on stone, but put into the mind and heart of the people Hebr.8:10; Isa.51:7;Jer.31:33 Such people will be the ones of which the apostle Paul wrote in Rom.8:1 who are no longer under condemnation, but are in Christ Jesus and who do not walk or live after the flesh but after the Spirit, Rom.8:4 We may also say they are born again Christians, John 3:5, 6 E.G.White comments in SDABC7a p.672 our sins were laid on Christ, punished in Christ, put away by Christ, in order that His righteousness might be imputed to us, who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit.

As said before, The Lord’s Supper is a memorial ordinance, Luke 22; 19; 1Cor.11:24, 25. But not only is the Communion Table a memorial of the death of Christ but of our own death in Christ through baptism as well. We are baptized in Christ’s death, Rom.6:3, 4
Also as we are raised from the waters of baptism so we are raised up with Christ in His resurrection and then we walk in a new life not after the flesh but after the Spirit, Rom.8:4 Those participating in the Lord’s Supper should have gone through that spiritual experience in order to make the memorial service real meaningful to them

This brings us to the point in question, should children, not yet baptized, participate in the Lord’s Supper, taking the bread and the wine?

I have been told that one of the pro reasons goes as follows: if we have an open communion table then this should apply to our own children from SDA members as well.

The open communion table is supported by a statement found in DA p.656 and stated in Manual for Ministers p.106, 1977 Ed. The manual reads: The question is sometimes raised as to whether professed Christians of other communions who may be present be allowed to participate in the communion service. This question is well answered by the following quotation of DA p.656 (I quote directly from DA p.656, JTK) Christ’s example forbids exclusiveness at the Lord’s Supper. It is true that open sin excludes the guilty. This the Holy Spirit plainly teaches. 1Cor.5:11. But beyond this none are to pass judgment. God has not left it with men to say who shall present themselves on these occasions. For who can read the heart? Who can distinguish the tares from the wheat?” Let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of that cup.” For “whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord”. “He that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. 1Cor.11:28, 27, 29
When believers assemble to celebrate the ordinances, there are present messengers unseen by human eyes. There may be a Judas in the company, and if so, messengers from the prince of darkness are there, for they attend all who refuse to be controlled by the Holy Spirit. Heavenly angels are also present. These unseen visitants are present on every such occasion. There may come into the company persons who are not in heart servants of truth and holiness, but who may wish to take part in the service. They should not be forbidden. There are witnesses present who were present when Jesus washed the feet of the disciples and of Judas. More than human eyes beheld the scene.

The question in the minister’s manual deals with people from other communions and who are professed Christians. In my understanding that does not include children of our SDA communion, who have not yet indicated to be professed Christians In our SDA biblical understanding professed Christians are the ones who are baptized into Christ and/or have made a public profession of accepting Christ as their personal Saviour. The statement of DA p.656 also indicates clearly that it deals with mature people who are on one side or the other but not to be judged by the church, except in case of known open sin. When the minister invites people to attend the communion table it may well be a good thing to quote 1Cor.11:27-29 as is done in the above quoted DA statement. Would children of a young age and not being baptized understand what it means to eat or drink unworthily?
They may say “I love Jesus” but is that a sufficient reason to allow them to participate in the Lord’s Supper? It doesn’t take much to teach a child “Oh, how I love Jesus” But I think it takes something more for children to be ready to sit at the communion table.

The Passover feast was a memorial looking back but also a happy looking forward to the Messiah. So is The Lord’s Supper it is looking back to Calvary and looking forward to the coming of Christ in Glory. 1Cor.11:26 E.G.White comments in DA p.659 The Communion Service points to Christ’s second coming. It was designed to keep this hope vivid in the minds of the disciples. Shouldn’t our children be first given an intelligent understanding of Calvary and the second coming of Christ before being allowed to sit at the Communion Table and commemorate these two great and sacred events?

In 6Test.p.91 we read The ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s Supper are two monumental pillars, one without and one within the church. Upon these ordinances Christ has inscribed the name of the true God.

Then we read in Child Guidance p.500 After faithful labour, if you are satisfied that your children understand the meaning of conversion and baptism, let them be baptized.
The same principle should hold for the celebration of the communion service.

