Latest / Reformed Thinking / Going to the Table | J. C. Ryle

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Going to the Table | J. C. Ryle · Reformed Thinking

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Usually when we talk about a medical diagnosis, there was a
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clear expectation of precision. You know, you break your arm,
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the doctor orders an X-ray, and right there on the screen is a
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jagged white line. Yeah, it is entirely visible.
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You have a very binary situation.
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I mean the bone is broken or it is not broken.
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Right, right. We like things we categorize
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neatly without any ambiguity. We crave that certainty.
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But then you step into the diagnostic landscape of the
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human soul and that X-ray machine is well, it is
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completely useless. Yeah, you are looking at a
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diagnostic landscape that is incredibly murky, so welcome to
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Reform Thinking. This is a special edition of our
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Deep Dive series. And today we are taking that
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diagnostic approach to a subject that has been clouded by, you
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know, 1800 years of fog, disputes and strife.
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Strife is putting it mildly. We are examining the Christian
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sacrament of the Lord's Supper. Which is a massive topic.
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It is, and to do this we are drawing our insights from JC
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Ryle. Classic work, Practical religion
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going to the table. Such a fantastic resource.
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Oh, absolutely. And we also have historical
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notes from Archbishop Charles Longley to help clear the air on
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some of the history. Right, because the goal for this
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deep dive is to cut through centuries of confusion for you,
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the listener, we are going to answer 4 highly practical
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questions that Ryle brings up. So those are why was it
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ordained? Who should participate?
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What should they expect? And why do so many people avoid?
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It which is the big one at the end.
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Yeah, totally. So before we can discuss who
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belongs at the table, we really have to establish why the table
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exists at all, right? Ryle begins by pointing to the
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specific reason Christ instituted this practice in the
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first place. And he highlights the Church
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catechism for this, which defines the ordinance as being
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for the continual memory of Christ's death.
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Right memory. The bread is broken to call to
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mind the body given. The wine is poured to call to
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mind the bloodshed. So the entire focus is backward
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looking. It points back to a finished
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historical event. I think a thought experiment
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helps here. Suppose you have a cherished
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photograph of a loved one who has passed away.
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OK, you keep that photograph on your desk to brother memory to
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your mind. That is a very natural way to
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interact with the keepsake. I mean, the item points your
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affection back to the real person.
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Exactly. But what happens if you start
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treating that piece of paper as if it is the literal, physical
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person, man? Like, what if you start speaking
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to the photograph, feeding it, bowing to it?
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Does that honor the person you're trying to call to memory?
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No, not. Or does it distort reality
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entirely? It distorts reality entirely.
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But human nature has this this persistent habit of turning a
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sign into the thing it signifies.
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All the time. We really do.
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And to understand why literalism is so dangerous here we have to
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look at how Jesus communicated with his disciples.
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Yeah, context is everything. Right.
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So when Jesus sat with them and said this is my body and this is
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my blood, he was using emblems. Because the disciples were
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entirely accustomed to him using figurative language.
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Precisely, they had heard him say things like the field is the
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world, or the good seed are the children of the Kingdom.
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He used metaphors constantly. All the time.
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It never crossed their minds that Jesus meant He was holding
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his literal flesh and blood in his hands.
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Yes, sitting right in front of him, in his physical body.
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Right. I mean, think about the
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logistics of that, it makes no sense.
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It really doesn't. And if we look at the whole of
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the New Testament, the universal doctrine is that after the one
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offering of Christ on the cross, there remains no more need for
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sacrifice. None.
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His death was the total payment of our debt.
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So to claim that the Lord's Supper is a literal sacrifice
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contradicts that finished work. Yeah, it suggests the original
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payment was, I don't know, incomplete like it needs
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repeating. Which brings us to those
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historical notes from Archbishop Longley, because this shows the
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massive stakes involved in this theological debate.
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Oh, the stakes were literally life and death.
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Longley points out that the reformers cheerfully went to the
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stake and laid down their lives. Just to reject the doctrine of
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the real presence and the material elements.
