UNIT VIII - The Means of Grace - Gospel in Word and Sacrament

The Word of God
The Sacraments
Holy Baptism
The Nature of Baptism
Infant Baptism
The Mode of Baptism
The Necessity of Baptism
The Lord's Supper
Three Basic Views on the Nature of Holy Communion
What Does the Bible Say?
Three Basic Views on the Purpose of Holy Communion
What Does the Bible Say?
Closed Communion - The Scriptural Practice of Historic Christendom
The Proper Use of the Lord's Supper

The channels through which God offers and conveys His undeserved love to men are called the "Means of Grace". They are the Word of God, Baptism, and the Lord's Supper. God works through the Means of Grace, which He has established, both to reveal His undeserved love to men, and to actually transmit the forgiveness of sin, and create and strengthen faith in the very grace of God which these means declare. "It is God's will to call men to eternal salvation, to draw them to Himself, convert them, cause them to be born again, and sanctify them through this means and in no other way - namely, through His holy Word (when one hears it preached or reads it) and the sacraments (when they are used according to His Word)." (Formula of Concord, SD,II,50)

"Although God is present and operates everywhere throughout all creation and the whole earth is therefore full of the temporal bounties and blessings of God, Colossians 1:17; Acts 17:28; 14:17, still we hold with Scripture that God offers and communicates to men the spiritual blessings purchased by Christ, namely, the forgiveness of sins and the treasures and gifts connected therewith, only through the external means of grace ordained by Him. These means of grace are the Word of the Gospel, in every form in which it is brought to man, and the sacraments of Holy Baptism and of the Lord's Supper. The Word of the Gospel promises and applies the grace of God, works faith and thus regenerates man, and gives the Holy Ghost, Acts 20:24; Romans 10:17; I Peter 1:23; Galatians 3:2. Baptism, too, is applied for the remission of sins and is therefore a washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost, Acts 2:38; 22:16; Titus 3:5. Likewise the object of the Lord's Supper, that is, of the ministration of the body and blood of Christ, is none other than the communication and sealing of the forgiveness of sins, as the words declare: 'Given for you', and: "Shed for you, for the remission of sins," Luke 22:19-20; Matthew 26:28, and 'This cup is the New Testament in my blood,' I Corinthians 11:23; Jeremiah 33:31-34 ('New Covenant')."

(Brief Statement of the Doctrinal Position of the Missouri Synod, 1932)

The Word of God

God offers and conveys His grace in His Word. The Bible uses the term "Word of God" in three different but closely related ways. It can refer to Jesus Christ, the Word of God made flesh (the Incarnated Word) (John 1:1-14). It can refer to the oral Word of proclamation, in public preaching and teaching and individual witness (the Inculcated Word) (Romans 10:8). And it can also refer to the written Word of God, the Sacred Scriptures themselves (the Inscripturated Word) (2 Peter 1:19). The close inter-relationship between these three forms of God's Word is illustrated in the experience of the Bereans who came to believe in the Incarnated Word through the Inculcated Word which they accepted on the basis of the Inscripturated Word. (cf. Acts 17:10-15) In whatever form it occurs, the Word of God is a genuine Means of Grace.

"You diligently search the Scriptures because you think that by them you posses eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me." (John 5:39)

"I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile." (Romans 1:16)

"Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message and the message is heard through the word of Christ." (Romans 10:17)

"And we also thank God continually because, when you received the Word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it actually is, the Word of God, which is at work in you who believe." (I Thessalonians 2:13)

"He chose to give us new birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of first fruits of all He created." (James 1:18)

"For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring Word of God." (I Peter 1:23)

THE SACRAMENTS

The term "sacrament" does not occur in the Bible. It is a Latin word which originally referred to a solemn commitment, most commonly to the military oath of a Roman soldier. In a Christian context, the term first came to be applied to the baptismal commitment of allegiance to Christ and renunciation of the devil. Eventually its use was broadened to refer to Baptism itself and later also to the Lord's Supper.

Since it is not a Biblical word "sacrament" has been defined and applied in a variety of ways. As a result, the number of sacraments differs among churches. The Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches, for example, recognize seven sacraments and understand the term in their own way. In the Lutheran Church we understand a sacrament to be a sacred act, ordained by God, which uses earthly elements together with the Word, to offer or convey the forgiveness of sins. Based on that definition there are two sacraments: Baptism and the Lord's Supper. "No intelligent person will quibble about the number of sacraments or the terminology, so long as those things are kept which have God's command and promises." (Apology to the Augsburg Confession, XIII,17)

While the word "sacrament" does not appear in Holy Scripture, the concept of God working through visible, physical means to offer or convey His undeserved love to fallen mankind is at the heart of the mystery of the Gospel. In fact, when the Vulgate translates the Greek word "mysterion" into Latin in 1 Timothy 3:16, it uses the word "sacramentum". The God who became flesh in the person of Jesus Christ now places His love within reach of our senses in the water of Baptism and the bread and wine of the Holy Supper.

SACRAMENT

A Sacred Act

I. Instituted or Commanded by Christ Himself

II. In Which the Word of God is Used Together With an Earthly Visible Element

III. To Offer or Convey the Forgiveness of Sins

"The Word comes to the element and it becomes a Sacrament." - St. Augustine

HOLY BAPTISM

WHAT IS BAPTISM?
Baptism is not just plain water, but it is water used by God's command and connected with God's Word.

