The Sacraments As A Means of Grace

Recently, our congregation was blessed to observe the sacrament of Baptism as a young man professed his faith and the reality of the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit in his life.  What a glorious gift our Lord has given to His church through the sacraments.  It is truly a marvel to ponder that we have been immersed into Christ and that we are crucified, dead, buried, and resurrected via our mysterious union with the conquering Son of God.  We are washed clean by the regenerating work of His Spirit and we do really walk in newness of life.

In light of this glorious thought, it is grievous to consider that many in the church today are unaware and without anticipation to the working of the Spirit through the ordinances.  I attribute much of this to a lack of doctrinal teaching in our churches today.  The author of the epistle to the Hebrews, after scolding them of their having need to be taught when they, by this time, should themselves be teachers, admonishes them,

Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.  And this will we do, if God permit. Hebrews 6:1-3


But we in the church today can surely not afford to "move on" from doctrines that have not been firmly established in our congregations.  The doctrine of the ministry and working of the Spirit through the sacraments is either sheepishly avoided or utterly rejected in favor of a Zwinglian view.  When the reformers departed from the Roman Catholic traditions, the presence of Christ was much debated.  Luther held onto the physical presence of Christ, though denying the transformation of the elements, while Zwingli denied any presence whatsoever, and simply maintained it as a memorial.  Calvin took the balanced and middle-of-the-road view of a true and particular presence of the Spirit of Christ with His people.  This balanced reformed view of Calvin allows for a communication of grace to the recipients of the sacraments, not imparting grace through the elements themselves, but indeed a real presence and working of the Spirit of Christ communicating grace to the heart of the believer through the proper observance of the sign.  A command ordained and given to the church with a promise of great blessing from the Savior Himself - truly a "means of grace".

The 1689 Baptist Confession stands in complete agreement with this reformed view.  It clearly articulates the notion of the sacraments being a means of grace in the first section of Chapter 14 on Saving Faith:

The grace of faith, whereby the elect are enabled to believe to the saving of their souls, is the work of the Spirit of Christ in their hearts, and is ordinarily wrought by the ministry of the Word; by which also, and by the administration of baptism and the Lord's supper, prayer, and other means appointed of God, it is increased and strengthened.

The confession rightfully calls faith a grace, after all, it is a gift (Eph 2:8).  It then further explains that it is the work of the Spirit, is ordinarily wrought by the ministry of the Word, and then is further "increased and strengthened" by the means appointed by God, namely the Word, sacraments, and prayer.  The primary ordinary means of grace - Word, Sacraments, and prayer.  The ministry we find in the Scriptures is a Word and Sacrament ministry.  A ministry of Christ's ordained means of grace appointed unto and carried out by the ordained minsters.  The preaching of the Word is God's chosen means by which He imparts the grace of faith.  The Preaching of the Word, the ordinances of Baptism and the Lord's Supper, and prayer are the means He has chosen by which He increases and strengthens that grace of faith.  Can we really believe and trust that this is how Christ intended to build and strengthen His church?  Can we rely on such a simple formula, that God has chosen the foolishness of preaching to save the lost and to feed the saved?  I would answer an emphatic "YES!"



Unfortunately, our modern Baptist churches are plagued by a low view of the church, a low view of preaching, a low view of the ministry, a low view of the Sabbath, and of course, a low view of the sacraments.  It is truly shameful to have such a low view of the blessings and gifts that Christ has left His church to strengthen and increase their faith.  

Richard Barcellos recently, and skillfully, defended the Reformed Baptist position on the sacraments against the presuppositions by some peaedobaptist brethren that Baptists can't really be reformed.  I am thankful for his rebuttal, but my concern is more towards the growth of Baptists unto the illumination that we can be biblical and have a proper high view of the sacraments without being paedobaptist or even papists.  I leave off with a hearty "Amen!" to this wonderful quote from Calvinistic Baptist preacher C. H. Spurgeon,

“Other means, however, are made use of to bless men’s souls. For instance, the two ordinances of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. They are both made a rich means of grace. But let me ask you, is there any thing in baptism that can possibly bless any body? Can immersion in water have the slightest tendency to be blessed to the soul? And then with regard to the eating of bread and the drinking of wine at the Lord’s Supper, can it by any means be conceived by any rational man that there is any thing in the mere piece of bread that we eat, or in the wine that we drink? And yet, doubtless, the grace of God does go with both ordinances for the confirming of the faith of those who receive them, and even for the conversion of those who look upon the ceremony. There must be something, then, beyond the outward ceremony; there must, in fact, be the Spirit of God, witnessing through the water, witnessing through the wine, witnessing through the bread, or otherwise none of these things could be means of grace to our souls. They could not edify; they could not help us to commune with Christ; they could not tend to the conviction of sinners, or to the establishment of saints. There must, then, from these facts, be a higher, unseen, mysterious influence — the influence of the divine Spirit of God.”