WHY PRACTICE CLOSED
COMMUNION?
By: Al Gormley
THE BIBLE TEACHES IT
I Corinthians 5:7-13, “Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye
are unleavened. For even Christ our
passover is sacrificed for us: Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old
leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the
unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators: Yet not
altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or
extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world.
But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called
a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard,
or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat. For what have I to do to
judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within? But them that are without God judgeth.
Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.”
TWO ORDINANCES
A New Testament Baptist Church has two ordinances:
baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Both of these were given to His kind of church.
They have great meaning. Both of these ordinances have caused persecution among
Baptists; therefore, very few will stand for these truths.
THE LORD’S SUPPER
The Lord’s Supper pictures Jesus Christ on the cross
I Corinthians 11:26, “…shew the Lord’s
death…” He was broken and bruised, He shed his precious blood, for me.
This is why I believe the winepress
is symbolic of the wrath of God. What do you put in a winepress? You put
grapes. What comes out of a winepress? Grape juice. Don’t get him off the cross, when you are
observing the Lord’s supper. Revelation
14 tells us that. They put the grapes in the great winepress of God and blood
came out of the winepress. I believe fruit of the vine typically portrays the
precious blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The Lord’s Supper pictures Jesus
Christ on the cross. Baptism pictures Jesus Christ off the cross. Baptism pictures
his burial and resurrection. When we observe the Lord’s Supper we are declaring
him on the cross, believing that he died for our sins. When we baptize a
person, they are picturing the burial and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus
Christ. They are declaring that the work has already been done. When he came
off the cross, the work was already done. He did not have to go to hell and
suffer. You cannot practice proper baptism until you die with the person of
Jesus Christ. The work of salvation is already done.
The Lord’s Supper is done over and
over again. I Corinthians 11:26, “For as
often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death
till he come.” Why do that over and
over again? Because we are declaring, in observing the Lord’s Supper, that I
believe the Lord Jesus Christ died for all of my sins. The ones that we have
committed after we are baptized. He died for all of my sins. We are declaring
Jesus on the cross. We are not saved every time we observe the Lord’s Supper.
The old man was crucified with him. When we were baptized we declared that.
Anyone who teaches you can be saved and lost again is not being baptized
properly.
When we observe the Lord’s Supper,
we are picturing that we are living by faith in Jesus Christ who died for all
of our sins. It is a continual trusting. Those of us who are saved by the grace
of God are continually trusting in Jesus who died for all of our sins. Romans
6:6, “Knowing this, that our old man is
crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we
should not serve sin.” Verse 10, “For
in that he died, he died unto sin once:…”
When we are baptized, we are declaring that Jesus died on the cross for
our sins. It has all been done. We are buried with him and raised to walk in
newness of life.
Colossians 3:1-3, “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek
those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on
things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.”
When we observe the Lord’s Supper, we are saying that the blood of Christ
has purchased us, and redeemed us from all of our sins. In baptism we have risen with Christ. We trusted in him before we
were baptized. When we were baptized we were raised to walk in newness of life.
Why? Because of Christ who has already died for our sins. The work is all done,
it is complete. We never have to do that again.
DOES NOT SAVE
The
Lord’s supper does not save us, it just brings back into memory what has
already happened to us when we trusted the Lord Jesus Christ. Colossians 3:4, “When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear
with him in glory.”
WHY CLOSED COMMUNION?
Now the question is, Why do true Baptist churches practice closed communion? What do I mean by that? This ordinance is
limited to members of that particular assembly who are in fellowship with the
Lord. God cannot fellowship with sin. This is a communion with the Lord. It is
not fellowship one with the other.
Other people are not invited to
partake of the Lord’s supper even though they may be saved and/or members of a
New Testament Baptist Church.
If Brother DeRossitt was in our
service, and I have all respect for him as a pastor and as a man of God, he
could not and would not be permitted to observe the Lord’s Supper with us. Why?
Because he is not a member of this local visible body.
DEPARTING FROM TRUTH
I am quoting from an Associated
Press report recently of a meeting of a Southern Baptist Convention in
There are a great number that are
departing from the truth that was once delivered unto the saints. You see open
communion being practiced on TV, inviting others to partake of it. The Lord
doesn’t do that. We must include only those God invites to the table.
We need to know why we practice
closed communion. I might say this, it is not because we believe we are better
than anybody else. If we are anything at
all, we are by the grace of God. Baptists are not selfish…If you will study
Baptist history they have always been missionary, striving to get the gospel to
every creature. This is what Baptists have done all down through the centuries.
They have always contended for religious freedom for all. People have the right
to worship in their own mind as they please. They don’t have the right before
God. But they have that right, if that is what they want to do. We also have
the responsibility of telling them the truth.
