Lord's Table and Baptism

Question: Is it mandatory or necessary to take baptism before participating in the Lord’s Table?

 Answer:

        The Lord’s Table and related matters are a very big subject, and it is not possible to deal in detail about them here. This is an attempt to answer this question quite briefly through some Biblical references and examples.

        Take note that the Lord Jesus established the Holy Communion or the Lord’s Table while participating in the Passover feast with His disciples. We find the description of the Passover feast in Exodus Chapter 12 and it says in 1 Corinthians 5:7 that the Lord Jesus was that sacrificial lamb of the Passover. In Exodus 12:3-4 we see that God had instructed that one lamb was to be sacrificed for one household or family, and in case the family is small the Passover can be celebrated with the neighbor’s family. The implication is that, the people who would gather to eat one lamb, they were one family or household – that is to say that any outsider on seeing them eating from one Passover lamb would infer that the participants all belong to one family or household. But it was not essential that the ‘apparent’ family had to actually be a blood related family – two different families could also get together to fulfill the requirements of this feast. When the Lord Jesus asked for the Passover feast to be arranged, He did not do so with His ‘immediate’ or ‘blood-relation’ family nor did He invite them to be with Him in the participation, instead He celebrated the Passover with those of His disciples who stayed with Him night and day. The families of those disciples were also not invited to participate. The Lord Jesus Christ became that ‘sacrificial lamb’ and those who participated in that feast were considered His ‘family,’ the members of His Church; even though they were not physically related to the Lord, but now because of their coming to faith in the Lord now they are all one family – the family of God (Ephesians 2:17-19)।

        Participating in The Lord’s Table is not a formality or ritualistic observation that can be carried out by anyone calling himself a “Christian” or a “Believer.” Besides those twelve disciples the Lord had other disciples as well; in Luke 10:1 में we have the mention of 70 other disciples, and in Acts 1:15 a 120 disciples used to gather together to pray; but the Lord had not invited them to be with Him in this Last Supper, and neither did He instruct the disciples to also “distribute it among the other disciples too.” Then, while instituting the Lord’s Table He said to those disciples present there with Him: “…With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer” (Luke 22:14-15). All this shows us that in the Lord’s eyes, only those are worthy of participating in the Lord’s Table who in practical day-to-day life maintain a continual fellowship with the Lord Jesus, and are members of His family/household by coming to faith in Him.

        It is necessary to keep another very important thing in mind – The Lord’s Table was not served to Judas Iscariot; at the time when the Lord distributed to bread and the wine saying this is my body and blood, by then Judas had left the place. We see in John 13 that on gathering together for the Passover, the Lord first washed the feet of His disciples, then they sat down to eat the meal, and then the Lord dipped and gave the first piece of bread to Judas, on accepting that piece immediately Satan entered him and he left the place (13:26, 27, 30). This was not the institution of the Lord’s Supper; rather it was the beginning of the meal. The Lord instituted the Lord’s Supper, while the meal was underway, that is while they were eating the meal: “And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, "Take, eat; this is My body"” (Matthew 26:26), and Judas had already left them by this time.

        Based on all these facts we can draw the conclusion that the Lord instituted the Lord’s Supper only for those who were His closely associated disciples, accepting them as members of His family, those who were fully dedicated to Him, always stayed with Him (even though they were not perfect). Today, the only way we become members of the Lord’s family is by coming to faith in Him and accepting Him as our personal savior (John 1:12-13; Romans 8:14-17), and diligently participating in the Lord’s Table is one way of being in close fellowship with Him; the others are being diligent in studying His Word, Prayer and fellowshipping with His other children (Acts 2:42).  

        Now take note, that when the Lord’s Supper was instituted for the first time, then at that time, no question about any of the disciple’s having been baptized or not baptized came up and neither did the Lord say anything about it. It is also clear from the Bible that baptism neither makes a person a child of God, nor a member of God’s family. The fact of the matter is that those that come to faith in the Lord Jesus, they get baptized (Matthew 28:19; Acts 2:41), and not that those who get baptized they then come to faith in the Lord. Getting baptized is a public testimony of having come into the Christian Faith; nobody becomes a “Christian Believer” by getting baptized, but those who become Christian Believers, they give a public testimony of their having come into the Christian Faith in accordance with the Lord’s commandment, by undergoing immersion baptism. Therefore taking baptism is no pre-condition or necessity for participating in the Lord’s Table.

        When the Holy Spirit through the Apostle Paul, in 1 Corinthians 11 taught about the misconceptions and gave instructions regarding the wrong behavior in context of the Lord’s Supper, then in writing about those errors and their rectification nowhere was it written that ‘the people should examine themselves whether or not they have been baptized, and only those who have been baptized can participate in the Lord’s Table.’ There is no such restriction mentioned in the Bible. Neither does baptism provide salvation for us nor does it make us members of God’s family. Instead, a valid baptism is only of those who are first saved by repentance and faith through the grace of the Lord; and they become members of the Lord’s family from the very moment that they repented of their sins, asked for the Lord Jesus’ forgiveness or their sins and submitted their lives to Him.

        Therefore all who have been saved by voluntarily and with a honest heart repenting of their sins and have accepted the Lord Jesus as their personal Savior can participate in the Lord’s Table; as per the Bible they are under no compulsion to first get baptized and only then participate in the Lord’s Table. But in order to fulfill the Lord’s command, they should get baptized by immersion at the earliest possible opportunity to do so. To be baptized and to participate in the Lord’s Table are both commandments of the Lord, and they both have to obeyed, they both are required of a Christian Believer. But the Bible does not speak of the necessity of being baptized to participate in the Lord’s Table.