COMMENT #7:

I need to Know if you have to be baptised before you are able to recieve the Lord’s Supper.

CLARIFICATION #7:

Thank you for your comment. The Lord’s Supper was given to us as a remembrance of what Christ did for us. He died so our sins could be forgiven. He died for all men, but not all men are saved.

2 Corinthians 5:15  “And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.”

2 Thessalonians 3:2  “And that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men: for all men have not faith.”

There are three different conditions which define everyone.

Condition 1: You are not old enough or mentally mature enough to be held accountable for your sins. Such as children or mentally handicap adults.

Mt 18:3  “And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter

into the kingdom of heaven”

Condition 2: You are dead or separated from God due to your sins. God can not look upon sin this is why sin separates us from God. We are considered to be dead to God.

Colossians 2:13  “And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;”

Ephesians 2:5  “Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)”

1 Timothy 5:6  But she that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth.

God does not even hear a sinner’s prayer. (unless it is for someone to teach him or to turn from his sin)

John 9:31 “Now we know that God hears not sinners: but if any man be a worshipper of God, and does his will, him he hears.”

Condition 3: You are dead or separated from sin, through the obedience of God’s commandments. The commandments which lead us to being separated from sin are simple.

HEARING

In order to get to the point of knowing you are a sinner and that Christ is our savior you have started the first step of hearing the word. Hearing the word is what you are doing right now. Hearing the words of each commandment that God has given us to do.

Acts 18:8 “And Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his house; and many of the Corinthians hearing believed, and were baptized.”

Romans 10:17 “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”

BELIEVING

Whether you hear the word or read it, the word entering your mind will start the next process, which is believing what you read. Believing that Christ is the Son of God, that he died for you. Believing to the point that you will commit yourself to God. At this point you have a choice to make. You will either choose to believe what you hear or reject it. 

Mark 16:16 “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.” 

John 8:24 “I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.”

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

John 20:30 “And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: 31 But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name”

Strong’s translates the Greek word for “BELIEVE”:

Commit unto, commit to (one’s) trust, be committed unto, be put in trust with, be committed to one’s trust.

REPENTANCE:

Believe (committed to) means you will continue to find out what the bible says about fulfilling the requirements of God’s plan of Salvation. Now that you’ve heard the Word and you believe, you should start thinking about the sins you have committed. Recognizing that you are a sinner, you must try to stop committing those sins. This is known as repenting. 

Acts 2:37 tell of people hearing the word. Their response to hearing the word “What Shall We Do?” This shows that they believed. The next step given to them was to repent.

Acts 2:37 “Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? 38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.”

Notice that Acts 2:37 & 38 are still part of the hearing and believing process. These two parts of the plan of Salvation along with the next step, Confession, will continue to be required until you die.

CONFESSION

We find in God’s word a requirement to Confess that Jesus is the Son of God.

Romans 10:9 “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”

Acts 8:37 “And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. 38 And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him.”

BAPTISM

One step we keep coming across when searching for the steps of God’s plan of Salvation is Baptism. Baptism is the finial step to be added to Christ’s Church. It is in that watery grave where we contact Christ’s blood that was shed for us.  The water burial (Baptism) is a symbol of Christ’s burial. Just as He was raised from the grave anew, we also are raised up from a water grave anew. Having our sins washed away through baptism, we are made pure.  Understand there’s nothing special about the water. It’s not the water washing your sins away, but the blood of Christ. It’s the obedience to the command to be baptized for remission for sin (Acts 2:38) and the fact that we are buried into Christ death (Romans 6:3) that cleanses us from our sins.

Romans 6:3 “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? 4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:”

Acts 2:38 “Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.”

Acts 22:16 “And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.”

Acts 2:41 “Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.”

I know it’s taken a lot to get to finally answering your question. “do you have to be baptized before you are able to receive the Lord’s Supper.” I wanted you to understand that when you take the Lord’s Supper you are remembering his death. You have reverence for him because without his sacrifice you would still be a sinner, hopelessly lose. So I think you can see that in order to remember his death, his death has to mean something to you. His death has no meaning to someone who is in condition 1 or 2. You need to have been buried with him in Baptism and raised anew just as he was risen the third day anew to really have any benefit of taking the Lord’s Supper. It is also a commandment given to the disciples.

Acts 20:7  “And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight.”

I hope this has helped you understand that you do need to be a Christian before partaking the Lord’s Supper.

Thank you

END OF COMMENT: #7