When in baptism children enter into the death and resurrection of Christ, Rom.6, in my view it follows that then they should be allowed to participate in the Lord’s Supper and commemorate the death of Christ which they themselves have experienced in their own baptism into Christ. Not before such an experience is properly established should children be allowed to eat the bread and drink the wine. How can something of such a sacred character and spiritual importance be properly commemorated without having a personal experience in these matters? Parents of children in our SDA communion bear a sacred responsibility to nurture, train and educate their children in these matters, especially when they raise the question, may we eat from the bread and drink from the wine. This matter should not be left to the church and its youth minister. The minister should assist not be the main teacher.

We read in 6Test.p.93 The Parents Work. Parents whose children desire to be baptized have a work to do, both in self-examination and in giving faithful instruction to their children. Baptism is a most sacred and important ordinance, and there should be a thorough understanding as to its meaning. It means repentance for sin, and the entrance upon a new life in Christ. There should be no undue haste to receive the ordinance. Let both parents and children count the cost.

If baptism is of such a sacred character, the Lord’s Supper is not less sacred, because it commemorates what baptism does stand for.

Our New Testament Passover
If according to 1Cor.5:7 Christ is our Passover, sacrificed for us, which took place at Calvary and which is commemorated in the ordinance of The Lord’s Supper, then it would be advisable to look at the conditions for participating in the Passover feast in Old Testament times and how this applies to the Lord’s Supper.
Passover was for Israel a national memorial feast
The Lord’s Supper is a memorial ordinance to commemorate Christ as our
Passover
b.   In OT times parents had a duty to inform their children re the importance and
meaning of the Passover feast. Ex.12:14, 26, 27
From 6T.93 we have learned that parents today have the same responsibility
c.   Those who wanted to take part in the Passover feast had to be circumcised,
Exod.12:43, 48
According to Col.2:11, 12 in the NT circumcision is associated with Christ and
being buried with Him in baptism. In SDABC vol.12, p.599 we read about the
relationship of baptism and participating in the Lord’s Supper the following:
Those who have been baptized into Christ can come in confidence of God’s grace, and participate in the communion. Those who are not baptized believers would not have a true reason to participate. In the context of a believer’s baptism, unbaptized children should be invited to observe as others take part. After proper instruction and baptism, they may join their fellow believers in the celebration of their Lord’s death, resurrection and soon return.

d. We also learned from the Passover feast that a proper sanctification or purging had
to take place.
The NT believer is admonished by the apostle Paul in 1Cor.5:7 Purge out therefore
the old leaven that ye may be a new lump. It would be dangerous theology and
practice not to apply this to children.
If we do ignore this it would militate against 1Cor.11:27-29 where we are warned
against taking bread and wine unworthily.
e.    The last point we learned from our discussion of the Passover feast was that Israel          had to make a complete turn around to the Lord before attending to the Passover feast. This means a proper conversion experience In CG 500 we learned that parents should be sure that children have a proper understanding of conversion.

In comparing the Passover feast with the Lord’s Supper we see that both are sacred and in both cases the conditions for attending do apply.
When the child is reaching the point where questions are being asked in re to participating of the bread and wine, the child should be informed, first by the parents and later by the minister of what is involved in taking part.

Let’s discuss this further if children should participate in the Lord’s Supper.
Should we set an age limit as some other churches do? I don’t think so. Each case should be treated on its own merits. Also one case should not set a precedent for the next.
The spiritual mental capacity of one child may differ from another child.

Should we invite children at random to participate in the Lord’s Supper as we do for visitors of other communions? My answer is NO, and is based upon what we have discussed here above in regard to the conditions of attending at the Communion Table.

In this day and age in some local SDA churches children are being baptized at the young age of 8yrs. This should rather be the exception than the rule. Such a child may show a rather extraordinary understanding of spiritual things and give evidence of such understanding in its daily life and behaviour. Parents and the minister are the ones to pass judgment in such a case.

At all costs the sacredness of the ordinance must be maintained. The standard must not be lowered. Out of curiosity children may ask sometimes to taste the bread and the wine. But that is not sufficient reason to let them have a taste. Whereas in some areas of our church life a more liberal attitude has taken place towards some of our church practices, what was sacred in the past is still sacred today and must be kept that way. It should not be compromised or liberalised.

