The Biblical Case for Baptism Before Communion
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT
Benjamin Kreps:
Hey everyone, and welcome to the podcast, where our aim is to connect our global family of Sovereign Grace churches with our Executive Director. Mark, in our statement of faith we read, under the sacraments of the church, that "the sacraments are a precious means of grace that signify the benefits of the gospel, confirm its promises to the believer, and visibly distinguish the church from the world." And in Sovereign Grace churches — I'm sure probably everybody checking out the podcast knows — there are two sacraments that we practice: baptism and communion, or the Lord's Supper. And you want to talk about the sacraments on this podcast.
Mark Prater:
I do. And isn't that first sentence in that section under the sacraments so well written in our statement of faith? They are gifts from the risen Christ that He has given His people, the New Testament church. I want to talk about baptism and communion, and then kind of where we're headed is this: I believe there's a biblical argument for baptism preceding the taking of communion when it comes to the practice of those sacraments.
So let's start with baptism. We all know that Jesus Christ establishes His New Testament church — you can go to several passages, but one being Matthew 16:18: "And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." An inspiring verse, and a very, very clear one.
And we know from the very first New Testament church that baptism is a sacrament He gave the church — a corporate event in the church, as seen in Acts chapter 2, verses 37 and 38, and then verse 41. After the disciples are filled with the Spirit, Peter goes out and preaches this powerful evangelistic sermon in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. They hear the preaching of the gospel, and it says in verse 37:
"Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, 'Brothers, what shall we do?' And Peter said to them, 'Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.'"
"So those who received his word were baptized, and they were added that day, about three thousand souls." What a wonderful day. In baptism, the person being baptized declares before the church that he is with Christ and with the people of Christ. That's one of the reasons when we baptize someone, we say, "We baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" — as Jesus really commanded us in Matthew 28:19: "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." It really is a corporate event that says, "I have given my life to Christ. I'm with Him, and I'm identifying with this group of believers in the local church."
As our statement of faith succinctly says: baptism is an initiatory and unrepeated sacrament. Now, you've got to be a little bit careful with "unrepeated" — there is a footnote in the elder's edition that explains that if someone was baptized at a younger age, or even as an infant, and they don't believe that was a genuine baptism — they don't think they were a believer at the time — then of course they get baptized. And in that sense, re-baptized, because they had been through some sort of ceremony previously. But for most, it is an initiatory, unrepeated event that follows salvation.
And then the Lord's Supper — we also use the term communion. In the Lord's Supper, every member of the church declares themselves to be a part of one body, and that one body declares every member to be a part of it. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 10:16–17:
"The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread."
So there's a biblical argument there for the church sharing communion together. One of the unique blessings of sharing the Lord's Supper together is that the individual Christian and the church declare together that they are one body in Christ. Wonderful.
Benjamin Kreps:
Well, you know, in our statement of faith we find a wonderful articulation of what we believe. But also, if one is familiar with that section of the statement of faith, they'll find that there is some liberty allowed in the way it's phrased — in large part, I think, because men who take the Bible very seriously and prioritize the gospel can differ in Sovereign Grace on how some of these things get worked out. So there can be different practices in different Sovereign Grace churches, along a spectrum. Of course, it's not anything goes — but still be aligned with the statement of faith. Now, similar to our church at Living Hope, you guys at Covenant Fellowship fence the table by saying Christians who have been baptized are welcome to take communion, because you see a New Testament pattern of baptism preceding communion. You announce that at Covenant Fellowship as well before communion, as you fence the table. Make the case for baptism preceding communion.
Mark Prater:
I think there's a wonderful biblical case for baptism preceding communion. And that's not where we've always been, if you go back into Sovereign Grace history. But as any church or denomination matures over time, you get more clarity biblically, and that affects your practices. So I think there's a wonderful biblical case for baptism preceding communion. When we fence the table, we say to people: if you're a baptized believer, share with us. But if you haven't been baptized, please refrain. And we obviously say to parents, please oversee your children.
Here's the case I want to make. I think it's good to step back and see how God works in both unbelievers' and believers' lives. It's a bit of common grace — God establishes an order and pattern for our lives. We see that in the creation account. He creates the universe and establishes a pattern of day and night. Genesis 1:3–5: "And God said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day." So He creates a pattern. And then He creates people with a pattern of creation, identification, and celebration.
