Northern Crofter
Puritan Board Sophomore
I have been studying and contemplating the topic of how the “Regulative Principle” applies to the frequency of the Lord’s Supper for many years. I have also long been fascinated by the concept of “time” - the first thing our infinite God did was create this finite concept: “In the beginning.” My family and friends (Christian and not) all think I’m a bit strange in that I do not celebrate the same “times” they do (Christmas, Easter, Halloween and the like) but I do religiously celebrate each Lord’s Day, the changing of seasons, and New Year’s based on Genesis 1.14: “And God said, ‘Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven, to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years.…’” (and Thanksgiving here in the US because I do hold to the Westminster Directory of Publick Worship - see “Concerning the Observation of Days of Publick Thanksgiving”- so every year I print out and read that year’s Presidential proclamation of a “National Day of Thanksgiving” and I think it is growing on my extended family as they keep showing up to our table each November…). So I am therefore also somewhat fixated on the timing (frequency) of the Lord’s Supper. With apologies to my “Reformed Baptist” friends (which I considered myself to be many years ago), how can we get so fairly certain as to the Biblical meaning and mode of baptism and its links to the previous dispensation of the covenant of grace, but we can’t seem to do the same with the Lord’s Supper regarding the frequency (or the bread or the cup or what’s in the cup for that matter)? Is there any aspect of baptism that we would ever start talking about as a circumstance of worship the way people often talk about the frequency of the Lord’s Supper?
This could become a wide-ranging discussion so, with apologies, I am asking for responses within certain boundaries:
A. I do not believe an element of worship can be a circumstance of worship, so I am not interested in discussing whether or not the frequency of the Lord’s Supper is a circumstance of worship. Please start a separate thread if you want to take that up (but please first note the proof texts used in WCF 1.6.c).
B. I believe that the frequency of the Lord’s Supper is “either expressly set down in Scripture, or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from Scripture” - this is what I would like to hear from my brethren on PB.
C. I do hold to the Westminster Directory of Publick Worship, so while I do acknowledge that it states that how frequent the Lord’s Supper is to be observed “may be considered and determined by the ministers, and other church-governors of each congregation, as they shall find most convenient for the comfort and edification of the people committed to their charge,” that doesn’t mean a more definitive answer cannot be sought after. Also, I believe this statement from the Directory should be understood in its original context as both a compassionate allowance for less frequent administration in congregations filled with new believers and a compromise between the Scots and the English. It is worth noting that the kingdoms mutually agreed upon “the preservation” of the Church of Scotland in doctrine, worship, discipline, and government and “the reformation” of religion in the kingdoms of England and Ireland. Thus the frequency in the Scottish Kirk would have been seen as the standard when the Westminster Standards were debated and adopted so I prefer references from Scots to others.
D. I’m not looking for individual preferences or experiences - I have my own plethora of experiences with weekly, monthly, and seasonal observances, grape juice in shot glasses / wine in a common cup, and tearing pieces from a loaf of bread / breaking off pieces of matzah / picking up tiny bits of hardtack.
E. I am looking for testimony based on the Deuteronomic bar of “at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established.” With further apologies to my “Reformed Baptist” friends as well as my Lutheran and Anglican friends, I give preferences to the Scottish and Dutch Reformed Churches as the best examples of doctrine, worship, discipline, and government. I am wary of proof texts from Biblical narratives (such as Judges or Acts) in favor of more didactic passages and/or theological reasoning based on multiple texts. And while I admire Calvin (my only son is named after him) and the early Reformers, the “Second Reformation” writers are, to me, more distilled and mature sources. But I am interested in anything from any source if it enlightens the conversation.
F. Yes, I fully believe the Lord’s Supper is a means of grace, but I reject as potentially neo-Romanist the (seemingly growing and modern?) idea that this is tied to frequency (i.e. the more frequently it is partaken of the more grace one can experience - else we should offer it every day and multiple times a day, or have a larger portion of the cup or bread. This seems to me to almost turn something spiritual into something fleshly (this is, no doubt, influenced by my fixation with time being finite and fleshly versus the infinite and timeless Spirit). I know this may be seen as an oversimplification of the position but it's not something I am looking to debate in this post.
This post is looking for specific Biblical and historical arguments in favor of the various options for the frequency of the Lord’s Supper. My hope is that people will copy and respond to any of the following 5 possibilities individually with any sources they know of that support (or argue against) any of them (they are listed in order in reference to ordained units of time with some brief thoughts):
This could become a wide-ranging discussion so, with apologies, I am asking for responses within certain boundaries:
A. I do not believe an element of worship can be a circumstance of worship, so I am not interested in discussing whether or not the frequency of the Lord’s Supper is a circumstance of worship. Please start a separate thread if you want to take that up (but please first note the proof texts used in WCF 1.6.c).
B. I believe that the frequency of the Lord’s Supper is “either expressly set down in Scripture, or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from Scripture” - this is what I would like to hear from my brethren on PB.
C. I do hold to the Westminster Directory of Publick Worship, so while I do acknowledge that it states that how frequent the Lord’s Supper is to be observed “may be considered and determined by the ministers, and other church-governors of each congregation, as they shall find most convenient for the comfort and edification of the people committed to their charge,” that doesn’t mean a more definitive answer cannot be sought after. Also, I believe this statement from the Directory should be understood in its original context as both a compassionate allowance for less frequent administration in congregations filled with new believers and a compromise between the Scots and the English. It is worth noting that the kingdoms mutually agreed upon “the preservation” of the Church of Scotland in doctrine, worship, discipline, and government and “the reformation” of religion in the kingdoms of England and Ireland. Thus the frequency in the Scottish Kirk would have been seen as the standard when the Westminster Standards were debated and adopted so I prefer references from Scots to others.