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Yes, they completely refused to admit the Lord's Supper was a
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continuing sacrifice. Which is heavy when you think
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about it. People burned for this.
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They did, and Longley argues that calling the Communion table
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an altar or viewing the minister as a sacrificing priest insults
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the memory of those martyrs. Right.
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It brings back the Romish Mass, which the Church of England's
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formularies meticulously avoid. Let us unpack this terminology a
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bit, because words carry massive weight.
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The difference between a table and an altar is not
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architectural. No, it is entirely theological.
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Right. An altar is a place of
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sacrifice. It is a place where something is
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offered up to God to make payment for sin.
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But a table is a place of fellowship, a place where a meal
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is received. Spot on.
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The reformers aim to substitute the Communion for the mass, not
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the other way around. So when Ryle insists that the
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elements are emblems of a finished atonement, he is
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safeguarding the doctrine of substitutionary atonement.
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And we should probably define substitutionary atonement for
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anyone who might be unfamiliar with the term.
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Good call. It basically means that Christ
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took the legal penalty for sin upon himself in our place.
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Yeah, he acted as our substitute.
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I mean, Christ lived, taught, preached, wrought miracles, but
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all of that would have been in vain if he had not crowned it
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all by dying for our sins as our substitute.
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His death was our life. That is why an ordinance was
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appointed specifically to call our minds back to his death.
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And Ryle notes that Matthew, Mark, Luke and Paul all describe
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the institution of the Lord's Supper, but only Luke and Paul
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record the specific reasons. Which is, do this in remembrance
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of me, right? Paul adds, As often as ye eat
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this bread and drink this cup, you do show the Lord's death
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till he comes. So the grand object is
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remembrance. The danger of creeping back
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toward the sacrificial view is what Longley warned against when
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he discussed the use of sacrificial vestments by some
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minister. Oh yeah, the clothing issue.
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Right. Longley saw those garments not
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as innocent fashion choices. No, definitely not.
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He saw them as plain indications that these ministers fell at
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liberty to hold doctrines regarding the sacrifice of the
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Mass while remaining in the Protestant Church.
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It was a visual theological statement.
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Totally So Longley lays out three strict conditions for
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interpreting the words. This is my body.
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Let's hear them. First, they cannot be construed
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to signify that the natural body of Christ is present.
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Second, they do not admit any adoration of the bread and wine.
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Meaning no going down to the element.
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And third, they do not justify the belief that the body and
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blood are again offered as a satisfaction for sin.
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OK, so having established that the table is a place of
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remembrance for a finished sacrifice, we move to a very
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intimidating question. Yeah, this is where it gets
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highly personal. If the elements are emblems of a
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completed atonement, who is actually qualified to partake of
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them? Ryle sets up some very strict
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boundaries here. He starts with a Do not enter
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list. A Do not enter list.
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Yeah, and the first group he bans from the table are the
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ignorant. Now, that prohibition against
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the ignorance sounds a bit elitist at first glance.
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I know it does. It almost sounds like you need a
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theology degree to take communion.
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Like why would a lack of knowledge disqualify someone?
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Well, the restriction is rooted in a highly practical view of
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worship. Ryle insists that worship must
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be intelligent. OK, that makes sense.
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The participant must, in the words of the apostle Paul,
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discern the Lord's body. So discerning the Lord's body
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means you must understand what the elements of bread and wine
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represent, why they were appointed, and what the specific
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use of remembering Christ's death is.
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Exactly. An ignorant communicant who
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walks up to the table without knowing why they are there is
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all together in the wrong place. Ryall compares it to a medicine.
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Yes, it does not work independently of the state of
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mind of the person receiving it. So if you urge all baptized
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persons to participate, regardless of their
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understanding, you turn the sacrament into an empty form.
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Yeah, and ignorance can never produce acceptable worship.
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Which leads right into the second group Ryle excludes on
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this list. The open Sinner.
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The open Sinner If a person is living in habitual, unrepented
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sin and is determined not to give it up, coming to the table
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is an insult to Christ. It is a massive contradiction.