In the history of this nation, there
were times when Baptists had the opportunity to suppress other faiths, to be
the major religion and they would not. Baptists do not want that. There are
religions today that want to control the government. We need to pray for the
government, but we should never try to control the government. God is in
control.
We
do not practice closed communion because we believe that other people are not
saved. People may attend our church when we observe the Lord’s Supper. They
may be saved, but God forbids them to partake of it, unless they are members of
our particular local body.
Baptist
do not believe that just Baptists are saved. I have taught in the parable of the kingdom
where the good seed are the children of the kingdom and the tares are the
children of the devil. No doubt there are multitudes of people who are saved
and are not members of Baptist churches. We have people in this congregation
who were saved in other denominational churches. It is only by the grace of God
that you have come to the knowledge of the truth.
Baptists
have always believed that every person that has been born again is in the
It is the Holy Spirit that leads you
to be baptized in water to become a member of the Lord’s New Testament church.
In that sense the Lord is still building his church. Every person who has
repented and put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is in the family of God.
There are members of the Lord’s family that are not members of the Lord’s
church.
I believe the Lord’s church is his
bride. But there are going to be many guests at the wedding, those guests have
to be clothed with the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ. They are in the
family of God, been born again, trusted Jesus Christ as Saviour. They are saved
and will be saved now and forever. Those people who are truly saved and are
members of denominational churches are saved eternally.
We
do not practice closed communion because we are opposed to Christian unity.
Baptists believe that it is a desirable thing for Christians to dwell in unity.
We ought to be in unity. We do not believe that we should compromise the truth
to promote Christian unity. Ephesians 4:3-6 “Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. (that
is the only unity there is.) There is one body, (or one kind of
church, the Lord’s assembly) and one
Spirit, (that’s the Holy Spirit) even
as ye are called in one hope of your calling; (that’s Jesus Christ) One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God
and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.” That
is the unity of the Spirit. We cannot compromise true baptism in order to have
unity. We cannot compromise on the Lord’s Supper in order to have Christian
unity. We need to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
There is a difference between union
and unity. Two people can be married and they can have a marriage license, they
are joined together legally. They have a union together. But they may not be in
unity. If they aren’t, they have a problem. This is why saved people should
never marry lost people. Where there is no unity, there is a problem. When two
people are married and get along together, then they are in unity. The Bible
teaches us that the church ought to have unity.
Closed communion does not promote
unity among Christians. It only manifests this unity. When we limit the Lord’s
Supper to those who are truly saved, living for the Lord, it manifests people
who are in this unity. Those who we will not observe the Lord’s supper with,
must be disciplined from the church. They
are not in unity with the church. That is what our text tells us in I
Corinthians chapter 5.
Amos 3:3, “Can two walk together, except they be agreed?” I Corinthians 5:7-13, Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye
may be a new lump, (God’s people are unleavened. They are saved by the
grace of God.) For even Christ our
passover is sacrificed for us: (referring to the passover in Exodus Chapter
12) Therefore let us keep the feast, (the feast of unleaven bread; the type is not the
anti type how we are to do it) not with
old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the
unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. I wrote unto you in an epistle not to
company with fornicators: (I wonder how many Baptist churches are practicing
this) Yet not altogether with the
fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with
idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world. (In other words you are going to have to work
with them.) But now I have written unto
you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator,
or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner;
with such an one no not to eat (The Lord’s Supper). For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye
judge them that are within? But them
that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that
wicked person.”
If we are going to worship God, we must worship God
in Spirit and in truth. What about Baptist churches that have 3,000 members and
1,000 attend. This is not scriptural,
friend. The Bible tells us that if a person won’t assemble, you can just put it
down he is in some kind of mess. If you don’t have enough love for the Lord to
assemble, if you don’t believe in church discipline, then you don’t believe
what the Bible says. There is a reason behind this, “…put away from among yourselves that wicked person.” Do you know why? Because God cannot
fellowship with sin. We cannot
fellowship when there is this kind of sin in our midst.
People will quote Matthew 7:1-2, “Judge not, that ye be not judged.”
That’s about all they know. But verse 2 says “For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged:…” We need to be willing to be judged with the
same judgment. Then he goes on to say, I Corinthians 6:3, “Know ye not that we shall judge angels? How much more things that
pertain to this life?” God’s people
better start judging some things. Some judgment is placed upon us. When we
discipline a member and set them outside the Lord’s church, I Corinthians 5:5, “To deliver such an one unto Satan for the
destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord
Jesus Christ.” It is a serious thing
for a child of God to be disciplined from the Lord’s New Testament church.
There is protection in the Lord’s church.
Open communion is an open rebellion
against God’s word. Various religious groups can meet together, they can sing,
they can receive one another’s baptism, they can invite one another to the communion
table; but God does not accept it. They are divided in doctrine and practice.
