Biblical Support for Sacraments being a vehicle of grace

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As I noted in the Faith+Sacraments thread, a major difference between most evangelical (non-Catholic/Orthodox) teachings and the Catholic teachings are the difference in belief of what the Sacraments are and their purpose.

When I first came here one of the first things that really threw me for a loop was the phrase that Sacraments are a vehicle of grace.

What are the Biblical passages that support that we actually receive grace from the Sacraments? In other words, if I were to be really snarky and say “Prove it from the Scriptures” how would you?
 
Which one? Some Sacraments are merely mentioned in a cursory sort of way, assuming the reader to already be a part of the Church and understand what is being said (indeed, to read, one had to be learned and presumably somewhat of a leader in the local church, even just to read aloud to the congregation. Literacy was rare.) Others are more explicitly taught.
 
Well, what is your definition of ‘sacrament’ in contrast with how the Catholic/Orthodox defines it?

Also, how do you define ‘grace’, generally and more specifically?

I only ask because I would suggest that before anyone throws Sacred Scripture at you, you must understand what a Sacrament and grace are and how they relate to each other.
 
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AugustTherese said:
Also, how do you define ‘grace’, generally and more specifically?
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Grace is the unmerited favor of God. I guess I’m looking for how the Sacraments being a vehicle of grace relates to our salvation and what the bible says about how we receive “saving grace”. Whether, as initial salvation or ongoing salvation.
 
lanman87 said:
When I first came here one of the first things that really threw me for a loop was the phrase that Sacraments are a vehicle of grace.
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Let’s look at this logically first, ok? There are things that Christ commanded us to do:
  • baptize in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit
  • do this (celebrate the Eucharist) in memory of me
  • forgive those and I will forgive them
If these things are not ‘vehicles of grace’, then what are they? What would it say about Christ if He commands us to do things that have no effect? More to the point, these things are actions that are reserved to God (baptism “for the remission of sins”; confecting Christ’s body and blood in the Eucharist; forgiveness of sins in the sacrament of Reconciliation). If Christ commands us to do them, but they do not have any effect… then we’re saying something really bad about Christ: he’s promising us divine effects for human actions, and not making good on those promises!

Therefore, either these things do accomplish what they promise… or else Christ is a liar and deceiver!
 
Unless you eat my body and drink my blood you shall not have life in you
 
No one mentioned James 5:14

Is any man sick among you? Let him bring in the priests of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith shall save the sick man: and the Lord shall raise him up: and if he be in sins, they shall be forgiven him.
 
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lanman87 said:
As I noted in the Faith+Sacraments thread, a major difference between most evangelical (non-Catholic/Orthodox) teachings and the Catholic teachings are the difference in belief of what the Sacraments are and their purpose.

When I first came here one of the first things that really threw me for a loop was the phrase that Sacraments are a vehicle of grace.

What are the Biblical passages that support that we actually receive grace from the Sacraments? In other words, if I were to be really snarky and say “Prove it from the Scriptures” how would you?
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Definition of grace
1 a : unmerited divine assistance given humans for their regeneration or sanctification
b : a virtue coming from God
c : a state of sanctification enjoyed through divine assistance
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When we merit anything in the Catholic Church it is NOT strict merit, saying I did this____ now God, you owe me. It’s conduit merit…meaning we simply cooperate with the grace of God. He gets the glory and the credit/honor. I think non Catholic Christians typically misunderstand what the RCC means when the word merit is tossed around.

So, when the scriptures say get baptized for the remission of sins (Acts 2:38), we do it and grace, being touched by God, actually occurs. I think non Catholics typically read Matthew 3:16 and think hey, manifestation of the Trinity…and that is true, but it’s also a demonstration of what actually happens to us when we as Christians follow Christ’s commands. We get touched by God. That’s all sacraments are…God reaching down and touching us through these pipelines that he has established for our benefit.

Think about how most of Christianity’s existence had most of our adherents who were illiterate. For many hundreds of years Christians were fed by both Word(hearing) and Sacrament.

Acts 2:42New International Version (NIV)
__
42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

Luke 24:30-31New International Version (NIV)
30 When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight.

