Sacraments Seal the Knowledge of God

"The sacrament is a sealing ordinance. Christ made himself known to his disciples in the breaking of bread; so, in the holy supper, in the breaking of bread God makes himself known to us, to be our God and portion" (Watson, Body of Divinity, 258).

Baptism into Christ's Body

I just started to read Robert Letham's Systematic Theology, published by Crossway in 2019. And it just might become my go-to one-volume systematic theology along with Louis Berkhof's. So far, it is riveting. (Never thought I'd say this about a contemporary systematics text!) I will probably post a bit more on it as I get into its contents more deeply, but for now I simply want to cite a portion on baptism.

As I began to read the section on baptism (in preparation for our daughter Zoe's baptism this upcoming weekend), I thought to myself, and blurted out to my wife: "This is my view! This is what the New Testament actually teaches!" It's rooted in the Bible's fairly straightforward teaching instead of our modern systems on these things, where baptism tends to get detached from its biblical, ecclesial, and salvific contexts. Letham does well in holding things together that few Christians (North American, at least) seem to be able to hold together.

Note that the discussion of baptism in Letham's volume comes after justification, not in a detached section on ecclesiology, but in a chapter entitled "The Beginning of the Christian Life," which is itself part of a larger section on "The Spirit of God and the People of God." Here's a salutary sample, and a good simple word on baptism:

It is appropriate to bring baptism into the equation at this point [after a discussion on justification]. The New Testament presents baptism as one of the points of entry into salvation, together with repentance, faith, and the reception of the Holy Spirit; these all feature in the evangelistic sermons in Acts. Throughout the New Testament Epistles there are allusions to baptism in this connection. Moreover, Rome makes baptism the instrumental cause of justification; while this has had unfortunate consequences, it alerts us to the need to provide some coherent answer. We saw in the previous chapter the close connections between regeneration, union with Christ, and baptism, connections often missed in evangelical and much recent Reformed thought [italics mine]. The Western world has been prone to thinking in analytical categories, breaking realities down into component parts, with distinctions to the forefront rather than connections. There is need to repair this imbalance in our present context. . . . 

Baptism is essential to the church's ministry. Jesus instituted it and required it as primary (Matt. 28:18–20). The way the church is to make the nations disciples is first by baptizing them. This occurred at Pentecost only a few days later (Acts 2:37–41). There, Peter linked baptism to the gift of the Spirit and cleansing from sin (1 Pet. 3:21). Paul also connects baptism with cleansing from sin (Acts 22:16) and elsewhere mentions baptism in the same breath as membership of the body of Christ and the gift of the Spirit (1 Cor. 12:13). It is the entry point into the church and so marks, in its way, the entrance into salvation. 

 —Robert Letham, Systematic Theology (Wheaton: Crossway, 2019), 705–706.

Children at the Table

"When in 1 Corinthians Paul said that a man should examine himself, he spoke only of adults because he was speaking about those who were quarreling among themselves. However, he doesn't here forbid that the sacrament of the altar be given even to children" (Luther, Works, vol. 54, p. 58).

Austin Owen, Child of God's Covenant Love

Our baby boy is going to be baptized next weekend at College Church in Wheaton. We're looking forward to his being baptized into Christ our King and Redeemer.

“Austin” is named after St. Augustin(e), whom the Puritans called Austin. Augustin(e) is known as the "doctor of grace” in the Church. He eloquently defended and articulated the doctrine of the sovereign grace of God in Christ, as well as anyone in the faith, having himself experienced it so potently as a thirty-two-year-old lecherous man. And it is our prayer that Austin will know God’s sovereign grace deeply, as did Augustin(e), to the “praise of the glory of God’s grace.”

His middle name “Owen” has nothing to do with the origin of the word or its present day meaning. Emily and I have given it to him after that greatest of English Puritans John Owen (one of his daddy’s most influential teachers). The center of John Owen’s theology is arguably steadfastly beholding "the glory of God in the face of Christ" (e.g., Owen cites 2 Cor. 4:6 more than any other verse in his works). Our prayer is that our little Owen would embrace the centrality of the glory of Christ in his life and steadfastly behold that glory all his dying days, being transformed into that same glory, to the glory of God.

Grace Felicity Wencel

"We believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus" (Acts 15:11). This was the testimony of the apostles at the Church's first council in Jerusalem around 49 A.D. And it is our testimony, the Wencel's witness, along with countless millions. From first to last, we live our lives, and we receive our salvation from sin and God's wrath, as a free gift. It is all of grace! Ephesians 2 puts it like this: it "is not our own doing; it is the gift of God, not of works, in order that no one should boast" (vv. 8–9). That is, except in the cross of Christ (Gal. 6:14).

