GQA: “Is it Necessary for A Person to Be A Baptized Believer to Partake in Communion?”

“Is it Necessary for A Person to Be A Baptized Believer to Partake in Communion?”
By Scott Wakefield

For some context, the confluence of being a church that believes in membership, takes seriously its responsibility to teach and lead right doctrine and practice, increasingly has people with varied understandings of the church, and that has recently begun including more children in worship because of “1 Service Everywhere,” as part of what we believe is appropriately and biblically ‘fencing the Table,’ we began saying in our services that the Lord’s Supper is for “baptized believers.” The only change to what preceded was adding the word “baptized.”

So, in short, our answer to the question is yes. This does not make baptism a means of salvation itself, nor restricts the Table to those who are immersed, nor destroys liberty of conscience, for we as a church cannot force anyone to do anything and can only teach what we believe is best and most biblical. But what fencing the Table does make clear is what Scripture does when it places baptism as the first act of public identification with Christ and His covenant community, followed by the ongoing practice of communion as a covenant meal reserved for those who have identified themselves with Christ and His Church.

The following (1) Biblical-Theological Foundations, (2) Categories of Supporting Scriptures, and (3) Extrabiblical Tidbits Corroborating the Principle show that the Lord’s Supper is intended for those who already belong to Christ by faith and have publicly identified with Him.

Old Testament Background

Covenantal Meals and Circumcision

• Genesis 17:9-14 – Circumcision was the sign of entrance into the Old Covenant community.
• Exodus 12:43-49 – The Passover meal was restricted to those who belonged to the covenant community (i.e., the circumcised).
• If the Old Covenant sign (circumcision) was necessary to participate in the Old Covenant meal (Passover), then by progressive revelation we see a corresponding pattern in the New Covenant: baptism (the covenant sign) is prerequisite to the New Covenant meal (Lord’s Supper).

Anticipation of a New Covenant

• Jeremiah 31:31-24 — God promises a “new covenant” where the law is written on the heart.
• Ezekiel 36:26-27 – God will give a “new heart” and “new spirit.”
• As the people of God anticipated the new covenant, they also expected new covenant signs that would supersede circumcision and Passover. In the new era, baptism (sign) and Lord’s Supper (covenant meal) become the parallel realities (that were instituted by Christ Himself.)

The Gospels & Acts

Christ Institutes the Lord’s Supper

• Matthew 26:26-29; Mark 14:22-25; Luke 22:14-20 – Jesus institutes a meal signifying the New Covenant in His blood.
• Christ’s explicit teaching binds the meal to “this is My body” and “this is My blood,” indicating it is for those who trust in His substitutionary atonement, i.e., believers.

Baptism and Discipleship

• Matthew 28:19-20 – The Great Commission explicitly orders disciples to be “baptized” and then “taught” all that Christ commanded (which would include the Lord’s Supper).
• Acts 2:38-42 – Those who received the word were baptized, and then they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, fellowship, “breaking of bread,” and prayers.
• The earliest church practice (Acts 2) shows baptism preceding the fellowship meal (often understood as the Lord’s Supper). This sets a clear biblical pattern: baptism → belong → partake.

Pauline Epistles

1 Corinthians 10:16-17

• Paul calls the Lord’s Supper a “participation” in the body and blood of Christ. Participation assumes genuine saving union with Christ.
• The “one bread” image indicates a unified body of believers who have professed faith (signified by baptism as the threshold into the community).

1 Corinthians 11:17-34

• Paul strongly warns about partaking in the Supper “in an unworthy manner.”
• The context clarifies that the Lord’s Supper is for those in right standing with Christ and with one another.
• Since baptism is the Scriptural way to testify publicly to faith and entry into Christ’s covenant people, the logical implication is that the Supper is for those who have thus entered (i.e., baptized believers).

Romans 6:3-4

• Baptism is described as being identified with Christ’s death and resurrection.
• While it does not mention the Supper explicitly, the argument is that communion celebrates that same union we have signified initially in baptism.

A Few More Misc Germane Examples

“Breaking Bread” Passages

• Acts 2:42, 46 – “Breaking bread” includes shared fellowship meals and—by context with the Apostles’ teaching—likely the Lord’s Supper.
• Consistently, participants are described as those who “received his word” (v. 41) and were baptized.

Connection with Church Discipline

• 1 Corinthians 5 – Only those recognized as “inside” the church are subject to discipline. The Supper, by extension, belongs to those recognized within the church.
• Biblical discipline presupposes a membership boundary. Baptism is the sign of initial inclusion, the Supper is the sign of continued participation.

New Covenant “Sign and Seal” Language

• Although the Bible does not employ “sign and seal” in exactly these terms for baptism and the Supper, the principle is drawn from passages like Romans 4:11 (circumcision called a “seal”).
• By analogy, baptism likewise “seals” (outwardly attests to) the believer’s union with Christ; the Lord’s Supper “seals” the continuing covenant fellowship.

Theological Summary

• Baptism: The first outward sign of joining God’s visible church in the New Covenant (cf. 1689 Confession, ch. 29, for nerds who care.)
• Lord’s Supper: The ongoing covenant meal for those within that community (cf. 1689 Confession, ch. 30, for nerds.)
• Order: The biblical pattern in Acts and the epistles consistently shows faith → baptism → inclusion in fellowship → the Lord’s Supper.