WHICH IS THAT WORD OF GOD?
Christ our Lord says in the last chapter of Matthew, "Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit!"

WHAT DOES BAPTISM DO FOR US?
Baptism works forgiveness of sin, delivers from death and the devil and gives eternal salvation to all who believe this, as the words and promises of God declare.

WHAT IS GOD'S PROMISE?
Christ our Lord says in the last chapter of Mark, "Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned."

HOW CAN WATER DO SUCH GREAT THINGS?
It is certainly not the water that does such things, but God's Word which is in and with the water, and faith which trusts this Word used with the water.

For without God's Word the water is just plain water and not Baptism. But with this Word it is Baptism. God's Word makes it a washing through which God graciously forgives our sin and grants us rebirth and a new life through the Holy Spirit. (Small Catechism, Martin Luther, 1529)

THE NATURE OF BAPTISM

Baptism is a genuine means of grace. It is no more and no less than a divinely ordained means whereby God in a special manner conveys and imparts to the person baptized the forgiveness of sins provided for him by Christ's death and resurrection. In the water and the Word of Holy Baptism, God creates or strengthens faith. Thus Scripture correctly describes Baptism as a "washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit" (Titus 3:5).

In Baptism the Holy Ghost incorporates the individual into the Body of Christ ( I Corinthians 12:13). Those who contend that Baptism is merely symbolic action without any real power or effect directly contradict the clear teaching of God's Word.

"Jesus answered, 'I tell you the truth, unless a man is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God. Flesh gives birth to flesh but the Spirit gives birth to the Spirit." (John 3:5-6)

"Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." (Acts 2:38; cf. 22:16)

"Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life." (Romans 6:3-4; cf. also vs. 5-15; Colossians 2:11-12)

"And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God." (1 Corinthians 6:11)

"Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the Word." (Ephesians 5:25-26)

"You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus for all of you who were baptized into Christ have been clothed with Christ." (Galatians 3:26-27)

"For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body - whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free -and we were all given the one Spirit to drink." (1 Corinthians 12:13)

"But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by His grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life." (Titus 3:4-7)

"This water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also - not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ." (I Peter 3:21)

Infant Baptism

The Lutheran Church practices the baptism of infants for five Biblical reasons:

1. BECAUSE INFANTS ARE INCLUDED IN THE GREAT COMMISSION'S COMMAND TO BAPTIZE "ALL NATIONS". The language of the Great Commission is deliberately inclusive. There is absolutely no suggestion that any age group or category of people is to be excluded from our Lord's command to "make disciples" of everyone.

"Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." (Matthew 28:19)

2. BECAUSE OF THE NEW TESTAMENT PRACTICE OF "HOUSEHOLD BAPTISM". The Greek word for "household" used in the New Testament specifically includes children and infants (cf. Genesis 7:23; 45:18,19; 46:6,7; 1 Samuel 22:16-19). The extended families of this period numbered dozens of people. The exclusion of children would have been completely inconsistent with the Jewish concept of the family as an integral unit.

"Then Peter said, 'Can anyone keep these people from being baptized with water? They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have. So he ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ...He will bring you a message through which you and all your household will be saved." (Acts 10:47-48, 11:14)

"When she and the members of her household were baptized she invited us to her home." (Acts 16:15)

"At that hour of the night the jailor took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his family were baptized." (Acts 16:33)

"Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanos, beyond that I don't remember if I baptized anyone else." (1 Corinthians 1:16)

3. BECAUSE OF THE PARALLEL BETWEEN OLD TESTAMENT CIRCUMCISION AND NEW TESTAMENT BAPTISM. Circumcision was performed on eight day old infants. Baptism is identified in the New Testament as "the circumcision done by Christ". If the Lord's intent had been to exclude infants from baptism, it is inconceivable that this parallel would have been drawn without any qualification. Children were typically involved in the ceremonial washings of Israel, including the baptism of proselytes. Without specific instruction to the contrary, this practice would automatically have continued among the early Christians. Historical and archaeological evidence plainly indicates that this was indeed the case. The early church father Origen (182-256 AD) testifies: "From the apostles the church received the tradition to grant baptism also to the little ones."

"In Him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, having been buried with Him in baptism and raised with Him through your faith in the power of God who raised Him from the dead." (Colossians 2:11-12)

4. BECAUSE INFANTS ARE CONCEIVED AND BORN IN SIN AND ARE THEREFORE IN NEED OF THE FORGIVENESS OF SIN UNIQUELY OFFERED IN BAPTISM. Those who reject the baptism of infants resort to the concept of an "age of accountability" at which a child is old enough understand and therefore be responsible for sin. This idea is alien to Scripture. It undermines the clear Biblical assertion that human beings are all sinful by nature and reduces human sinfulness to a mere question of bad behavior.

"Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood." (Genesis 8:21)

"Surely I have been a sinner from birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me." (Psalm 51:5)

"Even from birth the wicked go astray; from the womb they are wayward and speak lies." (Psalm 58:16)

"Unless a man is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. Flesh gives birth to flesh, and the Spirit gives birth to the spirit." (John 3:5-6)

"All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23)

"All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the craving of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath." (Ephesians 2:2-3)

5. BECAUSE OF THE CLEAR BIBLICAL ASSERTION THAT INFANTS CAN AND DO BELIEVE. The argument over infant baptism is really a disagreement about the nature of faith and conversion. Those who reject infant baptism tend to view faith as a matter of intellectual understanding which is the result of a conscious deliberate decision to accept Jesus as Savior and Lord. This view is in sharp contrast with the Biblical emphasis that faith is primarily a matter of trust. In fact, our Lord Himself suggests that the simple trust of the little child is a model which adults would do well to follow. Scripture teaches that faith is entirely the work of God, a free gift of His grace. People cannot decide to believe. God creates faith in our hearts through His Word and Sacraments. The conversion of an adult through the proclamation of the Gospel is no less a miracle of God's grace than the conversion of a newborn child in the water and the Word of Holy Baptism. In both instances the faith which results is entirely the work of God. Although we do not understand how God creates faith in Baptism and cannot explain why God chose to designate this action as a means of grace, we simply obey His command and believe in His promise. Luther cuts to the heart of the matter when he says: "If God bade you pick up a stalk of grain or a strip of feather and, with His command, promised that through this act you should have forgiveness of all your sins, grace, and everlasting life, should you not accept that proposal with great pleasure and gratitude, love it, praise it, and esteem that stalk or feather a higher and holier possession than heaven and earth?"

"Yet you brought me out of the womb; you made me trust in you even at my mother's breast. From birth I was cast upon you; from my mother's womb you have been my God." (Psalm 22:9-10)

"For you have been my hope, O Sovereign Lord, my confidence since my youth. From birth I have relied on you, you brought me forth from my mother's womb." (Psalm 71:5-6)

"But if anyone causes one of these little ones (Greek - "mikroon" - any child under 4 years of age with particular reference to infants) who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea...See that you do not look down on one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven." (Matthew 18: 6,10)

"People were also bringing babies (Greek - "brephae" - newborn children, babies) to Jesus to have Him touch them. When the disciples saw this they rebuked them. But Jesus called the children to Him and said, 'Let the little children (Greek - "paidia" -all those under four years of age including infants) come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it." (Luke 18: 15-17; cf. also Matthew 19:13-14; Mark 10:13-14)

"At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit said, 'I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned and revealed them to little children (Greek - "nepios" - babies and very small children who cannot yet speak). Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure." (Luke 10:21)

"He will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from birth...When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed; 'Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear. But why am I so favored that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy." (Luke 1: 15,41-44)

THE MODE OF BAPTISM

By divine command (Matthew 28:19) Baptism consists of the application of water in the name of the Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Bible does not prescribe a specific method of application. Therefore the usage of the term "baptize" must determine how the water may be applied. Scripture uses the word "baptize" in a variety of contexts to describe many different methods of applying water: the moistening of the evening dew (Daniel 4:33); the washing of hands and the ceremonial cleansing of cooking utensils and furniture (Mark 7:4; Luke 11:38); the children of Israel's contact with the pillar of cloud and the Red Sea (1 Corinthians 10:2); and, the ceremonial cleansings of the Old Testament in which water was sprinkled on an individual or a group (Hebrews 9:9-10; cf. Numbers 8:7; 19: 13,18-19; Leviticus 14:7-9; 16:14-19). It is evident that the word "baptize" does not limit the use of the water to any specific method of application but simply refers to the use of water. Therefore any application of water, by sprinkling, pouring, dipping or immersing in the name of the Triune God is a valid and proper Baptism. Those who insist that immersion is the only correct method of Baptism go beyond the requirements of the Bible, teaching for doctrine the commandments of men (Matthew 15:9).

THE NECESSITY OF BAPTISM

Baptism is not a matter of choice, a mere option which God makes available. Baptism is necessary because the Lord instituted and commanded it. But Baptism is not the only means of grace and it is therefore possible to be saved without being baptized. He who, like the penitent thief on the cross, cannot be baptized, but believes the Gospel will be saved. It is the absence of faith, not Baptism, which results in damnation (cf. Mark 16:16) The rejection of Baptism, however, is deliberate disobedience of God, with which faith cannot co-exist. Those who reject Baptism reject what Baptism offers, namely forgiveness of sin, life and salvation. St. Augustine's maxim says it well: "It is not the absence but the contempt of Baptism which damns."

THE LORD'S SUPPER

WHAT IS THE SACRAMENT OF HOLY COMMUNION?
It is the true body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ together with the bread and wine, instituted by Christ for us Christians to eat and to drink.

WHERE IS THIS WRITTEN?
The holy Evangelists Matthew, Mark, Luke and the Apostle Paul tell us: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it, gave it to His disciples and said, "Take and eat. This is My body, which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me." In the same way, after supper He took the cup, gave thanks, gave it to them and said, "Drink from it, all of you. This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is poured our for you for the forgiveness of sins. Do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of Me." (Small Catechism, Martin Luther, 1529)

THREE BASIC VIEWS ON THE NATURE OF HOLY COMMUNION

I. ROMAN CATHOLIC

The bread and wine are physically transformed into the body and blood of Christ as the priest speaks the words of consecration in the mass. They are no longer bread and wine but have permanently become the body and blood of Christ.

