Forgot to come back to this, Pork. Good point. I think it is the position of Orthodoxy that sacraments aren’t particularly numbered, but I may be wrong.
=Porknpie;10725222]If the EO and CC split is an issue, then lets go back to 1,000 ad and look at the one faith, One Church before the split. The One Church before the split believed in:
Baptism…is a sacrament
Confirmation…is a sacrament
The Eucharist…is a sacrament
Marraige…is a sacrament
Penance…is a sacrament
Annointing of the sick…is a sacrament
Holy Orders … Is a sacrament
Called a sacrament or not, Lutheranism has all of these. We might disagree on how they are performed or done, but Lutherans have them.
The traditional definition of a sacrament is this: “A sacrament is a visible sign, instituted by Christ, to give grace.” Within this definition there are three important statements:
A visible sign
An action is performed by a minister (usually a priest).
For example, when a baby is baptized in the church the priest pours
water over its head and at the same time says the words “I baptize
you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”
That is a visible sign.
Instituted by Christ
The Lord Jesus Christ instructed His church to offer the seven
sacraments to His followers. For example, His directive to His
disciples in Matthew’s Gospel (28/19), “Go then, to all peoples
everywhere and make them my disciples; baptize them in the name
of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit and teach them to obey
everything I have commanded you.”
To give grace
Grace is God’s free gift of Himself as the controlling influence in
our life and the decisions we make once we have committed ourselves
to Him in faith.
From the Apology of the Augsburg Confession:
Article XIII. (VII): Of the Number and Use of the Sacraments.
1] In the Thirteenth Article the adversaries approve our statement that the Sacraments are not only marks of profession among men, as some imagine, but that they are rather signs and testimonies of God’s will toward us, through which God moves 2] hearts to believe [are not mere signs whereby men may recognize each other, as the watchword in war, livery, etc., but are efficacious signs and sure testimonies, etc.]. But here they bid us also count seven sacraments.
We hold that it should be maintained that the matters and ceremonies instituted in the Scriptures, whatever the number, be not neglected. Neither do we believe it to be of any consequence, though, for the purpose of teaching, different people reckon differently, provided they still preserve aright the matters handed down in Scripture. Neither have the ancients reckoned in the same manner. [But concerning this number of seven sacraments, the fact is that the Fathers have not been uniform in their enumeration; thus also these seven ceremonies are not equally necessary.]
3]** If we call Sacraments rites which have the command of God, and to which the promise of grace has been added,** it is easy to decide what are properly Sacraments. For rites instituted by men will not in this way be Sacraments properly so called. For it does not belong to human authority to promise grace. Therefore signs instituted without God’s command are not sure signs of grace, even though they perhaps instruct the rude [children or the uncultivated], or admonish as to something [as a painted cross]. 4]
Therefore Baptism, the Lord’s Supper, and Absolution, which is the Sacrament of Repentance, are truly Sacraments. For these rites have God’s command and the promise of grace, which is peculiar to the New Testament. For when we are baptized, when we eat the Lord’s body, when we are absolved, our hearts must be firmly assured that God truly forgives us 5] for Christ’s sake. And God, at the same time, by the Word and by the rite, moves hearts to believe and conceive faith, just as Paul says, Rom. 10:17: Faith cometh by hearing. But just as the Word enters the ear in order to strike our heart, so the rite itself strikes the eye, in order to move the heart. The effect of the Word and of the rite is the same, as it has been well said by Augustine that a Sacrament is a visible word, because the rite is received by the eyes, and is, as it were, a picture of the Word, signifying the same thing as the Word. Therefore the effect of both is the same.
It’s clear that the One Faith, passed on through the ages believed in the 7 sacraments. Why would one attend a Church today that did not believe in the 7 sacraments instituted by Christ?
I don’t think the numbering of sacraments is necessarily Church-dividing for most Lutherans.
Jon
