only<\/strong> Christians were allowed to partake. To add “only” to this verse would be adding to what God said.<\/p>\nThis is a similar mistake to those who attempt to prove that we are saved by faith only by citing passages that mention we are saved by faith. They assume that stating faith saves makes it exclusive (despite other passages that connect other things to salvation). “Only” is not a necessary implication.<\/p>\n
To give another example, “Children started school this week” does not imply only<\/strong> children started school. The statement remains true even if the community college also started the same week.<\/p>\nIt cannot be proven from the Scriptures that non-Christians partook of the Lord’s Supper, nor that they were not allowed to partake. It is simply not stated, so we cannot assume one way or the other. We neither add nor take away from what God has said.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: In the discussion “Should congregations practice closed communion?” you say that “No passage indicates that the Lord’s Supper must only be offered to Christians. It only has meaning for Christians, but we don’t add rules God didn’t give. If a non-Christian wishes to partake of the Lord’s Supper, it doesn’t change his status before…<\/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,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[78,529,146],"class_list":["post-97755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-authority","tag-hermeneutics","tag-lords-supper"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":67286,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/misconceptions-about-the-lords-supper\/","url_meta":{"origin":97755,"position":0},"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":37445,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-non-believers-and-children-partake-of-the-lords-supper\/","url_meta":{"origin":97755,"position":1},"title":"Can non-believers and children partake of the Lord’s Supper?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 1, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"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\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":82678,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-congregations-practice-closed-communion\/","url_meta":{"origin":97755,"position":2},"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":97755,"position":3},"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":19514,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-the-lords-supper-be-only-taken-at-night\/","url_meta":{"origin":97755,"position":4},"title":"Should the Lord’s Supper be only taken at night?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 21, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What is the Bible's answer to the controversy about the time the Lord's Supper should be taken on the first day of the week? Should it be only at night or any time upon the first day of the week? Answer: I know of no controversy regarding what time\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":727,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-acts-207-refer-to-a-common-meal\/","url_meta":{"origin":97755,"position":5},"title":"Does Acts 20:7 refer to a common meal?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 1, 2003","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Do you think that\u00a0Acts 20:7\u00a0was talking of a common meal? Why or why not? Answer: The text in question states, \"Now on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul, ready to depart the next day, spoke to them and continued his\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":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97755","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=97755"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97755\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}