"If anyone saith that in the sacred and holy sacrament of the Eucharist the substance of the bread and wine remains conjointly with the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, and denieth that wonderful and singular conversion of the whole substance of the bread into the Body, and of the whole substance of the wine into the Blood - the species only of the bread and wine remaining - which conversion indeed the Catholic Church most aptly calls Transubstantiation; let him be anathema." (Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent, XIII, 2)

Representation

The bread and wine are merely symbols which represent or signify the absent body and blood of Christ. Christ's Words of Institution must be understood in a figurative sense ("is" = "represents") because it is not possible for the body of Jesus, which has ascended into heaven, to be present in the Sacrament.

"Because Christ's body, since it has the nature and mode of being of a human body, is finite and contained in heaven as a place, it necessarily follows that it is distant from us by as great an interval of space as heaven is from the earth...We repudiate as preposterous interpreters those who in the solemn words of the Supper, 'This is my body, this is my blood,' urge a precisely literal sense, as they say. For we hold it to be indisputable that these words are to be accepted figuratively, so that bread and wine are called that which they signify." (Mutual Consent As To The Sacraments, XXII, XXV, John Calvin)

Both the bread and wine and the body and blood of Christ are present in the Lord's Supper, that, in other words, with the bread Christ's body is received, and with the wine Christ's blood. This "sacramental union" occurs only in the Lord's Supper.

"We believe, teach, and confess that in the Holy Supper the body and blood of Christ are truly and essentially present and are truly distributed and received with the bread and wine. We believe, teach, and confess that the words of the Testament of Christ are to be understood in no other way than in their literal sense, and not as though the bread symbolized the absent body and the wine the absent blood of Christ, but that because of the sacramental union they are truly the body and blood of Christ." (Formula of Concord, Ep., VII, 5,6)

Transubstantiation and Representation are well-meaning attempts to explain the Sacrament and make it more comprehensible. However, both must be rejected because they fail to reflect that which Scripture teaches.

1. Transubstantiation's insistence that the bread and wine cease to exist because they have become the body and blood of Christ contradicts I Corinthians 10:16 and I Corinthians 11:27,28 which specifically refer to the consecrated elements as both "bread" and "body", "cup" (wine) and "blood". But it must also be noted that while this view goes beyond Scripture, it does at least maintain a belief in the presence of the body and blood of Christ, which is the essence of the Sacrament.

"The third error is that no bread remains but only the form of bread. But this error is not very important if only the body and blood of Christ, together with the Word, are not taken away - though the papists have earnestly contended and still contend for this their new doctrine. They label as heretic anyone who does not agree with them that it is a necessary truth, that no bread remains there - that monastic fantasy, supported by Thomas Aquinas and confirmed by the popes. But while they insist so strongly on this, and that out of pure arbitrariness and without any foundation in Scripture, we shall defy them and hold to the contrary that real bread and wine are truly present along with the body and blood of Christ. We are glad to be labeled heretic by such imaginary Christians and naked sophists. For the Gospel calls the Sacrament bread. It says that the bread is the body of Christ. We shall stand by that. We are sufficiently certain, contrary to all the dreams of the sophists, that what the Scripture calls bread is bread. If it deceives us we shall take our chances." (The Adoration of the Sacrament, Martin Luther, 1523)

2. Representation's contention that only the bread and wine are present as symbols is directly contrary to the plain words of Christ's institution, "This is my body", "This is my blood". To impose a figurative meaning on these words without any contextual support is to overthrow the authority of Scripture in favor of whatever seems reasonable to our minds. Furthermore, to deny the presence of the Lord's body and blood is to destroy the Sacrament, reducing it to the level of shadow play with empty signs and symbols.

"A more dangerous falsity in interpretation than the assumption that the word 'is' may be explained in the sense of 'signify' of 'be a symbol of' is hardly conceivable. Almost every doctrine of the Word of God will melt under it. 'The Word was God' would mean: 'The Word signified, was a symbol of God.'...When it is said of Jesus Christ, 'This is true God,' it would mean that He is the symbol or image of the true God. By it Christ would cease to be the Way, the Truth, and the Life and would be a mere symbol of them...The characteristic use of 'is' is essential to the very morality of language, and language itself would commit suicide if it could tolerate the idea that the substantive verb shall express not substance, but symbol. Creation, redemption, and sanctification would all fuse and be dissipated in the crucible of this species of interpretation. It would take the Bible from us...and the infidel would then feel that the Book he has so long feared and hated, deprived as it now would be, of its vitality by the trick of interpreters, could henceforth be safely regarded with contempt...'This is My Body'; simple words framed by infinite wisdom so as to resist the violence and all the ingenuity of men. Rationalism in vain attempts to remove them with its cunning, its learning, and its philosophy. Fanaticism gnashes its teeth at them in vain." (The Conservative Reformation and Its Theology, Charles Porterfield Krauth, Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1871. Used By Permission)

