Sacraments and Ordinances
The Communion of Saints
- The Apostles' Creed affirms faith in the holy Catholic Church and the communion of saints.
- The communion of saints refers to the universal and eternal gathering of believers.
- It also refers to the way the community is constituted through the sacraments.
- Baptism and communion are essential aspects by which people are brought into the family of Christ and sustained in faith.
- In the Protestant tradition, sacraments primarily refer to baptism and communion.
- In the Catholic tradition, there are seven sacraments.
What Makes a Sacrament?
- A sacrament is something sacred or holy.
- There are three key features that differentiate sacraments from other valuable but non-sacramental actions:
- Tangible: It can be seen, touched, and felt.
- Baptism: Water is tangible.
- Communion: Bread and wine or juice are tangible.
- Physically communing with Christ through tangible elements.
- Communal: It is meant to be done in community.
- Baptism: Intended to take place among a church fellowship.
- Communion: Done with the gathered body of believers.
- Exceptions: When individuals are unable to attend church, communion can be taken to them.
- Sacraments are intended to occur within the community of faith.
- Promises of God: God has attached promises to sacraments.
- Communion: Jesus says, "This is my body broken for you," and "This is the cup of the new covenant poured out in my blood for the forgiveness of sins."
- Baptism: A promise of washing, cleansing, and forgiveness of sins, and being brought into the body of Christ.
- God's Work in Sacraments:
- Something actually happens when participating in a sacrament, whether we perceive it or not.
- God is at work in a special way through sacraments.
- These are means of grace.
Ordinances
- Some churches use the term ordinance instead of sacrament, particularly in Baptist and non-denominational contexts.
- Ordinance emphasizes acts of obedience commanded by Christ, such as baptism and communion.
- Acts of Remembrance:
- Communion is remembering what Christ has done.
- Profession of Faith:
- Baptism is an outward profession of an inward change.
- Both sacraments and ordinances have elements of obedience, remembrance, and profession of faith.
- The difference lies in the understanding of what is happening during baptism and communion.
Baptism
- Two main approaches to baptism:
- Infant Baptism: Affirmed by some churches and denominations.
- Believer Baptism: Affirmed by other churches and denominations, where baptism is for those old enough to profess faith.
Infant Baptism
* Infant baptism emphasizes that it is a work of God, not of the person being baptized.
* Parallel to Circumcision:
* In the Old Testament, God commanded circumcision on the eighth day for Hebrew sons.
* Circumcision marked them as members of the household of Israel.
* An eight-day-old has no say in being circumcised.
* Baptism is understood as accomplishing the same thing as circumcision.
* Infants are brought into the household of God regardless of their choice.
* New Testament:
* No specific verses directly model infant baptism.
* Acts 16 refers to entire households being baptized.
* Household could include extended family, slaves, servants, and children.
* It is uncertain if infants were baptized during the New Testament period.
* By the mid-third century, baptizing infants was very common.
* Babies born to believing Christian parents were typically baptized.
* Baptism was seen as God claiming the baby, initiating them into the household of God.
* Prevenient grace was given to empower the child to grow up in the faith and be sealed by the Holy Spirit until they could make their own profession of faith.
* Infant baptism differs from baby dedication. Dedication is a promise between parents, the church, and God to raise the baby as a follower of Christ, but it does not involve water.
* Baptism is between God and the person receiving baptism.
* Parents may make promises on behalf of an infant.
* God is understood as the primary actor.
* Denominations that practice infant baptism do not change their understanding of baptism's meaning when an adult or teenager is baptized.
* God is still claiming the person and initiating them into the household of God, rather than the person's faith causing something to happen.
* Most historic denominations (Catholic, Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Reformed, Lutheran, Methodist) affirm infant baptism.
Believer Baptism
* Only people who have made a personal profession of faith in Christ should be baptized.
* Originates from the New Testament model where people choose to be baptized after understanding the gospel and making a profession of faith.
* Baptism is an outward sign of an inward conversion.
* Baptism does not cause salvation or conversion.
* After experiencing salvation and converting to the Christian faith, individuals make that public through baptism, following the model of Jesus Christ.
* This practice wasn't common again until the Reformation in the sixteenth century with Anabaptists and later Baptists.
* These groups looked at Scripture alone and believed that the scriptural model was believer baptism.
* There are wide differences among churches and denominations regarding the age at which a person should make a profession of faith.
* Some churches may allow young children to be baptized if they can say they believe in Jesus as their Savior.
* Other denominations or churches may prefer individuals to be teenagers or in their 20s to have a mature understanding of their beliefs when making a profession of faith.
Points of Agreement
* **Water**: Baptism must be done with water.
* Jesus was baptized with water.
* Water represents purity, cleansing from sin, and God's rescue.
* **Baptismal Formula**: Baptism must be done in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
* Jesus commanded this in Matthew 28.
* This is called the baptismal formula.
* Baptism is into the triune God, not just in the name of Jesus or only in the name of the Father or of the Holy Spirit.
Points of Disagreement
* Age of the recipient.
* Method of baptism.
* **Aspersion**: Sprinkling or pouring.
* Common in denominations that baptize infants.
* Easier to sprinkle water on an infant's head.
* Greek Orthodox traditions dunk infants.
* **Immersion**: Dunking the entire body.
* Symbolizes following the model of Jesus, going down to the grave of the water, and rising to new life in Christ.
* Aspersion has the same symbolism but doesn't carry over as directly since the person isn't fully immersed.
- There is significant detail and nuance between how different denominations approach baptism.
- All Christians agree on the significance and importance of baptism as following the model of Christ.
- There is room for disagreement about some details of what is actually happening when a person is baptized.