l want to know if we have a scriptural authority that forbids children and non-believers to partake of the Lord’s Supper?<\/p>\n\t
I know of no passage that places a requirement on who may partake of the Lord’s Supper. Partaking of the Lord’s Supper is commanded of Christians (I Corinthians 10:16-17). It has meaning to the Christian because it is a memorial of Jesus’ death. “For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes<\/em>” (I Corinthians 11:26). It doesn’t hold the same meaning for non-Christians. But so long as it is being taken in a respectful manner, worthy of Christ’s death (I Corinthians 11:27), who partakes is not restricted.<\/p>\n Notice that “But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup<\/em>” (I Corinthians 11:28) tells the individual to examine himself as to why he is partaking. This is not a command to those offering the Lord’s Supper to examine those who are wanting to partake to determine if they are worthy.<\/p>\n As parents, when our children were small, we did not allow our children to partake because we wanted them to see that this was something special for Christians. Other parents may have other ideas. But when someone is a non-Christian, whether they eat or not does not make any difference.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: l want to know if we have a scriptural authority that forbids children and non-believers to partake of the Lord’s Supper? Answer: I know of no passage that places a requirement on who may partake of the Lord’s Supper. Partaking of the Lord’s Supper is commanded of Christians (I Corinthians 10:16-17). It has meaning…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[146],"class_list":["post-37445","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-lords-supper"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":37448,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-children-be-allowed-to-eat-the-leftovers-from-the-lords-supper\/","url_meta":{"origin":37445,"position":0},"title":"Should children be allowed to eat the leftovers from the Lord’s Supper?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 1, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I hope you will answer this: Following the last service on Sunday we clean up the communion service plates for the fruit of the vine and the \"loaf\" in a small room within the building. In the past, the children have been allowed to drink the grape juice remaining\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":17682,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-mathew-2629-mean-that-we-shouldnt-take-communion\/","url_meta":{"origin":37445,"position":1},"title":"Does Mathew 26:29 mean that we shouldn’t take communion?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 5, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Does Mathew 26:29 mean that we shouldn't take communion? Answer: \"But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father's kingdom\" (Matthew 26:29). Your conclusion contradicts other clear\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":67286,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/misconceptions-about-the-lords-supper\/","url_meta":{"origin":37445,"position":2},"title":"Misconceptions About the Lord’s Supper","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 2, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Osamagbe Lesley Egharevba via Unmasking Sophistry, Vol. 4, No. 2, April-June 2024 One of the acts of worship the New Testament church engaged in was the Lord's Supper. It is also called \"the breaking of bread\" (Acts 2:42; Acts 20:7), \"the Communion\" (I Corinthians 10:16), or \"the Lord's table\"\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/communion-300x200.webp?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":82678,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-congregations-practice-closed-communion\/","url_meta":{"origin":37445,"position":3},"title":"Should congregations practice closed communion?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 29, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: My family and I are members of the Lord's church, and we visited a congregation this morning. During the Lord's Supper, we were bypassed and not given the opportunity to partake. One of the leaders noticed our expressions and approached us before Bible class began. He explained that we\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":65447,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/was-the-lords-supper-taken-only-once-a-year\/","url_meta":{"origin":37445,"position":4},"title":"Was the Lord’s Supper taken only once a year?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 6, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good day. A friend of mine told me that the breaking of bread in Acts 20:7 is not the Lord's Supper or Passover because it is only a breaking of bread without the grape juice as stated in the context. The breaking of bread is a celebration of Jesus'\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9641,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/could-you-give-a-sample-prayer-for-the-lords-supper\/","url_meta":{"origin":37445,"position":5},"title":"Could you give a sample prayer for the Lord’s Supper?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 2, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Could you give a sample prayer giving thanks for the communion or Lords' supper? Answer: I'm not a poetic person, so I dislike giving one of my own prayers as an example. Instead, let's focus on what a prayer before partaking of the Lord's Supper should include: The Lord's\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37445","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37445"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37445\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}