by Don Hooton | March 15, 2020
This pandemic of the COVID-19 virus has made life different and challenging. School closures, working from home and limits on public gatherings make every day a new normal. For churches, it is no different. With the current ban on gatherings of 10 or more, what are churches to do? What about Christians? And while the use of internet, email and even the telephone, makes our connections possible in this turbulent time, not every instant access will solve all the challenges. I want to address a subject I think many Christians are wrestling through: Communion in the present distress.
Communion, the Lord’s Supper, is the memorial feast instituted by Jesus Himself to bring the disciple to remembrance of the meaning of the sacrifice of His body and the covenant of His blood (c.f. Matthew 26:26-30). In Paul’s instructions to Corinth where he corrected what they were doing wrong, he wrote, “For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes” (1Corinthians 11:23-26). After noting twice that he spoke of what they did “when they came together” (11:18, 20), he says of communion, “So then, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one another” (23).
This crisis has raised the question, ‘What should Christians do in regard to communion if they are providentially hindered from partaking “when you come together”’? As is the case where I am – and it appears that in most places around the world that the same is true – we are not “coming together” as a church at all – so what are we to do?
First, many Christians are talking about this – and that is good. Truth seeking disciples should always feel comfortable discussing Scriptural subjects without judgment, harangue and divisiveness. We should feel free to express our convictions – even when they are different – and remain united in the cause – that cause that is not ours – but the cause that is Christ’s Who saved us. I understand that not everyone will agree with my conclusion, but I trust that you will look at it from Scripture, as I am trying to do myself.
Second, Paul’s words to the Corinthian church was caused by serious spiritual problems. There was division and political maneuvering (chapter 1), there was a man who had his father’s wife (5), there were law-suits among members (6), there were prideful uses of spiritual gifts (12-14) and there were some who denied the resurrection (15). In the middle of these issues was the Lord’s Supper (11) and the discussion of marriage that Paul connects to their “present distress” (7). Bible scholars disagree about whether this distress was from within or without. The word “is a strong word (old and common), either for external circumstances or inward sense of duty. It occurs elsewhere for the woes preceding the second coming (Luke 21:23) and for Paul‘s persecutions (1Thessalonians 3:7; 2Corinthians 6:4; 2Corinthians 12:10)” (Robertson, Word Pictures of the New Testament). What Paul is addressing is difficulty in their present to advise them to refrain from marriage (7:26). If it was from within, it may have been the general stress of their prideful divisiveness, or from without, it may have been persecution in its many forms in early Christianity. Whatever it was, Paul made it a valid reason to give a specific advice to answer those issues that would not forever be a pattern.
This, then, creates the question that in our own present distress, how is the Christian to be instructed regarding communion when they cannot come together with the church? And even more specifically, what is one to do when the church cannot come together at all?
Here are some Biblical instances: what did the eunuch do when he got back to Ethiopia? Did he have to wait until another was baptized and a church was formed before he could take the Lord’s Supper? What did Paul do when he arrived with his entourage of believers in a town to preach? Did they partake on a Sunday when there was no one there yet to form a church? And even more, what did Paul do as he travelled for months by boat on his way to his Roman trial before Caesar? Did he reflect on the meaning of the Communion without elements on the boat? Was that approved? What if somehow that the elements of the Communion accessible were? Would he have partaken? Or, did he sin by not partaking at all? If a leper became a Christian, still excluded from public life, would they take communion alone or not at all? What about believing soldiers of Rome, like Cornelius, who would have likely been stationed in postings or movements abroad, what did they do if no disciples were there to meet with them?
There are no clear answers to any of these questions. If someone is, as we say, “providentially hindered” (i.e. kept by circumstances outside their control) from assembling with a church to partake of the Supper, will they be in violation of Divine Law? My answer is no. It is my belief that they will be viewed in the same way from the precedent God Himself set with the Israelites regarding lepers (Leviticus 13). While not everything is parallel, leprosy was a circumstance outside of their control. With that, they were prohibited from worshipping in the assembly. So, if you cannot attend services for a circumstance outside of your control, you should not believe you have sinned by not partaking of communion.
Then, if a leper was later pronounced clean, he was granted – by God’s permission – a substitute assembly later to fulfill his worship obligations where the same sacrifices would be offered (see Leviticus 7:20-21; Deuteronomy 26:14; Numbers 5:3; 9:6-11). It was an extraordinary solution beyond the normal expectation for all worshippers that granted an alternative solution to the extraordinary circumstances.
We don’t know if the present pestilence will last weeks, or, even worse, months and how long our gathering will be hampered. But just as the instances created by extraordinary circumstances considered above, I believe that Christians then would have persevered, studied, praised and prayed as often as they could to honor the powerful gospel that had transformed their lives. They would have recalled, celebrated and shared the story of the Savior. And in that, they would have surely still reflected on the sacrifice of the Lord Himself in their extraordinary circumstances. So, I believe that God could, in consideration of our own present distress, allow Christians to reflect on the Memorial Feast, with or without the elements, when they cannot meet with the church on the Lord’s day – or even when they are are watching in a LiveStream connection.
Even before this crisis, some churches continue to meet even when, because of shortages of supplies, may not have had all the elements of communion to share. As an example, in Uganda, Christians meet even when the fruit of the vine is in short supply and continue to meet and to reflect “in their present distress.” Would God feel dishonored if they had no juice? Likewise, in hearts like theirs that are trying to honor His authority in this present distress where they cannot assemble with the saints, Christians should be able still to remember the Lord in the Communion – with or without the elements. The church does not make the elements meaningful or blessed – the Lord has. I believe that God understands what we are going through in this present distress. And Lord willing, this present distress will pass soon.
Some will counter that ‘since you made the exception “when we are gathered together” in 1Corinthians, that must mean when all of this passes that people can feel justified to stay at home from church services or go on vacations and get communion on their own.” Not so. Let’s get back to the text. When Paul said that “in light of the present distress” it is better not to marry, does that mean once the distress was passed that he intended to set a permanent precedent of discouraging marriage? Should weddings cease? Of course not. Contextually, his advice is based on the “present distress,” a present crisis that they knew about and around which this different admonition about marriage applied. That crisis would pass. So too when our crisis passes, you should partake of the Supper when and where Christians assemble on the first day of the week. All Christians should be encouraged to see clearly that this is what Jesus intended and that the Memorial Feast would be for every Sunday and for every believer when they assemble (Acts 20:7).
So, let us always pray as John did and “pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well” (3John 2); Pray that this crisis will pass. Or, even better still, join Paul in saying, “Maranatha!” or “Come, Lord Jesus!” (1Corintians 16:22).