And as partakers of the covenant of grace bought by Jesus' freely shed blood, we are constantly conscious that all we enjoy in this life comes to us from the gratuitous goodness of our triune God, who is the "God of all grace" (1 Pet. 5:10). And this includes not least of all the children God has given us, as we have asked him for these gifts for his glory.

And so on October 24, 2015, at 3:30 in the afternoon, in Joliet, IL, at Presence Saint Joseph Medical Center, the hospital where I work, God brought forth from Emily's womb our fourth child, a gorgeous girl, whom we have named Grace Felicity Wencel. Grace is from the Greek New Testament "charis," which refers to God’s free favor. Felicity derives from the Latin "felicitas," and means "happiness."

Now Grace Felicity is named "Grace" for two main reasons. First, as noted, we live our lives, and have our all, through the free grace of God in Christ. But, second, we have also named her Grace because she is a special gift to us after losing to death's clutches our second and third children (named Anastasis and Elisha, respectively).

Consequently, we know full well that Grace's being conceived and sustained and brought forth into this world, healthy and whole, are not a given. We do live, after all, we're reminded daily, in a broken and fallen world. We know therefore that possession of life for Grace comes to us through the sheer goodness and good pleasure of God, a God who is sovereign over all, a God who is Lord of the womb and Lord of the tomb. And last, though by no means least, we know that salvation from her sins and from God's just judgement—a salvation freely held out to her in Jesus' death and resurrection according to God's everlasting covenant—this salvation, from first to last, from top to bottom, from head to toe, from cradle to grave, from womb to tomb, from first breath to first death, from dust to glory, is all of it of the sheer graciousness of God.

And so standing in grace (Rom. 5:2), we receive from God's good hands, the hands of a loving heavenly Father, our beautiful tiny gift, specially crafted by a Master Maker—Grace Felicity Wencel. And now it's clear why we've named her “Grace.” She's a gift to us from God, and she's dependent on God's good Gift, even as we are. And perhaps, then, you've also perceived why it is that we've given her the middle name "Felicity." As already said, Felicity means "happiness." O the happiness! In our minds this middle name indicates the happiness that overtakes one touched by God's free favor reaching down when the sinner is not reaching up, and it points to the portion of one who is the object of God's free selective favor—divine grace!—a favor freely bestowed before the foundation of the world in Christ. O the happiness! And it also speaks to the happiness God has given us as Grace's parents, in the gift of her life, a life to be offered back up to him in our joy and for his glory.

Now, Grace Felicity Wencel, we shall address you directly. This comes from the hearts and faith of your parents. We would have you know the following, our heart’s desire, and also our prayer to God:

Our precious Grace Felicity Wencel, you are indeed a gift from God to your parents. And we are so thankful for you. In fact, we are doubly thankful, thankful for your physical life, but thankful even more for God’s gracious promise to you of eternal life in Jesus Christ your Lord. We pray that you will never doubt, not for a moment, not for the blink of an eye, the favor of our heavenly Father toward you in his Son. We pray that you will never doubt that God holds out to you freely the justification that is "by his grace through the redemption in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 3:24).

Grace Felicity, you have been born into a covenant home, your parents are recipients of God's free favor, and so grace is already pouring forth from heaven over your life. You are "holy," according to God's Word (1 Cor. 7:14). All you need do is receive it, receive grace, that is, by receiving Christ. Receive him just like you are now receiving all you need from your parents, without a hint of deadly doing, without trying to earn what comes freely to you, coming through those (your parents) who possess far less resourcefulness than your heavenly Father possesses.

And, remember, Grace, even your receiving the grace of God through faith is a gift of God. Faith itself is a gift. It's not something you can work up on your own (Eph. 2:8–9; Phil. 1:29). God has designed it this way, so that you'll never be able to brag about being saved through your own good sense, your own biological pedigree, or your own autonomous willing. No, you are entirely dependent on God’s Gift. Dependent on God's grace!

And you need to know—because your parents' lives know it full well—that grace is sovereign. It is God's doing. Just as you didn't choose your parents, so also your salvation from sin does not come by your own choosing. It comes because God's grace pursues you, it goes after you, it lays hold on you, it will follow you all of your days (Ps. 23:6; ask your daddy about the translation of the Hebrew here). Knowing God as your parents do, and how he has reached down and grabbed hold of us when we weren't reaching up after him, it is our prayer (and expectation!) that God's grace will grab a hold of you and be your portion forever.