D. I’m not looking for individual preferences or experiences - I have my own plethora of experiences with weekly, monthly, and seasonal observances, grape juice in shot glasses / wine in a common cup, and tearing pieces from a loaf of bread / breaking off pieces of matzah / picking up tiny bits of hardtack.
E. I am looking for testimony based on the Deuteronomic bar of “at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established.” With further apologies to my “Reformed Baptist” friends as well as my Lutheran and Anglican friends, I give preferences to the Scottish and Dutch Reformed Churches as the best examples of doctrine, worship, discipline, and government. I am wary of proof texts from Biblical narratives (such as Judges or Acts) in favor of more didactic passages and/or theological reasoning based on multiple texts. And while I admire Calvin (my only son is named after him) and the early Reformers, the “Second Reformation” writers are, to me, more distilled and mature sources. But I am interested in anything from any source if it enlightens the conversation.
F. Yes, I fully believe the Lord’s Supper is a means of grace, but I reject as potentially neo-Romanist the (seemingly growing and modern?) idea that this is tied to frequency (i.e. the more frequently it is partaken of the more grace one can experience - else we should offer it every day and multiple times a day, or have a larger portion of the cup or bread. This seems to me to almost turn something spiritual into something fleshly (this is, no doubt, influenced by my fixation with time being finite and fleshly versus the infinite and timeless Spirit). I know this may be seen as an oversimplification of the position but it's not something I am looking to debate in this post.
This post is looking for specific Biblical and historical arguments in favor of the various options for the frequency of the Lord’s Supper. My hope is that people will copy and respond to any of the following 5 possibilities individually with any sources they know of that support (or argue against) any of them (they are listed in order in reference to ordained units of time with some brief thoughts):
- Daily: (Genesis 1.14, Acts 2) We are prone to overlook the Biblical importance of each day (for example, we often focus on the Lord’s Day in the fourth commandment but neglect the “Six days shalt thou labor” part of the command) but this was emphasized by the daily sacrifices in temple (see Numbers 28, end of Hebrews 7); Again, I am wary of narrative-based doctrines and note that much of the early apostolic Church’s practices seemed to change: for example, the early communal living in Acts 2 (see vv.44-45) seemed to quickly give way to “this we warned you of, that if there were any, which would not work, that he should not eat” (see 2 Thessalonians 3:10-12); Also, the “breaking bread” = the Lord’s Supper argument seems weak - in many instances it is clearly separate from worship (see Acts 2.46: “And they continued daily with one accord in the Temple, and breaking bread at home”)
- Weekly: (Genesis 1.14) There were weekly sacrifices (see Numbers 28, Ezekiel 46), unique to the Sabbath, the latter which binds “all men in all ages” (WCF 21.7);
Acts 20.7: “And the first day of the week, the disciples being come together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow, and continued the preaching unto midnight.” - but, again, is this just referring to a common meal? (see v.11: “Then when Paul was come up again, and had broken bread, and eaten, having spoken a long while till the dawning of the day, he so departed.”) - Monthly: I don’t see this as very plausible even though it is very common - our modern Western months are not a Biblical division of time creationally, and even though the Hebrew economy refers to lunar months which could be derived from Genesis 1.14, these are not mentioned in that account or ever presented as Divinely created and/or appointed (also, what do you then do with Psalm 104:19 “He appointed the moon for certain seasons”?); This seems to be disallowed by the WCF: our present 12-month division in the Western world is “according to the imaginations and devices of men” and not God’s revealed will (WCF 21.1)
- Seasonally: Why were seasons created? - not every part of the Earth has the same meteorological seasons or number of meteorological seasons, but they do all have the same astronomical reference points; Multiple times the Hebrews were reminded to keep “the solemn feasts, three times in the year, that is, in the feast of the Unleavened bread, and in the feast of the Weeks, and in the feast of the Tabernacles.” (2 Chronicles 8:13, see also Exodus 23 and Numbers 29) and these were linked to their deliverance from bondage in Egypt in a similar way that the Sabbath was, the Sabbath and seasons both being part of the created order (Genesis 1.14 - some see a fourth season observed by Christ in John 10:22); Why is Paul waiting for one of the three feasts in Acts 18.21 (“But bade them farewell, saying, ‘I must needs keep this feast that cometh, in Jerusalem’” - see also Acts 20.6-7)?
- Annually: (Genesis 1.14) There is, of course, a direct connection to the Day of Atonement/Passover during which Christ deliberately chose to institute His Supper; When Paul repeats what is required to be celebrated according to Christ’s institution he refers repeatedly to partaking of “this bread” and “this cup” (see I Corinthians 11.24, 25, 26, 27, and 28) - did he mean the once-a-year unleavened bread? (see also the aforementioned references to Paul still keeping the feasts in Acts 18.21 which appears to refer to Passover; also, if breaking bread in Acts 20.7-11 refers to him observing the Lord’s Supper, this occurred right “after the days of unleavened bread” according to v.6); Many of the Reformers appear to argue vehemently against an annual observance at first glance, but what they are really railing against is not that the Lord’s Supper was offered only once a year (it was offered every day or at least every week in most parishes) but that people were only required to participate once a year - see for example Calvin: “Plainly this custom which enjoins us to take communion once a year is a veritable invention of the devil."(Institutes IV, xvii, 44) and the Scots First book of Church Discipline (1560) "Your honours are not ignorant how superstitiously the people run to that action at Pasche, even as [if] the time gave virtue to the sacrament; and how the rest of the whole year they are careless and negligent" (The ninth head concerning the policie of the kirk).
I recommend all the sermons in the Lord's Supper topic, and all of the sermons in the entire Gospel worship series, but this one specifically deals with the topic of frequency. 