(Again, friendly reminder, this isn’t about whether baptism is a means of salvation in the sense of baptismal regeneration. The question involves the relationship between baptism—however defined in terms of method/mode—to the Lord’s Supper. Do we at First Christian Church believe that immersion is the proper mode? Yes, and we intend to teach as such, but that’s a separate question from whether baptism, in terms of its meaning and purpose, is necessary for partaking in the Lord’s Supper.)

Each category demonstrates a consistent witness: that one’s inclusion in the covenant is visibly marked first by baptism, then nourished in the Lord’s Supper.

• Narrative/Descriptive Texts: Acts 2:41-42; Acts 8:12-13; Acts 8:36-39 (pattern of baptism first, fellowship next).
• Theological/Didactic Texts: Romans 6:3-4; 1 Corinthians 10:16-17; 1 Corinthians 11:23-29.
• Old Covenant Typological Texts: Genesis 17:9-14; Exodus 12:43-49 (circumcision → Passover).
• Prophetic Texts: Jeremiah 31:31-34; Ezekiel 36:26-27 (anticipating the new covenant and new covenant signs).
• Christological Texts: Matthew 26:26-29; Mark 14:22-25; Luke 22:14-20 (Jesus Himself sets the foundation for the meal).

In keeping with the idea of broad corroboration, here are three sets of evidences—from history, logic, and human experience—that reflect and reinforce the biblical pattern that one first declares allegiance (baptism) before partaking of the covenant meal (communion).

History: Early Church Practice

• Didache (late 1st/early 2nd century): Though not Scripture, this very important early Christian teaching manual indicates the strong link between baptism and participation in the Christian community’s life, including the Eucharist. For instance, the Didache 9:5 mentions that only those baptized in the name of the Lord should partake of the Eucharist.
• Justin Martyr (2nd century) similarly records that only those who “believe our doctrines” and “have been washed with the washing for remission of sins, for regeneration,” join the common meal.
• These historical testimonies show how the earliest post-apostolic Christians understood the biblical precedent: baptism prior to communion.

Logic: The Nature of Membership and Signs

• In almost every sphere (clubs, organizations, teams), one must officially join (i.e., “sign on” or “be sworn in”) before participating in the organization’s benefits or “membership-only” activities.
• This general logic of “initiation rite before membership privileges” matches the biblical logic: Baptism = official entry; The Lord’s Supper = family meal for those already “initiated.”

Experience: Personal Allegiance Before Identification
We regularly see the principle that public declaration precedes communal participation:

• Marriage: A public ceremony (wedding) signals entry into a covenant, and then the ongoing life together naturally follows.
• Citizenship: One swears an oath before enjoying certain rights (voting, holding office, etc.).
• Similarly, in the church: Baptism is the public declaration of allegiance to Christ, after which the believer enjoys and participates in all the familial blessings, including communion.

Long story short, Scripture places baptism as the first act of public identification with Christ and His covenant community, followed by the ongoing practice of communion as a covenant meal instituted by Christ and reserved for those who have identified themselves with Christ and His Church.

What is the alternative—opening it up for those who haven’t declared faith in Christ as part of joining the body or letting people entirely decide for themselves apart from discerning the body? Letting people partake in communion without discerning the body (1 Corinthians 11:29) is dereliction of duty for church leaders who bear great responsibility to uphold Paul’s warning for the sake of the flock. Not fencing the Table wisely runs the risk of allowing nonbelievers among us to believe they are saved when they may not be.

Also, fencing the Table by using the term “baptized believers” does not make baptism a means of salvation and it isn’t baptismal regeneration. (To make the point clear, using the word “baptized,” as in “baptized believers,” does not specify the mode/method, but uses the term to describe its Biblical result of initiation into the body of Christ.) It is simply using language that is a shorthand synonym for what almost literally every Christian group for all time has held as the biblical way to describe those who have faith in Christ and are part of the body, i.e., baptized believers. For the Scriptures know nothing of a normative pattern for unbaptized believers, and the Scriptures make zero allowance for participation in the Lord’s Supper from nonbelievers, and we are held responsible as a church if we let people think they are meant to grow apart from the body.

Since the very beginning, every church has always held to baptism in some form or fashion and they have always also held that baptism and the Lord’s Supper are tied together as signs of the initiation of faith and ongoing participation in the church.

(And no, the exception of the thief on the cross a principle doth not make. Plus, a word from Christ Himself to a man who was neither baptized nor partook in communion is an ill-fitting analogy from which to make an argument related to this question. He’s a total non sequitur on this issue.)

So, “Is it necessary for a person to be a baptized believer to partake in communion!” Short Answer: Yes, baptism is the initiatory sign that ought to precede participation in the covenant meal of the Lord’s Supper.

When we follow the threads of Scripture through its progressive unfolding—Old Testament covenant meals, Christ’s institution of the Supper, apostolic teaching, and consistent early church practice—we see a coherent pattern: The covenant sign of baptism comes first, marking the believer’s entry into Christ’s body; the covenant meal of the Lord’s Supper comes afterward, marking ongoing fellowship and communion with Christ and His people.

Communion is and always has been for baptized believers who have made a credible profession of faith. This is not a legalistic restriction but a loving guard on Christ’s table, ensuring its meaning—union with Christ and communion in His body—remains clear, faithful, and biblically consistent.