These practices signify. An unresolved debate (see below):
Do they also mediate what they signify?
'Ordinances' point to some other event.
'Sacraments' convey what they signify.
II. Word versus Sacrament?
No! Both are physical means for God to act.
Protestants and Catholics are polarized in the context of the Reformation.
Causes of sacramental abuse: Missionary success, lay participation declines.
Reformation: Full reform is frustrated.
Zwingli: Not sacraments, but ordinances (mere orders/memorials).
Twentieth century renewals.
III. Baptism: Sign of Salvation
Jesus transforms John's baptism for remission of sins:
Our baptisms participate in Jesus' baptism (Acts 2, after Luke 3; Mark 10:38).
We are accepted by the Father, buried/raised with Christ, and empowered by the Spirit (Acts 2:38, Gal. 3:23-4:7, Matt. 28:20).
So baptism begins Christian life, in the Church (Rom. 6:1-11, 1 Pet. 3:18-21).
Does baptism (or any sacrament) accomplish what it signifies?
Catholics/Orthodox: It is God's chosen means of saving grace.
Lutherans: It is a powerful 'visible Word' of God.
Calvinists: It is a spiritual sign of the new covenant.
Zwinglians: It is an ordinance, a mere symbol of God's work elsewhere.
baptists: It actualizes discipleship.
Wesleyans: It invites people into Jesus' story.
Is it magic? No (Acts 8:18-24), but God has promised to work through it.
Issue: Why do (or don't) Christians baptize infants?
Catholics: God uses it to allow children into God's community.
Lutherans: It proclaims God's justification (and children have faith)
Calvinists: It's the circumcision of the new covenant.
Radicals: Baptism belongs with repentance.
A guiding analogy: Marriage (cf. Eph. 5:21-33).
IV. Communion: Life Together Jesus transforms the Passover (1 Cor. 5:7, Luke 22:15, John 6).
Communion celebrates the past:
We participate in the exodus (Ex. 12:1-36, Luke 9:31, John 6).
We participate in the Last Supper (1 Cor. 11:23).
We proclaim the good news of Jesus' death for us (1 Cor. 11:26).
Communion anticipates the future:
It's a foretaste of the wedding banquet (Mark 14:25, Luke 22:16, Rev. 19:7).
It builds up the eschatological Church (John 6, 1 Cor. 12:12-13).
Communion members the present-day Church:
Worship climaxes (Acts 2:42, 1 Cor. 11:20).
It symbolizes Christ (1 Cor. 11:29-30, John 6:53-56).
Issue: Is Christ present, absent, or both?
Catholics: The elements become Christ's body (transubstantiation).
Lutherans: Christ is "in, with, under" the elements (consubstantiation).
Calvinists: Christ is present through the Holy Spirit.
Zwinglians: Christ is absent; communion is simply a memorial.
Radicals: Christ is in the food shared (1 Cor. 10:16-18).
3. The saints enjoy fellowship (1 Cor. 10:16-18, 1 Cor. 12:12-13).
4. The Holy Spirit comes (epiclesis).
V. Conclusion: Life in the Trinity
Word and sacraments seem to be versatile and adapt to the Church's changing contexts and needs.
They confer, and/or reflect, the Church's unity, holiness, catholicity, and apostolicity.
They mediate "the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit" (2 Cor 13:14).
They bring the Triune God into the center of our Christian life.
They have become means of misunderstanding, distortion, and division.
Are Jesus' priorities our priorities?
