What Is The Lord's Supper? (Basics of the Reformed Faith) (Basics of the Reformed Faith) (Basics of the Reformed Faith) Reviews

• A little reminder of the importance of the Lord's Supper

  
  By A3CFBDIKSJNYFE on 2007-01-03
  This is a very interesting little booklet about the importance and significance of the Lord's Supper. Phillips starts out by drawing the comparison between the Lord's Supper and the Passover feast to help the reader reach some conclusions about the connectedness of the old and new covenants and the significance of Jesus Christ as the sacrificial lamb for the sins of mankind. Phillips points out the similarities as well as the differences - including the fact that the Lord's Supper required no altar and no central location was prescribed - paralleled to the concept that salvation was now open to all who would receive the atoning work of Christ on the cross and the remembrance of His death was to be symbolically reenacted each year not out of religious duty, but out of reverence and respect for God's amazing gift to those who would receive it.
  
  Phillips then dives into the theological issues present in the Lord's Supper and notes the differences in the Catholic tradition of its celebration and understanding and that of the Protestant churches - the main issues being that of transubstantiation, or the literal transformation of one substance (the bread and the wine) into another (the body and blood of Christ). Phillips addresses the three primary views of the Lord's Supper relative to the presence of Christ - physically present (as Catholics and Lutherans teach and practice), present only in memory (as Swiss Reformer Zwingli understood and taught), or spiritually present (as is explained in the Westminster Catechism and practiced by most Protestant churches today).
  
  Phillips concludes with some practical considerations for the application of the communion service including who should partake. Phillips notes that Scripture clearly teaches that non-believers must not participate and also notes that Paul warns against believers who participate in "an unworthy manner." Phillips also notes that many Reformed churches believe that baptized children should be able to participate and since they perform infant baptism, this would open the communion table to a much larger congregation than what other Protestant churches practice who do not baptize infants and Phillips addresses and explains these differing views.
  
  The book is a great reminder of the significance and importance of the Lord's Supper in the live of the follower of Christ and in a day when most ceremony is viewed with contempt in many religious circles, the reader will be reminded of the magnitude of the Lord's Supper and its meaning.
  
  
  

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