Sacramental Efficacy - What Do the Sacraments Do?

What do the sacraments accomplish? What do they do to the one who receives them? This is an important and hotly disputed question in the history of Christianity. Here I attempt to give my answer. I will not deal here with the definition of the sacrament or its efficacy in relationship to the minister who performs it. Rather, I want to consider what sacraments do for those who receive them, first looking at adults and then at infants of believers.

To begin with, we note that the Scripture speaks very highly of the sacraments. John the Baptist preached a “baptism of repentance for the remission of sins” (Lk. 3:3). Peter spoke in a similar way on the Day of Pentecost when he said, “Repent and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38). Ananias told Paul, “Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord” (Acts 22:16). Paul said that “as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death” (Rom. 6:4, cf. Col. 2:12)? Paul told the Corinthians that in the Supper they had “communion with the body and blood of Christ” (1 Cor. 10:16). Finally, Peter in his first letter said that “there is an antitype that now saves us—baptism” (3:21).

What are we to make of all these passages? Do the sacraments themselves give us grace? Is everyone who receives the sacrament saved? How can we use this language and preserve the Protestant doctrine of justification by faith alone? I believe that the Westminster Shorter Catechism gives an excellent answer that explains Biblically, accurately, and satisfactorily the meaning of this high sacramental language. In Q. 92, it asks, “What is a sacrament? A sacrament is a holy ordinance instituted by Christ; wherein, by sensible signs, Christ, and the benefits of the new covenant, are represented, sealed, and applied to believers.” The efficacy of the sacraments is described here as threefold: representing, sealing, and applying.

The Efficacy of the Sacraments in Adults

1. The sacraments are spoken of highly because they truly represent or signify the Gospel. They offer the same grace that is offered in the Word of God. The difference between the two is that the sacraments are primarily visible, whereas the Word is audible. Another difference is that the Word is given to all indiscriminately, but the sacraments are only given to those who give evidence of grace.

2. The second effect of the sacraments is that they seal or confirm grace that is already given. We find in the book of Acts that people first believed and accepted the Gospel, and then they received the sacraments. For example, we find in Acts 10 that after the Gentiles had received the Holy Spirit, Peter said, “Can anyone forbid water, that these should not be baptized, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have” (Acts 10:47)? Circumcision is also expressly called a seal in Rom. 4:11. In the sacraments, God says to the believer, "By this sacrament, I’m going to show you that the Gospel you believed has really given you salvation."

It is important to note that this is not merely a seal on our side of our faith in Jesus Christ, as Zwingli, the Socinians, and the Baptists assumed. It is also a seal from God’s side confirming that we have really been saved in Christ. This is obvious from the verses that we stated above. It confirms not only our faith, but it also confirms the forgiveness of sins, regeneration, and salvation. This is comparable to the rainbow where God gave a sign that he would never flood the earth again. It was a sign and confirmation on God’s part of what he would do.

The obvious objection to the sealing function of the sacraments is that there are those who receive the outward element who do not have the grace that is signified. Turretin’s answer here is to the point:

Although the sacraments are seals, it does not follow that their sealing is often false (to wit, with respect to hypocrites and unbelievers). No more than the preaching of the word is false, which is also addressed to them; for this is not so absolutely, but conditionally, the faith of the recipient and the lawful use being supposed. Otherwise there is no sealing, the condition being wanting” (Institutes, XIX.v.11).

In short, it can only seal what is really there. It seals the grace of God to believers alone, not to everyone indiscriminately.

3. The third thing that the sacraments do is apply the grace of God. We can say that baptism saves, transforms, and brings the forgiveness of sins because God not only offers these things but also gives them. This is similar to what happens with the preaching of the Word, and that is why the Word is also said to save (Rom. 1:16, 1 Cor. 1:18, Jas. 1:18, 1 Pet. 1:23, etc.). It does not save by any power in itself or because the mere hearing gives the things that it presents. Rather, it saves because God gives what He offers in it. So it is in the sacraments. As Zacharias Ursinus wrote, “The things signified are always received in connection with the signs in the lawful use of the sacraments” (Commentary on the Heidelberg, 355). What God exhibits and presents in the sacraments is really given by God to believers.

It is very important to add that God only gives what is offered to believers. If someone does not believe, then they receive nothing but the outward sign. This is evident from the passages we quoted above. In Acts 22:16, Ananias says that the washing away of sins in baptism is to occur as he calls on the name of the Lord. Paul writes in Colossians that the burial and rising in baptism take place “through faith in the working of God” (Col. 2:12). Peter insists that it is not the washing of water but the answer of a good conscience toward God that makes baptism efficacious (1 Pet. 3:21). Faith is absolutely essential to the proper working of the sacraments, and God only gives what he offers in the Word and sacraments to those who receive it by faith.

Even the Roman Catholic Church recognizes this point to a degree. As the RCC theologian Ludwig Ott wrote, “The worthy reception of the Sacrament [of Baptism] demands an inner disposition, which must comprehend at least faith and sorrow for sins committed” (Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma, 359). However, because they view baptism as a physical cause of grace, they err in thinking that someone cannot receive those benefits simply through the Word or before baptism (with certain exceptions).

The Lutherans also recognize this point. In the Apology for the Augsburg Confession, we read: “We teach that faith is necessary to the proper use of the Sacraments: a faith which believes the promises and receives the things promised, which are here offered in the Sacraments” (Cited in Heinrich Schmid, The Doctrinal Theology of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, 532). Schmid sums up the teaching by stating that “A beneficial result follows only where Baptism is received by faith” (Ibid., 547). Further, they do not go as far as the Romanists in making baptism so necessary for salvation in adults who already believe the Word.

