Doctrine · The Articles of Religion

Article XIX — Of Both Kinds. The cup of the Lord is not to be denied to the lay people; for both the parts of the Lord's Supper, by Christ's ordinance and commandment, ought to be administered to all Christians alike.

well-settled

What it says

“The cup must not be withheld from lay people; Christ commanded both bread and cup for all Christians alike.”

The stake
No two-tier sacrament — laity and clergy receive the same Supper, by Christ's plain command.
Why it matters
It is the eucharistic form of the priesthood of all believers, and another dispute the other communion has largely conceded.
The Wesleyan take
Pure Wesley: 'Drink ye all of this' means all. The leveling of the table is the leveling of the whole Methodist movement — one condition, one rule, one cup.
Original English
The cup of the Lord is not to be denied to the lay people; for both the parts of the Lord's Supper, by Christ's ordinance and commandment, ought to be administered to all Christians alike. Thirty-Nine Articles Article XXX (1571), 'Of Both Kinds,' kept by Wesley verbatim. Its target was the medieval Western practice of communion in one kind (the bread) for the laity, the cup reserved to the clergy. The ground is dominical command ('Drink ye all of this,' Matthew 26:27). ¶104 footnote 4 lists Article XIX among XIV–XXI for ecumenical reading — and here, as with the vernacular, the dispute has substantially closed: post-Vatican II Catholic practice widely restores the cup to the laity.
VersionRendering
United Methodist Book of Discipline (¶104) The cup of the Lord is not to be denied to the lay people; for both the parts of the Lord's Supper, by Christ's ordinance and commandment, ought to be administered to all Christians alike.
Thirty-Nine Articles (1571), Article XXX The Cup of the Lord is not to be denied to the Lay-people: for both the parts of the Lord's Sacrament, by Christ's ordinance and commandment, ought to be ministered to all Christian men alike. kept verbatim by Wesley; *Book of Resolutions* #3144 governs its ecumenical reading.

Traditions cited patristic ·roman catholic ·reformed ·wesleyan ·modern ecumenical

Article XIX — Of Both Kinds

The Text

Article XIX is one sentence with a sharp social edge: “The cup of the Lord is not to be denied to the lay people; for both the parts of the Lord’s Supper, by Christ’s ordinance and commandment, ought to be administered to all Christians alike.” Its sixteenth-century target was communion in one kind — the medieval Western practice of giving the laity the bread only, reserving the cup to the celebrating clergy. The article’s ground is not preference but dominical command: Christ said “Drink ye all of this.” Wesley kept it verbatim. Beneath the eucharistic specifics is a principle the whole Wesleyan movement embodies: there is no two-tier Christianity, not even at the rail.

Translation Notes

“not to be denied to the lay people… to all Christians alike.” The operative word is alike. The article does not merely permit lay reception of the cup; it forbids any distinction between clergy and laity at this point. The Supper is the same for all who come.

“by Christ’s ordinance and commandment.” The authority cited is not the church’s discretion but Christ’s explicit institution (Matthew 26:27, “Drink ye all of it”; 1 Corinthians 11:25–28). This is Article V (Scripture sufficiency) applied: a practice that denies what Christ commanded cannot be required of the church.

Historical Context

The withholding of the cup from the laity (communion sub una specie) developed in the medieval West and was defended at the Council of Constance (1415) and reaffirmed by Trent. The Reformers saw in it both a contradiction of Christ’s plain command and a clericalization of the sacrament — the same instinct as the vernacular article (XV). Article XXX of the Thirty-Nine is the English Reformation’s correction.

As with the vernacular, this is a polemical article whose grievance has substantially closed. The Second Vatican Council and subsequent Catholic practice widely restored communion under both kinds to the laity. ¶104’s footnote places Article XIX under the 2016 Resolution of Intent: the ecumenical reading here is again less “soften an attack” than “notice the convergence” — both communions now ordinarily give the cup to all.

Lines of Interpretation

The disputed question is no longer the cup but its principle: what else, in church life, quietly recreates a two-tier sacrament or a clerical reserve?

Patristic

Tradition: the universal cup of the early church

The early liturgies gave both elements to all the baptized; one-kind communion is a medieval Western development. The article restores antiquity.

