Meals and Wine and the Lord’s Supper

There have been two recent articles lamenting deficiencies in evangelical communion practice. The first is from James B. Jordan (republished from 1993) where he suggests that since the sacrament is a meal it is best served at a table. In the second, Brad East argues that (fermented) wine is the appropriate drink for the sacrament, not (unfermented) grape juice. I am sympathetic to both of their arguments and generally agree with the larger exegetical and theological work in their pieces. However, I think the conclusions that biblical consistency and obedience require sitting at a table and drinking real wine aren’t necessary, even if those practices might be most fitting.

First, every Christian agrees that if Jesus tells his church to do something then we are to do it. And every church that partakes of the Lord’s Supper agrees that Jesus’ establishment of the sacrament on the night of his betrayal is normative to some degree. What from that evening is required for the sacrament to be legitimate?…