What are they?
A sacrament is something we do in the church that works toward our salvation and sanctification. It is a visible voluntary act on our part that helps the Spirit of God work in us. In order for something we do to be considered a sacrament, it must have been commanded by Jesus. It must involve the word of God and some physical element. The two sacraments recognized by the Protestant denominations are Baptism and Communion. Both are things that we were commanded by Jesus to do that save us or support us in our salvation.
History
The sacraments were instituted by the church prior to the Schism of 1054 that split the Catholic and Orthodox churches. Therefore, their lists of sacraments agree. During the Protestant Reformation, Martin Luther and his associates eliminated most of the sacraments, noting that they were not truly instituted by Jesus, but by the church. As a result, the Protestant churches recognize two sacraments, while the Catholic and Orthodox churches recognize seven.
Are they really necessary?
The sacraments recognized by the Protestant churches are necessary for salvation, because they were commanded by Jesus.
Sacraments are normally conducted by pastors or priests by the authority that comes from being the head of the church body. The authority of the sacrament is not their own, however. During the confession of sins, whether corporate or individual, the pastor does not forgive sin on his own authority, but announces the forgiveness on the strength of God’s promise. When a person baptizes, he announces the cleansing on the strength of God’s promise. When a pastor presents communion, he conducts it on the strength of God’s promise as a delegated authority. In all cases, he acts as Jesus’ representative in his capacity as the head of the local body of Christ. In the absence of a congregation or local church body, a man may conduct these sacraments as head of the local body of Christ (his household).
The holy and spiritual effect of sacraments is not affected by the status of the one who leads the ceremony. Of course, it is best that the pastor is reconciled to God, but it is unfortunately true that people are imperfect and fall. Sometimes, people continue in sin even though they continue to serve as church leaders. A pastor in an adulterous relationship causes havoc in the congregation, but the actions he has taken as God’s representative are not affected by his sinfulness. Remember that he only announces the actions on God’s authority – the authority is not his own. The effectiveness of God’s promise is not related to the state of the human that announces it and is not affected by it.
Baptisms performed by people in sin are valid. Communion conducted by people in sin is valid.
Protestant Sacraments
Baptism
The word baptize comes from the word βαπτίζω (baptizō), which means to cleanse by dipping or submerging. When we are baptized, we are made perfect in God’s sight. This is the method by which we are initially reconciled to God. It is also the means by which the Holy Spirit is conferred upon us. In it, we claim the salvation offered by Jesus’ substitutionary sacrifice. By it, God marks us as one of His own.
We are commanded to baptize, and, by implication, to be baptized. It is pretty clear in the text that it is necessary for salvation. A plain reading of the text shows that Jesus commanded it.
Matthew 28:19
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit
John 3:5
Jesus answered, truly truly, I say to you, unless a man is born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
All our sin prior to baptism is washed away, including original sin. Please see Chapter 11 – What is sin. We are reborn, but without the taint that has caused us to rebel against God. We are still broken, however – Baptism does not kill the part of us that seeks to rule our own lives. We still have to constantly beat it back. It does weaken that part of us, though, and strengthens the Spirit of God within us. It equips us for the lifelong fight that is to follow.
Infant vs adult baptism
Since in baptism we are claiming Jesus sacrifice to cover our sins, it would seem that we have to be baptized as adults, or at least coherent youths with a grasp of right and wrong, and a basic understanding of what we are doing. That may or may not be true. It is not directly addressed in scripture, but several references talk about a man being baptized along with his whole household. The man, as head of his house under Christ, claims his family for God on their behalf and has them cleansed and marked for Him through baptism. He also sees that each of them receives the Holy Spirit. He is making the claim and assertion on their behalf until such time as they confirm their baptism and make the claim on their own account. Everyone needs to make a specific decision to follow Jesus. There are instances where a mother or older sibling will have a child baptized on the same conditions, without the consent (or sometimes without the knowledge) of a non-believing father. This is completely valid, although hardly ideal. In all cases of child or infant baptism, the implicit requirement is that the sponsor agrees to raise the child in the faith and bring him or her to a point of decision at which they can decide for themselves and assume responsibility for his or her own soul.
Some denominations require that the person to be baptized be of an age and understanding sufficient to make the claim on their own behalf. The Bible does not support this assertion, but does not refute it either. It seems implicit in the idea that when a man’s whole household is baptized, this also includes infants and children, but does not clearly support either view.
