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SUBJECT: Reformed Baptists

Among Reformed Baptists of today, there are two main views on the Lord’s Supper. For the sake of convenience, we can label them (1) Reformed and (2) Baptist.

The two have a great deal in common. Both, for example, believe the Lord’s Supper was instituted by Jesus Christ Himself; that He gave it to His Church; and that He expects us to observe it till He comes. They also agree that the Lord’s Supper is a great blessing to those who observe it properly, that it’s a curse to those who don’t, and that—whatever it does for us—it does not save us from our sin and misery.

Where we differ is on the exact nature of the Lord’s Supper.

Following John Calvin, the Reformed view emphasizes the communion (or fellowship) we have with Christ in the Supper. Though it denies The Real (or physical) Presence of the Lord in the bread and wine, it affirms His Spiritual Presence. It says the Lord is with us at the Table in a way He is not with us in other meetings of the church.

Baptists, on the other hand, have always called the Lord’s Supper a Memorial. That whatever else it is, it is chiefly a God-given way to remember the suffering and death of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is what I believe, by the way.

But this creates a problem: Reformed Christians wonder why we’ve hollowed out the Lord’s Supper. Look at all the blessings they’ve got at the Table! The Westminster Larger Catechism says,

While the Reformed are getting all these super things from the Lord’s Table, the Baptists are left with nothing more than a memory. It’s a happy one—to be sure—but that’s all it is—a memory.

Before we look down on it too much, we’ve got to know what kind of memory the Lord’s Supper stirs in us.

Some memories torture us because they mark the end of happy times. I know middle-aged men who long for the carefree days of childhood or would give anything if they could go back to the fun times they had in college. The memories are happy, but the happiness is mixed with a sense of loss.

But this is not the kind of memory the Lord’s Supper gives us. The Bread and Wine don’t mark the end of happy times, but the beginning. If you’re happily married, you know what I mean. I look back on my wedding and honeymoon with unmixed joy. Not because they were the last happy days I had before the drudgery of real life set in, but because they were the beginning of a love affair that has grown deeper and richer—and more fun—over the years that have followed.

This is the kind of memory the Lord’s Table provides. It looks back to the good old days when Christ died for us. But the good old days haven’t been lost; they’ve gotten better! The death of Christ is not the last pearl of His love for us; it’s the first on a strand that goes on…forever.

The One who started our salvation way back then, is still working it out for us. Right now, He’s indwelling us by His Spirit and making us holy. When we die, He’ll take us to Himself and make our spirits perfect. At the resurrection, He’ll raise our bodies and make them like His own. At the Judgment Seat, He’ll acquit us before angels and men and welcome us into glory. In heaven, He’ll communicate His love to with a fullness that we can’t even imagine. And He’ll keep on doing it forever.

So, is that all the Lord’s Supper is—a memory? Yes, that’s all. But it’s a memory of Christ’s love—which only started at the cross and ends at…well, never.