In Remembrance: The Baptist Ordinance of the Lord's Supper

Baptists call the Lord's Supper an "ordinance" rather than a "sacrament." This is not mere semantics. The distinction carries a world of theological meaning. A sacrament, in the Roman Catholic and many Protestant traditions, is understood as a means of grace — a channel through which God conveys saving grace to the recipient. The elements themselves are seen as vehicles of divine action. But Baptists reject this view. The bread and cup are not means of grace in that sense. They do not convey grace. They do not save. They do not add to what Christ accomplished on the cross. An "ordinance" is something ordained by Christ — a commanded practice that the church observes in obedience to His instruction. Jesus said "Do this in remembrance of me" — and we do it. Not because doing it earns anything or conveys anything sacramentally, but because Jesus said to, and because the doing of it is itself an act of love and obedience and testimony. The table is set because the Lord commanded it. We come because we love the Lord who commanded it.

Baptist churches vary in their practice of "open" versus "close" or "closed" communion. In open communion (practiced by many Baptist churches), all born-again Christians are invited to the table, regardless of their denomination or mode of baptism. In close communion (historically more common among Southern Baptists), only baptized believers — specifically, immersed believers — are invited. The theological issue is church membership. In Baptist ecclesiology, the Lord's Supper is an ordinance of the local church, observed by the members of that local church. To extend table fellowship to anyone who calls themselves a Christian, regardless of their baptismal status, is seen by some Baptists as bypassing the local church as the proper community for the ordinance. In either case, Baptists agree: the Lord's Supper is for believers. It is not an evangelistic tool. It is not an invitation for the unconverted. Paul's warning about eating "without recognizing the body" is taken seriously. The table is for those who know why they are at the table.

Baptists have historically served grape juice rather than wine at the Lord's Supper. This practice, popularized in the 19th century through the work of Thomas Bramwell Welch (himself a Methodist deacon), reflects the Baptist and broader free church commitment to abstinence from alcohol — a commitment rooted in concern for those who struggle with addiction and in the desire not to be a stumbling block. Some Baptists argue that Jesus used wine at the Last Supper (it is the natural reading of the text), and that the mode of the elements (fermented or not) is secondary to the meaning. Others maintain that the principle of not causing a brother to stumble, combined with the Baptist commitment to sobriety, makes grape juice the appropriate choice. The element itself is not the point — the remembrance is the point. Whether grape juice or wine, the cup represents the blood of Christ shed for the forgiveness of sins. Come to this table with your eyes on the reality the element represents, not on the element itself.