Coming worthily to the table

This week's questions

What is required for the worthy receiving of the Lord's Supper? It is required of them that would worthily partake of the Lord's Supper, that they examine themselves of their knowledge to discern the Lord's body, of their faith to feed upon him, of their repentance, love, and new obedience; lest, coming unworthily, they eat and drink judgment to themselves.

Question 97

Question 96 said what the Supper is (last week); Question 97 says how to come to it. Here the catechism's teaching on the Word and sacraments ends, and next week it turns to the third means, prayer.

Five things to examine

In the first proof text Paul writes:

Each one must examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body eats and drinks judgment on himself.

1 Corinthians 11:28-29

The BSB, following the earliest manuscripts, reads ‘the body’; the King James Version, like Question 97, ‘the Lord's body’. In the next proof text Paul says, "Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith" (2 Corinthians 13:5). Question 97 names five things to examine.

Knowledge discerns the Lord's body: it knows that this bread and cup are the signs of Christ's body and blood given for me. Faith feeds on him, holding out empty hands to receive Christ. Repentance grieves for sin, hates it and turns to God.

Love looks to those who share the bread: "Because there is one loaf, we who are many are one body; for we all partake of the one loaf" (1 Corinthians 10:17). The Lord says that one who remembers at the altar that a brother has something against him should "First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift" (Matthew 5:24), and the Larger Catechism counts among the things to examine "forgiving those that have done them wrong" Larger Catechism, Q. 171. Forgiving does not mean going back alone to someone who has harmed you; anyone who has suffered abuse should not carry it alone, but seek trusted, trained help.

New obedience is the life the fourth proof text pictures:

Get rid of the old leaven, that you may be a new unleavened batch, as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with the old bread, leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and of truth.

1 Corinthians 5:7-8

Not perfection, but need

‘Unworthily’ should be read in its setting. When the Corinthians met there were "divisions among you" (1 Corinthians 11:18); some ate first while others went hungry, and they humiliated "those who have nothing" (1 Corinthians 11:22). Paul tells them to wait for one another (1 Corinthians 11:33). So commentators read the body to be discerned as Christ's body given for us, or as the church that is his body, or as both.

Coming worthily does not mean coming perfect. The Heidelberg Catechism calls to the table those who grieve their sins and trust in Christ, and says it is "the impenitent and hypocrites" who "eat and drink judgment to themselves" Heidelberg Catechism, Q. 81. One troubled by weakness is not barred but called. The Larger Catechism says that one who doubts whether he is in Christ may still have true interest in Christ, and counsels:

he is to bewail his unbelief, and labor to have his doubts resolved; and, so doing, he may and ought to come to the Lord's supper, that he may be further strengthened.

Larger Catechism, Q. 172

The English minister Matthew Henry agrees: "The Holy Spirit never caused this scripture to be written to deter serious Christians from their duty" Matthew Henry. Among much else, at the table we are to "heedfully discern the Lord's body" and feed on him by faith Q. 174; and if afterwards we find no present benefit, we are "to wait for the fruit of it in due time" Q. 175. The Heidelberg Catechism also teaches that the church, by the office of the keys, is to keep from the table those who show themselves unbelieving and ungodly by their confession and life, until they amend Q. 82, and the Westminster Confession that the ignorant and ungodly may not be admitted while they remain such WCF 29.8.

Who comes to the table differs among the churches. Most Reformed churches invite those who are baptised and profess the faith; old Scottish churches are said to have held preparation services on the days before, and to have given communion tokens to those the elders admitted. A minority in some Reformed churches today would welcome baptised children to the table. The Orthodox give communion to baptised infants; Catholics usually receive first communion around the age of reason. Luther's Small Catechism teaches that "he is truly worthy and well prepared who has faith in these words: Given, and shed for you, for the remission of sins" Small Catechism, Sacrament of the Altar. Follow your own church's guidance. See also The Lord's Supper, The Supper: Christ's spiritual presence and What are baptism and the Lord's Supper?

To ponder this week

Before the table this week: what do you know, whom do you trust, what do you turn from, and whom must you forgive? You need not answer all four cleanly. The Supper was given to strengthen the weak. Bring each to the Lord, and receive by faith the body and blood given for you. If there is no Supper this week, make the four questions your prayer.

Practice