From the Ligonier website:
“[Abraham] received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised” (v. 11a). – Romans 4:9–12
God has given us several means of grace through which He strengthens the faith of those who trust in Christ alone. These means of grace include the sacraments, and the definition of a sacrament is taken up in question and answer 66 of the Heidelberg Catechism.
The catechism looks to today’s passage in order to define the nature of a sacrament, which is fitting because Romans 4:9–12 deals with one of the sacraments of the old covenant, namely, circumcision. Circumcision was a sign — a visible act that pointed beyond itself to an invisible reality. This invisible reality was the fact that Abraham was cut out from the world and set apart unto God through faith alone (Gen. 15:6; 17). It was a visible reminder of the Lord’s promise to cut out of this fallen world a people for Himself. Circumcision, Romans 4 also reveals, was a seal. In the ancient world, a seal marked off ownership — people knew to whom an object belonged based on the seal affixed to it. Thus, circumcision was the mark of God’s ownership, tangible proof that those who bore the mark actually belonged to the Lord and would inherit all His promises if they had faith in Him.
As with circumcision, the new covenant sacraments are also visible and tangible ways in which we are reminded of God’s promises and marked off as His people. Baptism and the Lord’s Supper have no inherent power to make us the children of God. That is, the performance of these rites themselves does not benefit us if we have no faith. We can access the grace available in them only if we believe the gospel. In fact, if we receive the sacraments without faith, we call down curses upon ourselves (1 Cor. 11:27–30).
John Calvin writes in his famous Institutes that a sacrament “is an external sign, by which the Lord seals on our consciences his promises of good-will toward us, in order to sustain the weakness of our faith, and we in turn testify our piety towards him, both before himself and before angels as well as men” (4.14.1). Using elements that we can taste, see, and touch, the sacraments help us, as embodied creatures, to understand spiritual realities. In turn, when we participate in the sacraments, we testify to our faith in God’s promises before a watching world.
Coram Deo
We are creatures with both physical and spiritual components. We understand what happens to us physically when we are washed with water and when we eat, and the sacraments portray spiritual realities to us by way of analogies with our physical experience. The Spirit truly washes us clean of sin, and we truly receive necessary spiritual nourishment from Christ. Baptism and the Lord’s Supper help us understand these truths better.
*****
Extreme abuses tend to evoke extreme responses, especially in the history of Christian theology. Roman Catholic sacerdotalism — the idea that salvation is mediated through the priesthood and the sacraments — has long distorted the biblical gospel. So, it is understandable that many Christians have tried to answer this problem by downplaying the importance of the clergy and the sacraments. Modern evangelicals, due in part to our insistence on the biblical truth that salvation demands personal faith in Christ, often view the sacraments as bare memorials. In many circles, baptism and the Lord’s Supper are reduced to ordinances that we do simply because we are supposed to do them, and little thought is given as to why the sacraments exist. Moreover, the idea that the sacraments convey grace in a special way is probably foreign to many evangelicals, at least in America.
Yet a low view of the sacraments is an improper response to Rome’s sacerdotalist view. The Scriptures teach a high view of the sacraments without being sacerdotalist. In many places, the Apostles speak of the spiritual realities that the sacraments portray as identical to the sacraments themselves. Today’s passage, for example, uses language that, at first glance, seems to make divine forgiveness the inevitable result of water baptism (Acts 2:38).
Given Scripture’s insistence that we are justified by faith alone (Gal. 2:15–16), we know that the sacraments do not convey the benefits they signify simply through their administration. How, then, can we account for the Bible’s close association between the sacraments and the benefits they portray? The Westminster Confession of Faith is helpful here: “There is in every sacrament a spiritual relation, or sacramental union, between the sign and the thing signified; whence it comes to pass that the names and effects of the one are attributed to the other” (27.2).
Spiritually speaking, the connection between the sacramental signs and the invisible realities they portray is so close that we can rightly speak of the sacraments effecting the spiritual truths they depict. The benefits are not conveyed automatically, for the sacraments only convey sanctifying grace to those who receive them in faith. Nevertheless, they truly do convey such grace to all who trust in Jesus alone.