And you need to know, our dear daughter, that this is what we've prayed for from the moment that God formed you in the womb. For all we know (and it wouldn't surprise us in the least), God's grace has already transformed you and given you new life. John the Baptist leapt in his mother's womb at the voice of the mother of the Christ (Lk. 1:41). And in Psalm 22 David said this, speaking to God: "You are he who took me from the womb; you made me trust you at my mother's breasts. On you was I cast from my birth, and from my mother's womb you have been my God" (vv. 9–10).

So we, your mother and I, pray earnestly that you will never try to earn God's acceptance. If you ever dare do that, you will "nullify the grace of God; for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died needlessly" (Gal. 2:21). We pray that you will regularly recall that by the grace of God you are who you are (1 Cor. 15:10). We also pray that you will know deeply in your own life that grace is not just pardon but also power, so that grace toward you will not prove vain, but be seen in your bodily labors, in your good deeds (1 Cor. 15:10). And so may you never receive the grace of God in vain (2 Cor. 6:1).

Soon you will be baptized. We, your parents, will do this in obedience to the Lord Jesus who commanded us to make disciples, "baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey all that [he] commanded" (Matt. 28:19–20). And we shall regularly remind you of the meaning of your baptism. You have been baptized into Christ and into his death (Rom. 6:3). You have been clothed with Christ (Gal. 3:27). And, having been baptized, you belong to Jesus, since you have died with Christ. And since he rose from the dead, you are to walk in the newness of his life (Rom. 6:4).

And now—Grace Felicity Wencel—we "commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified" by faith (Acts 20:32; cf. 26:18).

The Eighth Day New Creation

In Gen. 17:12, we read that all the children in Abraham's household were to be circumcised on the eighth day. But why the eighth day? Well, the text doesn't say explicitly. That is, the text of the immediate context doesn't give direct commentary. But with seven days of creation in the narrative background, it is hard not to suspect why, and hard not to see that the broader context does provide a plausible answer implicitly. Is it not likely that the eighth day symbolizes the new creation, on which there is a cutting away of the old? 

And likewise baptism, typified by the ark passing through the ancient flood (1 Pet. 3:21), symbolizes the new creation. Just as Noah and his family entered the new creation through the waters of judgment, so also the one baptized with Christian baptism passes through the waters of judgment (dying with Christ, who was judged) into the new creation kingdom of God.

The Family Meal

Yes, the Lord's Supper is the family meal of the church of God in Christ. And so there ought to be a visible, tangible expression of this on Sunday morning.

The Holy Communion

Not in rich furniture, or fine array,
           Nor in a wedge of gold,
           Thou, who from me was sold,
        To me dost now thyself convey;
For so thou shouldst without me still have been,
            Leaving within me sin:

But by the way of nourishment and strength
            Thou creep'st into my breast;
            Making thy way my rest,
         And thy small quantities my length;
Which spread their forces into every part,
            Meeting sin's force and art.

Yet can these not get over to my soul,
            Leaping the wall that parts
            Our souls and fleshly hearts;
        But as th' outworks, they may control
My rebel-flesh, and carrying thy name,
            Affright both sin and shame.

Only thy grace, which with these elements comes,
            Knoweth the ready way,
            And hath the privy key,
        Op'ning the soul's most subtle rooms;
While those to spirits refined, at door attend
            Dispatches from their friend.

Give me my captive soul, or take
         My body also thither.
Another lift like this will make
         Them both to be together.

Before that sin turned flesh to stone,
         And all our lump to leaven;
A fervent sigh might well have blown
         Our innocent earth to heaven.

For sure when Adam did not know
         To sin, or sin to smother;
He might to heav'n from Paradise go,
         As from one room t'another.

Thou hast restored us to this case
        By this thy heav'nly blood;
Which I can go to, when I please,
        And leave th' earth to their food.

—George Herbert, The Complete English Poems (New York: Penguin, 1991), 46–47.

The Context of Kids Drinking in Corinth Considered

In my previous post on 1 Cor. 11:17-34, I said I’d be considering the context of this text next. Considering the context carefully appears to me to be important if we’re not to miss Paul’s purpose in penning this portion of his letter to Corinth. Understanding his purpose, we’re in a much better position to ask the right questions of the text and follow its flow of thought for a right application with respect to children at the family meal.

