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T23 reasoning: Admission to the Lord's Table

Reasoning steps: Admission to the Lord’s Table

Verdicts: T23 · Admission to the Lord’s Table. Method: conventions, scoring and proximity eras. Scripture is the primary measure; fathers are weighed by era (Era I to c. 150 = 1.0, II = 0.8, III = 0.6, IV = 0.4).

T23.1: Who may receive: the baptized and examined

Step T23.1.1: Scripture

‘Whoever … eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty’; ‘Let a person examine himself’ (1 Cor 11:27–28); one bread for one body (1 Cor 10:17). The table belongs to believers who discern the body.

Step T23.1.2: Patristic evidence

Didache (Era I): ’let no one eat or drink of your Thanksgiving (Eucharist), but they who have been baptized into the name of the Lord’. Justin (Era II): only ’the man who believes that the things which we teach are true, and who has been washed … and who is so living as Christ has enjoined’. Sources: didache-t23-s1 · justin-martyr-t23-s1.

Step T23.1.3: Weighing decision

Era I–II restrict the table to the baptized who believe and live as Christians; Scripture requires self-examination. Verdict: a fenced table (baptized, believing, living as Christians) is Era I consensus and fits 1 Cor 11.

  • Confidence: High.

Step T23.1.4: Source-proximity weighing

  • Scripture (benchmark): 1 Cor 11:27–29 requires self-examination and discerning the body. (Scripture confidence: high)
  • Assessment: All traditions fence the table; they differ on added requirements (sacramental confession, fasting, confirmation).

T23.2: Infant communion

Step T23.2.1: Scripture

Children ate the Passover and asked its meaning (Exod 12:26–27); Paul requires each to ’examine himself’ (1 Cor 11:28), which presupposes understanding. Scripture does not settle whether baptized infants commune.

Step T23.2.2: Patristic evidence

Cyprian (Era III, c. 251): ’the deacon began to offer the cup to those present, and when … its turn approached, the little child … refused the cup’. Sources: cyprian-t23-s1.

Step T23.2.3: Weighing decision

Infant communion is attested by Era III (Cyprian) and was general in East and West until the medieval West withdrew it. Verdict: infants communed from at least Era III; Scripture does not settle the question (scored as not a Scripture question).

  • Confidence: Medium.

Step T23.2.4: Source-proximity weighing

  • Scripture (benchmark): Not settled: Passover inclusion and 1 Cor 11:28 point different ways. (Scripture confidence: low)
  • Assessment: Traditions that commune infants match Era III; Scripture is not decisive.

Post-750 development by tradition

Catholic

Trent XIII (1551), XXI (1562).

  • T23.1 (fathers 4/4; Scripture 3/4): Trent XIII ch. 7: no one ‘conscious to himself of mortal sin … ought to approach to the sacred Eucharist without previous sacramental confession’ (verified).
  • T23.2 (fathers 2/4; Scripture n/a/4): Trent XXI ch. 4: ’little children, who have not attained to the use of reason, are not by any necessity obliged to the sacramental communion’ (verified).

Orthodox

Infant communion after chrismation.

  • T23.1 (fathers n/a/4; Scripture n/a/4): Not assessed: the Orthodox admission rules found were in a parish leaflet, not an official text.
  • T23.2 (fathers 4/4; Scripture n/a/4): OCA, ‘Chrismation’: baptism and chrismation are ‘fulfilled in the immediate reception … of Holy Communion … This is the case with infants as well as adults’ (verified).

Oriental Orthodox

Coptic rules for communicants.

  • T23.1 (fathers 4/4; Scripture 3/4): Coptic Church: the communicant ‘must be a Christian Orthodox believer, baptized in the Orthodox Church’, with a nine-hour fast (copticchurch.net, verified).
  • T23.2 (fathers 4/4; Scripture n/a/4): Coptic Church: ‘The person baptized must receive Communion directly after Baptism’ (verified), infants included.

Lutheran

AC XXV.

  • T23.1 (fathers 4/4; Scripture 4/4): AC XXV: ’none are admitted except they be first examined’ (verified).
  • T23.2 (fathers 1/4; Scripture n/a/4): AC XXV: ’none are admitted except they be first examined’ (verified), which excludes infants.

Anglican

1662 Confirmation rubric.

  • T23.1 (fathers 4/4; Scripture 3/4): 1662 Confirmation rubric: ’there shall none be admitted to the holy Communion, until such time as he be confirmed, or be ready and desirous to be confirmed’ (verified).
  • T23.2 (fathers 1/4; Scripture n/a/4): 1662 rubric: none admitted until confirmed (verified).

Presbyterian

WCF XXIX.8; WLC 173, 177.

  • T23.1 (fathers 4/4; Scripture 4/4): WCF XXIX.8: ‘all ignorant and ungodly persons … are unworthy of the Lord’s table’ (verified); WLC 173 on keeping back the ‘ignorant or scandalous’.
  • T23.2 (fathers 1/4; Scripture n/a/4): WLC 177: the Supper is given ‘only to such as are of years and ability to examine themselves’ (verified).

Reformed Baptist

1689 30.8.

  • T23.1 (fathers 4/4; Scripture 4/4): 1689 30.8: ‘ignorant and ungodly persons … are unworthy of the Lord’s table’ (verified).
  • T23.2 (fathers n/a/4; Scripture n/a/4): Not applicable: infants are not baptized in this tradition.

General Baptist

Standard Confession.

  • T23.1 (fathers 4/4; Scripture 4/4): Orthodox Creed (1679) art. XXXIII: ’no Unbaptized, Unbelieving, or open Prophane, or wicked Heretical Persons, ought to be admitted to this Ordinance’ (verified, reformedontheweb.com transcription).
  • T23.2 (fathers 1/4; Scripture n/a/4): Orthodox Creed (1679) art. XXXIII: ‘Nor are little Infants, that cannot examine themselves … to be admitted to this Sacrament’, while noting that Augustine and ‘many of the Greek Churches’ did so (verified, reformedontheweb.com transcription).

Anabaptist

Schleitheim 3; Dordrecht X.

  • T23.1 (fathers 4/4; Scripture 4/4): Schleitheim 3: all who break bread ‘shall be united beforehand by baptism in one body of Christ’ (verified).
  • T23.2 (fathers n/a/4; Scripture n/a/4): Not applicable: infants are not baptized in this tradition.