The Lord is very plain to his people. II Corinthians 6:17, “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the
Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.”
Baptists
practice closed communion because we believe the Lord himself gave his kind of
church this ordinance. The Lord did not give His Supper to any kind of
church. He gave those two ordinances to his kind of church. His kind of church
has been here since his personal ministry. He observed the Lord’s Supper with
his apostles in the upper room before Pentecost.
So the Lord’s Supper is not merely a
Christian ordinance, it is a church ordinance. It belongs to the local, visible
body of baptized believers, the Lord’s church. It does not belong to
Christians, it belongs to his church. We are to keep the ordinances as God has
given them to us. There is no instance in the Bible where the Lord’s Supper was
observed except in church capacity. I Corinthians 14:23, “If therefore the whole church be come together into one place…” Now that eliminates universal church; that is
a local, visible church. I Corinthians 11:20, “When ye come together therefore into one place…” That is a local, visible, body of baptized
believers.
The
The first observance was strictly to
the apostles who were first members of the Lord’s New Testament church. The
instructions given in I Corinthians 11:18-20, was given by the Apostle Paul.
Look how he started it. “For first of
all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among
you; and I partly believe it. (Notice the seriousness of this.) For there must be also heresies among you,
that they which are approved may be made manifest among you. (Do you realize that God allows people in
his church who cause divisions, in order that God’s people would rise up
against them. Does not light make
manifest? Are not God’s children supposed to take issue with things that are
false?) When ye come together therefore
into one place, (if there are divisions among you) this is not to eat the Lord’s supper.” This is saying, you can’t eat the Lord’s
supper. God is not pleased with it; you
are not in fellowship when there are divisions in the church.
Some may say, “that does not mean
what it says.” Let’s look at his word in
John 9:16, “Therefore said some of the
Pharisees, This man is not of God, (talking about Jesus) because he keepeth not the sabbath day. Others said, How can a man that is a sinner
do such miracles? And there was a
division among them.” One person was teaching one thing, another person
teaching another thing. The Bible says, you cannot observe the Lord’s Supper
when there are divisions among you. We see the same word exactly in John 7:43, “So there was a division among the people
because of him.”
What is the will of God for the
When the truth has been taught and
the members know what God would have them to do, then when a vote is taken to
discipline a member, every child of God who is a member of that church, ought
to vote to uphold the truth. Some may say, “I am not going to vote.” You better
vote. When you fail to vote, it is a vote to fail to do what God told you to
do. That is serious business; we are dealing with the things of God here. The
Bible says that there be no divisions among you. You cannot eat the Lord’s supper when people
are divided. I Corinthians 1:13, “Is Christ divided?...” Christ is not divided. If there are
divisions, it is not because Christ is divided. It is because people are not
yielding themselves to the word of God.
Many churches today do not practice
discipline. When we observe the Lord’s supper, we ought to have members that
are not only saved and been scripturally baptized, but they ought to be living
their lives pleasing to the Lord.
The local church is called the body
of Christ. He is the head, we are the body. Every member of that body should be
a working, living, individual member of that particular body. He is not talking
about the building. This building is not the church, it is only a meeting house. The Lord is talking to the members of a local
Baptist church.
Many Baptists will not admit that a
group of people who deny that salvation is wholly by grace, practice false
baptism, reject eternal security, and practice open communion, is not a church.
Listen friend, when a church denies the sovereignty of God, will take any other
kind of baptism from denominational churches, will offer the fellowship of the
Lord’s table to members of other denominations, they are not qualified to be a
New Testament Baptist church.
They are agreeing that the doctrine
which they are receiving is as good as the doctrine that they have, and it is
not. To admit this, is to deny that the Lord’s church is the pillar and ground
of the truth. We need to uphold the truth. In doing so, we are simply trying to
do what God told us to do; to uphold the truth and give the truth a foundation
to rest upon. That foundation is Jesus Christ. Baptists should never compromise
the truth.
There are good Baptist preachers
today who are being put in situations where they compromise the truth. Baptists
have always believed, and the Lord himself taught that if we are going to
worship, we must worship in Spirit and in truth. The Lord seeketh such to
worship him. If He is seeking us to worship in Spirit and in truth, God will
not accept any other kind of worship. We need to make sure that we are
worshiping according to the Holy Spirit, the unity of the Spirit with the
truth.
Denominational churches have a
variety and multitude of teachings that differ from one another, this causes
confusion. True Baptist churches ought to have unity; not just to have names on
the roll, but to be in unity in teaching and doctrine. They ought to have the same
mind, the same judgment. This is the reason there is so much confusion in
Baptist churches, because people are not in unity. They have plenty of members,
but no unity.