Discussion of the context will move from the wider to the nearer context, from the periphery to the center. So I’ll discuss first the larger context of the whole letter, its broad occasion. Second, I’ll then briefly canvass the situation that occasioned the broader section (7:1-14:40) in which 1 Cor. 11:17-34 comes. Third, I’ll briefly consider the narrower section that embraces the common concerns (11:2-14:40) in which the section on the Lord’s Supper finds its appropriate place. And last, we’ll think over what’s going on in the immediate context of the text that concerns us.

So, first, why did Paul write 1 Corinthians?[1] He wrote because the Corinthian church was divided and dirty. Paul had apparently been informed by way of an oral report of a number of problems in Corinth, not the least of which was disunity (1:11). The report communicated not only that the Corinthians misunderstood Paul’s first letter (5:1), but also that there was divisiveness, sexual sin, and social snobbery (1:10; 5:1; 11:18). Paul also received a letter from the Corinthians that communicated considerable confusion over marital matters, participation in pagan practices, order in corporate worship, and the bodily resurrection of believers (7:1; 8:1; 12:1; 15:12, 35).

So he wrote his letter to get this church, divided on account of the arrogance of its more influential members, to work together for the advance of the gospel. He wants them to drop their divisive one-upmanship, build up the faith of the weak, and witness effectively to unbelievers. He argues that much of their conduct was out of step with the gospel. At root of their disunity lay an arrogance (3:21; 4:6, 8, 18–19; 5:2, 6) totally incompatible with God’s free grace in Christ: wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption (1:30; 4:7). The arrogant divisiveness and selfish disregard of others going on generally in Corinth shows up in a particular way at the Lord’s Table.

Now, second, and more briefly, it seems salutary to take note that the text on the Lord’s Supper comes in a much broader section spanning from 7:1 to 15:58. This broader block of text deals mainly with the questions from the Corinthians (see, e.g., 7:1; 8:1; 12:1). Paul responds to the queries of the Corinthians one by one. As many commentators comment upon, 1 Cor. 11:17-34 may be the only passage in the broader block that does not address specific questions.[2] Paul appears to bring up the ethical chaos at the Lord’s Supper in response to oral reportage, supported by the “I hear” of 11:18. Which leads to the third, even narrower still, context in which 11:17-34 finds itself embedded: 11:2-14:40.

This third, narrower context—11:2-14:40—addresses the gathered assembly, or corporate worship, in Corinth. The section right before our text speaks to the head coverings question (11:2-16). Then chapters 12-14 concern the use and abuse of spiritual gifts. So 1 Cor. 11:17-34 comes in where it does because of its thematic links with the forgoing and succeeding sections. It deals with matters of unity and edification when the church gathers together as one body.

Now last, we ought to think about what the immediate context reveals about Paul’s concerns at the Lord’s Supper and the implications for the practice of the gathered people of God. This context brings still more clarity for how we ought to think about the participation of children in the family meal. And to this clarity I shall turn our attention in the next post. So more anon. 

But for now one might just ask this question: how would our questions about kids eating and drinking with the adults at the church's family meal find a place in the questions and concerns at Corinth? Would they?

---

[1] Much of what follows in this first "context" simply comes from Theilman’s introduction in the ESV Study Bible. Though the commentaries cover much of the same ground, and indeed more, Theilman states succinctly and nicely what was going on in Corinth and Paul’s chief concerns.

[2] See, for example, the commentaries of Fee, Thiselton, and Garland. 

Can Kids Drink Unworthily?

Now before getting into some of the details of the text (1 Cor. 11:17-34), I want to do two things. First, I want to make clearer the difficulty I’m raising in my first post in this series. Second, I want to consider the passage in the larger context and flow of the epistle.

So first, the difficulty. It's often asserted that this passage ought to keep kids who lack a certain level of cognitive development from coming to the table. Why? Well, because they cannot either “examine” themselves or “discern the body” (1 Cor. 11:28-29). 

How we determine that level of cognitive development is worth considering, but it’s not the point I wish to pursue now. What I want to pursue now is simply what is implied in saying that a lack of cognitive development excludes kids from coming to the family meal of the church. For if we want to say that children do not have the capacity to participate in the examining and discerning Paul calls for, then should we not also say that they probably lack the capacity to participate in the Lord’s Supper in an unworthy manner? And if they cannot participate unworthily, then why are we excluding them?

