The Holy Sacraments

“The Holy Sacraments”, that is, the ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s Supper.

Q. It is through faith alone that we share in Christ and all his benefits: where then does that faith come from?

A. The Holy Spirit produces it [faith] in our hearts by the preaching of the holy gospel, and confirms it by the use of the holy sacraments.

Q. What are sacraments?

A. Sacraments are visible, holy signs and seals. They were instituted by God so that by our use of them he might make us understand more clearly the promise of the gospel, and seal that promise.

And this is God’s gospel promise: to grant us forgiveness of sins and eternal life by grace because of Christ’s one sacrifice accomplished on the cross. *

Q. Are both the word and the sacraments then intended to focus our faith on the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross as the only ground of our salvation?

A. Yes! In the gospel the Holy Spirit teaches us and by the holy sacraments confirms that our entire salvation rests on Christ’s one sacrifice for us on the cross.

Q. How many sacraments did Christ institute in the New Testament?

A. Two: holy baptism and the holy supper.

The Heidelberg Catechism: Questions 65-68.

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*The Heidelberg Catechism asserts a Reformed view of baptism and the Lord’s Supper, thus seeing these sacraments as holy signs and seals.

This is similar yet different than the Baptist view in which the ordinances are understood as primarily symbols, symbolic signs, hence emphasizing the memorial aspect of the Lord’s Supper. Here is the doctrinal statement from Southern Baptists, outlining the Baptist/Memorial view:

Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is an act of obedience symbolizing the believer’s faith in a crucified, buried, and risen Saviour, the believer’s death to sin, the burial of the old life, and the resurrection to walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus. It is a testimony to his faith in the final resurrection of the dead. Being a church ordinance, it is prerequisite to the privileges of church membership and to the Lord’s Supper.

The Lord’s Supper is a symbolic act of obedience whereby members of the church, through partaking of the bread and the fruit of the vine, memorialize the death of the Redeemer and anticipate His second coming.

-Article VII. Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, Baptist Faith and Message, 2000 edition.

As Reformed Baptist, I am currently of the position that is inclusive of seeing the ordinances as signs, seals, and symbols—baptism as the initiatory one, and the Lord’s Supper as the on-going continual ordinance, expressing the believer’s obedience by memorializing and participating with Christ in his death and resurrection.