Whereas, BCO Chapter 58-5 states that the elements of bread and wine are to be distributed separately, “…Here the bread is to be distributed. After having given the bread, he shall take the cup, and say…,” and

At its January stated meeting, Savannah River Presbytery approved sending an overture to the PCA 40th General Assembly to amend the Book of Church Order (BCO) to state that intinction is not an appropriate method for administering the elements of the Lord’s Supper. The PCA GA will meet in Louisville, Ky., June 19-22, 2012.

The overture asks that the wording of BCO 58-5 be amended by adding, “Intinction, because it conflates Jesus’ two sacramental actions, is not an appropriate method for observing the Lord’s Supper.”

Intinction has been defined as the practice of dipping the bread in the cup and partaking of the elements in the Lord’s Supper simultaneously.

Following is the entire overture with its rationale.

Overture from Savannah River Presbytery to the General Assembly Regarding Intinction

Whereas, when Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper He modeled two distinct sacramental actions involving first the bread and then the cup. (Mt 26:26-30; Lk 22:22-26; Mk 14:22-26; 1 Cor 11:23-26)

Whereas, the separation of the bread and cup in the Supper, representing the body and blood of Christ, is a significant part of the sacrificial imagery invoked by Christ, in which the flesh and blood of sacrificial victims were separated, the former to be offered as a burnt offering, the latter sprinkled upon an altar. (Gen 9:4; Lev 17:11,14; Deut 12:33; Ez 39:17-19; Heb 13:11)

Whereas, Jesus, in the inauguration of the Lord’s Supper, explicitly instructs the disciples in these words, “Drink from it, all of you,” (Matthew 26:27), and in the practice of intinction this act of drinking is omitted,

Whereas, intinction is a practice of the Eastern church that was not introduced into the Western church until the eleventh century, and then was condemned by the Council of Clement in 1095 and again by the Council of London in 1175. (Davies, Dictionary of Liturgy & Worship, 286.)

Whereas, the Reformed churches have always sought to worship “according to Scripture,” and have held that “the Table of the Lord is . . . most rightly administered when it approaches most near to Christ’s own action” (First Book of Discipline of the Church of Scotland, 1560).

Whereas, BCO Chapter 58 is constitutional and binding upon Teaching Elders in the administration of the Lord’s Supper, and

Whereas, BCO Chapter 58-5 states that the elements of bread and wine are to be distributed separately, “…Here the bread is to be distributed. After having given the bread, he shall take the cup, and say…,” and

Whereas, our confessional documents affirm the above teaching of Jesus, SC #97 stating “. . . they eat and drink judgment to themselves;” Larger Catechism Q. 169 explicitly states, “by the same appointment, to take and eat the bread, and to drink the wine . . .;” and WCF XXIX 3. “. . . and to take and break the bread, to take the cup, and (they communicating also themselves) to give both to the communicants . . .”

Be it therefore resolved that Savannah River Presbytery overture the 40th General Assembly of the PCA to amend BCO 58-5 by adding the following sentence, “Intinction, because it conflates Jesus’ two sacramental actions, is not an appropriate method for observing the Lord’s Supper.”

BCO 58-5 will then read as follows:

58-5. The table, on which the elements are placed, being decently covered, and furnished with bread and wine, and the communicants orderly and gravely sitting around it (or in their seats before it), the elders in a convenient place together, the minister should then set the elements apart by prayer and thanksgiving.
The bread and wine being thus set apart by prayer and thanksgiving, the minister is to take the bread, and break it, in the view of the people, saying:

That the Lord Jesus Christ on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it, gave it to His disciples, as I, ministering in His name, give this bread to you, and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me”

Here the bread is to be distributed. After having given the bread, he shall take the cup, and say:

In the same manner, He also took the cup, and having given thanks as has been done in His name, He gave it to the disciples, saving, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. Drink from it, all of you.”

While the minister is repeating these words, let him give the cup.

Intinction, because it conflates Jesus’ two sacramental actions, is not an appropriate method for observing the Lord’s Supper.