Four Reasons for Not Doing Communion Online
This article was originally posted here on the ACGC website. It is published on ACV at the author’s request.
Pastors and churches have been forced into new territory over the last year as COVID-19 restrictions have greatly diminished or eliminated the local church’s ability to assemble for times of worship, fellowship and preaching. Looking for ways to minister to flocks they couldn’t meet with, many, perhaps most, pastors quickly found themselves somewhere they never thought they would be – online. To their credit, these pastors have quickly and nimbly adapted to using new technology for ministry, most notably in the Sunday morning worship service.
Some pastors have even attempted to celebrate the Lord’s Supper virtually. The viewer has the elements at hand in their home, and at the proper time, the pastor will guide viewers through partaking the bread and the wine. First, let me say that I believe that every pastor who does this does so with loving motives and good intentions. I don’t think this is anything less than pastors trying to approximate the corporate gathering, as best they can, in an effort to minister well to their people.
But I do wonder how many pastors have considered if Scripture may actually have something to say about this? As Evangelicals, our theology regarding Communion is often anemic. Many pastors may not have considered how tightly Scripture ties the celebration of the Lord’s Supper to the local church. I would offer that Scripture does offer some clear guidance on the when and how of the Lord’s Supper. It is my firm conviction that the Lord’s Supper should not be celebrated virtually, in fact it cannot be. Whatever well-intentioned and loving pastors may be doing when they attempt to celebrate Communion virtually, they are not celebrating the Lord’s Supper.
This conviction is based upon the apostle Paul’s instructions to the church at Corinth. In 1 Corinthians 10:14-22 and 11:17-34 Paul delivers the most extensive teaching on Communion in the New Testament. If you practice the Lord’s Supper online, or just think it’s not a problem, I hope you’ll see just how fundamentally intrinsic the assembled church is to this ordinance. Here are four reasons you should not do communion online.
The Lord’s Supper is for the Assembled Church
To begin, it’s worth remembering to whom Paul is writing this letter: “To the church of God that is in Corinth” (1 Cor. 1:2). Paul is not writing general instruction to an ambiguous group of people. He is writing to a specific local body of believers in Corinth. This is a church that has a number of problems, one of which is the manner in which they are partaking the Lord’s Supper. As we examine the correction Paul offers, we can learn much about the nature and proper administration of the bread and the wine.
The first thing we learn about the Lord’s Supper is that it is only to be practiced when the entire church is assembled. Notice how many times Paul uses the phrase “come together” in Chapter 11 (vv. 17, 18, 20, 33, 34). In case there is any confusion, verse 18 is especially helpful as Paul writes, “when you come together as a church.” Their assembling, or coming together, is as nothing less than the local church, and the whole church. In 10:17 Paul writes, “Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.” Who partakes of the bread? “We all partake.” When do we all partake? When we “come together as a church.”
The gathered church is an essential element of and the only biblical venue for the Lord’s Supper. No matter how good the technology is, we still cannot gather around the table virtually. Even if we can see and hear each other, we are not together. Our being together is a necessary condition for the Supper to take place. When we remove Communion from the assembled church, it ceases to be the Lord’s Supper. As Bobby Jameison says, “The Lord’s Supper is a church’s act. It’s something an entire local church does, and does as one.”
It is possible to go through all the motions and say all the right words, and still not actually be partaking of the body and blood of Christ. Notice Paul’s admonition is 11:20, “When you come together, it is not the Lord’s Supper that you eat.” Paul says, “Whatever it is that you’re doing, it’s not celebrating the Lord’s Supper.” Why did he say this? The exact violations are laid out in verses 21-23. Verse 21 says, “For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal. One goes hungry, another gets drunk.” While there were multiple issues here, at least one issue was that they were not celebrating Communion together. Some of the church members were not waiting on the others so that “all partake” as they came together.
The argument is simple here: because a church cannot “come together” physically through virtual means, the Lord’s Supper should not, in fact cannot, be celebrated virtually. Pastors who attempt to do so may be doing a demonstration, or performing an act, but whatever it is, “it is not the Lord’s Supper you eat.” The Lord’s Supper is only for the gathered church.
It’s A Sign of Unity
The Lord’s Supper is also a sign of unity among God’s covenant people. As the Passover meal defined and united the nation of Israel, the Supper defines and unites a church. In 10:17, Paul roots the church’s unity in its celebration of the Lord’s Supper. Paul is saying that the Lord’s Supper actually makes many one. In the Lord’s Supper, we not only tangibly express our union with Christ, but also renew our commitment to Christ’s people. Paul draws this straight line between proclaiming the Lord’s death and loving the Lord’s people in 1 Corinthians 11:17-34.