Strengths

  • Grounds the article in catholic practice, not Protestant novelty
  • Frames it as conservative restoration, like the vernacular

Weaknesses

  • Practical exceptions (the sick, the infant, scarcity) existed even early; “alike” needs pastoral nuance
  • Antiquity’s reasons were not only the dominical-command argument the article foregrounds

Roman Catholic

Tradition: Constance/Trent (one kind sufficient); concomitance; Vatican II’s restoration

Rome’s defense was the doctrine of concomitance (the whole Christ present under either kind, so one kind is not deprivation), with the cup later restored as fitting, not strictly necessary. The article presses dominical command against the withholding.

Strengths

  • Names honestly that the article rejected a real Roman discipline
  • Concomitance is a serious argument the bare article does not engage

Weaknesses (of the dispute)

  • Vatican II’s restoration of the cup substantially concedes the article’s pastoral point
  • “Christ’s ordinance and commandment” remains a strong scriptural case the concomitance argument answers only obliquely

Reformed

Tradition: the sufficiency of Christ’s institution; the priesthood of all believers

The Reformed reading ties Article XIX to Articles V and to 1 Peter 2:9: the church may not subtract from Christ’s institution, and the common cup enacts the priesthood of all believers.

Strengths

  • Connects the article to a coherent principle (no addition to or subtraction from institution)
  • Surfaces the ecclesiological stake: no sacramental clergy/laity caste

Weaknesses

  • “Priesthood of all” overpressed can flatten legitimate ordered ministry the Articles elsewhere assume
  • The institution-only argument needs the realism of Article XVIII to avoid mere proceduralism

Modern / Ecumenical

Tradition: convergence; the principle applied past the cup

The modern reading: the specific dispute is largely healed; the permanent principle is that nothing should recreate a two-tier sacrament or reserve grace to an elite.

Strengths

  • Keeps a “won” article alive by generalizing it
  • Models the Resolution of Intent: hold the principle, rejoice in the convergence

Weaknesses

  • The generalization is homiletical; the article’s letter is narrow
  • “No elite” can be misapplied against all order rather than against clerical reservation

Wesleyan Voice

Article XIX is small but it rhymes with the largest Wesleyan theme: the leveling of the table. “Drink ye all of this” is, for Wesley, of a piece with the one condition of the General Rules (a desire, required of all), the Third Rule’s ordinances commanded to all, and Catholic Spirit’s refusal of spiritual castes. Wesley’s movement was a democratization of grace — lay preachers, lay class leaders, the gospel to colliers and servants — and the common cup is that instinct at the sacrament’s center. The article keeps Article XVIII’s realism (the cup is “a partaking of the blood of Christ”) and refuses to ration it: the deepest means of grace is given to all Christians alike, not banked behind the rail.

The Wesleyan extension is the article’s question turned on the present church. The cup is no longer withheld; but the principle — no two-tier sacrament, no reserve of grace to an elite — still indicts subtler clericalisms: a communion practice that functionally excludes the disabled, the homebound, the child, the stranger, the unsure. Wesley communed the seeker (Article XVIII); he would press Article XIX’s “to all Christians alike” against any modern fencing that quietly recreates the one-kind instinct in new form. The article’s letter is settled; its spirit is a permanent test of whether the table is as wide as Christ’s command.

Hymnody

The Wesleyan eucharistic hymnody (the 1745 Hymns on the Lord’s Supper) assumes the whole cup for the whole church — there is no hymn anywhere in it contemplating a withheld chalice. “Come to the supper, come, sinners, there still is room” and “Sinners, obey the gospel word… come to the gospel feast” are Article XIX’s “all… alike” sung as invitation: the table’s defining note is room and all, never reserve. The songbook’s eucharistic generosity is the article’s principle in praise.

Pastoral and Liturgical Use

The first pastoral use is gratitude and generalization. Teach the article’s history as a healed wound — the cup, like the vernacular, is now common to both communions — so the congregation learns to hold a doctrinal point without tribal triumph. Then apply its principle: where, now, does this church reserve grace to an in-group? The article is the warrant for an open, accessible, genuinely common table.

The second use is the leveling, preached. Article XIX is the sacramental form of the priesthood of all believers and of the whole Wesleyan refusal of spiritual elites (Articles XI, XIX; the General Rules’ single condition for all). The pastoral application is to let the common cup teach the congregation what it means: at this table no one outranks anyone; all receive the same Christ alike.

