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Saturday, August 04, 2007
Judas and the Lord's supper
On his blog, David Phillips poses a question on Judas and the Lord's supper. Did Judas partake of the Lord's supper? Does his participation or lack thereof speak to the issue of closed versus open communion?
While Judas has been used to argue open/closed (or restricted) communion, it is not necessary to use him for this debate. First of all, half the people believe he was there and the other half believe he wasn't. I tend to think he did observe the Passover, but not the Lord's Supper. However, I could be wrong! Either way, Christ did not just open up the Supper to everyone in that area. He kept it to His early church (once again, I do believe that more than just the 12 disciples were present). He could have advertised this special ordinance, but it seems that He kept it to His group of believers (at least 12...could be 120...you decide). Of course, there are many other verses that can be used if one brings in church discipline, purity of the church, etc.
[On a different subject: I was so excited to be able to participate in something that seems to be quite rare in Baptist churches. We baptized new believers and observed the Lord's Supper in the same service! Now, that's some preaching there (not by me, but by the ordinances!).]
It is my opinion that Judas probably partook of the Last Supper with Jesus and the other apostles. If he did, does that say anything about either the open and closed communion positions? I don’t think so. Both open and closed communionists believe that the Supper is only for believers. On that prerequisite Judas comes up short for either position. Only by Christ was his inner character known. The other disciples did not see or know it. Unbelievers today also partake of the Lord’s Supper -- unknown to the church -- without any initial intervention by the Lord.
3 comments:
While Judas has been used to argue open/closed (or restricted) communion, it is not necessary to use him for this debate. First of all, half the people believe he was there and the other half believe he wasn't. I tend to think he did observe the Passover, but not the Lord's Supper. However, I could be wrong! Either way, Christ did not just open up the Supper to everyone in that area. He kept it to His early church (once again, I do believe that more than just the 12 disciples were present). He could have advertised this special ordinance, but it seems that He kept it to His group of believers (at least 12...could be 120...you decide). Of course, there are many other verses that can be used if one brings in church discipline, purity of the church, etc.
[On a different subject: I was so excited to be able to participate in something that seems to be quite rare in Baptist churches. We baptized new believers and observed the Lord's Supper in the same service! Now, that's some preaching there (not by me, but by the ordinances!).]
It is my opinion that Judas probably partook of the Last Supper with Jesus and the other apostles. If he did, does that say anything about either the open and closed communion positions? I don’t think so. Both open and closed communionists believe that the Supper is only for believers. On that prerequisite Judas comes up short for either position. Only by Christ was his inner character known. The other disciples did not see or know it. Unbelievers today also partake of the Lord’s Supper -- unknown to the church -- without any initial intervention by the Lord.
I totally agree with you, for none of us truly know a man's heart (i.e., spiritual condition).
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