As Jameison writes, “The Lord’s Supper defines our identity as a church and expresses our unity as a church precisely because we do it together. The Lord’s Supper marks off an entire group of Christians as one body, drawing a line between them and the world around them.” Because we are all bound to Christ, we are also all bound to one another. Partaking of the Lord’s Table all together is a visible representation of this great spiritual truth. A display of unity like this is impossible through the mediation of any electronics.
Performing an online version of the Lord’s Supper means, that at best, people are partaking at the same time (though this is not a given if the event is recorded) but in different places. This simply is not a visual demonstration of unity. Think of it this way: what would it say about your family’s unity if every member of your family ate their meals in separate rooms? This is analogous to a church trying to partake of the Lord’s Supper virtually.
You Can’t Fence Off the Table
While the Lord’s Supper comes with many blessings, it also comes with a warning, “Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself” (1 Corinthians 11:27-29). We are warned to examine ourselves before we eat and drink from the Lord’s Table lest we do so in a manner that brings us cursing instead of blessing. Some in the Corinthian church were sick and some had even died because they took the Supper in an unworthy manner.
When you attempt to celebrate the Lord’s Supper virtually, you have no way to fence off the table and protect people from themselves. The Supper is a believer’s act of commemorating Christ’s death by partaking of bread and wine, and an act of receiving Christ’s benefits and renewing his or her commitment to Christ and his people. Therefore, the Lord’s Supper is something in which only a believer in Jesus who has examined himself or herself should participate.
The Lord’s Supper should bring blessing, but it can bring judgment (1 Corinthians 11:29). When we partake of the Supper properly in the assembly of the local church, we can guard the table from unworthy partakers and guard those unworthy partakers from the table. In person, we know who is trying to eat at the table and we can respond accordingly. Virtually, we have no idea who might be participating. People may be eating and drinking judgment on themselves and we are culpable in their judgment.
Virtual Suppers Individualize Our Faith
Far too many Christians tend to think of the Lord’s Supper as an intensified private devotion. It’s something “I” do while others are doing the same thing. But partaking the body and blood of Christ is not a private act between me and Jesus that a bunch of other people happen to be doing at the same time and in the same place. Communion is an act of the church. It is something we actually participate in together, not merely in terms of time and space, but also in terms of heart and mind.
“Jesus and me” Christianity is rampant in the American church, in part, because it appeals to our fleshly nature. We act as if everything in the church is supposed to be all about us. We act as if Jesus is supposed to be all about us. We fail to understand that our salvation is more than just personal. As we are reconciled to God through Christ, we are also bound to one another in the family of God. We are saved into something larger than ourselves. As Jonathan Leeman reminds us, “The Lord’s Supper is not a private, mystical act between you and Jesus. It is a meal around the family table in which you commune with Christ and Christ’s people.” Partaking of the meal virtually automatically atomizes all of us. We are neatly packaged individually in our screens so that we can comfortably take the Lord’s Supper at a table for two. That way we don’t have to deal with the messiness of eating with others. But when we do this, we reinforce our self-centered tendencies and impoverish our own faith and the faith of the members of our church family.
Conclusion
This is not intended to be a criticism or reprimand of those pastors who have performed virtual approximations of the Lord’s Supper. Rather it is a request to consider what Scripture has to say on the matter before you do it. I’ve tried to demonstrate from Scripture why I believe pastors should not practice online Communion. Scripture is clear, the Lord’s Supper is a church’s act. It’s something an entire local church does, and does as one. In Corinth, the Lord’s Supper was celebrated by the entire local church in one gathering. Take away the gathering of the church and you take away the Lord’s Supper. It shouldn’t be celebrated by only a portion of the church apart from the whole. The Lord’s Supper is the meal where the whole family sits down together. To make the Lord’s Supper something other than a meal the whole church celebrates is to make it something other than the Lord’s Supper.
So what do we do in this day and time when gathering as the whole church is not possible, and still in some places not permissible, because of health concerns? Just don’t celebrate the Lord’s Supper until you can come together again. I know this might be bracing or even blasphemous to some, but as Protestants we don’t hold to a sacramental theology like the Roman Catholic Church. While we are clearly commanded to observe the Lord’ Supper until he returns, we are not saved by our participation in the ordinance. There is much liberty given in the how and how often we celebrate the Supper. In the end, the Lord’s Supper is a family meal that is to be partaken with our entire church family. As we abstain from taking the meal by ourselves, our longing to come together to take the meal as a church will grow. That will make eating at the Lord’s Table that much sweeter of a blessing when we finally eat from that table as a family.