Baptist Catechism 104

Q. 104. What is required to the worthy receiving of the Lord’s Supper?

A. 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. (1 Cor. 11:27-31; 1 Cor. 5:8; 2 Cor. 13:5)

Scripture Reading: 1 Corinthians 5:1-8

“It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father’s wife. And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you. For though absent in body, I am present in spirit; and as if present, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing. When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord. Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” (1 Corinthians 5:1-8, ESV)

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Please excuse any typos and misspellings within this manuscript. It has been published online for the benefit of the saints of Emmaus Reformed Baptist Church but without the benefit of proofreading.

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We’ve been talking about the Lord’s Supper. 

With the help of  Baptist Catechism 102, we answered the question, What is the Lord’s Supper? A. The Lord’s Supper is an ordinance of the New Testament, instituted by Jesus Christ; wherein by giving and receiving bread and wine, according to His appointment, His death is shown forth, and the worthy receivers are, not after a corporeal and carnal manner, but by faith, made partakers of His body and blood, with all His benefits, to their spiritual nourishment and growth in grace.

With the help of Baptist Catechism 103, we answered the question, Who are the proper subjects of this ordinance? In other words, who should partake of the Lord’s Supper? A. They who have been baptized upon a personal profession of their faith in Jesus Christ, and repentance from dead works.

Now, Baptist Catachism 104 addresses the question of how. How should we partake of the Lord’s Supper so that we partake worthily? Here is how the question is worded: What is required to the worthy receiving of the Lord’s Supper? 

You can hear the language of 1 Corinthians 11:27 in this question. 1 Corinthians 11:27, says, “Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord” (1 Corinthians 11:27, ESV). So, the scriptures warn us aginst partaking of the Supper unworthlity, and so too does our catechism. 

The answer may be divided into five parts:

A: It is required of them that would worthily partake of the Lord’s Supper:

One, that they examine themselves.

You can hear the language of 1 Corinthians 11. Verses 27-28 say, “Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup” (1 Corinthians 11:27–28, ESV).

The scriptures and our catechism teach that a person must examine themselves before partaking of the Lord’s Supper. Clearly, this is a spiritual examination that is being commanded. Just as a person will examine themselves physically in a mirror before going out for the day, so too, a Christian must examine themselves spiritually before coming to the Table. 

How do we examine ourselves spiritually? We must look inward upon our soul—our mind, will, and affections— and outward upon the conduct of their lives—our words and our deeds—to see if there is any sin in our lives that must be turned from. 

And what is the mirror that must be used to examine our spiritual lives? It is the spiritual mirror of God’s Holy Word. This is what the Apostle James says: “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing” (James 1:22–25, ESV).

This, by the way, is one of the benefits of observing the Lord’s Supper weekly as a congregation, as opposed to monthly or quarterly. Our regular approach to the Lord’s Table forces us to examine ourselves regularly so that we might come worthily

What, exactly, are we to look for as we examine ourselves? Our catechism mentions three things:

The first has to do with knowledge. To partake worthily, one must examine themselves of their knowledge to discern the Lord’s body.

This principle is also drawn from 1 Corinthians 11. In verse 29, Paul says, “For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself” (1 Corinthians 11:29, ESV). 

Our catechism clarifies that Paul is talking about the Lord’s body, and I agree with this interpretation. Whose body are we to “discern” or “evaluate carefully” when we partake of the Lord’s Supper? It is the Lord’s body that we are to discern. This means, we are to come to the Lord’s Supper knowing that we partake of Christ, in a spiritual sense, when we eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 

This interpritation of 1 Corinthians 11:29 fits within the context of Paul’s argument, for it was in 1 Corinthains 10:16 that Paul said, “The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?” (1 Corinthians 10:16, ESV). 

The meaning is this: when we come to the Lord’s Table, we must know that we are partaking of Christ, not in a carnal way, but spiritually. And so our catechism is correct: To partake worthily, one must examine themselves of their knowledge to discern the Lord’s body. The Lord’s Supper is not for those who are ignorant of the truths of the gospel or of the significance of the Supper. The uninformed (and this would include little children) ought not partake of the Supper. 

The second thing we must examine ourselves for is faith. To partake worthily, one must examine themselves of their faith to feed upon Him. 

Baptism is to be given to those who make a personal profession of faith in Christ, and this is true of the Supper too. In baptism, the one baptized says, I believe in Christ. In the Lord’s Supper, the one who partakes says, I still believe. What is declared by our partaking must be true in our hearts. This is what the Apostle said in 1 Corinthians 5:8: “Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” (1 Corinthians 5:1-8, ESV). If we come to the Lord’s Table without faith in our hearts, we do not come sincerely or in truth. 

The third thing we must examine ourselves for is true repentance. To partake worthily, one must examine themselves of their repentance, love, and new obedience. 

I’ll remind you of what we learned about baptism in Baptist Catechism 98. Baptism is to be given only to those  who “actually profess repentance towards God, faith in and obedience to our Lord Jesus Christ, and to none other.” And the same is true of the Lord’s Supper. To partake worthily, we must examine ourselves to be sure that we have the faith to feed upon Christ, and for true repentance, which involves love for God, and a resolve to obey his commands. 

The last section of our catechism is a warning. It says, “lest, coming unworthily, they eat and drink judgment to themselves.”

This summarizes 1 Corinthians 11:29-32, which says, “For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world” (1 Corinthians 11:29–32, ESV).

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Conclusion