Further Reading

  • Matthew 26:27 (“Drink ye all of it”); 1 Corinthians 11:25–28 — the dominical command
  • 1 Peter 2:9 — the priesthood of all believers
  • Thirty-Nine Articles, Article XXX (1571) — Wesley’s source; Book of Resolutions #3144
  • The Council of Constance (1415); Trent; Vatican II — the practice’s history and substantial healing
  • The Supper’s doctrine: [[articles-of-religion/article-18-of-the-lords-supper]]
  • The same leveling principle: [[general-rules/the-nature-of-a-society]]
  • The cognate “for the people” article: [[articles-of-religion/article-15-of-speaking-in-the-congregation]]

Related

The Articles of Religion

Article I — Of Faith in the Holy Trinity. There is but one living and true God, everlasting, without body or parts, of infinite power, wisdom, and goodness; the maker and preserver of all things, both visible and invisible. And in unity of this Godhead there are three persons, of one substance, power, and eternity — the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Article II — Of the Word, or Son of God, Who Was Made Very Man. The Son, who is the Word of the Father, the very and eternal God, of one substance with the Father, took man's nature in the womb of the blessed Virgin; so that two whole and perfect natures, that is to say, the Godhead and Manhood, were joined together in one person, never to be divided; whereof is one Christ, very God and very Man, who truly suffered, was crucified, dead, and buried, to reconcile his Father to us, and to be a sacrifice, not only for original guilt, but also for actual sins of men. Article III — Of the Resurrection of Christ. Christ did truly rise again from the dead, and took again his body, with all things appertaining to the perfection of man's nature, wherewith he ascended into heaven, and there sitteth until he return to judge all men at the last day. Article IV — Of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost, proceeding from the Father and the Son, is of one substance, majesty, and glory with the Father and the Son, very and eternal God. Article V — Of the Sufficiency of the Holy Scriptures for Salvation. The Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation; so that whatsoever is not read therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required of any man that it should be believed as an article of faith, or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation. Article VI — Of the Old Testament. The Old Testament is not contrary to the New; for both in the Old and New Testament everlasting life is offered to mankind by Christ, who is the only Mediator between God and man, being both God and Man. Although the law given from God by Moses as touching ceremonies and rites doth not bind Christians, nor ought the civil precepts thereof of necessity be received in any commonwealth; yet notwithstanding, no Christian whatsoever is free from the obedience of the commandments which are called moral. Article VII — Of Original or Birth Sin. Original sin standeth not in the following of Adam (as the Pelagians do vainly talk), but it is the corruption of the nature of every man, that naturally is engendered of the offspring of Adam, whereby man is very far gone from original righteousness, and of his own nature inclined to evil, and that continually. Article VIII — Of Free Will. The condition of man after the fall of Adam is such that he cannot turn and prepare himself, by his own natural strength and works, to faith, and calling upon God; wherefore we have no power to do good works, pleasant and acceptable to God, without the grace of God by Christ preventing us, that we may have a good will, and working with us, when we have that good will. Article IX — Of the Justification of Man. We are accounted righteous before God only for the merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, by faith, and not for our own works or deservings. Wherefore, that we are justified by faith, only, is a most wholesome doctrine, and very full of comfort. Article X — Of Good Works. Although good works, which are the fruits of faith, and follow after justification, cannot put away our sins, and endure the severity of God's judgment; yet are they pleasing and acceptable to God in Christ, and spring out of a true and lively faith, insomuch that by them a lively faith may be as evidently known as a tree is discerned by its fruit. Article XI — Of Works of Supererogation. Voluntary works — besides, over and above God's commandments — which they call works of supererogation, cannot be taught without arrogancy and impiety. For by them men do declare that they do not only render unto God as much as they are bound to do, but that they do more for his sake than of bounden duty is required; whereas Christ saith plainly: When ye have done all that is commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants. Article XII — Of Sin After Justification. Not every sin willingly committed after justification is the sin against the Holy Ghost, and unpardonable. Wherefore, the grant of repentance is not to be denied to such as fall into sin after justification. After we have received the Holy Ghost, we may depart from grace given, and fall into sin, and, by the grace of God, rise again and amend our lives. And therefore they are to be condemned who say they can no more sin as long as they live here; or deny the place of forgiveness to such as truly repent. Article XIII — Of the Church. The visible church