Sorry for the long hiatus. In the interim, I have broken my ankle in the ice that Dallas enjoyed in the last two weeks. Beyond that, just the normal business of a semester has kept me busy. But I’m back now, AND I FEEL MUCH BETTER!
The long break means a break in thought, so to understand what I want to write today will require a review of the issues raised in the previous treatments of cleansing the conscience. So, before reading this entry, go back and read parts 1 and 2.
How, then, does cleansing the conscience bear on our participation in the Lord’s Supper? If it is the blood of Christ that genuinely cleanses us, then what does that mean for the Supper? Particularly, how does our guilt impact our participation? In Part 2 of this series of comments, we defined guilt as objective and subjective. Objective guilt refers to the historical record. It means that we stand blameworthy for our sin and liable to punishment by God because of it. Subjective guilt is our personal sense of our blameworthiness and liability to God’s wrath.
I have been taught since I was a child that we must deal with any known sin before we come to the Table. Does this idea square with the Bible? How do we then prepare for the Supper?
Let’s deal with the easy part first, our objective guilt. In the cross, Jesus bore the penalty of our sin. This is part of what Paul means when he speaks about the “scandal of the cross” (Gal 5.11). He bore our sins in His own body on the tree (1 Pet 2.24). It should be plain that Jesus did not, and could not, bear our blame. We remain the responsible agents who have sinned. So, it was not our blame that He bore, but our penalty. This idea is probably part of what Paul means when he writes that Jesus “became sin for us” (2 Cor 5.21). He became the sin offering, as He also became the “guilt” offering for us (Isa 53.10). He has paid the penalty, ridding us of the necessity to bear any penalty for sin. “There is, therefore, now, no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
If these things are true, there can be no thought of preparing ourselves for the Supper beyond placing our faith in the God of grace who provided the sacrifice for our sins.
jamesallman
Grace at the Table 
I miss sitting in your classes.
Thanks for be a vessel.
Thank you. Good to hear from you.
Thanks for putting these truths “on paper” for us. It is so encouraging. It always amazes me how we, as Christians, can so easily compartmentalize our faith and accept salvation by grace but still cling to the idea of some mantra or incantation or ceremony that somehow allows us to accomplish some level of “cleansing.” Reminds me of a professor of mine who once said that our actions reveal our true beliefs and we should not sing, “Jesus paid it all/All to Him I owe/Sin had left a crimson stain/He washed it white as snow” but instead should truthfully sing, “Jesus paid for most of it/Most I owe to Him/Sin had left a crimson stain/He washed it dirty gray”… Thanks for faithfully and consistently painting the picture of our BIG God and His indescribable grace and our need to simply trust Him.
Jim, Sorry for the slip and fall. Glad you seem to be feeling better. Looking forward to the time when you’re ambulatory enough to come back to Impact.