3. Both Transubstantiation and Representation make more sense than Real Presence. My reason tells me that the elements must be either body and blood or bread and wine. They cannot be both at the same time. Yet that is exactly what God's Word says. So we believe what Scripture teaches and affirm the Real Presence of the body and blood of Christ in the bread and wine of the sacrament even though we cannot understand or explain it. By faith we are willing to live with the mystery. "The Lutheran teaching of the Lord's Supper is the doctrine of Scripture, because it accepts at full value both the words pertaining to the presence of the bread as also the words pertaining to the body of Christ, without subtracting from them or adding to them. To state the matter antithetically: The Lutheran teaching does not, like Rome, make the bread imaginary bread, nor does it, like the Reformed denominations, make the body of Christ an imaginary body, that is an emblem or symbol of the absent body of Christ. It teaches a true, essential bread, and the true essential body of Christ in the Sacrament because the words of institution state both." (Christian Dogmatics, Franz Pieper, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1933. Used By Permission)

"You do know and must know that our text. 'This is my body,' etc. comes not from men but from God Himself, spoken by His own lips and set down in these very letters and words...Our text is certain; it is plausible and necessary that it should stand as the words read, for God Himself has placed it where it is, and no man dare take away or add a single letter (cf. Deuteronomy 4:2) ...You still have this glorious, reassuring advantage that you can rely upon our text with a good conscience and say, 'If I must have an uncertain and obscure text and interpretation, I would rather have the one uttered by the lips of God Himself than one uttered by the lips of men. And if I must be deceived, I would rather be deceived by God (if such a thing were possible) than by men. For if God deceives me, He will take the responsibility and make amends to me, but men cannot make amends to me if they have deceived me and led me down to hell." (Martin Luther, Confession Concerning Christ's Supper, 1528)

The sacrificial death of Christ on the cross is repeated in an "unbloody" way every time the Mass is celebrated, for the benefit of those who are present and those in whose memory the Mass is being said.

"And forasmuch as, in this divine sacrifice which is celebrated in the mass, that same Christ is contained and immolated in an unbloody manner, who once offered Himself in a bloody manner on the altar of the cross; the holy Synod teaches, that this sacrifice is truly propitiatory and that by means thereof this is effected, that we obtain mercy, and find grace in seasonable aid, if we draw nigh unto God, contrite and penitent, with a sincere heart and upright faith, with fear and reverence. For the Lord, appeased by the oblation thereof, and granting the grace and gift of penitence, forgives even heinous crimes and sins. For the victim is one and the same, the same now offered by the ministry of the priests, who then offered Himself on the cross, the manner alone of offering being different. The fruits indeed of which oblation, of that bloody one to wit, are received most plentifully through this unbloody one; so far is this (latter) from derogating in any way from that (former oblation). Wherefore, not only for the sins, punishments, satisfactions, and other necessities of the faithful who are living, but also for those who are departed in Christ, and who are not as yet fully purified, is it rightly offered, agreeably to a tradition of the apostles." (Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent, XXII, II)

The celebration of the Lord's Supper is intended as a reminder of the death of Christ for our redemption. The bread and wine, which symbolize the body and blood of the Lord, serve as a memorial feast of confession and thanksgiving conducted in obedience to His command.

"The Lord's Supper - This is a commemoration of the death of Christ for our sins, in the use of bread, which he made the emblem of his broken body, and the cup, the emblem of his shed blood; and by it the believer expresses his love for Christ, his faith and hope in him, and pledges to him perpetual fidelity. It is the privilege and duty of all who have spiritual union with Christ thus to commemorate his death; and no man has the right to forbid these tokens to the least of his disciples." (Confession of the Free Will Baptists, XVII, 2, 1868)

"The Supper of the Lord is a memorial of our redemption by Christ's death, for thereby we do show forth the Lord's death till he come. It is also a symbol of the soul's feeding on Christ. And it is a sign of the communion that we should have with one another...We feed on Christ only through his Word, and only by faith and prayer; and we feed on him, whether at our private devotions, or in our meditations, or on any occasion of public worship, or in the memorial symbolism of the Supper." (Reformed Episcopal Articles of Religion, XXVII, 1875)

The basic purpose of the Lord's Supper is to convey the forgiveness of sins offered in the promise of the Words of Institution "This is my body given for you" (Luke 20:19) and "This is my blood of the covenant which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins" (Matthew 26:28). Thus like Baptism and the Word of the Gospel, Holy Communion is a genuine Means of Grace. Because the Lord's Supper conveys the forgiveness of sins, the Sacrament also serves to strengthen faith; express and renew the fellowship of God's people, the Church; encourage sanctification and growth in patience and in the hope of eternal life.

All of these blessings are the direct result of the Sacrament's power to grant the remission of sins bought by the precious blood of Christ. "The main purpose of the Holy Sacrament is to be a tool and a means through which the promises of grace are offered, communicated, and appropriated, as with a seal, guarantee, and pledge through which these promises are confirmed. However, within this major purpose, as a secondary goal, the Sacrament is to be a distinguishing sign of confession and a bond of fellowship in worship. Therefore communion fellowship is church fellowship." (Theses on Communion Fellowship with Those Who Believe Differently, C.F.W. Walther, 1871; Translated by Laurence L. White)