of Christ is a congregation of faithful men in which the pure Word of God is preached, and the Sacraments duly administered according to Christ's ordinance, in all those things that of necessity are requisite to the same. Article XIV — Of Purgatory. The Romish doctrine concerning purgatory, pardon, worshiping, and adoration, as well of images as of relics, and also invocation of saints, is a fond thing, vainly invented, and grounded upon no warrant of Scripture, but repugnant to the Word of God. Article XV — Of Speaking in the Congregation in Such a Tongue as the People Understand. It is a thing plainly repugnant to the Word of God, and the custom of the primitive church, to have public prayer in the church, or to minister the Sacraments, in a tongue not understood by the people. Article XVI — Of the Sacraments. Sacraments ordained of Christ are not only badges or tokens of Christian men's profession, but rather they are certain signs of grace, and God's good will toward us, by which he doth work invisibly in us, and doth not only quicken, but also strengthen and confirm, our faith in him. There are two Sacraments ordained of Christ our Lord in the Gospel; that is to say, Baptism and the Supper of the Lord. Article XVII — Of Baptism. Baptism is not only a sign of profession and mark of difference whereby Christians are distinguished from others that are not baptized; but it is also a sign of regeneration or the new birth. The Baptism of young children is to be retained in the Church. Article XVIII — Of the Lord's Supper. The Supper of the Lord is not only a sign of the love that Christians ought to have among themselves one to another, but rather is a sacrament of our redemption by Christ's death… The body of Christ is given, taken, and eaten in the Supper, only after a heavenly and spiritual manner. And the means whereby the body of Christ is received and eaten in the Supper is faith. Article XIX — Of Both Kinds. The cup of the Lord is not to be denied to the lay people; for both the parts of the Lord's Supper, by Christ's ordinance and commandment, ought to be administered to all Christians alike. Article XX — Of the One Oblation of Christ, Finished upon the Cross. The offering of Christ, once made, is that perfect redemption, propitiation, and satisfaction for all the sins of the whole world, both original and actual; and there is none other satisfaction for sin but that alone. Wherefore the sacrifice of masses, in the which it is commonly said that the priest doth offer Christ for the quick and the dead, to have remission of pain or guilt, is a blasphemous fable and dangerous deceit. Article XXI — Of the Marriage of Ministers. The ministers of Christ are not commanded by God's law either to vow the estate of single life, or to abstain from marriage; therefore it is lawful for them, as for all other Christians, to marry at their own discretion, as they shall judge the same to serve best to godliness. Article XXII — Of the Rites and Ceremonies of Churches. It is not necessary that rites and ceremonies should in all places be the same, or exactly alike; for they have been always different, and may be changed according to the diversity of countries, times, and men's manners, so that nothing be ordained against God's Word. Every particular church may ordain, change, or abolish rites and ceremonies, so that all things may be done to edification. Article XXIII — Of the Rulers of the United States of America. The President, the Congress, the general assemblies, the governors, and the councils of state, as the delegates of the people, are the rulers of the United States of America, according to the division of power made to them by the Constitution of the United States and by the constitutions of their respective states. And the said states are a sovereign and independent nation, and ought not to be subject to any foreign jurisdiction. Article XXIV — Of Christian Men's Goods. The riches and goods of Christians are not common as touching the right, title, and possession of the same, as some do falsely boast. Notwithstanding, every man ought, of such things as he possesseth, liberally to give alms to the poor, according to his ability. Article XXV — Of a Christian Man's Oath. As we confess that vain and rash swearing is forbidden Christian men by our Lord Jesus Christ and James his apostle, so we judge that the Christian religion doth not prohibit, but that a man may swear when the magistrate requireth, in a cause of faith and charity, so it be done according to the prophet's teaching, in justice, judgment, and truth. Of Sanctification (appended 1939; legislative, not constitutionally protected). Sanctification is that renewal of our fallen nature by the Holy Ghost, received through faith in Jesus Christ, whose blood of atonement cleanseth from all sin; whereby we are not only delivered from the guilt of sin, but are washed from its pollution, saved from its power, and are enabled, through grace, to love God with all our hearts and to walk in his holy commandments blameless. Of the Duty of Christians to the Civil Authority (appended 1939; legislative, not constitutionally protected). It is the duty of all Christians, and especially of all Christian ministers, to observe and obey the laws and commands of the governing or supreme authority of the country of which they are citizens or subjects or in which they reside, and to use all laudable means to encourage and enjoin obedience to the powers that be.