Paedocommunion is the practice of admitting covenant children apart from a profession of faith in Christ to the Lord’s table. They are invited to and may commune at the Lord’s table and take the Lord’s Supper from a very young age, perhaps as young as 18 months or two years old.
It requires a certain maturity that one can self-examine and come to the table spiritually prepared to feed on Christ.When we take that practice to the Scripture, I think we are bound to conclude that it is not biblical. When we come to 1 Corinthians 11, Paul tells the church that we are to examine ourselves before we come to the table. That requires a certain intellectual understanding of the work of Christ. It requires a certain maturity that one can examine oneself and come to the table spiritually prepared to feed on Christ as the savior from sin.
Now, the paedocommunion rightly says that children are part of the Church of Jesus Christ. They are not outsiders, that is, the children of at least one believer. Of course, we honor and affirm the Scriptures teaching that they are counted part of the visible church. There are privileges and responsibilities that belong to them. We do not want to keep them from the table any longer than they should be kept from the table, but we also must respect the command of Christ and hold the Supper in esteem. We want to encourage young people in the church to make profession of faith and come to the table and dine with Christ spiritually.
