Q. 43. What is a sacrament?

• Catechism of the Book of Common Prayer
• AOR 25
• WCF 27
• WSC 91–93
• Belgic Confession 33
• Geneva Catechism 309–323

Sacrament. Early in its history, the Church recognized a commonality in baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Both are visible, outward signs through which the invisible, spiritual benefits of Christ are offered and applied: “All of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death” (Romans 6:3); “The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ?” (1 Corinthians 10:16). Baptism and the Lord’s Supper began to be referred to together as “sacraments,” and it became common in Christian teaching to treat “the sacraments in general” before giving specific instruction on the individual signs. The word “sacrament” comes from the Latin word sacramentum, which referred to something sacred. It was used in the early Church to translate the Greek word mysterion (“mystery”). Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are sacred rites by which we participate in “the mystery of Christ” (Colossians 4:3), and are sometimes called “holy mysteries.” In the Roman world, the word sacramentum was also used to refer to a sacred oath taken by soldiers. Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are an oath of loyalty to Christ the Lord, in which we forsake all earthly allegiances. “We were called to the warfare of the living God in our very response to the sacramental words” (Tertullian, To the Martyrs 3). Because of its fittingness and long history of use, Protestants insisted on the continued use of the word “sacrament.” Francis Turretin wrote, “We do not think that there should be any contention about the word ‘sacrament’”; those who abstain from the word are “scrupulously and preposterously religious” (Institutes 19.1.3). The sacraments are also called ordinances to emphasize that they were ordained by the Lord Jesus Christ for perpetual use in the Church. The true Church faithfully administers the sacraments as Christ commanded (see Q. 39). The sacraments are necessary because they are commanded by God.

Visible. The sacraments are the gospel in visible form. They are truth that we can see, touch, and taste. “The word is joined to the element and the result is a sacrament, itself becoming, in a sense, a visible word as well” (Augustine, Treatise on the Gospel of John 80.3). The visible signs bear some resemblance to the spiritual realities which they signify. For example, the outward sign of washing the body with water is a fitting sign of the inward grace of cleansing the soul from sin (Titus 3:5). “A sacrament is a corporeal or material element set before the senses without, representing by similitude and signifying by institution and containing by sanctification some invisible and spiritual grace” (Hugh of St. Victor, On the Sacraments of the Christian Faith 1.9).

Means … grace. The sacraments are not mere symbols of an inward work that God has already accomplished, or may perform in the future, but a means through which he may perform a work, even now. They point us to spiritual realities which are present and available to us, and they assure us of God’s desire to give us those gifts. “They are visible signs and seals of something internal and invisible, by means of which God works in us through the power of the Holy Spirit. So they are not empty and hollow signs to fool and deceive us, for their truth is Jesus Christ, without whom they would be nothing” (Belgic Confession 33). “The true doctrine avoids the delusive under-statement that makes sacramental ordinances mere signs that aesthetically act on the minds of those who wait upon them. … There is an undervaluation of the sacraments which springs from no theological opposition or scruple, but is the result of indifference or ignorance” (William Burt Pope, Compendium of Christian Theology). “Without the sanctification of invisible grace, what use are visible sacraments?” (Augustine, Questions on the Heptateuch 3.84). See Q. 54.

In faith … a pledge of God. For the sacraments to have their intended effect in our lives, we must believe the promises of God that are pledged by them. “For to constitute a sacrament there must be above all things else a word of divine promise, by which faith may be exercised” (Martin Luther, Babylonian Captivity of the Church). “A sacrament is an outward sign by which the Lord seals on our consciences the promises of his good will toward us in order to sustain the weakness of our faith; and we in turn attest our piety toward him in the presence of the Lord and of his angels and before men” (Calvin, Institutes 4.14.1).

Two. Other ordinances, such as marriage, “are not to be counted for sacraments of the gospel,” since they “have not the like nature of baptism and the Lord’s supper, because they have not any visible sign or ceremony ordained of God” (AOR 25). “It has seemed proper to restrict the name of sacrament to those promises which have signs attached to them. The remainder, not being bound to signs, are bare promises. Hence there are, strictly speaking, but two sacraments in the church of God—baptism and the bread. For only in these two do we find both the divinely instituted sign and the promise of forgiveness of sins” (Luther, Babylonian Captivity of the Church).