"Thus the position set forth above rests on a unique, firm, immoveable, and indubitable rock of truth in the words of institution recorded in the Holy Word of God and so understood, taught, and transmitted by the holy evangelists and apostles, and by their disciples and hearers in turn...After the Last Supper, as He was about to begin His bitter passion and death for our sin, in this sad, last hour of His life, this truthful and almighty Lord, our Creator and Redeemer Jesus Christ, selected His words with great deliberation and care in ordaining and instituting this most venerable sacrament, which was to be observed with great reverence and obedience until the end of the world and which was to be an abiding memorial of His bitter passion and death and of all His blessings, a seal of the new covenant, a comfort for all sorrowing hearts, and a true bond and union of all Christians with Christ their Head and with one another...We are therefore bound to interpret and explain these words of the eternal, truthful, and almighty Son of God, Jesus Christ, our Lord, Creator and Redeemer, not a flowery, figurative, or metaphorical expressions, as they appear to our reason, but we must accept them in simple faith and due obedience in their strict and clear sense, just as they read." (Formula of Concord, SD, VII, 44-45)

The Roman Catholic doctrine of the Sacrifice of the Mass strikes at the very heart of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The teaching that Christ's death on the cross must be endlessly repeated in order that the sins of the faithful might now be forgiven necessarily means that the death of Christ ceases to be the only and all sufficient sacrifice for our sins. Thus a series of human actions is substituted for the "once for all" divine action of God in the person of His Son. God's grace is supplemented and ultimately replaced by the works of man.

Scripture explicitly repudiates this doctrine. "And by that will we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the Body of Jesus Christ once for all. Day after day every priests stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when this Priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, He sat down at the right hand of God. Since that time He waits for His enemies to be made His footstool, because by one sacrifice He has made perfect forever those who are being made holy." (Hebrews 10:10-14)

"That the Mass is neither a sacrifice nor a work the words of Christ's institution prove; then also the example of the apostles themselves and of the whole primitive church. Furthermore, let those who celebrate Mass be asked what the use and benefit of their Masses are. If they say they are celebrated to abolish sins or to serve God, their godlessness is clear, since there is only one sacrifice for the abolishing of sins, namely Christ, once sacrificed. Of Him all are made partakers, not by doing or by sacrificing but by believing through the Word alone. Blasphemous it is to add something to this sacrifice, as if it had not entirely removed the sins of all men. This, then, must be the choice: either all sins, past, present, and future have not been canceled by Christ's death, or the Mass cannot be a sacrifice or work for sins." (M. Luther)

"That it lacks true, firm, and solid grounds in Scripture is, however, not the only thing we criticize in the papalist Mass; what we complain about most of all is that it is an abomination, conflicting with the doctrine of the Word, the Sacraments, and faith - yes, that it is full of abuse against the unique sacrifice of Christ and against His perpetual priesthood...To institute a form of worship beside and without the Word of God, and indeed one to which is ascribed propitiation for sins, appeasing the wrath of God, and procuring of grace and other benefits from God, is a vain thing; it cannot please God; yes, it is idolatry...The papalist Mass, as we have described it in the beginning, militates against the one propitiatory sacrifice of Christ in many ways and is an affront to it...The papalist Mass militates against the eternal priesthood of Christ. For no one is able to offer Christ for sins, save only Christ Himself." (Martin Chemnitz, Examination of the Council of Trent, Part II, Translated by Fred Kramer. Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis. Used by Permission.)

The Reformed doctrine that the celebration of the Lord's Supper is nothing more than a reminder of the death of Christ on the cross contradicts the words of institution and deprives the Christian of the individual application of the forgiveness of sins which the Lord offers and conveys in the Sacrament. The conclusion that the Sacrament cannot convey the forgiveness of sins is the logical consequence of the denial of the Real Presence of the Body and Blood of our Lord. The effect of this view is to transform Holy Communion God's action on our behalf into human action taken in response to a divine mandate.

"Now we come to its power and benefit, the purpose for which the Sacrament was really instituted, for it is most necessary that we know what we should seek and obtain there. This is plainly evident from the words just quoted, 'This is my body and blood given and poured out for you for the forgiveness of sins.' In other words, we go the sacrament because we receive there a great treasure, through and in which we obtain the forgiveness of sins. Why? Because the words are there through which this is imparted! Christ bids me eat and drink in order that the sacrament may be mine and may be a source of blessing to me as a sure pledge and sign -indeed as the very gift he has provided for me against my sins, death, and all evil....Here again our clever spirits contort themselves with their great learning and wisdom, bellowing and blustering, 'How can bread and wine forgive sins and strengthen faith?' Yet they know that we do not claim this of bread and wine - since in itself bread is bread - but of that bread and wine which are Christ's body and blood and with which the words are coupled. This treasure is conveyed and communicated to us in no other way than through the words, 'given and poured out for you'. Here you have both truths, that it is Christ's body and blood and that these are yours as your treasure and gift. Christ's body can never be an unfruitful, vain thing, impotent and useless."(Martin Luther, Large Catechism)

The intended purpose of the Lord's Supper is clearly defined by Christ's own words of institution. "This is My Body given for you." (Luke 22:19) "This is My Blood of the Covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins." (Matthew 26:28)

Holy Communion is therefore a genuine "Means of Grace" through which God conveys the forgiveness of sins and strengthens faith.