You see that in Genesis 1:27–28. "So God created man" — that's creation — "in his own image" — that's identification; we are made in the image of God — "in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them." And verse 28: "And God blessed them... Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food." That's celebration. So you see this pattern of creation, identification, celebration in the very creation account.
Let me just give you one more example. After the fall, God mentions in Genesis 3:15 that He is going to crush the head of the serpent — ultimately through the crucifixion of Christ. And we see this pattern of salvation and deliverance. God delivers or saves His people out of Egypt on the night of the Passover in Exodus 12. And they are His people by circumcision — that's the identification piece. And they share the Passover meal regularly as a means of celebrating their deliverance. They're celebrating God saving them out of Egypt. You see that in Exodus 12 — that meal is celebrated by Jews because it remembers that deliverance.
And then in the New Testament you see the same pattern and order — consistency between Old and New Testament. Let's go back to Acts 2:41–42, after the 3,000 people are saved. It captures the life of the church there: "Those who received his word" — meaning they received the gospel message, repented of sin, were baptized, experienced forgiveness of sins — "were baptized." That's the identification piece. Salvation, then identification. "And they were added that day, about three thousand souls" — identification with the church. "And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread" — which is the celebration of sharing communion — "and the prayers."
We see this same pattern in 1 Corinthians. Paul addresses in that letter those who have been saved (chapter 1, verse 2), those who have identified with Christ through baptism (chapter 1, verses 13–17, and chapter 12, verse 13), and those who are members of the church (1 Corinthians 12:12–30 — that wonderful body image). As in Acts 2, only baptized believers who have been added to the church participate in the Lord's Supper (1 Corinthians 11:17–34).
So there's this wonderful pattern in the Old Testament that carries into the New Testament, and I think it makes a wonderful biblical case for baptism preceding communion — because someone in baptism has identified with Christ and with the body of Christ, and therefore is now able to celebrate communion as one who belongs to that one body in Jesus Christ. I don't think you see anywhere in the New Testament any example of someone taking communion before baptism. From my reading of it, that's just not found there. So that's a little bit of the biblical case.
Benjamin Kreps:
Well, you know, some of the complexity that comes into play involves things like — when you're reading the book of Acts, people are coming to faith and getting baptized immediately. And so we're going to encounter people in our churches who maybe have been Christians for decades and have never been baptized. There's complexity there with delayed baptism. But then also the reality of children — and the wisdom category of when is a child ready to be baptized? Different pastors are probably going to come to different places on that as well. Pressure from parents who want their kids to be able to participate, kids who want the bread and the juice too — and yet this waiting period. So there are pastoral concerns in all of it. But I think, in agreement with you and what you see in the Scriptures, it's worth working through those challenges pastorally to get to a place where it's understood that way.
Any other thoughts before we end the podcast?
Mark Prater:
One caveat to what I just said: someone who is visiting one of our churches who is a baptized believer, a member of another church — can they share in communion? Yes, of course they can, unless they're under church discipline. So I know you mentioned when you fence the table you have a phrase for that. What's the phrase you use?
Benjamin Kreps:
We say: you are not required to be a member in order to participate in communion. Everyone who has turned from sin and put their faith in Christ and been baptized is free to partake. If you're a guest with us this morning, you are also welcome to participate, as long as you're not in church discipline at your local church. And then we give an instruction to parents — like: we see the New Testament pattern of baptism and then communion.
Mark Prater:
I think some of that — obviously — can almost be seen as withholding something really good from children, for example. But I think, first of all, there's the biblical pattern I just talked about. And I think what waiting until a child is baptized does is make the taking of communion all the sweeter and all the more of a blessing, because they understand why they've needed to wait. And I just think that in honoring Scripture there, taking communion for the very first time becomes a genuinely celebratory event.
Benjamin Kreps:
Amen. Well, I like how you described how we've matured in Sovereign Grace over the years — and that might be an understatement when we think back on the heady days of PDI in the 1980s, which I was a part of as a kid. But I'm so grateful that, even if we're in some different places, guys and gals checking out the podcast can know: it is always wonderful to consider that God continues to mature us, and we are called to be eager to reform our perspective as we continue to receive more light from God's Word. May He continue to mature us as a denomination across the board, for His glory. So thank you, Mark, for your thoughts. Thank you all for checking out the podcast, and we'll see you here next week, Lord willing. Bye for now.