FAQ Friday | Why Do We Take Communion Individually?

In this FAQ series, we will try to answer questions that will hopefully help us become more biblically informed and better equipped to live out our faith in community. To submit and vote on questions you would like to see answered on the blog by our pastors, click here. To see other FAQ Friday posts, click here.

This week, Dan Dather, Community Group Pastor, answers a question that was posted on the Grace Church Facebook page.

I'm curious about communion. We perform it so differently... individually. This is the piece of traditionalism I struggle with the most. Why our method?

Jesus institutes the Lord’s Supper: Luke 22:19-20 (NLT)  “Jesus took some bread and gave thanks to God for it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, "This is my body, which is given for you. Do this to remember me.” After supper he took another cup of wine and said, "This cup is the new covenant between God and his people—an agreement confirmed with my blood, which is poured out as a sacrifice for you.”

There are four main views on the Lord’s Supper among orthodox Christians.

1. The bread and wine actually become the body and blood of Jesus Christ. This is the position of the Roman Catholic Church. Each time a priest ‘consecrates’ the bread and the wine their belief is that these ‘elements’ are literally transformed into the body and blood of Jesus. This metaphysical change is known as ‘Transubstantiation’. Each time the sacrament is observed, a real sacrifice takes place again. This view believes that God gives special grace to those who participate in the supper. Only an ordained priest can perform this act of consecrating the elements.
2. The bread and the wine don’t actually become the body and blood of Jesus, but His physical body is actually present in or with the elements. Martin Luther broke away from the Catholic Church and its belief in Transubstantiation. He didn’t believe the bread and the wine literally changed into the body and blood of Jesus, but that Jesus was physically present in the elements. This view is called “Consubstantiation”. Luther also believed that, in the supper, God imparts a special blessing on the participants. This view is very similar to Transubstantiation.
3. The body and blood of Jesus is present in the elements only in a figurative and symbolic sense.  This Reformed view of John Calvin moves away from belief in any type of physical presence of Christ in the Lord’s Supper. The elements don’t change into or mystically contain the body and blood of Jesus, but He is present in a spiritual sense. This view also believes that the elements are a means of God’s grace to the participants in the supper.
4. The Lord’s Supper is done to remember Christ’s death. This view does not believe that the physical body of Jesus manifests itself either physically or mystically. It regards Jesus’ words as figurative when he says “This is my body and blood”. The supper was instituted by Christ to serve as a reminder of His sacrificial death on the cross for our sin. Believers are to obey His command to “do this to remember Me”.

Grace Church views the Lord’s Supper as a time of remembrance and appreciation for  Christ’s sacrificial death on our behalf. “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.”  (1 Corinthians 11:26). We do not believe that Christ is physically or spiritually present in the elements. While many believers commonly experience a heightened sense of God’s presence as they participate in the supper, there is no Scriptural evidence suggesting that He is more present with us there than at any other time. Jesus said, “I am with you always; even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20). The fact that we are remembering the very act of God that paid for our sin should make this a special time of worship and introspection. 

God responds to us while we take the Lord's Supper just as He does any time we sincerely approach Him with humility, reverence, expectancy, and thankfulness.

Membership at Grace Church is not a requirement to celebrate the Lord’s Supper with us. We only ask that you be a professing believer in Jesus Christ to participate. While we believe baptism is commanded by our Lord Jesus Christ, it is not a prerequisite for celebrating the Lord’s Supper at Grace.

How often should the Lord’s Supper be observed? The New Testament is not specific on the frequency of observing the Lord’s Supper, only that it should be done regularly. Grace Church typically observes the supper on the first Sunday of each month.

Who can administer the Lord’s Supper? The Bible is not specific on who is able to serve the supper to other believers. Grace Church believes that all believers are equally qualified to administer the Lord’s Supper. We provide a common table that allows every believer to take the elements of the supper personally.