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Deuteronomy 10:12–22
“Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stubborn” (v. 16).
We have been looking at the two sacraments of the new covenant church, baptism and the Lord’s Supper, considering their significance and what happens when we receive them. Today we will look a bit more at how the sacraments work to bring God’s grace to us.
Many theological traditions affirm that the sacraments are more than symbolic reminders of divine truth. These various traditions, however, differ in their understanding of how God works through them for our salvation. Put simply, the various traditions can be categorized as those that teach that grace is conveyed ex opere operato, “by the working of the work,” and those that believe that active faith on the part of the recipient is required to benefit from the sacrament. Ex opere operato means that God gives the recipient grace whenever the rite is performed validly and the person receiving it does not actively resist the work of God. The Lord, for example, regenerates everyone who is baptized at the moment of baptism as long as the recipient does not reject God’s working through impenitent sin or unbelief. The recipient need not knowingly trust in Christ to receive grace. Roman Catholics hold to the strongest form of the ex opere operato view, but it also shows up, with some important qualifications, in Lutheranism, at least with respect to baptism.
Reformed theology, on the other hand, affirms that we receive God’s grace in the sacraments only through active trust in Christ. Francis Turretin says that there is a “twofold efficacy” to the sacraments: “the one moral and objective, by which the sacraments make present to our mind that object, to signify and seal which they are destined (by which means, faith is either excited or confirmed and, it mediating, hope and sanctification are increased); the other covenantal, by which God (sealing by the sacraments his promise or covenant) confers the very things promised upon the believing soul or even a greater sense and perception of these already conferred and produces by both greater operations.” The Lord confers His grace in the sacraments to those who believe, to those whose faith is “stirred up,” as it were. This does not necessarily occur at the moment of baptism, but those who believe receive the grace signed and sealed in their baptism as they trust Christ. Since the Lord’s Supper is only for those who profess faith (1 Cor. 11:28), we receive God’s grace every time we consume the elements in faith.
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
Every time we participate in the sacraments as a recipient (the Lord’s Supper and one’s own baptism) or an observer (baptism of others), we have an opportunity to trust again in the promises of God signed and sealed in these ordinances. When we do, we can be sure that we are receiving grace from God to strengthen us and enable us to persevere and to grow in our sanctification.
For further study
- Jeremiah 4:4
- 1 Corinthians 11:27–32
The bible in a year
- Ezekiel 39–40
- 1 Peter 5
- Ezekiel 41–44
- 2 Peter 1–2