The sacraments can rightly be called means of grace because through them God presents, confirms, and applies the grace of Christ. They are not physical means, not everyone who partakes of them outwardly receives what is signified, not all who lack them are lost, and their efficacy is not tied to the moment in which they are administered; but they are really and truly means by which God gives us salvation and grace.

The Efficacy in Infants

This question becomes much more complex when we speak of the efficacy of the sacraments for infants. Rome and the Lutherans see the efficacy of the sacraments for infants as causing regeneration and salvation. The basic view of Rome is that the sacraments are always effectual unless an obstacle is put in the way. In the case of infants, there is no obstacle to the reception of grace; therefore, they all receive it.

The Lutherans hold to a similar position. The Lutheran theologian Brochmann explained the working of baptism this way: “Infants, on account of their age, cannot put any hindrance in the way of divine grace, or maliciously oppose it, and hence they immediately obtain grace by the use of the constituted and unimpeded means” (Cited in Schmid, Doctrinal Theology, 549). On this point, however, the Lutherans do not want to let go of the idea that the sacraments are effective through faith; consequently, they affirm that in and through the sacrament, the baptized infant receives faith and is regenerated.

The problem with both Rome and Lutheranism is a failure to understand the proper reason for infant baptism. Infant baptism is grounded not on a need for the sacraments to work regeneration and forgiveness but rather on the covenant promise. Adults are baptized on the basis of a credible profession of faith. Children of believers are baptized on the basis of God’s promise to be a God unto us and to our children. If the reason for baptizing infants was that baptism worked regeneration and salvation, then there would be no reason why we could not baptize all children whatsoever. In fact, we might be in sin not to do so, since we would be withholding that which would save them! When we ground the baptism of infants in the covenant promise, we do not have to change our doctrine of baptism to fit them, and we can explain why only children of believers and not other children are baptized.

Since the foundation of the salvation of the children of believers is God’s gracious promise and not the effecting of regeneration through baptism, then what is the efficacy of baptism for the child? Our basic thesis is that baptism does not sign, seal, or apply salvation to the infant at the time of its administration. However, it accomplishes those things in other ways at the time of administration, and it can effect all three as the child grows up.

1. It is not a sign to the infant at the time of baptism. The child cannot understand the baptism. On the other hand, when the child gets older, the sign that he received does represent to him the way of salvation through Jesus Christ. At the time of administration, even though it does not represent anything to the child, it does represent a very important point to those present at the baptism. It teaches very clearly that “our children, though conceived and born in sin and therefore subject to all manner of misery, yea, to condemnation itself, are sanctified in Christ, and therefore as members of His Church ought to be baptized” (Psalter Hymnal, Form for Infant Baptism 1, 124-125). This act teaches that even infants can only be saved through the blood of Christ.

2. It does not seal or confirm faith to that infant at the time of administration. However, it is a confirmation to the parents that God will save them and their household (Acts 16:31). It is a great encouragement to parents and a visible sign of God’s work in their family, according to His covenant promise.

Even though the child cannot experience the sealing effect himself, it does not mean that God has not given His grace. Rather, “by the right use of this ordinance, the grace promised is not only offered, but really exhibited, and conferred, by the Holy Ghost, to such (whether of age or infants) as that grace belongeth unto, according to the counsel of God’s own will, in his appointed time” (Westminster Confession of Faith 28.6). In addition, the sealing function does become useful for the child as he grows up and is confirmed in the grace that has been given to him.

3. The infant cannot apply the promises of the Gospel by faith and so received what is promised. This is as true of the sacraments as it is of the Word. The infant cannot understand the Word of God and believe it, and thus he cannot understand the sacrament and believe it. The infant may have some sense of God, but he cannot understand the verbal communication that is given to him. The covenant of grace teaches us that the child may already be saved and regenerated, but this is by the working of the Holy Spirit directly upon him and not by the hearing of faith. As Andre Rivet noted, “Although [infants] do not believe by an action, they can be said to believe as to inclination by grace, just as they have the inclination to sin by nature” (Synopsis Purioris, 31.13). The sacrament can no more be applied by faith than the Word can, but this does not exclude the infants of believers from salvation.

On the other side, as the child grows, he can apply the promise in baptism to himself and receive the grace that is promised in it. The Belgic Confession emphasizes this important point in these words, “Neither does this baptism avail us only at the time when the water is poured upon us and received by us, but also through the whole course of our life” (Art. 34). The possibility, usefulness, and way of making use of our baptism is described in the Westminster Larger Catechism, Q. 167.

Conclusion

The sacraments are not merely signs, either of the Gospel or of our faith. They are efficacious means whereby Christ and the benefits of the new covenant are applied to us. This occurs because God promises to give what He offers in the sacrament. The French Reformed theologian, Jean Daille, made this point well in his sermon on Col. 2:11-12:

In truth, all the means of which God makes use in religion have no other tendency than to communicate Jesus Christ to us, as dead, buried, and risen again for us, to the destruction of our old man and the vivification of the new. Nor do they ever fail to produce these two effects in any of those who receive them as they ought (Exposition of Colossians, 327).

If we keep this understanding in mind, then we will have no trouble using the high sacramental language of the Scriptures. In fact, we should be very thankful for it. God, who is rich in mercy, offers us Jesus Christ through these visible means. If we take them by faith, then we really receive Christ and His benefits. What a glorious blessing the Lord has given us! The question is: do we really want Jesus? Do we sense our need for His grace? If we have a serious sense of our sin and need for grace, then the sacraments will be valued as our greatest treasures on earth because what we obtain through them is worth more than the whole universe.