How Do the Sacraments Become Effectual Means of Salvation?

A. The sacraments become effectual means of salvation, not

from any virtue in them, or in him that doth administer them;

but only by the blessing of Christ,6 and the working of his Spirit

in them that by faith receive them.f

0 i Pet. iii. 21: The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us, (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Matt. iii. n: I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire, i Cor. iii. 6: I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. Ver. 7: So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.

f i Cor. xii. 13: For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.

effectual means of salvation — For effectual see Answer 31. What is a mean of salvation? A mean of salvation signifies any appointment of God, whereby He promotes and accomplishes His design of saving our souls; so the word is a mean, Rom. i. 16. What is meant by an effectual mean of salvation? By an effectual mean is meant such a mean as fully obtains and accomplishes the end it was appointed for, I Thess. ii. 13 (Flavel).

not from any virtue in them — “Not from any power in themselves” (Larger Catechism). “Virtue, Lat. Virtus, -tttis (from vir, a man), the especial character of a man as opposed to woman; courage, strength, power, merit, worth” (Wedgwood). The word is used in the sense of the text in Mark v. 30. “We must not suppose that there is some latent virtue inherent in the sacraments by which they, in themselves, confer the gifts of the Holy Spirit upon us, since the only office divinely assigned them is to attest and ratify the benevolence of the Lord toward us” (Calvin). “The Romish doctrine upon this subject is, that the sacraments contain the grace which they signify; that they confer grace always and certainly, where men do not put an obstacle in the way; and that they do this ex opere operato, or by some sort of physical or intrinsic power bestowed upon them, apart from the state of mind of the recipients; that baptism is the instrumental cause of justification as including both remission of sins and regeneration; and that the Lord’s Supper invariably conveys spiritual nourishment” (Cunningham, Reformers, Essay v., Zwingle and the Doctrine of the Sacraments. A fine example of Cunningham’s learning, clearness, and strength). The student will see from the above extracts why this Answer is constructed on the polemical form in which it stands; first negative and then positive.

or in him that doth administer them — “Or any virtue derived from the piety or intention of him by whom they are administered” (Larger Catechism). “A sacrament is not to be estimated by the hand of him by whom it is administered, but is to be received as from the hand of God Himself, from whom it undoubtedly proceeded; its dignity neither gains nor loses by the administrator.”

only by the blessing of Christ, and the working of his Spirit — “The sacraments duly perform their office only when accompanied by the Spirit, the internal Master, whose energy alone penetrates the heart, stirs up the affections, and procures access for the sacraments into our souls. If He is wanting, the sacraments can avail us no more than the sun shining on the eye balls of the blind, or sounds uttered in the ears of the deaf” (Calvin). “All the scales in the warld will not worke, except the Spirit of God concurre, and scale the same truth in your hearts quhilk the sacrament scales outwardlie. Except He mak cleare the sight of thy mind inwardlie, and worke a feeling in thy hart, baith word and sacrament sail tine their fruit and effect quhilk they suld have. All the Scriptures are full of this” (Robert Brace’s Sermons, 1589).