Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind... Romans 12:2
Feed My Lambs
by Tim Gallant
Pactum Reformanda Publishing, 2002
220 pages
Reviewed by Garry Vanderveen
With this book, Tim Gallant has cemented his place in church history. Until now, no one has written a comprehensive book defending paedocommunion, the practice of covenant children participating at the Lord's Table. During the last twenty years, many Presbyterian and Reformed churches have studied the issue. Majority and minority reports have come and gone. Lengthy papers have been written. But no one book tackled the issue comprehensively. Then, Tim Gallant wrote this book. And the church can never be the same.
Gallant begins his book by laying a firm foundation. In chapter one, he examines several passages which drive him to the conclusion that there is one people of God, the church. This holy nation, the church, is made up of believers and their children. The children of believers are full members of the church and thus entitled to all the means of grace.
Gallant's "Appendix 1: The Covenant of Grace and its children" should be read before moving on to chapter 2. This is a brief but masterful introduction to the Covenant of Grace. Gallant reminds us that from the very beginning, children were covenantally connected to their parents. In Adam, all sinned and fell short of the glory of God. Furthermore, when God saved Adam, he also saved his children, "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel" (Gen. 3:15). Gallant obverses the often overlooked fact: Satan has no seed of his own. He can neither father nor bear children. Eve, however, did have a physical seed. Thus, the only way for Satan to have a seed is to steal from Eve:
The seed of believers start out in covenant with God. God does not simply hand over to Satan whatever Adam and Eve may come to have. No, the Lord explicitly identifies the seed of the woman as the righteous seed, and the only way Satan gets anything is by theft of something that is not his (pp. 177).
The children of believers have belonged to God since the very first promise of the gospel. Gallant considers the place of children at the Passover. He is quick to point out that even if his understanding of Passover is wrong—even if children did not participate—his thesis is not affected. If children partook of the sacramental meal in the Old Covenant, so it should be in the New. Moreover, since the New covenant is more glorious and inclusive than the Old, even if children did not partake of the sacramental meal in the Old, we should expect that they do in the more glorious and inclusive New.
1 Corinthians 10:16, 17 is clear: The one body partakes of the one bread. Are children members of the one body? Of course! They have been baptized into the name of the Triune God. Therefore, they ought to be partaking of the one bread.
Gallant deals with 1 Corinthians 11. The traditional reformed interpretation says that "discerning the Lord's body" means the celebrant must have a comprehensive understanding of the Lord's Supper; a failure to understand what the bread and wine signify and seal is unworthy participation. Gallant convincingly shows that the issue of 1 Cor. 11 is not one of intellectual discernment (i.e. understanding a set of propositions regarding the Supper), but of morality. If one is not living in light of his baptism, if one does not love the brethren, if the rich person is disregarding the poor, he is not discerning the Lord's body.
Gallant examines the history of children at the Lord's Table. He demonstrates that the early church admitted children to the Eucharist. Over time, the church began to bar children due to erroneous views on the supper. For example, as transubstantiation gained ascendancy, the church became concerned that children would spill the blood of Jesus. By the 12th century, it became the universal practice of the church to prevent children from participating in this means of grace.
In chapter 5, Gallant deals with numerous objections to paedocommunion. His answers are well reasoned. In Appendix 3 he deals with other practical considerations. I greatly appreciate his approach. For example, what should someone do if the church refuses to give the sacrament to his children? He writes:
Submit to your church. Do not think it your duty to sneak the element for your children, and do not draw a line in the sand (by absenting yourself from communion, or by making a scene) .... Patience is at the top of the list .... Engage in constructive dialogue .... Model to your children both your covenant faith, and the attitude of biblical submission to the church leadership .... In all things: honour the truth, on the one hand, and, as much as lies on your side, be at peace with your church community, on the other (pp. 199-201).
This book is highly readable: the average layman can read through it in a couple of nights. It is the best treatment of the subject to date. It is irenic. The bibliography is useful. Get it; read it; digest it; and urge your pastor to do the same. Until the church restores the Table to her weakest members, she will remain weak. Withholding food from our children until they reach the age of discernment (16-21?), and then feeding them, is not a recipe for success. It is preparing the next generation for spiritual anorexia. Even if readers do not agree with Gallant's paedocommunion conclusions, his book ought to awaken us to the fact that the Supper is not only for doctrinally-sophisticated and mentally-agile Christians. In Christ, there is one body. And that one body needs all of God's gifts to grow in grace.
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