And according to Ignatius of Antioch, apprentice of the apostle John, The Eucharist is the medicine of immortality:

so that you obey the bishop and the presbytery with an undivided mind, breaking one and the same bread, which is the medicine of immortality, and the antidote to prevent us from dying, but [which causes] that we should live for ever in Jesus Christ.

http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0104.htm

So if the Church somehow got these things wrong, she must have been derailed right away.

The Lord be with you.
 
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I think that is a good and fair question - to enquire the Biblical basis for Sacraments. Just to recap from the other thread, from the Catholic point of view, indeed Sacraments are graces. One can explain more deeply about that.

Thus it is said that Sacraments are outward signs of inward grace. I think that also have been explained efficiently in the other thread.

To begin with, there are seven Sacraments:

Baptism
Confirmation
Eucharist
Penance (Confession/Reconciliation)
Extreme Unction (Anointing of the Sick)
Holy Order
Matrimony

Each has specific function and may be different from the others. In other word, they are not the same vis-a-vis their functions and characteristic.

There are some good websites, which explain their Biblical foundation - and that would be probably the contention with different Christians, as it would involve the interpretation of the Bible.

I leave it here and let others to give you the Bible background of the Sacraments that you want.

God bless.
 
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P/S - The Catechism of the Catholic Church also is very informative on the explanation (with all the Biblical support as well) and the belief in Sacraments.
 
lanman87 said:
As I noted in the Faith+Sacraments thread, a major difference between most evangelical (non-Catholic/Orthodox) teachings and the Catholic teachings are the difference in belief of what the Sacraments are and their purpose.
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Ok.
When I first came here one of the first things that really threw me for a loop was the phrase that Sacraments are a vehicle of grace.
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Ok.
What are the Biblical passages that support that we actually receive grace from the Sacraments? In other words, if I were to be really snarky and say “Prove it from the Scriptures” how would you?
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Titus 3:5 comes to mind right away.
So does Eph 2:8.

But in order to understand those Sacramentally, you have to first know the Catholic Teaching upon which those Sacramental statements are based.

Let me explain.

We are saved by grace through faith, means that God pours out His grace upon those who make a statement of their belief that He is good. And this happens in the Sacrament of Baptism.

You first have to come to grips with the question of which came first, the New Testament Scriptures or the Sacraments.

Let me ask you, what came first, NT Scripture or Baptism?
 
lanman87 said:
Any or all. If I were to say that Sacraments aren’t a vehicle of grace, how would you defend it from scripture?
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I would say that not everything we believe, is in Scripture. Not even you.

For example, who wrote the Gospel of Mark? You actually know this from Catholic Tradition. Not from Scripture. There are many things you assume are from Scripture alone, but are not.

Only St. Luke identifies himself as the author of the Gospel according to St. Luke.

The inspiration of the 66 books in the Protestant Bible.

An index of books in the Bible.

But, I would go on to say, that all Catholic Doctrine is either explicitly taught in Scripture or it is implied.

Thus, when St. Ananias tells St. Paul to wash away his sins in Baptism, what is it that he washes with, if not the grace of the Holy Spirit which St. Peter says we receive in Baptism.
 
That the sacraments relate to our salvation and are “vehicles of grace” in this sense is certainly clear from Scripture. Let’s deal with three primary sacraments in order to express this:
  1. Baptism. In 1 Peter, the Apostle explicitly says that Baptism “now saves you,” while comparing Baptism to the flood of Noah. When Jesus meets with Nicodemus in John’s Gospel, Christ tells him that one must be born of water and spirit in order to have new life (“born again”). The context indicates “water and spirit” refers to Baptism. Moreover, the early church fathers were unanimous in their interpretation that being “born again of water and spirit” truly refers to water Baptism. Paul tells us that we die and rise with Christ in Baptism. On Pentecost, Peter tells the gathered crowd to be baptized for the forgiveness of sins.
  2. The Eucharist. In John 6, Christ says that he who eats his body and drinks his blood has life and abides in him. John 6 is clearly Eucharistic. In fact, the Gospel of John does not record the institution of the Eucharist (the Last Supper): The author is aware that his audience knows of this already. But John 6 seems to be a further spiritual explanation of the Eucharist. Ignatius of Antioch, who is associated with the Apostle John, was clear in ~AD 107 that the Eucharist is the “same flesh” of Christ that suffered and died on the cross. Also, Paul tells us that the bread and cup are a real “participation” or “sharing” in the body and blood of Christ. By consuming the Eucharist, we are made participants of Christ’s saving death.
  3. Confession. The sacrament of Penance or Confession does not involve a single rite: It’s based in the general authority given by Christ to the Apostles to forgive sin (see John 20), and this has been expressed in various ways over the centuries. Regardless, the Apostles saw themselves as Christ’s “ambassadors” of the “ministry of reconciliation,” as Paul says, forgiving in the name of Christ. That this was passed on to the other legitimate leaders of the church, the bishops and presbyters (from which we get the English “priest,”) is clear from passages like James 5, which shows that the presbyters are the ones who anoint and preside in the context of reconciliation.
Much more could be said. I left out plenty of texts about Baptism, but I cannot remember the exact citations. If you search on Catholic Answers homepage (not the forums), you will find several tracts and articles dealing with these topics. Look up “grace” or “salvation” or “Baptism” and so on.

