Religious Control over Baptism and the Lord's Supper

WHY ARE BAPTISM AND THE LORD’S SUPPER CONSIDERED BY MOST CHRISTIANS TO BE ONLY PROPERLY OBSERVED WHEN ADMINISTERED

IN A CHURCH BUILDING OR IN A CHURCH MEETING

BY A CREDENTIALLED CHURCH OFFICER?

In the church that meets in our house, we have just recently been discussing this whole question.

REGARDING BAPTISM:
(There are no instructions for nor any recorded instances of any of the following in all of scripture!)

-No scriptural baptism was ever done in a church building,
-No scriptural baptism is ever recorded as part of a church gathering,
-Nor was any scriptural baptism authorized or conducted by church elders or a church pastor!
-Scripture never teaches that a baptism must be publicly witnessed! (As far as the scriptural records go, Philip was the only man who witnessed the Ethiopian’s baptism and Paul and Silas were the only
witnesses of the baptism of the jailor and his house as it was done in the middle of the night!)
-Nor does scripture teach that the purpose of a baptism is to bear public testimony before men! Rather scripture expressly teaches that it is the answer of a good conscience toward God! (I Peter 3:21)
-Just as it is disciples of Jesus Christ who are to be baptized (Matt. 28:19), it is simply disciples of His who are commanded to baptize other disciples! (Matt. 28:7,9 &16)
No other credentials are scripturally required!

-Scripture does not lay any emphasis at all on the person who does the baptizing…out of 10 recorded baptisms of believers in the Book of Acts the baptizer is only identified in one of them. (Philip baptized the Ethiopian in Acts 8.)
But we do not know who baptized:
-the 3000 on the day of Pentecost, (could have been the apostles, the 120 or some of the 3000 could have baptized some of the others.)
-the Samaritans in Acts 8, (could have been Philip, husbands could have baptized their wives, parents could have baptized their children etc.)
-Simon the sorcerer in Acts 8, (could have been Philip or any of the other Samaritan believers)
-Saul of Tarsus in Acts 9, (could have been Ananias or any of the other believers at Damascus)
-Cornelius and his household in Acts 10, (could have been Peter or any of the 6 Jewish brethren with him, or Cornelius could have baptized his own family)
-Lydia and her household in Acts 16, (could have been Paul or Silas and Lydia could have baptized her household.)
-The Philippian jailor and his household in Acts 16, (could have been Paul or Silas or the jailor could have baptized his own family.)
-Many of the Corinthians in Acts 18 (could have been Aquila, Priscilla, Paul, Silas, Timothy or any of the Corinthian believers themselves.)
-The disciples of John in Acts 19. (could have been Paul, Silas, Timothy or any of the disciples.)

To see a recent baptism conducted apart from such religious control click on "Baptism in the Bayou"


REGARDING THE LORD’S SUPPER:
Eating of the Lord’s Supper is never recorded in scripture in a church building, in a church meeting, nor is it ever recorded as being administered by a church officer, pastor, elders or deacons!
There are only three recorded instances of breaking of bread after Pentecost:
-The saints broke bread in their houses. (Acts 2:46),
-Paul and his co-workers broke bread in an upper room in Troas. (Acts 20:11) and
-Paul broke bread on board ship. (Acts 27:35)
Neither the Lord Jesus nor any of the apostles ever taught that breaking bread in remembrance of Him was strictly a church function, that it had to be done in a church meeting nor that “credentials” of any kind were necessary for those who would serve or administer the supper to others!

While the Lord Jesus alone broke the bread, gave thanks for it and gave it to His disciples when He instituted the supper, scripture never teaches that any one person is to do that for others as we remember Him in breaking of bread today! Rather the scriptures clearly teach that it is “we” (a plurality of saints) who are to bless or give thanks for the cup and that it is “we” (a plurality of saints) who are to break the bread as we remember Him!
1 Corinthians 10:16) The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?

All of the following ideas are totally contrary to scripture and are traditions of men which have been introduced in order to exercise religious control over that which Christ commanded every believer to practice as often as they eat and drink!
- that breaking bread in remembrance of the Lord Jesus is a church function,
- that such breaking of bread can only be done in a church meeting,
- that such breaking of bread can only be administered by a credentialed office holder,
- that anyone (pastor, elders etc) has any authority to decide for others who may or who may not eat  
   in remembrance of the Lord. In fact, scripture explicitly assigns that responsibility to each individual for
   themselves!
This fact is reiterated 4 times over in I Corinthians 11:27-29: “Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.
Since scripture is crystal clear that “there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (I Timothy 2:5), every tradition of men that would place any other man (pope, cardinal, bishop, pastor) or group of men (consistory, elders, deacons, “table watchers” etc) between a believer and his or her Lord is a false tradition of men which usurps authority over the Lord’s own people!

That usurping of authority has at least two effects:
(1) It brings believers into bondage to control by religious leaders in matters over which God has given
      no such authority to men and
(2) It separates and isolates believers from other brothers and sisters in Christ who are members
      together in the Body of Christ!
If you are held in bondage to any such religious system which stands in the way of the obedience of any believer to their Lord to “do this in remembrance of me” (Luke 22:19), the writer to the Hebrews would urge you with these words, “Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach.” Hebrews 13:13

Prelude to Profound Change

Returning to Canada from Dominica in November of 1978, we found a house to rent in Honeywood, Ontario and the nearest assembly of Christians that we knew of was in Collingwood, about a 30 minute drive to the north of us. We wanted to observe how this assembly functioned and were not in a hurry to be “received into fellowship”. We waited a few months before asking to be received into the assembly, but the Christians there immediately received us into their hearts and their homes! They wouldn’t hear of us driving home after the morning meeting and having to return again for the evening Gospel meeting! Instead, we were always invited to someone’s home for Sunday dinner, to spend the afternoon and for supper before the evening meeting! Never in our lives had we experienced such warm and generous hospitality as these dear saints showed to us from the start.

While still in Dominica, we learned that these assemblies would not receive any professed believer to break bread with them, but rather would only receive to the assembly those who would also receive the assembly and all it stood for. Thus there was a place in each hall for observers, not yet regarded as being in assembly fellowship, to observe but not to participate in the Lord’s Supper. So we sat in what was called “the seat of the unlearned” for some time as we observed how this assembly functioned.

Seeing that there seemed to be no clergyman leading and directing the meetings and that all the brothers in the assembly had liberty to participate we felt that we had finally found an assembly which functioned according to the scriptures. Thus we eventually asked to be received into the fellowship of this assembly. After we had been interviewed by the elders, the assembly received us and we began breaking bread with them and I began taking part in the meetings which included opportunities to teach and preach.

Here, I participated in an entirely new practice of ministry that was such a contrast to my former experience. Here I was free to minister along side of other brothers but none of us had any “office” or position over the other! I was simply one of the brothers who had opportunity to minister, as it were, “on a level playing field”. I had no idea at the time what a personal hindrance my assumed title “Reverend” or my esteemed position as “Pastor” had actually been to me. But the Lord was preparing me for the most radical challenge and change of my life!

He would use this entirely new experience of co-operative ministry and also a brave young lady in this same gathering to show me something in myself with which I’d never come to grips before.

Sorry! In order to keep this post to a reasonable length, this will have to suffice for today and be the prelude to the one to follow!.....(To be continued.)