As an Appendix I have added a statement from elder Francis Nichols to the same question and a second appendix dealing with more sayings of Jesus in re to children.

Appendix A
The question if children should be allowed to participate in the Lord’s Supper is not new. In a book by Francis D. Nichol published in 1959 by the Review and Herald Publishing Association under the title QUESTIONS PEOPLE HAVE ASKED ME on page 73 the same question is discussed. We quote here below the full text.

CHILD PARTICIPATION IN COMMUNION SERVICE.
A brother writes to ask whether it is proper to permit unbaptized children of our church members to participate in the quarterly communion service – the ordinance of humility and the service of the Lord’s Table.

I have never before heard of the unbaptized children of our church members being invited to participate in the communion service, either in the foot washing or in the partaking of the bread and wine. Inquiry of several of my ministerial brethren reveals that they all hold that participation in this special service should not begin for our children until they are baptized and thus become members of the church. One of the purposes of the communion service is to make evident the fellowship of the family of believers. Now, while it is true, in a sense, that young, unbaptized children may believe, the full meaning of belief calls for baptism and entry into the church. See Mark 16:16

Unless we hold that there is a great and real significance to church membership, we undermine the whole idea of the need of joining the church. If unbaptized children may partake of the communion, we are preparing the way for them to continue to participate on through the years even though they are never baptized and so never join the church.
Thus we destroy some of the prime symbolic value of the Communion and make it a common thing in which any may join without an open avowal of Christ and a dedication of life to Him.

It is true that the Adventist Church practices what is know as open communion, and hence does not require that everyone who participates be a member of our particular religious body. But we do ask that those who visit us from another communion shall examine their own hearts, and if they have accepted Christ and are walking in fellowship with Him in their church, they may feel free to participate with us. However, this
principle of open communion does not cover the question under consideration.

APPENDIX B
In this appendix we will discuss some sayings of Jesus which we have not discussed yet
I refer to Mark 10:14 (also in Matth.19:13, 14 and Luke 18:15-17) These scriptures are often use outside the SDA communion but also at times within the SDA communion to
justify the idea that children have unconditional access to baptism and the communion table. But the text does not say that directly or indirectly.

The expression in the text “of such” should be clear by itself. It is translated from the Greek word toioutos which means   of this kind, of this sort, such (Critical Lexicon and Concordance).
In my Greek-Dutch dictionary it says “want derzulken” (dat is, van die zo aan kinderen gelijk zijn) is het koninkrijk der hemelen”. Translated into English it means the kingdom of heaven is for such people who are like children. Various translations are bearing out the same:
For to those who are childlike the kingdom of heaven belongs, Weymouth
For the kingdom  of God belongs to such as these, NASB, with a footnote in order to enter the kingdom we must come to Christ in childlike faith.
For it is to such as these that the kingdom belongs, NRSV & JB
For the kingdom of God belongs to such as these, NIV

But Jesus’ own word in Mark 10:15 makes it clear what He meant, whosoever shall not receive the Kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein.

We have these texts quoted by Ellen G.White in several places. AH, pp273-276; Ev.349.
In DA we have a whole chapter dedicated to these scriptures, see pp.511-517
But her comments never are directed towards early baptism or attending the Communion
table by children of a young age who do not have a maturity of understanding.
Parents and ministers are encouraged to pay attention to children. Have them blessed, dedicated, trained and nurtured in the things of the Kingdom of God. Prov.22:6

In Matthew 18:3-6 we find a similar saying of Jesus and of the same nature. Jesus takes a child as an example and He recognizes their faith and belief in Him.
However checking the SDABC regarding this text it leads even into another direction. The expression these little ones are commented on as referring to the disciples, I quote:
These little ones, see on vs.5 Perhaps Jesus was thinking of certain of His own disciples who were yet “little children” who would be hurt by the overbearing attitude of some of the others. SDABC vol.5, p.446

APPENDIX C.
In the ABC Bookshelf Insert of RECORD October 7, 2006 a book is advertised, authored by Jerry D.Thomas. Title: WHAT WE BELIEVE, under title: “Seventh-day Adventist Believe for Kids” This is recommended for parents to use to help their children to understand the 28 belief items of the Seventh-day Adventist Church including the meaning of the communion service and its emblems of bread and wine.