The Lord’s Supper

The Lord’s Supper Belongs to the Local New Testament Church. The Lord’s Supper is not a general Christian meal for every believer everywhere. It is a church ordinance, given by Christ to His church, and therefore it should be observed by the membership of that local New Testament church. In 1 Corinthians, Paul is not writing to Christianity in general. He addresses a specific local congregation: “To the church of God which is at Corinth…” — 1 Corinthians 1:2.

That matters. The instructions about the Lord’s Supper in 1 Corinthians 11 were given to a local church body. Paul repeatedly says, “when you come together,” showing that the Supper was connected to the assembled church, not to a mixed gathering of all believers from everywhere. Paul says: “When you come together as a church…” — 1 Corinthians 11:18. And again: “When you meet together…” — 1 Corinthians 11:20. So the Lord’s Supper was not treated as a private devotional act or an open community meal. It was an ordinance practiced by a church when that church assembled together.

The Lord’s Supper also requires church discipline and church judgment. Paul rebuked the Corinthian church because disorder and sin were present among them. He told them: “Let a man examine himself…” — 1 Corinthians 11:28. Some argue that this means the Supper must be open to anyone who personally feels ready. But Paul was not speaking to random individuals outside the church. He was speaking to the members of the church at Corinth. Self-examination took place inside the responsibility and order of that local church.

The church also has a duty to guard its fellowship. In 1 Corinthians 5, Paul commanded the church at Corinth to withdraw fellowship from a sinful member. He said:“ Remove the wicked man from among yourselves.” — 1 Corinthians 5:13. That command only makes sense if the church has a defined membership and a guarded fellowship. If the church is commanded to exclude a disorderly member from its fellowship, then the church cannot turn around and invite unknown or non-member participants to the Lord’s Table. Closed communion is consistent with church discipline. Open communion weakens it.

The Supper is also a picture of unity in one body. Paul wrote: “Since there is one bread, we who are many are one body…” — 1 Corinthians 10:17. The “one body” in 1 Corinthians is not an invisible, universal organization with no membership roll, no discipline, and no local accountability. Paul is writing to the church at Corinth, a real congregation with real members, real order, and real discipline. The bread pictures the unity of that assembled body. Therefore, the Supper should be limited to that body.

The pattern of the New Testament is also important. Before the church continued in breaking bread, the people first received the word and were baptized: “Those who had received his word were baptized…” — Acts 2:41. Then: “They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread…” — Acts 2:42. The order is clear: salvation, baptism, church fellowship, then breaking of bread. The Lord’s Supper was not placed before baptism or outside church fellowship. It belonged among baptized believers continuing together in the doctrine and fellowship of the church.

This is why Missionary Baptists have historically held to closed communion. The Supper is not closed because we believe we are better than other Christians. It is closed because the ordinance belongs to the local church, and the church is responsible before God for how it observes it.

Closed communion protects:

The authority of the local church
The purity of church fellowship
The meaning of baptism before communion
The unity of the assembled body
The seriousness of the Lord’s Supper

The Lord’s Supper is sacred. It is not merely a symbol of personal faith; it is a church ordinance committed to a local New Testament church. Since Paul’s instructions were given to “the church of God which is at Corinth,” and since the Supper was observed when that church came together, the proper practice is for each local church to serve the Supper to its own members.

Therefore, from a Missionary Baptist view, the Lord’s Supper should be closed to the members of that local New Testament church, not opened broadly to visitors, non-members, or those outside the church’s discipline and fellowship.