But there is still another angle in which to deal with your question. We still need to clarify the scriptural (and Catholic) understanding of grace. Like you say, it is God’s unmerited favor in one respect. But Catholic terminology uses the term “sanctifying grace” to express the reality of what happens to the soul when God transforms the individual through faith – or indeed through the sacraments. The person is renewed and transformed inwardly, whereby the Spirit dwells within us and we receive a new life of faith and hope and love. This life grows in us through the sacraments.
 
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De_Maria said:
Let me ask you, what came first, NT Scripture or Baptism?
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There is no doubt that all the sacraments came before the scriptures and the scriptures give examples of the sacraments. That is not the question. The question is do the sacraments materially contribute to our salvation/justification and where in Scripture does this belief come from?
 
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Well for starters, the Church was centered around the sacraments of Baptism and Eucharist as vehicles of God’s grace for almost two centuries before the Sacred Scripture of the Bible was even compiled and approved by said Church. As commanded by Christ. This is witnessed by essentially all accounts from the Early Church Fathers, again, the same folks that later brought you your Bible. My question to you is why do you accept the Bible as Sacred Scripture if you don’t accept the Sacraments? You are the one rejecting the source for both, which is identical.
 
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FollowChrist34 said:
My question to you is why do you accept the Bible as Sacred Scripture if you don’t accept the Sacraments? You are the one rejecting the source for both, which is identical.
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Yes, but was the sacraments in the first 2 Centuries viewed the same way, as actually working toward justification/salvation, as they are today?

Are the sacraments being part of justification something taught by the Christ and the Apostles or is it something developed over time by theological speculation of the early church fathers and medieval theologians?

If the Bible is Scripture, as both Catholic and Protestant say it is, then it should be easy to show from the Scripture that the Sacraments were not only practiced by and taught by the Apostles and 1st Century Christians but they believed the Sacraments contributed to their Justification before God.
 
Yes, but was the sacraments in the first 2 Centuries viewed the same way, as actually working toward justification/salvation, as they are today?
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Yes, exactly. This cannot change. The sacraments convey grace, Christ himself, to the believer. They were the essence of the faith, as instituted by Christ at the Last Supper (Eucharist). I don’t think the idea was that this would change. ‘And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body.’ How do you know this is not to be taken literally? The theological speculation here is coming from the Evangelicals - who are speculating centuries and centuries later. It is a rejection of the teaching of Christ, the Word of God.
 
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De_Maria said:
We are saved by grace through faith, means that God pours out His grace upon those who make a statement of their belief that He is good. And this happens in the Sacrament of Baptism.
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I’ll admit that I have a problem with this. Mainly because it is ascribing baptism to equal faith. I believe that faith isn’t a statement of belief or but a change in heart given by God. It is that change of heart/trust in Christ by which we are saved. No priest or pastor can change someone’s heart simply by pouring water on them. Baptism without a change in heart and trusting in Christ just gets someone wet. Even 1 Peter 3:21 says Baptism doesn’t save you by the removal of dirt (being cleaned by the water) but by the appeal of a good conscious toward God (what is in your Heart).
 
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