The Virtual Communion of Saints?

As the threat of the COVID-19 coronavirus continues to loom large, many local governments have put stay-at-home orders in place to prevent the rapid spread of this pandemic. Most of America's churches have ceased gathering regularly to comply with these restrictions and as a matter of wisdom. Many of these churches have put their services online, live streaming the Sunday singing and sermon through social media like Facebook or YouTube.

This has caused us to ponder ecclesiology (the study of the church and its practices) in contexts we haven't had to think about before, most notably in the observance of our ordinances: baptism and the Lord's supper. Can we witness a baptism online? Is it still a legitimate baptism? Can we partake in the Lord's supper online? In other words, can we have a virtual Lord's supper?

Prior to the coronavirus, we were already debating about whether a person can truly go to church on the internet. Spoiler alert: you can't. As Dr. Albert Mohler has said, YouTube is a really bad place to go to church. Before anyone says it, the church is people, not a building—that is true. But what defines that people as the church? Our answers to these questions regarding the church and its ordinances are found in God's word, the Bible.

Through WWUTT, I have received several questions about "virtual ordinances," which I have decided to respond to in this blog entry. Rather than answering a whole range of questions, permit me to simplify this down into one, and that question is this:

Can you partake in the Lord's supper privately at home?

Consider what the Apostle Paul said about the proper practice of the Lord's table in 1 Corinthians 11:17-34. (It is a large enough section of text that you will pardon me for not typing out the whole thing.) Five times here, the apostle says "when you come together" (verses 17, 18, 20, 33, and 34). So the Lord's supper, or communion (which literally means "common union"), happens among the ordered gathering of the saints who come together to worship God.

You must understand that we're not merely talking about a bunch of professing Christians getting together, and then someone says, "Hey, let's eat some crackers and drink some juice!" The formal practices of the church are not to be observed so haphazardly. As Paul will say in the same letter, "Let all things be done for building up," and, "For God is not a God of confusion but of peace" (1 Corinthians 14:26, 33).

Consider the commandments and practices that define the church. The church is:

• Christians in common faith and baptism (1 Corinthians 12:12-13, Ephesians 4:4-6).
• The regular gathering of the saints (1 Corinthians 14:26, Hebrews 10:25).
• Men and women of older and younger generations growing each other in Christ (1 Timothy 5:1-2, Titus 2:2-6).
• Sitting under the teaching of God's word by ministers God has given (Ephesians 4:11-16, 1 Timothy 3:1-7, 4:13).
• Singing together psalms and hymns and spiritual songs (Ephesians 5:19, Colossians 3:16).
• A body of believers praying together to our one God (Acts 1:14, 1 Timothy 2:1-5).
• Disciplining each other (Matthew 18:15-17, Galatians 6:1).
• Discipling each other (Matthew 28:18-20, 1 Thessalonians 5:11).
• Evangelizing together (Romans 10:14-15, Titus 1:1).
• Rejoicing and suffering together (Romans 12:15, Philippians 4:4-7)
• Collecting offerings for the work of ministry (1 Corinthians 16:1-2, 2 Corinthians 9:6-7).
• Serving and humbly submitting to each other (Ephesians 5:21, 1 Peter 5:5).
• Encouraging and admonishing one another (1 Thessalonians 5:14, Colossians 3:16).
• Forgiving each other (Colossians 3:13, 1 Peter 4:8).
• Stirring one another to love and good works (Titus 3:14, Hebrews 10:24-25).
• Loving each other as Christ has loved us (John 13:34-35, 1 John 4:20-21).

And anything else I may have missed! My point being there is a formality to the church, and we must not overlook this. Notice that all of these things that define the church are done together, in person. A virtual gathering is by definition not a true gathering. You cannot serve each other or love and encourage one another personally through impersonal means. The things that define the church can only be demonstrated "when you come together."

There is no other context in which we see the Lord's supper practiced in Scripture—it is only in the personal communion of Christians who make up the church. Therefore, I would argue that it should be practiced no other way. A person may have good intentions wanting to practice the Lord's supper at home, alone or within his own household. But there's no way that is true communion. By biblical definition, that isn't the Lord's supper you are partaking in since you are not gathering at the Lord's table.

Given this understanding, if a person remains insistent on partaking in the Lord's supper at home, I would be concerned about their motivations. Why are you so convinced you must take communion in solitary (which is an oxymoron)? Are you a Catholic now? Are these last rites? Do you think you are being made holy by them, and without them you are unholy? Are you putting trust in things rather than in Christ?

We as Christians are reconciled by the cross of Christ not only to God but to God's people (Ephesians 2:16, Titus 2:14, 3:3-7). "So we, though many, are one body in Christ, and indivudally members one of another" (Romans 12:5). So here's the thing: we shouldn't want to participate in communion by ourselves or in our own respective homes. We should want to participate in communion wherever the people of God are gathered. For that, by its very inception, is what the Lord's table entails—the communion of saints in communion with Christ.

You might ask, "How many Christians does it take then before an imitation communion becomes true communion? If we had two or three other Christian families in our home, would there now be enough Christians to make this a legitimate gathering at the Lord's table?" To that I would say it still must be the formal, organized gathering of your church. How has Christ defined in His word what the church is supposed to look like? (See the references above.) That is the gathering of saints who are to partake in the Lord's table together.

Otherwise, you're arguing that the church could be rightly divided on any matter. Just get two or three families together and make decisions for the whole church without the rest of the church involved. Would you call such a factious church a functioning church? Christ certainly doesn't. Recognizing the Lord's table is communion, so we must always be in that "common union" when we partake.

I know these days are difficult. But one thing this temporary separation should stir in us is a longing to be with the people of God again. You may not be able to partake in communion now. But long for the time when we can be in communion again, and don't settle for an imitation (i.e., not the real thing) thinking that you need it to tie you over. The Lord Jesus instituted His supper when God took on human flesh and dwelt among us! Forbid that we take the personalness out of what He so beautifully personalized.

We eat and drink of the Lord's table as a remembrance of what He has done for us, shedding His blood on the cross for our sins and rising again from the grave. Communion even now is a small taste of the coming wedding feast of the Lamb, when we drink of the vine with Jesus in the Father's kingdom (Matthew 26:29). We are waiting patiently for that day. So let us wait patiently in these days until we can gather together again in church, to partake in the Lord's supper.