The Sacraments:
God's Appointments with Men

We may have a great deal of sympathy with the late medieval Christians who counted seven sacraments, even if we disagree with their conclusions. They simply grouped together all the ceremonies which the church administered, regulated and which were considered especially holy. These ceremonies were baptism, confirmation, penance (and absolution), communion, marriage, holy orders (ordination), and extreme unction (anointing). Considering the list, we see that several of them, such as penance and extreme unction, were products of the weaknesses of medieval theology. Other ceremonies such as marriage and ordination are, of necessity, in a different category no matter what the analogy one might see with communion or baptism. They are clearly not the normative and God-ordained ceremonies of the Christian life, which are the essential links with God in the life of every Christian. 

The sacraments for the reformed churches are divinely given ceremonies which are uniquely blessed by God to depict and bring about what they symbolize. The are ordinances for all Christians, and seals of a covenant with God. 

The term "sacrament" is not a Biblical one. Some have objected to it, but it is a useful and accurate term to describe the Biblical ceremonies of baptism and communion as they are distinguished from other ceremonies such as ordination, installation in offices of service, vows before God and building dedications. The Latin term sacramentum came to be used in the Roman Empire period of the language for the oath which a soldier in the Legions took on New Year's Day and again on each anniversary of the emperor's accession. One must admit that it had idolatrous connections as did virtually every other institution in pre-Christian Rome. The basic meaning of sacramentum however, is especially appropriate in the light of the many "good soldier" images in the New Testament and because of the call to commitment and obedience inherent in both communion and baptism. 

Generally those who reject the term "sacrament" in favor of the word "ordinance" have a view of the sacraments which is non-supernatural and simple. It is convenient to have a term which implies the lofty view of God's ordinances held by the majority of the reformation movement. 

A sacrament, then, is the external seal of a covenant made first in baptism and then renewed in the communion. From long time past, men have sealed their covenants, both political and personal, with sacrifices, feasts, the construction of monuments, and the like. The sacraments which God gave to Israel were of this character. They only differed in that they were covenants between man and God rather than between man and man. 

The Lord implies this covenantal character of the sacraments of the New Testament in the words, "This cup is the New Covenant in my blood..." (Luke 22: 20; cf. Matthew 26: 28). 

The New Covenant, of course, has been functioning since the salvation of the first man. (Revelation 13: 8; Hebrews 13: 20) Its benefits were experienced from the very first. Its terms were accomplished in history at the time of the Lord's gracious atonement for sin. But each person formally enters that covenant with his baptism and renews it time and again in the proper use of the communion. While there are other dimensions to both sacraments, their covenantal nature tends to unlock their meaning in a wonderful way, to Christians who have long taken them for granted. 

Because of this covenantal characteristic of the sacraments, there is a two-way communication in each of them. The individual submits to the act, or appropriates the elements, and thus signifies to God his intentions before the congregation which serves as a witness. Much has been said for and against "decision evangelism" in recent years. In fact, God's religion has an integral device, namely the sacraments of the church, which have always called men to a decision. The call to decision and commitment in baptism and the call to rededication in the communion have largely been obscured by other things throughout all the long ages of Christian history. Nevertheless, these sacraments have a powerful effect when used according to the will of God. 

While baptism is the formal condition of entering the covenant, faith is, of course, the vital condition of entering the covenant. 

God works in the sacraments also. Through his minister, he gives an external sign of what he does for the individual and actually validates his work in the performing of the ordinance. The officiant, of course, represents God and administers the ordinance to the individual in God's name. The situation is weakly illustrated in the analogy of a busy head of state sending a personal representative to some event which he himself does not attend. The illustration is weak, however, because in the case of the sacraments the minister who represents Christ is joined by the Spirit of God who is present to mediate the presence of Christ. The sobering truth is, that when an individual is baptized correctly fulfilling the conditions, or when he receives the communion in the same faithful way, God is there performing the ordinance for the benefit of his child through the ministry of his representative. The Holy Spirit is there making spiritual truth real, blessing the participants, ministering Christ. If this is correctly understood, at no time in all of human experience is the Christian so near to God as in the participation in the sacraments. The fact that our own unsupernatural age tends to blur this vision, does not alter the truth. The essence of "walking by faith and not by sight" is making our feelings subservient to what is true rather than thinking that truth is what we feel. Worldliness is, after all, only adopting the standards of one's own generation when they conflict with the truth of God's revelation. 

One trembles at the odiousness of using baptism as a device to give a legal name or of using the communion as a prop to solemnize an occasion. They are most holy instruments of God's grace by which we can experience the presence of God in the physical realm. Likewise, the attempt to make them more significant by introducing a dramatic environment fails to recognize their inherent power and cheapens them. It should be strenuously avoided. On the other hand, a careless, ostentatious, or tasteless use of the sacrament is distracting and should, by all means, also be avoided.