Quarantine & Communion: A Call to the Church to Abstain
Would you be willing to die in order to safeguard the sanctity of the Lord’s Supper? For the average American Christian in 2020, such a question would likely come across as provocative at best or as an absurdity at worst. After all, for many Believers, the Lord’s Supper has become a practice that is often relegated to a matter of secondary or tertiary importance when viewed in relation to other components of Christian doctrine and practice.
As rightly noted by Dr. Carl Trueman, “the Lord’s Supper is one of the most basic activities of the church... yet the proportion of material on the [Lord’s Supper] produced in contemporary evangelical circles is very small compared to other, trendier topics.” Given how little attention contemporary evangelicals tend to allocate towards properly understanding the nature and purpose of the Lord’s Supper, it is no surprise that significant ambiguity often encompasses discussions surrounding this subject.
An examination of studies that have been conducted by parachurch ministries within the past decade reveals that many Christians appear to reflect a posture of indifference towards the Lord’s Supper. Can Christians and local churches really be that passionate about something they do less than 5-10 times per year? I’ll leave the answer to that question between them and the Lord (1 Sam. 16:7; Prov. 21:2; Acts 15:8).
Contrary to the present state of American Christendom, for believers residing in Europe during the Reformation (1517-1685), there were few things viewed as more sacred than the Eucharist. In his book, “Five English Reformers,” J.C. Ryle observed that the 16th-century reign of Queen Mary (1553-1558) resulted in the martyrdom of at least 288 Protestants. What was the reason for their martyrdom? Ryle notes that it was for their doctrine of the Lord’s Supper (namely, for their denial of the Roman Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation). Needless to say, if one self-identifies as a Protestant, the Lord’s Supper must be regarded as a doctrine of supreme importance.
To put the matter as bluntly as possible, Protestants must be willing to die in order to safeguard and preserve the sanctity of holy communion. This is not hyperbole nor making much ado about nothing. The Lord’s Supper matters because it matters to the Lord Jesus Christ, Himself (Matt. 26:26-29; Mark 14:22-25; Luke 22:19-20), and the people of God must strive to rightly esteem this sacred New Covenant ordinance. This is my charge to the Protestant reader and churches scattered throughout the world as we find ourselves in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Prior to the advent of 2020, it would have been unprecedented to consider that such controversy and debate surrounding the Lord’s Supper could be generated by an adversary invisible to the naked eye.
Should Christians participate in “virtual communion” when they cannot physically meet for worship with their local church body? This is the question that has facilitated considerable debate within American Christendom over the past several weeks and has generated vast responses from theologians across multiple denominations.
By God’s grace, this conversation will not involve any bloodshed and unlike the Reformation context that was previously alluded, this debate is amongst fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. Nevertheless, this intramural discussion is an important one to have within Protestantism, as millions of believers currently find themselves under some type of extended “shelter in place” order due to the global coronavirus outbreak.
Over the past several decades, God has graciously enabled humanity to develop remarkable technology, resulting in people all over the world being able to access sound biblical teaching at any moment of any day. This fact alone is grounds for the people of God to praise their Heavenly Father for giving them the privilege to record and/or livestream church services for their own personal edification. But biblically speaking, is the mere live-streaming or listening to the audio recording of a church service equivalent to physically engaging in corporate, local church worship? And if so, can the people of God partake of the Lord’s Supper from a remote setting?
These questions get to the heart of the ongoing debate amongst the universal church.
After careful reflection upon these issues, it is my opinion that (1) local church worship cannot properly take place in a virtual setting and (2) “virtual communion” is not in any sense the Lord’s Supper. It is my sincere prayer that in the months to come, Christian leaders throughout the world will do their very best to cultivate further clarity on this highly important issue that the people of God presently face in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the meantime, I want to strongly encourage Christians to prayerfully consider refraining from making any attempts to engage in an artificial (virtual) rendition of the Lord’s Supper during these extraordinary times.