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You are professing a desire to remember Christ's death while
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actively clinging to the very behaviors that made his death
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necessary. It's like slapping the Doctor
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Who's trying to heal you. That is a great way to put it.
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Ryle uses striking language here, he says, to carry
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unrepented sin up to the Communion rail, knowing in your
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heart that you and wickedness are still friends.
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Well, it hardens the conscience. You are only adding sin to sin.
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Yeah, the Lord's Supper is not an automatic eraser that
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cleanses you while you continue to rebel.
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Which brings us to the third group on Ryles exclusion list.
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And this one is wild. He excludes the self-righteous.
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That is often the most surprising exclusion for people
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to hear. Wait hold on, so you're telling
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me the person who gives to charity, never misses a Sunday
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and is outwardly respectable is banned?
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Under Ryles framework, yes. But the person struggling with
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massive personal failures might be welcomed.
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That sounds completely backward. It only sounds backward until
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you understand the purpose of the table.
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Let us use an analogy to make sense of this.
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Let's do it. Imagine a hospital trauma center
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designed strictly for the critically wounded.
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It is for people who are bleeding out and need emergency
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surgery to survive. OK, so it's it's a high stakes
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life or death environment. Right now, imagine a perfectly
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healthy marathon runner walking into that trauma center
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demanding to see the chief surgeon purely to boast about
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their resting heart rate and their flawless diet.
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I mean the surgeon would look at them and say you were in the
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wrong building. This place is for the dying who
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need a savior, not for the healthy who want an audience.
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Spot on. Ryle applies this exact logic to
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the communion table. If you trust in your own
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goodness for salvation, you are entirely in the wrong place.
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Because the entire premise of the Communion service requires
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participants to declare they have no goodness of their own.
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Yes, they must publicly profess they are guilty and corrupt and
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that Christ's merit alone is their hope.
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Ryle asks how a self-righteous person can possibly take the
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words of the service into their mouth.
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They would have to say things like we are not worthy so much
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as to gather up the crumbs under thy table.
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And if you think you are earning your way to heaven, reciting
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those words is just performing a script.
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You are the marathon runner in the trauma ward.
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Exactly. The Lord's Supper is not meant
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for dead souls. To expect spiritual ordinances
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to benefit an unspiritual, self-righteous person is as
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foolish as putting bread and wine into the mouth of a corpse.
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Wow. It is not a converting
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ordinance. It does not justify the
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Unforgiven. No it doesn't.
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So if the ignorant, the open Sinner and the self-righteous
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are excluded, who actually belongs at the table?
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Ryle points to three qualifications outlined in the
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Church Catechism. OK, first, genuine repentance.
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Does the person truly repent of sin and hate it?
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2nd A lively faith. Does the person put their trust
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in Jesus Christ as their only hope of salvation?
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Right and 3rd charity, Are they in charity with all men?
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Meaning they aren't harboring bitter grudges.
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Yes. If a person can say yes to those
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three things, Ryle says, they meet the biblical standard.
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And here is where Ryle offers immense comfort to the listener
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who might feel inadequate. He introduces this brilliant
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concept, the penny versus sovereign idea.
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Oh I love this analogy. A penny is as truly current coin
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of the realm as a gold sovereign.
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It bears the exact same image of the monarch.
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Right. In the spiritual realm, a
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person's faith might be very weak.
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The repentance might be imperfect.
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Their charity might be defective and degree.
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But the grand test is not the quantity of the grace.
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No. The grand test is the reality of
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it. Is it genuine?
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If it is real, even if it is small, you belong at the table.
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I think about someone dealing with intense anxiety or periods
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of doubt. They might look at a seasoned
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St. in the Pew next to them and think my faith is just a penny
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compared to their gold sovereign.
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Yeah, that's a really common fear.
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But Ryle would tell that anxious person that the value of the
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coin is backed by the treasury, not the metal it is printed on.
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That's a great way to think about it.
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And remember, the first 12 communicants who received the
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bread and wine from Christ himself were incredibly weak.
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They were weak in knowledge, courage, patience and love.
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I mean, Peter was hours away from denying he even knew Jesus.
