Hello Reader,

Thanks for taking the time to check out this issue of Theological Footnotes. I will be sharing some insights on coming to the Lord's Table from my work translating Zacharius Ursinus as well as updates on a few writing projects.

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Catechesis and Children at the Lord's Table

How old do you have to be to come to the Lord's Table?

Within contexts like mine, where covenant children are baptized, there are frequent discussions about the relationship between baptism, profession of faith, and coming to the Lord's Supper. Some churches require children to have grown up until they are teenagers (or practically adults) before they can take a class with the pastor and then come before the elders to make a public profession of their faith. Once they have made profession, they are then allowed to come to the Lord's Table. The logic is two-fold: the elders want to guard against people profaning the table by eating without understanding and they want to encourage children born in the church to know the Lord Jesus themselves, not simply to have an inherited faith from their parents.

In other churches, there is a belief that baptized children should be allowed to come to the Table and that "eating and drinking unworthily" has been misunderstood to be about personal understanding of the Lord's Supper, when 1 Corinthians 11 is actually speaking about how the community treated one another as they came around the Lord's Table. In these contexts, children who are baptized are encouraged to come to the Table in the same way that Israelite children would have been encouraged to eat the Passover with their families. These are the gifts of God for the people of God, and baptized children are members of the visible community of God's people.

I have thought long about this issue and have very strong convictions, but I wonder if a recovery of catechesis may be a way to bridge the gap between these two positions. If we are discipling children in the basics of the faith from an early age, then growth as disciples and growth in understanding of the Supper can go hand-in-hand. Consider this quote from Zacharius Ursinus back in the late 1500s as he explains the process of catechesis in the early church:

In the primitive church, those who learned the catechism were called catechumens, that is, those who were already in the church, and were instructed in the basics of Christian doctrine. There were two kinds of catechumens. Some were adults, either Jews or Gentiles, who had converted to Christianity but had not yet been baptized. These were first trained in the catechism, then baptized and admitted to the Lord’s Supper. Augustine was such a catechumen when he converted from Manichaeism to Christianity, and he wrote many books while he was a catechumen, before he was baptized by Ambrose. Ambrose was also such a catechumen when he was chosen bishop, his election driven by the urgent necessity of the church of Milan, where Arians were making inroads. Under ordinary circumstances Paul forbids a novice or catechumen to be chosen as bishop (1 Tim. 3:6). The novices were those catechumens who were not yet, or very recently baptized; for the Greek word translated as “novice,” literally means a new plant; that is, a new hearer and disciple of the church. The other kind of catechumen were the infants born in the church, or the children of Christians. These children, shortly after birth, were baptized as members of the church. After they had grown up a little, they were instructed in the catechism, and those who held the teaching of the catechism were dismissed from the class of catechumens with the laying on of hands and were then allowed to approach the Lord’s Supper with the adults. For more on catechumens, see Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, book 10, chapter 4 (the latter part). Those who taught the catechism — the instructors of the catechumens — were called catechists.

-- Ursinus, The Body of Orthodox Doctrine, Special Prolegomena, section 1

Notice what Ursinus says and doesn't say. He says that children, shortly after birth, are baptized into the church. He also says that after they have grown a little, they are taught in the catechism. Those who held what the catechism said were no longer considered catechumens, but after the laying on of hands, they were allowed to come to the Table with the adults. Ursinus does not say at what age this should take place. John Calvin suggested that this could reasonable happen at the age of ten (Institutes, IV.XIX.13), but there is no strong argument that it could not be earlier or later. Notably, the children who could understand the catechism were able to join around the table with the adults. They were not adults yet, but they joined the adults around the table.

Universally, the Protestant Reformation required faith to come to the Lord's Supper, and the Reformed placed entry to the Lord's Supper in the hands of the elders. Ursinus also does not say at what age this training in the basics of the Christian faith should begin. My argument is that both church and parents should begin teaching the faith to their children as early as possible.

The point is that catechesis -- discipling in the basics of the faith -- was part of the normal pattern of discipleship in the church. When this is lost, our conversations around children at the table can become skewed.

For biblical and theological reasons, I am convinced that baptized children should be allowed to come to the Lord's Table. However, I think that recovering the practice of teaching and catechizing children (and allowing them to make profession at a younger age) will bridge some of the gap between these two positions.

Interested in discipleship?

If you want to disciple your family in the basics of the Christian faith, check out my daily devotional through the Heidelberg Catechism.

Buy Yours!

I also released a new episode walking through Lord's Day 4 of the Heidelberg Catechism. I also released the first of four videos related to Rooted: Growing in Christ in a Rootless Age.

Writing Updates

Untitled Biblical Numbers Book: 14,223/25,000 words
Goal: Draft 1.0 finished by February 28.

This project has been going fairly well so far. The outline is detailed and I am moving out of the more conceptual sections into the biblical work, which is more enjoyable and should move faster.

The Body of Orthodox Doctrine by Zacharius Ursinus: roughly 33% done.
Goal: Finish Draft 1.0 by December 31.

This is by far my most audacious goal for the year. I have been doing some editing while I write the Biblical Numbers book, since I have trouble writing two projects at once. Hopefully I will get back to translating during the editing phase of other projects.

Elder & Deacon Handbook: Outlined
Goal: Draft 1.0 by June 2025.

This was originally going to be something I produced merely for my own elders and deacons, but I have received requests from elders in other churches asking if it could be made available. Once it is finished, I will see whether it turns into a course or book or both, but regardless I will work to make it available.

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