Baptists practice closed communion
because we believe that people who are not baptized scripturally have no right
to partake of the Lord’s Supper. The Lord’s Supper is for the Lord’s New
Testament Baptist church.
Membership into a New Testament
Baptist church takes proper baptism. Scriptural baptism that is administered by
a New Testament Baptist church which has the authority to baptize and always
has had since Jesus gave that authority in Matthew 28.
People will come and say they will
be a member of your church if you will accept their baptism. No, we must not
accept any baptism that has not been administered by a New Testament Baptist
church that is scripturally authorized to provide that baptism. Do you know why
we shouldn’t do it? Because the Lord is not pleased with it. God would not accept it. Jesus himself walked
more than 60 miles to get the proper baptism from John the Baptist, who alone
had the right to baptize.
To be scripturally baptized is to be
immersed; therefore, sprinkling is not baptism. If a person is immersed to be
saved, if he goes into the water in order to get to the blood, that also is not
scriptural baptism. Jesus Christ died unto sin once. If you add anything to it
or take anything away from it, it is not scriptural baptism.
We must not accept any immersion
from a group of people who were initially organized by man. All denominational
churches have their beginning with some man. You can search in vain through all
the history and you will never find a man who organized the first New Testament
Baptist church except Jesus Christ. Most other churches have started since the
1500’s and the Reformation.
People who have been scripturally
baptized and are members of the Lord’s New Testament church and have that
authority given to them by the Lord are his kind of a church. Acts 2:41-42, “Then they that gladly received his word
were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand
souls. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship,
and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.” They received his word, they
were baptized, then they have the right to the Lord’s supper. But they don’t
have the right to do so unless they are members of the Lord’s New Testament
church which is his body.
Baptists
practice closed communion because the Bible says that a divided group cannot
eat the Lord’s Supper. That means there are heresies, people that are
walking disorderly among us and God cannot fellowship with sin. In order to eat
the Lord’s Supper properly, I Corinthians 5:13, “…Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.”
True
Baptist churches do not practice open communion because it would declare that
church discipline does not amount to much. If we start practicing open
communion and receiving all kinds of baptism, we are saying that church
discipline ought not to be practiced. If I believed that, I would not practice
it either. Friend, the Lord’s supper is based upon the fact of church
discipline. If God cannot fellowship
with sin, we should not fellowship with sin. Before any of us can partake of
the Lord’s Supper, the Bible says we need to examine ourselves and confess our
sins. If we do not do that, God judges us. And when he judges us, he chastens
us.
If somebody attends our services who
is not a member, we know nothing about them.
We have no right to judge them or to discipline them. They are welcome
to attend all they want; we appreciate them coming. But when they become a
member of our church and begin to walk ungodly and out of fellowship with the
Lord, we can do that. By doing so, we are manifesting the fact that you are not
in fellowship with the Lord. God cannot fellowship with your sin. It is an act
just like when you discipline your children. Not to hurt them, but to help
them. To get them back into the things of the Lord. Our church is obligated to
discipline those that teach false doctrine. Romans 16:17, ‘Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and
offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them.”
II Thessalonians 3:6, Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly.” I Timothy 6:3-5, “If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even
the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to
godliness; He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes
of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, Perverse
disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that
gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself.”
II Thessalonians 3:14, “And if any man obey not our word by this epistle, not that man, and
have no company with him, (Don’t mix up together with him, don’t treat him
as if he is alright. Same thing goes with churches, that we have to withdraw
fellowship from. Do not have any company with them. In other words, you can not
say that you are practicing something, then go right along with what they are
practicing) that he may be ashamed.”
The only way that you can correct anyone is to show them their error and to
continue to stand for the truth. Do not count him as an enemy but admonish him
as a brother, but do not agree with the false teaching.
Baptists
practice closed communion because they are a witness and protest against false
doctrine. This is why people hate the Baptist church so much because true
Baptists will not agree with false doctrine. Others want us to admit that their
doctrine is as right as ours – it is not. It is only by the grace of God that
Baptists know the truth. Others would have us to believe that our differences
are not important. But when Baptists begin to practice open communion and alien
baptism they are saying that their doctrine is no different. Baptists are a
distinct people with a distinct doctrine which has a distinct meaning. When
denominational churches baptize, they do not baptize for the same reason that
Baptist baptize; to declare eternal security. Only Baptists and old time
Presbyterians believe eternal security.
Baptist
practice closed communion because it’s the Lord’s Supper. It is restricted
to the local, visible body. The Lord is the one who determines who eats and who
does not eat. He is the one who is to determine who is to participate. It is
not the communion of a Christian with a Christian. It is our fellowship with
the Lord Jesus Christ. I Corinthians 11:24, “…this do in remembrance of me.”
I Corinthians 11:26, “…ye do shew
the Lord’s death till he come.”