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Right. Yet Christ welcomed them because
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their faith, though small like a penny, was genuine.
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It's just the focus entirely from our performance to the
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object of our faith. Which is so freeing if you are
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that person listening who feels weak, erring, empty, feeble and
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doubting. But you genuinely lean on Christ
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and struggle to be holy. Then Ryle bids you welcome.
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He refuses to pitch his standard higher than the apostles would
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have. He will not tell anyone to wait
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until their heart is as unruffled as an angel's, because
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that day is never coming in this life.
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No, it is not. So once that right person is
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seated at the table, what actually happens to them?
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We have to look at the spiritual economy of the sacrament and
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what the participant truly receives.
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Because just as there are false ideas about who should attend,
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there are rampant superstitions about what the sacrament
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actually does. Oh for sure.
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First, we have to dismantle the myths.
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Ryle notes the common loose notion that taking the sacrament
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simply quote must do you good UN quote, even if the person has no
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idea why. There is this alarming idea that
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you can go once a year to wipe off the year's sins.
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Like an annual car wash for the soul.
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Yes, it turns the sacrament into this mechanical process, or the
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practice of sending for a minister on a deathbed to take
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the sacrament as a sort of final ticket to heaven.
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Regardless of how ungodly the person's life has been up to
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that point. Right.
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People find comfort in saying, well, they took the sacrament
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before they died without ever asking if they had a renewed
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heart. Ryle crushes these ideas.
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He does. He points out that the sacrament
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is not a medicine that operates independently of your mind.
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It does not give pardon where pardon is not already enjoyed.
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So the unconverted person looking for a shortcut to heaven
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without walking the steps of repentance and faith, faith will
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be totally deceived. Those myths persist because
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people crave a mechanical, ritualistic solution to a
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spiritual problem. They want an outward action to
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guarantee an inward reality. It's easier than actually
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dealing with the heart. Much easier, but Ryle points us
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back to the true benefit, defined again by the Catechism,
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the strengthening and refreshing of our souls.
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So this ordinance is meant to increase the grace a person
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already has, not to impart grace they lack.
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Right and Ryle methodically details 4 specific effects this
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right reception has on the believer.
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Let's walk through those first. It has a humbling effect.
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Right when you see the emblems of the body and blood, it brings
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to mind how severe sin must be, if nothing less than the death
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of God's own Son could make satisfaction for it.
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It closed the participant in humility.
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I mean, it is impossible to look at the elements and maintain an
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inflated view of your own goodness.
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Totally. Second, it has a cheering
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effect. Seeing the bread broken and the
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wine poured out brings to mind that the debt is fully paid.
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The price for redemption was enormous, but because it was
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paid by a substitute, the believer has nothing to fear.
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God can be just and yet the justifier of the one who
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believes 3rd. It has a sanctifying effect.
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It cultivates an immense debt of gratitude.
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It prompts the believer to ask, Considering what Christ has done
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for me, is there anything too great for me to do for Him?
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And 4th, it has a restraining effect.
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Every time you approach the rail, you're reminded of the
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serious obligation to lead a consistent life.
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You were bought with a price which makes it increasingly hard
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to yield to sin and conform to the world afterward.
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Now, as we discuss these inward effects, we circle back to the
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theological debate about where Christ actually is during the
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Supper. Right, the whole real presence
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issue. Yeah, if the elements themselves
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are not literally turning into flesh and blood, how do we
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experience Christ? Well, the notes from Archbishop
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Longley cite the theologian Richard Hooker, who clarified a
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massive point here. Hooker's insight is so helpful
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on this. It really is, Hooker said.
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The real presence of Christ's most blessed body and blood is
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not to be sought in the sacrament, but in the worthy
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receiver of the sacrament. In the receiver.
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So the Church asserts that Christ is present effectually,
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but only after a heavenly and spiritual manner.
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His presence is in the heart of the believer.
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Eating that bread by faith and drinking that wine by faith
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draws the soul into closer communion with Christ.
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Do you feel the roots of your spiritual life watered?
