In Praise of Frequent Communion

The choice of how often God’s people are summoned to the table of their Lord reveals much about how one conceives of the meaning of the Supper itself in particular and the Christian life in general. The question of frequency prompts an array of other more foundational questions. For instance, what will most instruct God’s people in the appropriate direction; how do we grow and mature; what is it necessary for us to know most of all; to sum up, why did Christ institute the Supper in the first place? It is hard to imagine greater questions which one could ask touching the practical things of Christian discipleship. For this reason, the question of frequency — while a matter of liberty and wisdom — is a non-trivial one, the answer to which is pregnant with visions of how God’s people are discipled and brought to maturity.

Calvin on Worthiness

John Calvin was a strong advocate for communion at the Table of our Lord at least weekly.¹ This could be written off as a small detail of his pastoral theology. To the contrary, this detail reveals his vision of how our Good Shepherd beautifies our souls. As to worthiness or preparedness for the Supper, Calvin cites faith and love while issuing a warning against the danger of an over-emphasis on the category of worthiness:

How could we, needy and bare of all good, befouled with sins, half-dead, eat the Lord’s body worthily? Rather, we shall think that we, as being poor, come to a kindly giver; as sick, to a physician; as sinners, to the Author of righteousness; finally, as dead, to him who gives life. We shall think that the worthiness, which is commanded by God, consists chiefly in faith, which reposes all things in Christ, but nothing in ourselves; secondly, in love — and that very love which, though imperfect, is enough to offer to God — that he may increase it to something better, inasmuch as it cannot be offered in completeness. Others, agreeing with us, that worthiness itself consists in faith and love, still are far in error on the standard itself of worthiness, requiring, as they do, a perfection of faith which cannot at all be attained, and a love equal to that which Christ has show toward us. But, by doing so, they, like those previously mentioned (who administer the Supper annually), drive all men from approaching this most holy Supper. For if their view obtained, no one would receive it except unworthily, since all to a man would be held guilty and convicted of their own imperfection. And it would be excessive stupidity — not to mention foolishness — to require such perfection in receiving of the Sacrament as would make the Sacrament void and superfluous. For it is a sacrament ordained not for the perfect, but for the weak and feeble, to awaken, arouse, stimulate and exercise the feeling of faith and love, indeed to correct the defect of both.
Institutes 4.17.42

In these words Calvin provides an answer to the array of questions which stand behind the question of frequency. Calvin’s vision of the Christian life puts our God distinctly in the foreground and our piety in the background. The blessed Triune God is not so much one who exacts growth and maturity from us as He is a patient and masterful husbandmen of the same despite the infertile soil of our hearts.

Once we see our God is most pleased to be the cultivator of our growth in holiness, the next step is to understand how an ever increasing assurance of his love and grace in Christ is vital to this end.

The Sealing Ministry of the Spirit

The Heidelberg Catechism and Westminster Confession of Faith both teach the sacraments were given for the purpose of confirming the authenticity of the promises of God and our interest in them. They teach us the words of God are true in our case in particular. That is to say, they were given that we might enjoy a greater measure of assurance.

The Westminster Standards² and Heidelberg Catechism teach that assurance is present in the essence of true faith. When we perceive faith itself in this manner, the subjective grounds of assurance through self-examination for marks of grace take their proper place; that is, in the category of necessary but supplementary³ means unto assurance. Under this definition of faith, our religion becomes primarily extrospective. Saint Augustine goes so far as to define our fallen nature as being corrupt insofar as it is “curved in on itself” and presents the gospel as that which alone lifts our heads.⁴ Dr. Joel Beeke elaborates on this extrospective character of the mature, assured faith of the Apostle Paul:

The anchor of Paul’s assurance is, knowing that God is for us… (Romans 8) Notice that Paul is not saying, ‘I am persuaded of God’s love because of something inside of me.’ He is persuaded that nothing can separate him from the love of Christ – not because he is so sure that he is a child of God, but rather, the other way around: he is sure that he is a child of God because of what he knows about the love of Christ. The center of his thinking is not Paul or anything in himself, it is God! It is Paul’s concept of God that gives rise to his assurance.
Dr Joel Beeke, Knowing and Growing in Assurance of Faith, 27

Dr. Beeke goes on to write that assurance has many fruits saying “in a word, assurance enables faith to reach greater heights, from which all other aspects of Christian character flow” including perseverance, contentment, and joy.⁵ It makes sense then that our growth in the Christian life is closely related to our assurance, which comes more from looking away from ourselves than inward for marks of grace.

The Parable of the Wedding Feast

The parable of the wedding feast⁶ introduces the question of worthiness under a different subject. The question of worthiness is reversed. In this parable of our Lord, we see there is a danger in refusing the invitation to come due to the preeminent concern of the worthiness of the host. God demands and requires our worship. He commands us to “take, eat” and “take, drink.” To neglect or disobey these words betrays a distrust in the goodness and grace of our God. Not only does he provide the feast, he gives the worthiness to come through the imputation of his own Righteousness performed in our nature, in our stead, which comes to us as robes on our naked bodies through faith in Christ. A denial of the invitation shows contempt for the generosity of the host.

Our Lord instituted the Supper to confirm our interest in him, to seal to us his precious gospel promise, thereby strengthening our faith. Is it possible we could stand cross to this most glorious, gracious, and merciful design by summoning the notion of “worthiness”? We would be foolish and blind to deny this possibility. In requiring the Supper frequently,⁷ the Westminster Divines underscore our God is most gracious and desires his people to enjoy full assurance of his ineffable love and grace. There is a great danger in an emphasis on the worthiness of the partaker as the history of the Church vividly demonstrates.⁸ Reasons to decline the invitation to come must be tempered by the force of these considerations.