*****
Reformed churches traditionally have a high view of the sacraments, so it is important for those who believe Reformed theology is the best summary of biblical teaching to have a high view of the sacraments as well. That means baptism and the Lord’s Supper must be seen as true means of grace, avenues through which the Holy Spirit works to portray visibly the promises of the gospel and mature us in Christ. At the same time, let us also understand that the grace we receive through the sacraments is not a different kind of grace than what we receive through the preaching of the Word and prayer. The sacraments are not ways to receive a “better grace,” nor are they “better” ways to access sanctifying grace. They are just a different means to access the same grace. They are means that use our sight, taste, touch, and smell — senses we do not have to use to participate in the other means of grace — to impress upon us the same promises of the gospel found in Scripture.
Thus, the sacraments are not ends in themselves but always point us to “the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross as the only ground of our salvation” (The Heidelberg Catechism, Q&A 67). For that reason, Reformed thinkers have always emphasized the importance of performing the sacraments alongside the preaching of the Word of God. The sacraments are a way to portray the gospel visibly and tangibly. However, the rites themselves are apt to be misunderstood apart from a clear explanation of the gospel from Scripture. Though they are effective means of grace, they are effective in confirming our belief in Christ Jesus only if we receive them by faith. Participating in the sacraments without faith only invites judgment (1 Cor. 11:27–30). “Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Rom. 10:17), and to administer the sacraments without preaching is to invite those who may not have faith to incur judgment on themselves.
Acts 2:42 confirms that preaching and the sacraments went hand in hand in the practice of the early church. The first Christians devoted themselves to the Apostles’ teaching, fellowship, breaking bread (the Lord’s Supper), and prayer. In hearing Apostolic instruction, the earliest Christians were taught to put on Christ alone for salvation (Gal. 3:27). The sacraments, in turn, reinforced this teaching.
Coram Deo
We must know the gospel to have faith in the gospel, and we must have faith in the gospel to enjoy the sanctifying benefits of baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Thus, the preaching of the Word always has a certain kind of priority over the sacraments in our worship. We must not have a high view of the sacraments at the expense of a high view of preaching, so let us make sure to hear the Word preached whenever we can.
*****
Means of Grace
Faith in Christ is a gift of God, and we can believe the gospel only when God gives us a new heart that is open to the preaching of His Word (John 3:5; Eph. 2:8). Of course, everyone who has been given such a heart will finally trust in Christ alone for salvation. There is no way that the Lord can fail to redeem His elect; thus, the elect must believe once the Spirit has regenerated them (John 6:39). Nevertheless, as we have seen, our faith is never perfect before we are glorified. God gives us new, living hearts, but we still have to deal with the fallen tendencies of our fleshly nature, tendencies that cause us to doubt our Father’s promises on occasion. There are times when we cry out for God to help us in our unbelief even though we do have real (albeit imperfect) trust in the Savior (Mark 9:24).
In His grace and in His wisdom, God has provided ways by which we can regularly have our faith in His promises fortified. Historically, we have referred to these ways of strengthening our faith as the ordinary means of grace. Prayer, the preaching of the Word, and the sacraments are not elaborate or fancy methods of giving us what we need to confirm our trust in Christ. To an outside observer, they do not seem special at all. After all, they make use of rather common things such as human speech, bread, wine, and water. But by faith and the work of the Spirit, these common elements are used to do an uncommon work — the confirmation of our trust in Jesus and the strengthening of our wills to flee from sin and rest in Christ alone.
Preaching is not a powerless human explanation of the biblical text, for the Spirit accompanies it so that God’s Word achieves its purposes (Isa. 55:10–11). Prayer is more than empty words; it establishes communion between us and the Creator, thereby empowering us for belief and faithful, effective service (James 5:16b–18). Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are not mere memorials that we do simply because Jesus tells us to do them; rather, we participate mysteriously in Christ Himself when by faith we take part in these ordinances (1 Cor. 10:16).
Question and answer 65 of the Heidelberg Catechism emphasize the role of the sacraments in confirming our faith. They bless us as we receive them in faith, and if we neglect them, we weaken our trust in God’s work.
Coram Deo
The sacraments are mysteries in that we cannot explain fully what God accomplishes through them. We do know, however, that they are more than memorial observations. They become effectual means of grace to those with faith by the working of the Holy Spirit (WLC , Q. 161). To downplay their importance is to desupernaturalize our holy religion, so let us have a high view of the sacraments as confirming signs of God’s Word.