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Exactly. But given all these abundant
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soul refreshing benefits we just laid out, we arrive at a glaring
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contradiction. Yeah, Ryle points out a very
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heavy paradox here. Myriads of baptized regular
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churchgoers literally walk out the doors before the communion
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service begins. It's true Ryle challenges his
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readers to deny that non communicants form the vast
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majority in most congregations. Christ's injunction was clear.
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Eat, drink, Do this in remembrance of me.
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He did not leave it as an optional suggestion.
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No, he didn't. Yet multitudes walk away
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unhumbled and unabashed. Why?
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What is driving this mass exodus from the pews?
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Ryle identifies 5 common excuses, and he dismantles every
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single one of them. He really takes them apart.
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The 1st is utter ignorance. The second is habitual sin.
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The third is fear of added responsibility.
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The 4th is waiting for perfection.
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And the 5th is judging others who take it unworthily.
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Let us look closely at the 3rd and 4th excuses because they are
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the most subtle. Some avoid the table because
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they fear coming forward will add to their responsibility.
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Yeah, they are afraid they might fall away later and bring
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scandal to Christianity, so they try to play it safe by not
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committing. But think about how terrible
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that strategy is. It is like refusing to eat a
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meal today because you are afraid you might get hungry
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again tomorrow. In the meantime, you just starve
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yourself. Right, you're dying of
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malnutrition to avoid future hunger.
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The logic Rile applies to that fear of responsibility is
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severe, but entirely necessary. By trying to avoid one type of
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responsibility, these individuals incur a different
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responsibility that is just as grave.
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They are actively choosing open disobedience to a direct command
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from Christ. They are shrinking from
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confessing Him before men. To think that neglecting a plain
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command is a prudent or safe line of conduct is a massive
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delusion. Then you have the 4th excuse
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waiting for perfection. Oh, this one is so common.
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People pitch their idea of what a communicant should be so high
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that they despair of ever reaching it.
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They wait for perfect motives, perfect feelings, perfect
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repentance. But Ryle points out that there
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never were such communicants in any age, not even the apostles.
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In reality, a deep sense of your own utter unworthiness is the
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best qualification you can bring to the rail.
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If you are waiting until you feel literally worthy, you will
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wait forever. And Ryle has a piercing insight
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here. He says this wait for perfection
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is often secret pride masquerading as humility.
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That is spot on. By claiming you are not good
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enough yet, you are implying that one day, through your own
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efforts, you will be good enough to merit a seat at the table.
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That is pure self righteousness. Exactly.
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We are sinners when we first come to grace, and we will be
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sinners until we die. We're renewed and forgiven, yes,
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but sinners still. The other excuses do not fare
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any better under Ryle's scrutiny.
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Take the habitual Sinner who stays away.
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While Ryle agrees they should stay away from the table while
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clinging to sin, but he issues a terrifying warning.
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What's that? He says If you are unfit for the
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Lord's Supper, you are totally unfit to die.
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Wow, the very same sins that disqualify you from the
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sacrament will disqualify you from heaven.
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That is a heavy reality check. Who is the 5th excuse?
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Right. Refusing to participate because
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you see other people taking it who are acting hypocritically.
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People say I know how that guy acts outside of church and if
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he's taking communion, I want no part of it.
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Ryle points out the absurdity of this.
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You are starving your own soul because someone else is a
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hypocrite. You are pretending to be wiser
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than the master himself. Because if we look at the Gospel
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of Luke, Judas Iscariot was present at the First Communion.
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He received the bread and wine right alongside the others.
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And we have the parable of the wheat and the tares, showing
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that true believers and false professors will grow together
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until the harvest. We cannot demand a completely
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perfect, pure Church before we obey Christ's command.
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Will you distill all these excuses down?
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Ryle comes to a sharp conclusion.
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To say I am a non communicant is essentially admitting one of
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three things. Either you are living in active
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sin, you are deliberately choosing to disobey Christ's
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command, or you are totally ignorant of what the Gospel
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actually teaches. That is a relentless breakdown
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of the excuses. He doesn't.
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Pull any punches. No, he doesn't.
