June 2, 2004

Hoeksema on Communion

Category: Theology - Liturgical :: Permalink

Tim pointed out this quotation a while ago, but I thought it worth repeating here. It’s by Herman Hoeksema, who was involved in the formation of the Protestant Reformed Churches. The volume in which this quotation appears was originally published in 1951.

I often wonder whether the practice of our churches not to administer the Lord’s Supper to children before they have reached the age of adolescence is not an error. Surely, long before they reach this age, they are able to discern the Lord’s body. There is, it seems to me, not sufficient reason to withhold from them this sacrament, by which they are nourished with the body and blood of Christ and in which they commemorate Christ’s death, until they have finished the course of catechetical instruction that is required in our churches and are capable of making a complete confession of faith. — Herman Hoeksema, The Triple Knowledge: An Exposition of the Heidelberg Catechism (Grand Rapids: Reformed Free Publishing Association, 1971), 2:561.

Posted by John Barach @ 1:49 pm | Discuss (0)

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