To read more from Crit-Large on the pitfalls of online worship, read Rev. David Smith’s “Elevation Church Model: Observation Over Participation”
It is important to first note that Christians are commanded to worship God during every moment of their lives. The “worship of God” can be broadly defined as “showing forth the glory of God.” Dr. John MacArthur helpfully notes that “worship consists of ascribing the honor to God that He is due, declaring His glory both in words of praise and through acts of obedience” (Biblical Doctrine, 751). Thus, the worship of God takes place in the believer when he seeks to magnify God in his life, as the direct result of the love that the Holy Spirit has produced within his soul for his Heavenly Father (Gal. 5:22).
The Apostle Paul succinctly summarizes this commission bestowed unto all believers in 1 Corinthians 10:31: “Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” The worship of God in all things is to be the epicenter of what it means to be human, and it is the purpose for which God has created us (Isaiah 43:7). There is not a domain of human life in which God is not to be worshipped in accordance with how He has instructed humanity to do so in His Word (John 4:20-24; Rom. 12:1-2; Col. 3:17).
Thus, watching a church service via livestream or listening to a recording of your favorite pastor/theologian teach the Bible can be understood as worshipping God in the broad sense of this concept. However, for the purpose of this article, these acts of worship must be distinguished from the worship that transpires within the context of the physically gathered, local church.
The Augsburg (1530) and Belgic (1561) Confessions are some of the most frequently quoted creeds from church history that articulate what Protestants believe were the key traits of local church worship. Article 7 of the Augsburg Confession states that local church worship occurs when “the Gospel is rightly taught and the Sacraments are rightly administered [amongst the physical congregation of God’s people].”
Moreover, Article 29 of the Belgic Confession suggests that authentic local church worship exists wherein “the church engages in the pure preaching of the gospel, makes use of the pure administration of the [New Testament] sacraments as Christ instituted them [and] practices church discipline for correcting faults.” Both of these Protestant confessions serve as helpful starting points for contemporary Christians seeking to ascertain how the Bible has specifically instructed the people of God to organize/govern local churches throughout the world. Moreover, these ancient statements of faith offer invaluable guidance for directing modern churches in how they ought to engage in the act of corporate, local church worship for themselves.
Nevertheless, as clarifying as these 16th-century Protestant confessions are on identifying what particular features must be present for local church worship to exist, I do not find either of them to adequately account for the scope of the New Testament’s instruction on this topic. In his systematic theology textbook, Dr. Wayne Grudem offers perhaps the most well-rounded, Biblically informed catalog of distinctives that were present in local churches during the first century (874):
Genuine Love for Jesus Christ by Church Members (1 Pet. 1:6-9)
Genuine Sanctification in the Lives of Church Members (Heb. 12:14)
The Preaching of the Word of God (Colossians 1:28; Titus 1:9, 11)
The Administration of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper (Acts 2:38-47; 1 Cor. 11:17-34)
The Execution of Church Discipline (1 Cor. 5:6-7, 12-13) [1]
Prayer (1 Tim. 2:1-4)
Evangelism (1 Pet. 2:4-12; 3:14-16)
Corporate Fellowship (Heb. 10:23-25)
Church Government by Elders and Deacons (1 Tim. 3:1-13)
Care for the Poor (Rom. 15:26)
Care for Widows and Orphans (James 1:27)
A Posture of Thankfulness in Worship (Eph. 5:18-20; Col. 3:16-17)
Although Dr. Grudem concedes that this list is by no means exhaustive of what constitutes a local church (there may be more minute components of a local church observable from the New Testament), I submit to the reader that at the most foundational level, each of these 12 distinctives must be present to some extent for local church worship to occur. That is to say that for local church worship to occur in any Biblical sense, none of these 12 characteristics can be entirely absent.
This is an important reality for Christians to bear in mind as they consider what they are actually doing when they engage in a church live-stream or listen to a recorded sermon online (whether during the present COVID-19 pandemic or at any other time). From a Biblical perspective, although the worship of God can take place in a Christian’s life at any given moment of his life, local church worship can only occur when each of those 12 facets are, to some degree, present within a physically gathered assembly of the people of God.
