But what about the Lord’s Supper? How does this sacrament relate to the visible church? It is presupposed that those who take part at the table have been admitted as members to the visible church.

In an earlier article I wrote about the useful theological distinction of the visible and invisible church (WCF 25) that helps us avoid confusion about whom we, as a church, are responsible for. Here we turn to the matter of the sacraments (baptism and Lord’s Supper) and what relation they have to the visible church.

Chapter 27 of the Westminster Confession of Faith says:

Sacraments are holy signs and seals of the covenant of grace, immediately instituted by God, to represent Christ and His benefits; and to confirm our interest in Him: as also, to put a visible difference between those that belong unto the Church and the rest of the world; and solemnly to engage them to the service of God in Christ, according to His Word.

Notice the words, “to put a visible difference between those that belong unto the Church and the rest of the world”.

There are a few markers that are more of an ethical nature that distinguish the church from the rest of the world e.g. our love for another (John 13:35) and our holiness (Leviticus 20:26). These are of course of first importance. But something else the church through the centuries has taken for granted that had this function has been the visible signs for the covenant people: be it baptism / circumcision as the entrance marker, or Passover / Lord’s Supper as the maintenance / renewal marker. In other words, the visible church has always been marked by visible signs.

This is also affirmed in the Westminster Confession (chapter 28).

Baptism is a sacrament of the New Testament, ordained by Jesus Christ, not only for the solemn admission of the party baptised into the visible Church, but also to be unto him a sign and seal of the covenant of grace, or his ingrafting into Christ, of regeneration, of remission of sins, and of his giving up unto God, through Jesus Christ, to walk in newness of life: which sacrament is, by Christ’s own appointment, to be continued in his Church until the end of the world.

A visual representation of this principle occurs in Acts 10 when Peter speaks of Cornelius’ indisputable reception of the Holy Spirit: “Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?”

We might well ask the question, why did Peter feel the need to baptise Cornelius at all? If water baptism is completely unnecessary and only Spirit baptism is required then why not just stop there? Why not argue that Cornelius ought to be recognised by the church as-is?

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