"The price of our redemption is the body of Christ which is given for us and the blood of Christ which is shed for us. Among Christians, no one doubts that by this giving of His body and shedding of His blood the wrath of the Father has been satisfied and eternal redemption gained. But the question is, to whom does this promise pertain and who are the receivers of this benefit of Christ? To be sure, the teaching of the Gospel in general pronounces that everyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16). But anxious and fearful minds, when they consider their sins, their unworthiness, their weaknesses, and their many temptations, become so terrified and disturbed that dangerous doubts arise concerning the individual application, that is, whether I myself have with sufficient certainty grasped the benefits of Christ and so faithfully cling to them that my conscience can stand before the judgement of God. For this reason, Christ in His Supper willed to confirm and seal to His disciples the demonstration and application of the promise of the Gospel with a certain and firm guarantee, so that in the face of all temptations faith can stand strongly and firmly in the assurance that it is a participant in Christ and all His benefits unto salvation...Therefore Christ, in the Lord's Supper distributes to us His very body which has been given for us and His very blood which has been shed for us, and He offers them to us to take and eat. Surely there can be no more faithful, firm, or efficacious sign and seal of the promise and grace which have been shown and applied to us than that Christ Himself in the Supper shows us His very body which has been given for us and His very blood which has been shed for us, not at some enormous distance, but He offers and gives it to us in so present a manner that we receive it to our very selves...Nor is this demonstration in the Supper made only in a general way, but to the individual communicants the Son of God Himself bears witness that He is offering and giving His body and blood, and without doubt at the same time also all those things which by the giving of His body and the shedding of His blood have been gained for our salvation." (Martin Chemnitz, The Lord's Supper, 1590. Translated by J.A.O. Preus, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1979. Used by Permission)

"Closed Communion" is the practice of restricting participation in the Sacrament to communicant members of the local congregation and of sister congregations within our confessional fellowship. Since the days of the apostles, this practice has been the direct correlate of the Church's affirmation of the presence of our Lord's true body and blood in the Holy Supper.

"This food we call eucharist, and no one may receive it unless he believes that our teaching is true, and has been washed with the washing for forgiveness of sins unto regeneration, and lives as Christ handed down to us. For we do not receive these things as though they were common bread or common drink...as we have been taught, they are the flesh and blood of the incarnate Jesus." (Apology I, Justin Martyr, 150 AD)

"Now it must be said that (closed communion) is not taken all that seriously when for the sacrament preachers give out only bread and wine. Who they are to whom these are given, no matter what they know and believe, is then no great concern...Since it is Christ's body and blood that are given out in the sacrament we neither will nor can give such sacrament to any unless he is first examined. What has he learned from the Catechism and does he intend to forsake the sins which he has again committed? We would not make Christ's Church into a pig pen (Matthew 7:6) letting anybody come, unexamined to the sacrament as a pig to its trough. Such a church we leave to the fanatics." (Admonition to Frankfurt am Main, Martin Luther, 1532)

The Evangelical Lutheran Church observes the Scriptural practice of "Closed Communion" for the following reasons:

1. Because of a loving concern for those who would receive the Sacrament "unworthily" to their judgement. "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. A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgement on himself." (1 Corinthians 11: 27-29) Therefore the Sacrament must not be given to:

A. Sinners who are living in open and impenitent sin (cf. 1 Corinthians 5:11,13; 10:20-21; Matthew 5:23-24).

B. Those who cannot examine themselves because of a lack of instruction, immaturity, or mental incapacity (I Corinthians 11:28).

2. Because of a concern for the integrity of our witness to unity in the faith through the Sacrament. When we participate together in the body and blood of Christ we publicly acknowledge that we believe the same things and are one in the faith. "Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one loaf, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf." (1 Corinthians 10: 16-17). The Eucharistic Prayer of the ancient Didache (written late in the First Century) clearly recognizes the importance of the Sacrament as a profound expression of the unity of the church. "As this bread was scattered on the hills and by being gathered together was made one, so may Thy church be gathered together from the ends of the earth into Thy kingdom."

That witness to unity is false, if doctrinal disagreement exists between those who commune together. By allowing that false witness to occur we are telling our visitors from other churches and our own members that the doctrinal differences which divide us are unimportant and may safely be overlooked. That message of doctrinal indifference is clearly contrary to Scripture (cf. Matthew 7:15; John 8:31-32; Romans 16:17; 2 Corinthians 6:14-17; Galatians 5:9; 2 Timothy 2:17; Titus 3:10; 2 John 10,11). Therefore the Sacrament must not be given to those who do not share our doctrinal position or who belong to a church body which confesses a different doctrinal position (Acts 2:42; Romans 16:17)

"To the early church a man was orthodox or heterodox according to his confession...Since a man cannot, at the same time, hold two differing confessions, he cannot communicate in two churches of differing confessions. If anyone does this nevertheless, he denies his own confession or has none at all." (Eucharist and Church Fellowship in the First Four Centuries, Werner Elert)

