Self-examination and close communion practice

Are there any groups within the WELS who reconsider our positions on various items, particularly, close communion? I am a life-long WELS member. However, I have some concerns related to our practice of close communion, and believe we should reconsider this position. There are many clear biblical issues on which we should, and do, take a stand. This seems like a desire to set ourselves apart, not from the world necessarily, but from other Christians. I don't believe, therefore, that this is a biblical position. We reference I Corinthians 11:27-30, yet we seem to ignore verse 28 in which a person is to examine himself. The Bible does not state that the church body or fellowship is to determine whether the person is prepared to receive the Lord’s Supper, but the person is to judge him/herself. Matthew 10:32 which you reference states: “So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven.” Have we become so arrogant as to believe we must be a member of the WELS to acknowledge Jesus as our Savior? While the gospels do not make it clear when Judas left the upper room vs. the timing of the institution of the Lord’s Supper, the order in which Luke presents his gospel (Luke 22:19-23) very strongly infers that Judas was still present at the institution of the Lord’s Supper and it does not seem that Jesus excluded him from the sacrament at that point. If Jesus, who knew Judas’ heart and lack of faith, included Judas in the sacrament, why would we as the church who cannot know someone’s heart believe we should determine whether someone can or cannot participate in the sacrament based on the fact that the person is or is not a member of the WELS or ELS? I believe that we are more in line with Scripture when we allow Christ confessing Christians who are not members of the WELS to commune with us, than we are when we refuse communion to believers confessing Jesus as their Savior when such believers attend our churches but are not members of the WELS. I fear this practice of close communion puts us in fellowship with the church in Corinth that Paul is admonishing in I Corinthians 11:17.

If our practice of close communion were to be reconsidered and changed, it would start with the Conference of Presidents, the group responsible for the supervision of doctrine and practice in our synod, and end with a resolution at a synod convention. (I would not look for such a change to take place.)

The rest of my response may seem disjointed, but I am trying to respond to your varied questions and concerns.

Self-examination is certainly the responsibility of every person who desires to receive the Lord’s Supper. That individual responsibility does not remove a pastor’s responsibility to “Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood” (Acts 20:28). The communicant’s individual responsibility for self-examination does not eliminate the pastor’s obligation to be “faithful” (1 Corinthians 4:2) in his work, including his administration of the Lord’s Supper. Faithful work in that regard includes doing what he can so that the picture of unity that is presented at the celebration of the Lord’s Supper is genuine and not contrived.

Matthew 10:32 speaks of Christians acknowledging Jesus before others, and Jesus acknowledging those people before his heavenly Father. We sometimes use that passage to indicate how church membership is a way in which people acknowledge Jesus before others and publicly indicate their unity in faith and doctrine with fellow believers. A person’s membership in a visible church is helpful information in determining whether they are able to commune in one of our churches. Nowhere have we said that people need to be members of WELS to acknowledge Jesus as their Savior. The kingdom of God is bigger than our church body. I would encourage you to re-read the usage of Matthew 10:32 in our literature.

We do not know for sure if Judas was present when Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper. His presence or absence does not have a bearing on the practice of closed communion. A previous response to a question similar to yours stated this: “ Jesus didn’t decide whom to commune based on what was hidden in people’s hearts, and we don’t either. We decide based on what they tell us and what we can see….There was as yet no sign that Judas was not completely one with the rest of the disciples in everything that they believed and taught. If Jesus communed Judas…he did so because there was no visible reason to exclude him. That’s our practice, too.

“There’s also a principle at stake here. We derive our doctrine and practice from passages that specifically address the doctrine or practice in question. We learn how we are to administer the Lord’s Supper from passages that directly address that issue, and the passages that establish closed communion are quite direct (e.g. 1 Corinthians 10:16-22, 1 Corinthians 11:23-32).”

Our close communion practice is biblical and historic. If it sets us apart from other Christians, then it means we are following God’s instructions in Romans 16:17. For further information and explanation of our church’s close communion practice, I would encourage you to speak to your pastor. He needs to hear your concerns and address them.