Question 96: What is the Lord's supper?Answer: The Lord's Supper is a sacrament, wherein, by giving and receiving bread and wine, according to Christ's appointment, his death is showed forth; and the worth receivers are, not after a corporal 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.
Dear Neighbor,
I do not believe that this answer is sufficient. I believe “The Lord’s Supper is a symbolic act of obedience whereby members of the church, through partaking of the bread and the fruit of the vine, memorialize the death of the Redeemer and anticipate His second coming.” (BFM, Article 7b)
The Westminster Puritans believe that the Lord’s Supper is a sacrament but I believe that it is a symbolic act of obedience. Remember, the word sacrament implies that the act itself conveys grace to the believer. I do not believe that the act of receiving the Lord’s Supper conveys any grace to the believer.
The Lord’s Supper is a remembrance of the last supper that the Lord Jesus Christ had with his disciples. At that supper, the Lord explained his atoning death to his disciples with the use of bread and wine. He used the bread to symbolize his body broken for believers and he used the wine to symbolize his blood shed for believers.Ephesians 2:8-10For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
Jesus commanded that his disciples do this in remembrance of him. (Luke 22:19)Hebrews 9:22And according to the Law, one may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
The Lord’s Supper is a symbolic act of obedience, whereby members of the church, memorialize the death of the Lord Jesus Christ and anticipate his second coming. It is at his second coming that we will celebrate the wedding supper of the Lamb. (Rev. 19:7) Regular observance of the Lord’s Supper is a teaching moment for the church and is a teaching moment for the parents of their unbelieving children. Unbelieving are not participants but witnesses of the symbolic act and the obedience demonstrated by their parents.
Michael Peek
Your Servant for Jesus’ Sake
2. Charles S. Kelly Jr., Richard Land and R. Albert Mohler Jr., The Baptist Faith & Message. Nashville: LifeWay Press, 2007.
