One thing that has always fascinated me has been the differences between different religions, but particularly, I’ve found it interesting to look at the differences between different Christian denominations. Beyond the simple liturgical differences of public worship, I want to understand how our understanding of God and scripture compares to that of others.
Therefore, I found it interesting when I discovered that while we in the Church of the Nazarene recognize only two sacraments, baptism and Communion (the Eucharist), the Catholic church recognizes seven different sacraments, baptism, confirmation, Communion, penance, anointing of the sick, ordination, and matrimony. It’s not that we don’t recognize the other five as important. We just don’t consider them to be sacraments. This caused me to wonder, what is a sacrament? What qualifications are used to determine if a group recognizes seven or just two?
To answer this question, we’ll first look at the definition of a sacrament. Depending on where you look, the answer will differ slightly. The Webster dictionary defines a sacrament as “a Christian rite that is believed to have been ordained by Christ and that is held to be a means of divine grace or to be a sign or symbol of a spiritual reality.” Likewise, the Google definition reads, “a religious ceremony or act of the Christian Church that is regarded as an outward and visible sign of inward and spiritual divine grace.”
With these two definitions we begin to see a common theme. A sacrament is a means of grace which is an outward sign of an inward spiritual reality. On top of that, seeing as how Christ is the head of the church, we look to him for the outward signs which he has ordained and which we should recognize.
Throughout the gospels, we can clearly see that Christ called for his followers to participate in baptism as well as the Eucharist. It’s possible that he officiated a wedding ceremony, but we don’t have any record of it. To be a sacrament it must be ordained by Christ and an outward symbol of a spiritual divine grace.
However, as we looked at last week, a word’s meaning goes deeper than just the dictionary definition. Just like ekklesia, the word sacrament has a rich history spanning back to the ancient Roman Empire. In secular terms it indicated an oath, in particular a military oath.
Back in the summer of 1999 I embarked on a journey that would change my life. I traded in my blue jeans and t-shirt for army greens. As with anything in life worth doing, Army Basic Training was not a walk in the park. We had late nights and long days. We woke up before the sun and marched miles in full battle gear weighed down by over fifty pounds of gear. It was a long, tough road, but in the end I made it through.
This is the context in which the word sacrament originated. Back in the Roman world soldiers would give an oath of allegiance, a sacrament, when joining the army. The early church adopted this word because, as they saw it, faith in Jesus Christ was the same as enlistment into the army of God. Therefore, through the sacraments we are declaring an oath of allegiance to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
This is what a sacrament is, and the first way we do that in the Church of the Nazarene is through baptism. Baptism, a sacrament signifying acceptance of the benefits of the atonement of Jesus Christ, is a declaration of a believer’s faith in Jesus as Savior. Baptism is therefore a symbol of what has already taken place. It symbolizes your acceptance of Christ’s death and resurrection as the atonement for your sin. It symbolizes the oath that you have taken that he will be your God and you will be his child.
We see throughout scripture the call to be baptized. In Acts 2:38 Peter calls the new believers to repent and be baptized. We see that Jesus himself went to John the Baptist to be baptized, and in his final words to his disciples he commissioned them to make disciples in all nations and to baptize them.
One thing that I love about the Church of the Nazarene is that, because we understand that baptism is an outward symbol of an inward, divine grace, the formalities of the outward symbol aren’t extremely important. I’ve talked to pastors who’ve told me of churches that have split over the details of how baptisms should be performed. One pastor even told me of a group that started their own church because they believed the only acceptable form of baptism was complete immersion face down.
by Greg Olsen
In the Church of the Nazarene, we don’t get into all of those details, because the real power has already taken place before the baptism even occurs. In the Church of the Nazarene, baptism may be administered by sprinkling or pouring water over the person or immersion, according to the choice of the applicant. Most people typically choose immersion due to the visual symbol of being buried and raised to life with Christ, but whether it be due to personal preference or medical requirement, there are other options available. Again, the significance lies not in the type of baptism in which you partake but in the fact that you are declaring to the world the oath that you have taken with God.
With that being said, we would be amiss if we didn’t discuss infant baptism. Some denominations believe that we must baptize children as soon as possible after birth so that we might wash them of their sin lest they die and spend eternity separated from God. While we in the Church of the Nazarene see merit in child baptisms and will do them upon request of the parent, our understanding of it is quite different.
Like I’ve already stated, baptism is a symbol of what has already taken place in the heart. Therefore, the act of baptizing a child does not wash away their sin and ensure a heavenly dwelling place for that is an inward divine grace. Instead, we fall back on our understanding of sin. Romans 4:15 tells us, “And where there is no law there is no transgression.” This goes back to our definition of sin from John Wesley, “A willful transgression against a known law of God.” Through this we understand that a child is not capable of understanding the law. God has written it on their hearts, but they have not yet reached an age at which they can rightly distinguish right from wrong. They may understand that taking a toy from their sibling lands them in timeout, but they don’t understand why it is wrong.
As such, we understand that in their innocence a child is pure. There is no need to wash away their sins, because Christ’s blood already covers them in their innocence. There will, however, come a day when each one will understand right from wrong and good from evil. We call that the age of accountability. I’m not going to attempt to put a number on it, because I believe it can be different for each child. However, once they reach that age, they will be held accountable for their actions and will be in dire need of a savior just like you and me.
Where does that leave us on infant baptism? The Manual of the Church of the Nazarene states, “Baptism being a symbol of the new covenant, young children may be baptized, upon request of parents or guardians who shall give assurance for them of necessary Christian training.” With or without baptism, an infant is pure and innocent. In this church, the sacrament of infant baptism is an oath to God by the parents before the congregation that they will do everything in their power to guide their child in the fear of the Lord.
Many people would argue that this baptism is not a decision of the child, is fundamentally different from baptism, and is therefore not baptism at all. For people with that understanding we also perform baby dedications in which the parents stand before the congregation and swear an oath to God that they will do everything in their power to guide their child in the fear of the Lord.
Communion is not something to be taken lightly. As I stress every time we partake, it is distinctively for those who reverently appreciate its significance and hold Christ as the Lord and Savior of their lives. However, while it is a holy and sacred sacrament, just like other sacraments, it is an outward expression of an inward, divine grace.
There is nothing magical about the elements. We use Welch’s grape juice and unleavened wafers. There are those who believe in a doctrine called transubstantiation. This doctrine holds to the belief that upon consumption of the bread and the wine the elements physically become the body and blood of Christ. This belief is likely due to Jesus’ statements in which he said, “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them.” (John 6:56) and the last supper in which he states, “This is my blood,” and “This is my body.”
The truth is, as Jesus said these words, he was standing with his disciples with his physical blood flowing through his physical body. Though they may not have understood everything he was saying at that moment, I doubt they truly believed Jesus has poured out his blood into a cup and made them drink it. They understood the bread and the wine to be symbols, and once Jesus sacrificed himself and they were empowered by the Holy Spirit, they understood it all.
Above all, Communion, the Eucharist, the Lord’s Supper is a sacrament, just like baptism, that has been ordained by Christ, an outward expression of an inward, divine grace. All the significance contained within the bread and the cup come from the oath that you declare to the Lord before his group of witnesses. It is a reaffirmation of the covenant that you made with him and that you declared to the world through your baptism.