To me, it would seem better to baptize infants and children to bring the Holy Spirit into their lives in a clear and definite way. It requires the parents to explicitly promise to raise the child in the faith and allows the Spirit to work in their lives through their childhood, giving them the best chance possible of remaining with Jesus for their entire lives.
Sprinkle vs immersion
Biblical baptism was always by immersion, and always conducted in living water, such as a river. The early church found that this is not always feasible, and determined that the spiritual intent was met by bringing the living water to the person to be baptized. The amount of water used can make no difference in the spiritual effect of the baptism – water does not wash away sin, Jesus does through His blood. To state that a sprinkle baptism is invalid, that a person must be rebaptized is neither supported by scripture nor plain reason. If I were to try to claim that a baptism is invalid, I would have to claim that the person remained in their sin, and that the Blood of Jesus is not sufficient to cleanse. I would be calling God a liar.
Baptism is permanent. If a baptized believer falls away then returns to Jesus years later, he should not be re-baptized. He just needs to confess the sins for the time he was lost. This does NOT mean he needs to confess them all individually – he couldn’t, even if he tried. He needs to commit to Jesus, make a blanket confession and start to live the way Jesus commanded. God never forgets His own and is lavish with His forgiveness for those who repent.
What Baptism Means
Baptism is not an empty ritual. Everything we do on earth resonates in eternity. It is indeed the means by which a believer publicly proclaims his belief in Christ, but it is also the means by which Christ publicly claims him. It is a marriage ceremony of sorts. In it, we agree to forsake all others and cling to our Lord, and He brings us into His house. He cleans us and makes us acceptable to Himself and the Father, and He claims us and marks us with His sign. It also does something spiritual. When Christ was baptized by John, God acknowledged Him and the Holy Spirit descended on Him. While our experience will be less remarkable, it is no less profound. Baptism is a formal invitation for the Holy Spirit to come into our life and sanctify us.
This is one reason why it is necessary to Christian life, but not necessary for salvation. By that I mean that if a person believes in Christ, but has not yet been baptized at the time of his death, he is still saved. Nevertheless, it connects us with God in a deeper, more profound way that we will not understand this side of heaven.
The Lord’s Supper or Communion (Eucharist)
Jesus instituted communion at the last supper He had with His disciples.
1 Corinthians 11:23-26
For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night He was betrayed, took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” In the same way, after supper He took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.
Jesus commanded that we do this. A plain reading of the English seems to imply that it is to be done every time you eat, but the New Testament text makes it clear that this is separate and distinct from normal meals.
The Lord’s Supper is often called communion because we are communing with God. ‘Communing’ means to be in an intimate, heightened state of union or communication with another or with your surroundings. In the Lord’s Supper, we commune with God; He reunites with us. He strengthens His spirit within us and helps suppress the sinful part of our human spirit. It has been called the food of souls. Because it is a physical, voluntary act, we also reaffirm our claim to forgiveness through Jesus’ sacrifice and reaffirm our commitment to follow Him and live the way He directs.
There is no set timeline for communion. Some churches perform it weekly, some monthly, some quarterly, some less often. If communion is food for the soul, it would seem sensible to treat it as nourishment and eat more often.
There are several controversies that have surrounded communion.
Paul wrote to the people of Corinth that they were not doing it right. Some were using it as a free meal. Those at the head of the line would take a lot, leaving those at the back of the line with nothing. Communion is not a meal. It is not intended to sate physical hunger. It is intended to confer spiritual benefit.
1 Corinthians 11:20-22
Now then, when you come together, it is not the Lord’s Supper you eat. For as you eat, each of you goes ahead without sharing his meal. While one remains hungry, another gets drunk. Don’t you have your own homes in which to eat and drink? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing?
Also, some were coming to communion without reconciling to God first.
1 Corinthians 11:20-22
Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. Each one must examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have died.
They were trying to connect with God while they were in a sinful state and damaging themselves in the process. Communion plugs us into the ultimate source of spiritual power. If we come in sin, that power will damage us rather than strengthen us. This is why communion always follows confession of sin in a church service. It is necessary to come before God in as close to holy a manner as we can possibly get.
It is critical for several reasons that the pastor withhold communion to one he knows to be living in unrepentant sin. First, he is trying to prevent damage to the person who is coming to commune with God in an unworthy manner. Second, he is trying to force the person to repentance. Please see What is sin. Third, the pastor must prevent the appearance of condoning sin in the congregation. This is a hard decision to make, and must follow the principles of church discipline outlined in Matthew.