But, someone will say, “Ah, but we don’t have to decide whether or not they can participate unworthily.” Why not? We’ve decided we have to decide whether they are old enough to examine and to discern. So why wouldn’t we also want to ask if they can commit the sin that concerns Paul? Isn’t that why he wants the examining and discerning to be done? So isn’t the question about whether so-called cognitively underdeveloped children can participate in an unworthy manner or not more fundamental to the whole discussion for deciding whether to include or exclude covenant kids from the family meal?

So let’s consider what we might make of answering either “yes” or “no” to our question. Say someone says, “No, covenant kids cannot participate unworthily, for they lack the requisite mental development.” Well, then, why exclude them? Isn’t Paul’s concern to warn those who would participate unworthily? It’s not just to exclude those who lack a certain kind of development. No, that’s not at all the topic of his discussion. He wants to prevent guilt-generating participation in the family meal. He wants to prevent the Lord's judgment from falling on people who participate unworthily.

But say one answers, “Yes, covenant kids are mentally developed enough to participate unworthily.” Okay, so why then do we say they’re not mentally developed enough to examine or to discern? How have we decided this—and done so with such certainty?

Do you see the difficulty? I don’t see how people can get around it. Unless they just ignore it. Which ignoring seems to being going on quite a lot.

In the next post, I will consider the context of 1 Cor. 11:17-34. It seems to me that it’s essential for us to discern properly Paul’s purpose in writing the epistle and his purpose in the section in which our passage comes. The larger context of the whole epistle, with the circumstances and condition of the Corinthians that Paul’s addressing, and then also the flow of thought in the larger section in which our passage participates—these are crucial for asking the right questions of the passage. Who is Paul trying to exclude from the table anyway? Would our questions about children likely be in either Paul’s mind or the minds of the Corinthians?

Well, more to come just around the bend.

Kids Who Drink Unworthily

I'm going to begin a series of posts, probably fairly short, on a text that ought to be far more controversial than it tends to be in most Protestant churches, and especially in Reformed churches. I'm speaking of 1 Cor. 11:17-34, especially verses 27-29.

It's assumed and asserted (far too dogmatically, to my mind) that this text excludes children from coming to the Lord's table until they reach a certain stage of cognitive development that enables them to "examine themselves" and "discern the body" (1 Cor. 11:28-29). But I want to question this assumption. I realize that even the Christian tradition that I respect most—namely, the Reformed tradition—has by and large taken the dominant position today of excluding kids until they attain a certain stage of cognitive development.

In this first post, I simply want to raise a question to consider. If children need first to be able to "discern the body" (whatever that means, and more on that soon) and "examine" themselves as adults do, then by the same reasoning, should they not also be required to be in a position developmentally where they can also eat the bread or drink the cup of the Lord "in an unworthy manner" (1 Cor. 11:27)?

In other words, what does it look like to eat and drink "in an unworthy manner" for the one we consider developmentally developed enough? Given that, it seems that we must then ask a couple of preliminary questions, and then some follow-up questions. First, can a child do this? And, second, what would that look like?

For if children cannot eat and drink unworthily, or are not likely to do so, then perhaps we shouldn't so easily exclude them. But, if children can eat and drink unworthily, then can we not discern who is and who isn't discerning the Lord's body among the children? Or can only the child do the examining? And if this is the case, that the child alone can do the examining (in order to be faithful to the text), then is this even possible for a child? And if not, why not? And if so, what might that "examining" look like?

Seeing Jesus at the Supper Poetically Put

I'm on the lookout for good poetry about seeing Jesus by faith at the Lord's Table. I want something to help with expressing this glory! Someone, somewhere must have penned a poem about experiencing Jesus at the Supper with that blessed sixth sense.

When I said this publicly, a kind friend sent me a poem by Huss and a Greek poem from the fourth century. Both are good poems and express the glory of the table and exercising faith there. I'm looking for some, however, that express as their main theme what Edwards called that "divine and supernatural light immediately imparted to the soul."

If none exists, I just might learn how to write poetry one of these days and give it my best go. For the first time in years, I believe, I once again beheld the glory of Christ and his kingdom at the Table this last Lord's Day. And oh how sweet it was to look on Jesus there! And oh how that table can cure ten thousand ills of soul!

All praise be to the risen Christ, who lives and reigns forever as the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world for serial sinners like me!

Heidelberg on Baptism

Question 73: Why doth the Holy Ghost call baptism the washing of regeneration and the washing away of sins?

Answer: God speaks thus not without great cause: namely, not only to teach us thereby that like as the filthiness of the body is taken away by water, so our sins also are taken away by the blood and Spirit of Christ; but much more, that by this divine pledge and token he may assure us that we are as really washed from our sins spiritually as our bodies are washed with water.