Conclusion

Thomas Cranmer beautifully states that Christ is given not just for the forgiveness of sins, but for the continual spiritual nourishment of his people in the Lord’s Supper.⁹ Let that sink in. Christ has come not merely for a transactional purpose but for eternal communion and fellowship. Christ offers not merely the benefits of our redemption to us, but he offers us himself. None of the benefits of Christ can be separated from Christ himself. He himself is our salvation.¹⁰

The Word of God gives us the whole Christ but that same Word commands its own sealing in the sacraments. This is not attributable to a deficiency in the Word, far from it, but due to the weakness and inadequacy of our own receiving of this Word through faith. We ought not think ourselves wiser than God by marginalizing these elements in our piety and worship. They are meant to be both ordinary¹¹ and central.¹² The Word comes to us first through the ear but then through the mouth, nose, and eyes in order to seal what has come to us already in the blessed preaching of the gospel. God is exceedingly gracious to give us his Word, but he has done more. Yes, He has instituted visible words as a help to our weak faith. How frequent we use these divine aides reveals an underlying vision of the Christian life. The Lord’s Supper is to be cherished because it is so needful for us and it represents such love and condescension from God! It is used in God’s hands for the building up of the elect in their comfort and blessing. Doesn’t it seem strange that a minister of the gospel would tell his people they’re not invited every Lord’s Day? To this writer, indeed it does.

John Calvin, Institutes 4.17.43. As to why this was not done in Geneva consider: “One could hardly expect the congregation suddenly to present itself every Lord’s Day to receive the Lord’s Supper when for centuries the Supper had been received but once a year at Easter.” (Hughes Oliphant Old, Holy Communion in the Piety of the Reformed Churches, 357)
WLC 81 states assurance is not of the essence of faith as a pastoral concession to those who go without assurance rather than as a definition of faith’s relationship to assurance. Of those who suggest the Divines reject the organic relationship between faith and assurance, Dr. Joel Beeke observes “these critics fail to recognize that in this context the Confession speaks of assurance in the sense of faith’s well-being, not of its essence or being, which must necessarily include assurance.” (Knowing and Growing in Assurance of Faith, 122) He provides the following footnotes to further establish that the Divines were in unity with Calvin and the Continental Reformed on this point: Thomas Brooks, Works 2:371; Louis Berkhof, Assurance of Faith, 27-9, 43-44; James Buchanan, The Doctrine of Justification, 185, 376; Alexander M’Leod, The Life and Power of True Godliness, 246-7.
Incurvatus in se. See discussions on the origin of this phrase. The Psalmist identifies God as the “lifter of my head.” (Psalm 3) This may be understood as a description of God’s work in salvation as he gives us the eyes of faith to finally look away from ourselves and this world. He lifts our heads and draws our gaze to himself alone and we are saved. See also Numbers 21:4-9, John 3:14-15 and Isaiah 45:22.
This is the category used by Dr. Joel Beeke in his excellent book Knowing and Growing in Assurance. This means of assurance is called “subjective” because it is derived from our own experience of our conversion. He writes, “trusting in Christ alone is the primary ground of assurance, but genuine assurance also involves (or one might say, requires) self-examination for marks of grace.” (65)
Ibid, 138-41
Matthew 22 tells the story of a King who throws a wedding feast for his son. Those invited multiplied excuses and were deemed unworthy for their disregard of the host and the generosity of his invitation. In response, invitations went out to the outcasts and notorious sinners. A specific guest was found without a garment and was kicked out. The feast in this parable corresponds to the new heavens and new earth and the gospel that goes forth to all the world promiscuously and is despised. The worthiness is seen to be in the garment provided by the King, and not in the status of the guests. This corresponds to the imputed righteousness by which alone we are accepted by our great King. The Lord’s Supper is a type of this coming feast.
The Directory for Public Worship says “The communion, or supper of the Lord, is frequently to be celebrated; but how often, may be considered and determined by the ministers, and other church-governors of each congregation, as they shall find most convenient for the comfort and edification of the people committed to their charge” and “where this sacrament cannot with convenience be frequently administered, it is requisite that public warning be given the sabbath-day before the administration thereof.” The latter point regarding actions to be taken when it cannot be frequently administered suggests it is normative to summon the Church to the table without formal notice prior or preparatory services in anticipation.
A primary emphasis on the “worthy partaker” is reminiscent of Roman piety where the focus of the Supper is upon the piety of the creature rather than the munificent grace of our blessed Triune God. This emphasis leads to an infrequent participation in the supper and consequent de-emphasis on the gospel.
A cradle Anglican friend of mine shared this with me: “For that he hath given his Son our Saviour Jesus Christ, not only to die for us, but also to be our spiritual food and sustenance in that holy Sacrament.” Cranmer’s liturgy fences the table with stronger words than many who administer the table less frequently. Reading this entire liturgy will be a great lesson on the proper administration of this sacrament. (Cranmer, Book of Common Prayer, 1662)
For an excellent resource on union with Christ and the indissoluble union between him and his benefits see The Whole Christ by Dr. Sinclair Ferguson and the prompt for the book The Marrow of Modern Divinity by Edward Fisher. See also anything by Thomas Boston who was a staunch defender of Fisher.
For a more elaborate teaching on the proper use of sacraments in Christian piety look for reformed preaching on the subject. For instance Rev. Dr. Jon D. Payne and the podcast done on the subject in 3 Parts.
As one Reformed Minister has put it, participating in the Lord’s Supper shouldn’t be like “taking out the china”. The means of grace are called ordinary for a reason. They are part of the regular Christian experience.