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Inclusion in the Covenant Meal: Children and the Lord’s Supper

parishioners praying during communion

Scripture provides only one concrete example of the Lord’s Supper, albeit from four perspectives. Matthew (26:17-29), Mark (14:12-26) and Luke (22:7-23) all portray the Lord’s Supper initiated during and as the Passover meal while John the Evangelist (13:1-30) describes a meal that takes place before Passover. This difference in time frames has produced much academic discussion, with most recent scholarship pointing to John’s account as the most accurate. However, as Robin Routledge notes, “the Last Supper (whether or not celebrated a day early) had the character of a Passover meal and thus would have broadly followed the form of the celebration at that time”1 Additionally, Matthew Mason asserts, “Christ’s death typologically fulfilled the redemptive sacrifice of the Passover lamb and so brought about a new exodus, so the Church’s memorial meal, the Lord’s Supper, typologically fulfils Israel’s memorial meal, the annual Passover.”2

Unfortunately, first-century writers give few details of Passover practices before 70 CE. After 70 CE, the cessation of animal sacrifice with the destruction of the Temple resulted in a significant change to Passover practices, so it is presumptuous to view the Lord’s Supper through the lens of the post-temple practice of Seder. However, Joel Marcus argues persuasively that Passover, in some form like the Haggadah,3 was celebrated in the family home during the early part of the first century.4 In this case, the meal celebrated by Jesus and his disciples was likely a family meal that included spouses and children since at least one of the disciples was married (Luke 4:38). Scripture does not exclude the possibility of a family meal and perhaps alludes to it in Mark 13:26, as singing plays an essential role in the Seder meal. It should be noted that including children in the Passover celebration was explicitly intended to teach them about their heritage and faith. It was a learning experience. Nevertheless, at the very least, Jesus and his disciples would have considered the Passover a covenantal meal. As such, the participants in the meal would, by necessity, be only those who were part of the covenantal family of God.

Mason, who writes as an evangelical Anglican, states, “The Old Testament evidence … points strongly to the fact that covenant children had access to all … the Old Covenant meals to which their parents had access, including the Passover meal, the peace offering, and the wilderness manna. These meals are all typologically related to the Lord’s Supper, such that, under the New Covenant, the Supper fulfils and replaces them. Therefore, given that the covenant status of children is [the] same under both Old Covenant and New Covenant, the evidence that covenant children should have access to the Lord’s Supper is overwhelming.”5 Given that the Passover meal and, by extension, the Lord’s Supper are covenant meals, the question is who should be included in the covenant people today.

While the Old Testament definition of covenant was more about natural birth, the New Testament definition is about second birth. So, the simple and logical conclusion is that only those who have professed faith in Jesus’ atoning death on the cross are eligible to participate in a covenantal meal, and generally, that would be correct. However, in the case of children, there are other considerations.

First, if we do not consider children part of the covenant, it is entirely wrong to suggest that all children go to heaven. The apostle Paul’s instructions to couples where only one is a believer offer some insight. He says, “For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified through her believing husband. Otherwise, your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy.”6 Concerning children being holy, David Prior notes, “He [Paul] appears to be relying on Jewish convictions and custom, which regards the children as being within the covenant.”7 Regarding children, Paul uses the same root Greek word for holy as he does when addressing ‘saints’ in the church. Leon Morris more directly takes Paul’s message to mean that “until he is old enough to take the responsibility upon himself, the child of a believing parent is to be regarded as Christian. The parent’s ‘holiness’ extends to the child.”8 So it is Paul’s understanding that children of at least one believing parent are part of the covenant people. Also, in Mark 10:14, Jesus hints at the kingdom status of children. While scholars disagree on the implication of ‘such as these,’ including children in the kingdom of heaven, simply because they are children is a plausible interpretation.

Secondly, we must understand what it means to be a child in a biblical sense. There is a consensus that to the covenant people of Israel, a child became an adult at either twelve in the case of a girl or thirteen in the case of a boy. Although the bar and bat mitzvah were not celebrated until at least five hundred years after Jesus, many sources affirm that by thirteen, a boy was considered a man or a son of the commandment.9 Thus, from a biblical understanding, childhood ceased at thirteen.

Finally, in the New Testament, Paul chastises the Corinthians for not viewing communion seriously enough: “For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves.”10 While Paul addresses a church wrought with division, his comments cannot simply be taken as another example of their disunity. Some consideration must be given to discerning the Lord’s body, but can a child be reasonably assumed to be able to discern the body of Christ? Hwa-Rang Moon rightly observes, “Generally, adult believers have not trusted children’s cognitive abilities to receive the body and blood of Christ properly.”11 If we accept the traditional Jewish understanding that children do not become adults and responsible for their own actions until age thirteen, then they would not be expected to discern the Lord’s body. Their participation is entirely based on their parent(s) belief.

Conclusion

Bridget Nichols, in her research into current practices within the Anglican tradition regarding children and the Eucharist, notes that there is a wide range of practice and no specific guidance; however, “some dioceses have, nevertheless, imposed their own limits, usually taking seven as the earliest age for admission.”12 While practice varies, Nichols notes a single consistency. “Although the Anglican approach may look inconsistent to members of other churches, it does allow for children to articulate their own readiness.”13 This readiness determines whether a child takes communion independently or through their parent’s belief.

Rather than excluding children from communion, we should encourage participation, given one of two conditions: the child is at least seven and has expressed a personal belief in and acceptance of Jesus’s sacrifice on the cross, or the child is part of a believing family and is under the age of thirteen. Participation for anyone over thirteen is based on their personal faith.

  1. Robin L Routledge, “Passover and Last Supper.,” Tyndale Bulletin 53, no. 2 (2002): 221. ↩︎
  2. Matthew W Mason, “Covenant Children and Covenant Meals: Biblical Evidence for Infant Communion.,” Churchman 121, no. 2 (2007): 127. ↩︎
  3. The Passover Haggadah is a set form of benedictions, prayers, midrashic comments and psalms recited at the seder ritual on the eve of Passover. “The Passover Haggadah,” accessed May 1, 2024, https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-passover-haggadah. ↩︎
  4. Joel Marcus, “Passover and Last Supper Revisited.,” New Testament Studies 59, no. 3 (2013): 303–24. ↩︎
  5. Mason, “Covenant Children and Covenant Meals: Biblical Evidence for Infant Communion.,” 136. ↩︎
  6. 1 Corinthians 7:14 NIV. ↩︎
  7. Prior, David. 1985. The Message of 1 Corinthians: Life in the Local Church. The Bible Speaks Today. Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press. ↩︎
  8. Morris, Leon. 1985. 1 Corinthians: An Introduction and Commentary. Vol. 7. Tyndale New Testament Commentaries. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press. ↩︎
  9. “Bar and Bat Mitzvah,” in Wikipedia, April 15, 2024, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bar_and_bat_mitzvah&oldid=1218988092. ↩︎
  10. 1 Corinthians 11:29 NIV. ↩︎
  11. Hwa-Rang Moon, “When Is It Appropriate for Children to Participate in the Lord’s Supper?: A Perspective from Developmental Theory.,” Christian Education Journal 10, no. 1 (2013): 30. ↩︎
  12. Bridget Nichols, “The Admission of Baptized Children to Holy Communion before Confirmation: Anglican Approaches.,” Review of Ecumenical Studies, Sibiu 14, no. 1 (2022): 91. ↩︎
  13. Nichols, 97. ↩︎

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