Question 74: Are infants also to be baptized?

Answer: Yes; for since they, as well as their parents, belong to the covenant and people of God, and both redemption from sin and the Holy Ghost, who works faith, are through the blood of Christ promised to them no less than to their parents, they are also by baptism, as a sign of the covenant, to be ingrafted into the Christian Church, and distinguished from the children of unbelievers, as was done in the Old Testament by circumcision, in place of which in the New Testament baptism is appointed.

—Philip Schaff, ed., The Creeds of Christendom (vol. 3; Grand Rapids: Baker, 1996), 330–331.

Baptism as a Sure Sign

A Lutheran prayer of thanksgiving for the sure sign of baptism:

O my God, I am a sinner, and yet I am not a sinner. Alone and apart from Christ, I am a sinner. But in my Lord Jesus Christ and with him, I am no sinner. I firmly believe that he has destroyed all my sins with his precious blood. The sign of this is that I am baptized, cleansed by God's word, and declared absolved and freed from all my sins. In the sacrament of the true body and blood of my Lord Jesus Christ I have received as a sure sign of grace the forgiveness of sins. This he has won and accomplished for me by the shedding of his precious blood. For this I thank him in eternity. Amen.

  —Martin Luther, Luther's Prayers (ed. Herbert F. Brokering; Augsberg: Minneapolis, 1994), 77.

O Lord, Rekindle and Strengthen Faith

A Lutheran prayer before receiving communion:

My Lord Christ, I have fallen, I would be gladly strong. For this purpose you have instituted the sacrament, that with it we may rekindle and strengthen our faith and be helped. Therefore I am to receive it. Behold, Lord, it is your word. My weakness and failings are known to you. You, yourself, have said: "Come to me, all you who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens and I will give you rest" (Matt. 11:18). I now come to be helped. Amen. 

—Martin Luther, Luther's Prayers (ed. Herbert F. Brokering; Augsberg: Minneapolis, 1994), 76.

Supping with the Savior One Day; Sinning with Satan by Monday?

At my local church, we sat done with Jesus yesterday at his table. We partook of his body and blood together, and we renewed fellowship with him and with one another. And I have one question, mainly for myself, before the Lord himself, as I begin this week, but also for all who regularly sit down to sup and cup with the living Lord Jesus:

We just sat down at supper with Jesus yesterday: how then can we dine with the devil today?

CREC: Baptism and Christian Education

Here is one of the many reasons (not the only reason, nor the main) why I've been so impressed with the CREC churches. If there is one in your area, you should probably visit it.

Luther on Children at the Table

Martin Luther said many fine and provocative things with which we should disagree. But with the following word about children at the Table of the Lord paedobaptists ought not to disagree:

When in 1 Corinthains Paul said that a man should examine himself, he spoke only of adults because he was speaking about those who were quarreling among themselves. However, he doesn't here forbid that the sacrament of the altar be given even to children (Vol. 54, Luther's Works, p. 58).

Luther seems consistent biblically and theologically with his paedobaptist stance. So why do so many paedobaptists today act like credobaptists when it comes to the Supper?

One with Christ

Calvin on the Sacred Supper is without doubt in my mind dead on.  His view, amid the muddle, clarifies and illuminates.  It also tends toward nourishment and vivification and communion, which gets at my chief concern with understanding the Table aright. 

I give Calvin's summary from an extended discussion in Book 4 of what Scripture teaches concerning the Supper over against what today is called the "memorial view":  

To summarize:  our souls are fed by the flesh and blood of Christ in the same way that bread and wine keep and sustain physical life.  For the analogy of the sign applies only if our souls find their nourishment in Christ--which cannot happen unless Christ truly grows into one with us, and refreshes us by the eating of his flesh and the drinking of his blood.

The Holy Supper

As often as we celebrate the Table of the Lord, we engage in proclamation of his death until he comes (1 Cor. 11:26).  This simple truth is worthy of extended meditation.  Our celebration of the Holy Supper is a proclaiming of the Lord's death till he returns.  This simple truth lands on me this morning with more weight and force than previously it had. 

As the saints gather on Sunday, we do so in the name of the risen Christ, celebrating the resurrection and all that flows from it.  But our celebration of the Supper centers on the death that proceeded it.  The Table reminds us ever and always how the cross came before, and comes before, the crown, even as we enjoy new life in Christ.  And this cross, this substitutionary sacrifice, we proclaim as we celebrate the Supper.  An implication: we are bearing witness to unbelievers as we celebrate the sacred meal.