Theology of the Church, Mentor's Guide, MG03

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T H E O L O G Y O F T H E C H U R C H

It has been said that sacraments are like the signature on a check. They are not the same thing as the actual money in the bank or the desire of the person who writes it to see you provided for but they do make those things visible. The signature by itself would be worthless but it serves as a visible sign of what the person is providing and thus is very valuable. Likewise, a sacrament has no value in itself but has great value as the visible sign of God’s promise.

10 Page 49 Outline Point II-B

The Catholic Church recognizes seven sacraments: baptism, the Lord’s Supper, confirmation, penance, holy orders (ordination), matrimony, and extreme unction (anointing of the seriously ill) in addition to many smaller acts called “sacramentals” (such as “the sign of the cross) which are also believed to confer grace.

11 Page 50 Outline Point II-B-2

Some Pentecostal, Mennonite, and a few Baptist groups also practice foot washing as an additional ordinance (cf. John 13.14) in addition to baptism and the Lord’s Supper.

12 Page 50 Outline Point II-C-1

The common analogy would be that baptism in the New Testament doesn’t automatically save a person any more than being circumcised in the Old Testament automatically saved a person. It was possible to be physically circumcised and yet choose to live as an idolatrous and unbelieving Jew. Circumcision was the sign of the Old Covenant and baptism is the sign of the new. They are both intended to show that a person is genuinely a part of God’s chosen people but one must not make the mistake of assuming that baptism automatically makes a person a Christian. This is equally true whether one sees baptism as a sacrament or as an ordinance.

13 Page 51 Outline Point III-A-2

In this sense, being baptized is no more optional than it was optional for the Hebrew people to decline eating the Passover and putting the blood on the doorpost. To disobey the command of God was to disassociate oneself from the

14 Page 53 Outline Point III-C