THE LORD’S SUPPER AS A MEANS OF GRACE:
More than a memory
By Richard C. Barcellos
Christian Focus. 128 pages. £9.99
ISBN 978 1 781 912 683
Richard Barcellos longs for the church to move away from the view of the Lord’s Supper as just being a means of remembering Christ’s death to the ‘Reformed’ view that understands the Supper as a ‘means of grace’.
In particular, he wants to show us how we receive grace as we take part in the Supper. He argues ‘that the Lord’s Supper is a means of grace because of what the Holy Spirit does in the souls of believers when local churches partake of it. The Spirit effects (or enhances) present communion between the exalted Redeemer and his pilgrim people on the earth’ (p.103).
Delivery system
The style is pretty academic. Beginning with 1 Corinthians 10.16, Barcellos demonstrates that the Supper is indeed a means of grace, and then moves on to consider how this can be by unpacking Ephesians 1.3 – showing the role of the Holy Spirit as the one who imparts all spiritual blessing to us. The final exegetical stop is Ephesians 3.16-17 to show the role of prayer in bringing God’s grace to us. Putting it all together, we have a view of the Lord’s Supper as ‘one of the delivery systems ordained by Christ for the communication of the benefits of his death to his people’ (p.73).
Barcellos is then very keen to show us that this is the doctrine taught by various Reformed confessions and catechisms (including Reformed Baptist standards). The book ends with some final thoughts – both theological and pastoral.
My only complaints are stylistic. Sometimes the author spends time over details that are of little consequence to the argument, and the book becomes annoyingly repetitive. The material could have been presented in a less technical manner with hardly any loss, so making the potential reach of this little book much greater.
However, Barcellos offers us a good explanation of a fairly difficult doctrine – something that is particularly good to hear from a Baptist (they often fall into the ‘mere memorial’ stable). It would be great to see this book used to spread the good news of the rich blessings offered to us in the Lord’s Supper!