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And having swept away all those false justifications, Ryle
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transitions to his final set of instructions.
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He leaves the reader with strict guidelines for the modern
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worshipper. He delivers 6 highly specific
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warnings. First, do not neglect it.
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Deliberately refusing an ordinance appointed for your
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profit indicates your soul is in a very wrong state. 2nd Do not
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receive it carelessly or as a mere matter of form.
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Approaching the rail while your heart is full of the world robs
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you of the blessing. 3rd Do not make an idol of it. 4th Do not
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be irregular in your attendance 5th.
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Do not bring discredit to your profession by sinning afterward.
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And 6th, do not despond if you do not feel an immediate massive
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emotional shift. If we connect the third warning
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back to our earlier discussion, the warning against idolatry is
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vital. It really is, Ryle warns against
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placing the Lord's Supper above preaching and prayer.
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He notes that in the great majority of the New Testament
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books, the Lord's Supper is not even named.
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Right, like in the letters to Timothy and Titus which detail a
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minister's duties, the subject is omitted entirely.
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Being born again, having grace in the heart, and hearing the
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word preached are the primary concerns to make the sacrament
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over shadow. Everything else is a dangerous
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error. As Ryle bluntly puts it, the
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penitent thief on the cross was never a communicant, but he was
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saved. While Judas Iscariot was a
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communicant and he was lost. That contrast between the thief
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and Judas is staggering. It completely shatters the
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superstitious view of the sacrament.
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I want to highlight Ryle's fourth warning about
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irregularity too, because he gives a wonderful biblical
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analogy. Here, oh, about Thomas.
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Yes, he says. Do not be a regular in your
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attendance. Make every sacrifice to be in
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your place when the table is spread.
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And he points to the disciple Thomas.
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After the resurrection, Jesus appeared to the disciples in the
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upper room, but Thomas simply was not there.
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Because of his absence, Thomas missed the blessing, he missed
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seeing the risen Lord, and he ended up saying a lot of
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foolish, doubting things that he would not have said if he'd just
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been in the room with the others.
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He literally just wasn't in the room.
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Missing the gathering means missing the blessing.
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Regular use of the means of grace is essential to the
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prosperity of our souls. Let us synthesize all the
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threads we have pulled today. We started by looking at the fog
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of confusion surrounding the Lord's Supper.
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And Ryle has cleared that fog by firmly establishing the original
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blueprint. It is a striking visual emblem
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of Christ's substitutionary death.
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It was ordained strictly for the continual memory of that
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sacrifice. It is entirely reserved for
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those who know they are sinners, who genuinely lean on Christ
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alone, and who approach with faith and charity.
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It functions to strengthen and refresh the faith they already
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have. It does not convert dead souls
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or wipe away unrepented sin. And it certainly is not a
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literal sacrifice to be offered on an altar.
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As we close this session, consider your own posture.
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The next time you see the table prepared, think about the
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physical act of walking up to receive the elements.
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Are you approaching it as a superstitious ritual, hoping it
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works like a magic spell? Or are you avoiding it out of a
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false sense of unworthiness, waiting for a perfection you
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will never achieve? Or are you coming as a starving
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beggar who finally understands that the meal has already been
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entirely paid for by someone else?
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Think about how your physical presence at that table preaches
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a silent visual sermon to the rest of the congregation.
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Yeah, that is such a compelling thought.
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By eating that bread and drinking that wine, you are
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publicly declaring exactly where your trust lies.
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You're showing that your hope is not in your own righteousness,
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but purely in the manifold mercies of God.
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It all comes back to that medical X-ray we talked about at
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the very beginning. Right when it comes to the human
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soul, we cannot see the inward reality.
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The diagnostic waters are murky. But the Lord's Supper was given
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to us as a visible, tangible sign of an invisible grace.
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It takes the abstract concept of atonement and puts it right into
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our hands and into our mouths. So the next time you are faced
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with that table, do not let ignorance, fear, or secret pride
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keep you in the pews. Come to the table, call to mind
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the cost of your cure, and let your soul be refreshed.