Thus, if the Lord’s Supper is an integral part of local church worship, and the Christian’s live-streaming of church services cannot enable them to genuinely be involved with all of the necessary distinctives that encompass local church worship, then there should not be any participation in “virtual communion” whatsoever. Simply put, if the absence of a physical gathering of the people of God precludes the occurrence of local church worship, then it is fundamentally impossible for the Lord’s Supper to be administered in any meaningfully Biblical sense.
It is also important to keep in mind that the example of the New Testament seems to naturally indicate that the Lord’s Supper has a communal emphasis; something that cannot be replicated electronically. The most detailed information available on the Lord’s Supper is referenced on numerous occasions by the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 10 and 11. Commenting on this section of Scripture and reflecting on the present debates surrounding “virtual communion,” Dr. Garry Williams observes the following:
“The heart of the argument against [virtual communion] is very simple: The Lord’s Supper involves a physically gathered church, a group of persons from different households, in an act of physical sharing in one broken loaf of bread and one blessed cup of wine.
1 Corinthians 10 and 11 contain vital evidence for us here. At the start of the passage, Paul finds in the [Old Testament narrative of Israel’s] exodus and wilderness wanderings one baptism into Moses in the cloud and the sea (10:1–2), one and the same spiritual food and drink (vv. 3–4), and participation in the one Christ (v. 4; cf. 8:6). [Later] in verse 16 Paul turns to the Lord’s Supper [and] speaks of one cup blessed and shared, of one bread broken and shared.
The spiritual unity in the one body is manifested by the signs (the oneness of the cup and the oneness of the bread) and the act of sharing in both elements... A little later [when] Paul narrates the last supper, there is a repeated emphasis on actual [literal] togetherness: ‘I hear that when you come together…’ (11:18); ‘When you come together…’ (v. 20); ‘When you come together to eat…’ (v. 33).
The [actual] presence here is embodied, not [an] electronic [presence]... [The elements of the Lord’s Supper] are given by God in the realm of the physical. That is where He intends them to operate. Therefore, we cannot redesign them [or administer them] on the basis of the properties of the spiritual reality that they represent.”
In conclusion, the Lord’s Supper ought to be understood as a corporate celebration by the physically gathered local church body in remembrance of the life, death, resurrection, ascension, present reign, and future return of Jesus Christ. In our present COVID-19 crisis, it is tragic that local churches will not be able to truly participate in the Lord's Supper again until they are able to assemble together in physical, corporate communion with one another.
Despite the coronavirus outbreak preventing Christians from having the ability to engage in authentic, local church worship, I firmly believe that these difficult times are a powerful means whereby God is showing His people how much we truly need the ordinary means of grace for ourselves. There are few things far more precious to the Christian than the fellowship of believers that takes place within the context of a local church worship gathering (Phil. 1:3-5).
Maybe the COVID-19 pandemic is a wakeup call for Christians to stop taking such inestimable blessings for granted and to begin viewing routine spiritual practices with greater reverence. Perhaps by God hindering so many local churches from enjoying the Eucharist amongst themselves, we will all grow in our gratitude for and appreciation of this sacred ordinance.
Nevertheless, whereas God may be working out 10,000 different things all at once, we may only be aware of one (or none) of them. The Lord’s ways are infinitely higher and more holy than our own (Isa. 55:8-9) and no man can plumb the depths of God’s eternal wisdom (Rom. 11:34).
Though the people of God may currently dwell in isolation amid the global “shelter in place” mandates and long for the day in which we will gather together again with our local church bodies, we know that we will someday feast together again: Either in this life at the Lord’s Table in our respective local churches or in the future Marriage Supper of the Lamb in Heaven (Rev. 19:7-10).
Until then, may the universal church on Earth rest in the comfort that our God is always working together every intricate detail of our lives and redemptive history for our eternal good and for His supreme glory (Rom. 8:28). Soli Deo Gloria! Maranatha!
[1] Note: Although church membership is not explicitly commanded in the New Testament, it is clearly implied. There are many places in the New Testament that could be utilized to support this argument. However, the fifth characteristic in this list (see verses) especially implies that those who could potentially be placed under church discipline and/or be subsequently restored to the church fellowship are directly accountable to the church leadership and laity as a direct byproduct of their church membership.