"The main purpose of the Holy Sacrament is to be a tool and a means through which the promises of grace are offered, communicated, and appropriated, as with a seal, guarantee, and pledge through which these promises are confirmed. However, within this major purpose, as a secondary goal, the Sacrament is to be a distinguishing sign of confession and a bond of fellowship in worship. Therefore Communion fellowship is church fellowship. Holy Communion was not instituted to make people Christians. It was instituted to strengthen the faith of those who are already Christians. Therefore Communion should be administered to no one who has been revealed as a false Christian. In Holy Communion, the body and blood of Christ is actually present, distributed, and received by every communicant. Therefore Communion cannot be administered to anyone who does not confess a belief in this mystery without grievous sin. Holy Communion is a mark of confession of faith and doctrine among those who celebrate together. Therefore the admission of members of fellowships which believe differently to the celebration of communion within the Lutheran Church is in conflict with: Christ's institution; the commanded unity of the church in faith and accordingly in confession; 3. Our love for those to whom the Sacrament is administered; our love for our own fellow believers, especially the weak who by this action would be given serious offense; the command not to become participants in the sins and errors of others...The more unionism and syncretism is the sin and corruption of our time, the more the loyalty of the orthodox church now demands that the Lord's Supper not be misused as a means of external union without internal unity of faith." (Theses on Communion Fellowship With The Heterodox, C.F.W. Walther, 1871. Translated by Laurence L. White)

"The ancient church practiced closed communion in dramatic fashion. Before the Sacrament was celebrated, heretics, catechumens, and those not in fellowship with the church, those who were mentally incompetent, and those under church discipline were dismissed from the sanctuary. The doors were closed, and then, and only then, the sacrament was celebrated. The call went out to the faithful, `The holy things for the holy ones!'. The early church understood the implication of altar fellowship. It unites. It is a bond of mutual fellowship in the teaching of the apostles. Hence, there could and can be no `open communion'. There is but one confession and not any other. Hence, the sacrament is closed to those who do not share in this confession...Francis Pieper, the Missouri Synod's leading dogmatician, wrote in 1920: `Auch die apostolische Kirche praktizierte nicht `open' sondern `closed' communion.'" (Paul T. McCain, Communion Fellowship, Waverly, Iowa: 1992. Used By Permission)

1. Do you believe that you are a sinner?
Yes, I believe it. I am a sinner.

2. How do you know this?
I know this from the Ten Commandments, which I have not kept.

3. Are you sorry for your sins?
Yes, I am sorry that I have sinned against God.

4. What have you deserved from God because of your sins?
I deserve his wrath and displeasure, temporal death, and eternal damnation.

5. Do you hope to be saved?
Yes, such is my hope.

6. In whom then do you trust?
I trust in my dear Lord Jesus Christ.

7. Who is Christ?
Jesus Christ is the Son of God, true God and man.

8. How many Gods are there?
There is only one God; but there are three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

9. What has Christ done for you that you trust in Him?
He died for me and shed His blood for me on the cross for the forgiveness of sins.

10. Did the Father also die for you?
He did not; for the Father is God only, the Holy Spirit likewise. But the Son is true God and true man. He died for me and shed His blood for me.

11. How do you know this?
I know this from the holy Gospel, from the words instituting the Sacrament, and by His body and blood given me as a pledge in the Sacrament.

12. What are the words of institution?
Our Lord Jesus Christ, on the night when He was betrayed, took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it and gave it to His disciples and said: "Take eat; this is my body, which is given for you. This do in remembrance of me."
In the same way also He took the cup after supper, and when He had given thanks, He gave it to them, saying: "Drink of it, all of you; this cup is the new testament in My blood, which is shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me."

13. Do you believe, then, that the true body and blood of Christ are in the Sacrament?
Yes, I believe it.

14. What convinces you to believe this?
I am convinced to believe this by the Word of Christ: Take, eat, this is My body; drink of it, all of you, this is My blood.

15. What does Christ want you to do when you eat His body and drink His blood in the Lord's Supper?
Christ's wants me to remember and proclaim His death and the shedding of His blood, as He taught me; "Do this whenever you drink it in remembrance of Me."

16. Why does Christ want you to remember and proclaim His death?
First, so that I may learn to believe that no creature could make satisfaction for my sins. Only Christ, true God and true man, could do that. Second, so I may learn to be horrified by my sins, and regard them as very serious. Third, so that I may find joy and comfort in Christ alone, and through faith in Him be saved.

17. What moved Christ to die and make complete payment for your sins?
Christ was moved to do this by His great love for His Father and for me and other sinners, as it is written in John 14; Romans 5; Galatians 2; and Ephesians 5.

18. Finally, why do you wish to go to the Sacrament?
I desire to do this that I may learn to believe that Christ, out of great love, died for my sin, and also learn from Him to love God and my neighbor.

19. What should admonish and encourage a Christian to receive the Sacrament frequently?
First, both the command and the promise of Christ, the Lord. Also the burden of sin which lies heavy upon me and causes me to feel a hunger and thirst for Holy Communion.

20. But what should a person do if he is not aware of the burden of sin and does not feel hunger and thirst for Holy Communion?
To such a person no better advice can be given than this: that in the first place, he should put his hand on his chest and see whether he still has flesh and blood. Then he should believe what the Scriptures say of it in Galatians 5 and Romans 7.

Secondly, he should look around to see whether he is still in the world, and remember that there will be no lack of sin and trouble, as the Scriptures say in John 15-16 and in 1 John 2 and 5.

Thirdly, he will certainly also have the devil around him, who with his lying and murdering day and night will let him have no peace, within or without, as the Scriptures picture him in John 8 and 16; 1 Peter 5; Ephesians 6; and 2 Timothy 2.