The Ordinance Commands

“Ordinance,” for our purposes here; is going to be defined as follows:

“A command given to the Church by the Lord Jesus Christ toward the end of His earthly ministry that entails a specific physical action that is meant to correctly represent a spiritual reality and is to be repeatedly preformed.”

The only two commands that are found in scripture that meet the above criteria are the “Baptism” command and the “Lords Super”, “Upper Room”, or “Communion” commands.

I will cover Baptism in a future article; the purpose of this article is to explain in short, what I will refer to as the “Lords Supper”.

We will start with the gospel of John where our Lord washes the feet of His disciples in the upper room of a house that had been prepared for them to celebrate in the night before His crucifixion. They were in the middle of eating the evening meal when Jesus got up and began to wash the feet of His disciples. When it came time for Peter to have his feet washed he immediately refused saying that Jesus would never wash his feet, Jesus replied that if He did not wash Peter’s feet than Peter had no part in His Kingdom. Peter, understanding the implications of what Jesus had said replied, “then Lord wash not only my feet by my whole body as well”, Jesus then said that Peter only needed his feet washed because he was already “clean”.

Now, to the modern Christian this presents some difficult concepts. We must go back to the Jewish culture of the day where in order for one to be ceremonially clean they had to wash their head and hands before eating, not their feet. It would be a correct assumption that Peter and the rest of the disciples had already washed their heads and hands before entering the room to eat, therefore what Jesus was doing by washing their feet was showing that they were already “clean” from a ceremonial perspective. There would have been no reason to wash only their feet if this had not been true.

This act corresponds perfectly to that of the High Priest in the OT when going into the Holy of Holy’s to offer sacrifice for the sins of Israel, he would first wash his head and hands in the laver to make himself “clean” before entering the Holy Place.

This act of washing one another’s feet shows that we are already clean and ready to enter the Holy Place to offer sacrifice to God for our sins.

The next part of this Ordinance command is to eat the bread; this bread symbolizes the body of Christ that was broken for us. His body, when it broke, tore the curtain that divided the Holy of Holy’s from the people. And when we eat the bread we are supposed to remember that Jesus’ sacrifice opened the “way” to God.

The wine or “fruit of the vine” comes next. Once the High Priest entered the Holy of Holy’s he had to have a blood offering to atone for the sins of Israel, the blood of an un-blemished lamb. Christ’s blood sacrifice serves as that perfect un-blemished blood that seals the covenant between us and God. This blood seals the New Covenant between God and Mankind and the wine/fruit of the vine is meant to help us remember this reality.

Lastly we celebrate the Agape feast or love feast which reminds us of the fellowship that we share because of Christ’s sacrifice, not only with God but with our fellow Christians as well. This feast is in line with the feast that the nation of Israel had once a year when the High Priest would enter the Holy of Holy’s to offer sacrifices for Israel, once completed, the Israelite nation would have a huge feast/party to celebrate it’s unity with their God, they were once again Gods people and He was their God!

The foot washing, the Bread, the Cup and the Agape Feast, a full and complete picture of our everlasting relationship with the Almighty God of the Universe! When done in this order and according to the scriptures it causes us to remember, however often we do it, that we are God people and He is our God!

In closing I would like to offer the words of the Lord Jesus Himself in the midst of commanding His Church to perform these acts in His memory:

“Whoever does these things will be blessed”

1. Feet Washing -- The symbol of Christ's ministry of sanctification.

o Where it's mentioned: John 13:1-17; 1st Timothy 5:10.
o Authorized by Christ: John 13:3-6.
o Its meaning: John 13:7-11.
o Command to continue: John 13:13-15.

2. The Bread and cup -- The symbol of Christ's past ministry of justification.

o Where it's mentioned: Matthew 26:26-29; Mark 14:22-25; Luke 22:14-20; 1 Corinthians 10:16-17; 11:23-25.
o Authorized by Christ: 1 Corinthians 11:23-25.
o Its meaning: Matthew 26:26-28; 1 Corinthians 11:25-27.
o Command to continue: Luke 22:19; 1 Corinthians 11:24-25.

3. Love Feast -- The symbol of Christ's future ministry of glorification.

o Where it's mentioned: John 13:2, 4; 1 Corinthians 11:20-22, 33-34; Jude 12.
o Not the same as bread and cup: Matthew 26:20-29; Luke 22:14-23; 1 Corinthians 11:20-22.
o Apostles continued to practice the meal: 1 Corinthians 11:17-34; Jude 12.
o Its meaning: 1 Corinthians 11:34; Revelation 19:7-10.