The Lord’s Supper is an amazing miracle of our God. In a miraculous way God tells us that in his Supper we receive Jesus’ true body and blood together with bread and wine for the forgiveness of our sins. There are really two communions that take place in the Lord’s Supper: a vertical one with God and a horizontal one with fellow partakers. In a wonderful way, God comes to each communicant with his gifts of forgiveness of sins, new life, and salvation. God also tells us, “Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf” (1 Corinthians 10:17). God tells us that when people commune in a congregation they are confessing that the full truths of God’s Word are taught in that congregation and they are also saying, “We are all one in faith.” Once someone has been instructed in the teachings of a congregation he/she is able to publicly confess this conviction of faith which is unseen in his/her heart. Therefore, by joining a congregation, a person publicly says, “All the teachings of this congregation are accurate according to God’s Word” and “I agree with the teachings of this congregation and am ‘one’ in faith with all the members.”
Additionally, God warns that if someone takes the Lord’s Supper not knowing what he/she is doing, that person is sinning against the body and blood of the Lord (1 Corinthians 11:27). Out of love for God and for people’s souls the Lord’s Supper is not to be offered in a way that would make it easy for someone who doesn’t understand it properly to sin. In practicing close communion it is not a person’s faith that is being judged, it is that person’s confession of faith. Close communion is a way for Christians to ensure the Lord’s Supper remains something awesome and precious, not ordinary and blasé!
God’s Word on Close Communion: NIV:
1 Cor. 10:17: “Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf.”
Also see: 1 Cor 10:21, 11:24-26, Romans 16:17, 2 John 1: 10-11