Matthew 18:15-20
If your brother sins against you, go and confront him privately. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, regard him as you would a pagan or a tax collector.
Jesus clearly intended us to keep His church pure. If a person presents himself for communion, the pastor normally assumes them to be a repentant sinner (we all are). If, however, the pastor knows that person to be unbaptized, he should politely decline until the person has a chance to understand what he is getting into. If a person is an unrepentant sinner, such as a practicing homosexual who refuses to recognize his sin, or a performer of abortion who refuses to acknowledge the murders he is committing, communion should be withheld – partly for the good of the sinner, partly for the good of the body.
It should not have to be noted that this must be done in love, not judgmentally. Jesus came for the weak and the broken. These are the people we should build up and help, not damage and push away. We should love these broken people and continue to try to lead them to the truth, then help them repent. True love is hard love, however. We cannot condone sin in the effort to be nice. In the long term, we do the person more harm than good.
Providing or withholding Communion should NEVER be used to manipulate someone or as a political statement.
Transubstantiation
Some believe that when the bread and wine are used in communion, they become the literal body and blood of Jesus. There is no scriptural basis for this. They are being excessively cautious, trying to make sure that they treat the body and blood of Jesus with appropriate reverence. It doesn’t matter if we believe this or not. It should not change the reverence we maintain as we come before God. After the service, the food used for the body and blood should be eaten rather than simply thrown away, but it doesn’t really matter if it is spilled. The act is the channel by which God communes with us – the bread and wine are symbolic instruments; they are not holy in and of themselves. It is the Word joining to the element that makes it sacred. Don’t take it lightly, but don’t stress out about it.
The Catholic church only gives the bread to the congregation, not the wine. For the first few hundred years, both the bread and the wine were provided to everyone. Sometimes, though, congregants would take some of the consecrated bread home for later use in private ceremonies. The church gradually moved away from providing the wine to congregants, mostly out of concern that the blood of Jesus be handled with reverence and not spilled. They started with intincturation in the 800s-900s. Intincturation means putting a little of the wine into the bread, which soaks it up. Finally, the Council of Lambeth in 1281 directed that the clergy receive both the bread and the wine and the laity only receive the bread. After the Reformation, the Protestant denominations reverted to the model presented in the Bible and provide both. Bread-only communion seems to be out of an abundance of caution and excess of concern about the sanctity of the body and blood of Jesus, but it is important to remember that the physical elements are designed to do something spiritual. Jesus commanded us to use both. Because we don’t understand what it actually is and how it actually works, we should not change it from the way Jesus and set it up.
There is mystery in communion, just as there is mystery in everything that deals directly with God. We don’t have to understand it to follow it and benefit by it.
Catholic and Orthodox Sacraments
The Catholic and orthodox list of sacraments is much longer. They recognize seven. With the exception of Holy Orders, or the priesthood, all of the things they recognize as sacraments are good in and of themselves. They just don’t meet the requirements to be considered a sacrament. Even the priesthood is not inherently bad, it has simply morphed into something beyond what it was intended to be.
A detailed analysis of Catholic and Orthodox sacraments is beyond the scope of this text. It is also NOT my intent to denigrate or profane the Catholic or Orthodox church. They honor and serve God – they just do it differently, with different emphasis.
Baptism
See above
Communion (the Eucharist)
See above
Repentance and Confession for the forgiveness of sins.
The Catholic and Orthodox churches view these as sacraments. While they were directed by Jesus, there is no physical element.
Holy Orders or Priesthood.
The creation of overseers in the church is Biblical. Deacons were to be nominated and selected within a congregation to help guide the people in the way of Jesus. It was understood by the Apostles and the early church that the requirement for priests as mediators between man and God ended with Jesus. Church leaders were not called priests until the second or third centuries. Priestly function now exceeds that described in the Bible.
Matrimony.
Marriage was instituted, presumably by God, prior to Genesis. From the beginning, Adam and Eve are referred to in terms of marriage. Jesus mentioned marriage, but did not direct it. Also, there is no physical element. Paul mentions marriage in the New Testament, but not always in a favorable light. The evidence in the Bible for marriage as a sacrament is weak at best. Please see the section on marriage in What are people.
Anointing of the sick.
While there is a physical element in anointing the sick or dying, it was not commanded by Jesus. In the New Testament, unction, the word used for anointing someone, is used in the context of being anointed with the Holy Spirit. The idea of anointing someone with oil goes back to Old Testament times. Jesus neither used it nor mentioned it. It is not mentioned in the New Testament.