LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2013, Page 193

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Theology and Church Relations
4-62

To Reaffirm Standard for Pastoral Admission
to Lord’s Supper
Whereas, St. Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians says, “For
as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the
Lord’s death until He comes” (1 Cor. 11:26 ESV), denoting that our
Communion confesses and proclaims all that Christ’s death means
and brings to us; and
Whereas, The substance of that confession and proclamation is
inclusive of “all the articles of the faith as well as in the proper use of
the holy sacraments” (FC SD X 31); and
Whereas, St. Paul also instructs us that to participate (have koinonia) in an altar is to participate in what that altar stands for and brings
when he writes, “Consider the people of Israel; are not those who eat
the sacrifices participants in the altar? What do I imply then? That
food offered to idols is anything or that an idol is anything? No, I
imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to
God. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You
cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. Shall
we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than He?” (1 Cor.
10:18–22 ESV); and
Whereas, Great spiritual harm comes to those who do not recognize that they receive the very body and blood of Christ in the Lord’s
Supper, and therefore a pastor must exercise proper spiritual care
(1 Cor. 4:1) in the admission of those coming to Christ’s altar, as St.
Paul writes, “Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of
the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body
and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so
eat the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks
without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself”
(1 Cor. 11:27–29 ESV); and
Whereas, St. Paul writes that the Corinthian congregation is to
agree fully with one another when he writes, “I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and
that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the
same mind and the same judgment” (1 Cor. 1:10 ESV); and
Whereas, Our Lord Jesus Christ also says, “I do not ask for
these only [the apostles], but also for those who will believe in Me
through their word, that they may all be one, just as You, Father, are
in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may
believe that You have sent Me. The glory that You have given Me I
have given them, that they may be one even as We are one, I in them
and You in Me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world
may know that You sent Me and loved them even as You loved Me”
(John 17:20–23 ESV); and
Whereas, The Lutheran Confessions recognize that from the days
of the early church fathers, proper pastoral care included admitting
or denying admission to the Lord’s Supper, as when the Augsburg
Confession says, “The Fathers before Gregory make no mention of
any private Mass [Communion]. Chrysostom says ‘that the priest
stands daily before the altar, inviting some to the Communion and
keeping back others’” (AC XXIV 35–37 Dau/Bente); and
Whereas, C. F. W. Walther (first President of the LCMS) comments on 1 Corinthians 10:17, “Accordingly, in that Christians eat
of the one bread of the Sacrament, all become mystically, that is in a
spiritual, moral, or figurative way, one body, and by the act of eating
together a person is declared to be one in Christ with all Christians.
For as the bread consists of innumerably many particles of baked
flour, so that it is impossible to separate these particles again from one
another, even so are all Christians one in Christ through Communion
and many thousand times more intimately bound together than even
body and soul into one organism. They are actually one. One God

193

dwells in them. One Spirit rules in them. They all have one Savior in
them, and one Lord Jesus speaks from them. And now consider what a
grievous sin those commit who administer Communion to those who
are, after all, of another faith and confession, and confess themselves
to be one and brothers with them. ... Therefore one who goes to Holy
Communion in a Lutheran church declares openly before the world: I
hold with this church, with the doctrine that is confessed here, and
with all the confessors who belong here. The pastor who administers
the Sacrament to him declares the very same thing” (C. F. W. Walther,
“Communion Fellowship,” Essays For the Church, vol. 1, p. 215); and
Whereas, The LCMS has repeatedly reaffirmed that to administer the Lord’s Supper in accord with Christ’s institution is to do so
admitting only properly instructed Lutherans to our Lutheran altars,
thus requiring full agreement in all articles of doctrine prior to establishing fellowship at the altar (1967 Res. 2-19; 1983 Res. 3-12; 1986
Res. 3-08; 1995 Res. 3-08; 1998 Res. 3-05); and
Whereas, Many LCMS congregations today have sadly abandoned the standard of full doctrinal agreement for admission to the
Lord’s Table by limiting that agreement only to a selected few doctrines, or by eliminating any limiting Communion statement at all,
or by opening the Communion table to all baptized Christians, and
the like, thus abdicating their pastoral oversight responsibility toward
the spiritual well-being of those communing or proclaiming a unity
in doctrine which does not exist; therefore be it
Resolved, That the LCMS reaffirm that the standard for pastoral admission to the Lord’s Supper is full agreement in all articles of
Christian doctrine.
Zion, Chippewa Falls, WI; Holy Cross, Albany, OR
4-63

To Reject and Condemn Errant Communion
Practices
Whereas, “Open Communion” is not consistent with, nor faithful
to, our Synod’s official practice of “closed Communion,” by which
only members in good standing of LCMS congregations or members
of those churches with whom the LCMS is in altar and pulpit fellowship are to commune; and
Whereas, The practice of open Communion offends against Holy
Scripture, the Lutheran Confessions, our historic practice, and the
members of our Synod congregations; and
Whereas, It is the duty of the Synod’s pastors and congregations
above all to promote sound doctrine, including calling the erring to
repentance and disciplining those who will not turn from their errors,
all for the sake of the salvation of sinners; therefore be it
Resolved, That the Iowa District East (IDE) in convention publicly reject and condemn all such errant Communion practices as
mentioned above; and be it further
Resolved, That the district presidents of IDE visit or contact every
congregation during their elected time in office (Bylaw 4.4.4: “The district president shall, in accordance with the Constitution of the Synod, in
his ministry of ecclesiastical supervision visit the congregations of the
district.”) to make sure the Communion practice of each congregation is
in accord with the official teaching of the Synod; and be it finally
Resolved, That the President of the Synod be urged to counsel the
district presidents toward faithfulness in our official Communion practice and to exercise discipline against errant practice when appropriate
and necessary.

Iowa District East; Zion, Chippewa Falls, WI;
Trinity, Clinton, MA; Holy Cross, Kansas City, MO;
Grace, Paris, TX; Holy Cross, Albany, OR

2013 Convention Workbook