. . . for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God. 1 Peter 1:23
The Means of Grace
How does God
distribute salvation?
Our Lutheran Confessions state:
God the Holy Spirit, however,
does not effect conversion without means; he employs to this end the
preaching and the hearing of God's Word, as it is written that the
Gospel is a "power of God" for salvation; likewise, that
faith comes from the hearing of God's Word (Rom. 10:17). {Formula of
Concord, Epitome Part II}
The Augsburg confession itself
describes the Gospel and the sacraments in this way: "through
these, as through means, He gives the Holy Spirit, who works faith,
when and where He pleases." {Article V}
We understand that upon the
cross Jesus died to secure for us salvation from our sins. The
question we ask here, is how is this forgiveness distributed to us?
When we purchase a gift for someone we have to decide how to deliver
it: do we mail it, send it by messenger, use UPS? Having purchased
salvation for us with His blood, how does Jesus deliver the gift? The
Scripture reveals to us that it is through the Word and the Sacraments.
NAB Romans 10:17 So faith comes
from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.
The gift that is delivered
If we truly wish to understand the role of God’s Word, communion, and baptism in our Christian lives, we have to have a clear understanding of the gift they deliver. This gift is the reconciliation that Jesus Christ created for us upon the cross. This gift was completely finished by Him. Jesus did not die on the cross to persuade us to change our lives so that we can become holy enough to get to heaven. Nor did Jesus Christ die to give us a power or ability to make ourselves worthy of heaven. Jesus died to completely forgive our sins. God does not allow us into heaven because we change into holy people. What happens on the cross is a change in God’s heart. He no longer judges us for our sins, but rather judges His own Son, and doing so, God chooses to forgive us.
These 3 means, the Word, baptism, and communion, are not ways that God puts into us power and ability so that we may change our own lives, but they are ways that God declares to us that we are already forgiven, already reborn by His grace.
The Purpose and Effect of the Means of Grace
The purpose of all three is the same, the conferring of the forgiveness of sins and the strengthening of faith in Christ. All the means are powerful, that is able to accomplish this purpose. As we saw above, Romans 10:17 speaks of how faith is born from God’s work in us as we hear the Word. So the sacraments have often been described as God’s visible Word, because the role of the sacraments is the same as that of the Gospel, namely to pass along to us God’s forgiveness in Christ and to strengthen our faith.
Faith is indeed a necessary element in the function of these three. We are careful to keep away from two extremes, two serious errors in thinking about the means of grace. The first is the idea that just merely performing the ceremony will be effective even when it is not believed. Where there is no faith, no gift of God is received.
NAB 1 Corinthians 1:21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.
The second extreme to be avoided is to think of this necessary faith as a human work or endeavor. This faith is not the product of our human will power or capability for decision. Faith is itself the gift of God, the work of the Holy Spirit, that is worked in us through the same operation of the means of grace.
What they are not
The means of grace are not instruments which God use to strengthen a spiritual power that is weak inside of us. As far as spiritual power goes, we are as good as dead.
NAB Ephesians 2:1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,
They are not instruments that God uses to gives us a spiritual power that we were lacking so that we can earn our way through good works into heaven.
NAB Romans 3:20 because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.
They are not mere symbols that only remind us of what God is doing in our lives. For instance, baptism is not just a visible symbol or metaphor for what Jesus does when He forgives us. Baptism is not just a visible symbol of washing but one way Jesus actually washes sin out of our lives. Holy Communion is not just a reminder of what Jesus did with His body and blood but the actual gift of His body and blood.
NAB Titus 3:5 He saved us, not
on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but
according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing
by the Holy Spirit,
What are the Means of Grace?
IN these three, the Gospel, Baptism, and Holy Communion, we can be certain God has located His gracious forgiving and saving work. They are not the saving work itself, but the packages God uses to deliver it in. But they are powerful packages, for through them the Holy Spirit works to create faith and deliver to us forgiveness. The means of grace are able to deliver what they promise, to accomplish what Scripture declares them to be for. We do not contribute to their work. Rather they come into our lives and make us to become what we are: Christians, God’s children who believe in Him.
There are those who would criticize us for our reliance upon these three means of grace. They would suggest that the Holy Spirit needs no vehicle to come to us, but operates on us directly without any such means. But in response we must confess with Scripture, that while the Spirit certainly may do as He pleases, He teaches us through God Word that it pleases Him to locate His saving activity in these three means. To those who accuse us of creating an idol or depending on human ceremony with baptism, we respond that Scripture itself describes baptism as God’s work and action not ours. To those who say we destroy faith, we respond that God reveals in His word that it is through these three means that God Himself creates faith. To those who suggest we rely on empty ceremonies, we remind that God Himself has filled these three vessels with the gift Christ created on the cross. So when we trust baptism, communion, and the Gospel, we are trusting Him who has said HE will operate through them to give us the gift of Christ’s death for the forgiveness of our sins. Rather than taking our eyes off Christ’s work for us, we gaze at those places where it has pleased God to reveal it.
copyright Rev. David D. Reedy, 1999
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Rev. David D. Reedy 2002
Prince
of Peace Lutheran Church
Dayton Tennessee
423.775.4253
Prince of Peace is a LCMS congregation located in Rhea County Tennessee, serving the entire county of some 32,000 people.