rmwilliamsjr
March 5th 2004, 02:55 AM
What are the ordinances of the church of God and the Bible basis for them? Do they differ from the Sacramentalism of Roman Catholicism?
i've asked the question but in the terms of what are the means of Grace.
here is my current short answer:
from:
http://www.livejournal.com/users/rmwilliamsjr/103231.html
work on answering the question:
what are the 'means of grace.' First, find the origin of the term and what is most frequently included as a means of grace. Some say its just the sacraments, others say it includes the sacraments, the Word of God, and Prayer. Others yet include fellowship. Look at the underlying theology, what is big point?
there seems to be this interesting cascade. First God reveals Himself in the Creation through the divine word-'let there be light'. Then in His relationship with Israel as documentated in the Bible. Here the Word of God becomes 'words of men'. Finally the Logos is revealed as Jesus the Christ. Then in our lives communion is the Word-Jesus becoming manifest before our senses. Likewise we experience the Word of Scripture revealed to our ears and minds via the preaching and teaching of the Church.
issues:
making the invisible-->visible
ordinary means vs. supernatural
ordinances vs sacramentalism
the best sites:
MUST READ #2
from: http://www.the-highway.com/supper_Clark.html
As ugly and sub-Christian as it was, the story of the Communion combatants of 1559 reminds us of a time when men took seriously the means of grace, and it presents us with a sharp contrast to our own times. Few evangelical Christians or churches in our time are so devoted to the Supper as to be willing to argue about its proper use, let alone physically struggle for the cup. Why? It is because we have become practically anti-supernatural and simultaneously super-spiritual in our theology, so that we are, on the one hand, bored with God’s ordinary means of grace (the sacraments) and on the other hand have stopped believing that God can and does use those means to accomplish His purposes. That is to say, we are guilty of a sort of unbelief.
We have replaced the sacraments with spiritual exercises of our own making. A survey of virtually any evangelical bookstore finds dozens of books on spirituality, self-denial, church growth, and recovery from various addictions. Some of these contain useful advice; so did some of the medieval handbooks of spiritual direction. But few of them contain the Gospel, and almost none of them make any reference to the use of the Lord’s Supper as a means to Christian growth.2 Even Reformed churches that confess the Supper to be one of the two divinely instituted means of grace (media gratiae) normally serve the Supper only quarterly.
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Who should participate in the Lord’s Supper and how they should do it were two of the most hotly contested questions of the sixteenth-century Reformation. For both Luther and Calvin, the Supper was of critical importance as a means of grace, as a testimony to Christ’s finished work, and as a seal of His work for us. Furthermore, it was a means by which our union and fellowship with the risen Christ and with one another was strengthened and renewed. As much as the Lutherans and Reformed disagreed about the relations of Christ’s humanity to His deity and thus the nature of His presence in the Supper they agreed on one very important truth—in the Supper the living, Triune God meets His people and nourishes them. The question was not whether, but how.
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The modernist theology provoked a crisis and a reaction. Since we could no longer be certain of God’s existence and care for us by the old-fashioned Protestant ways (preaching of the Word and the use of the sacraments), we abandoned them for more direct and immediate means of knowing and experiencing God. This flight to the immediate encounter with God is pietism or mysticism. Pietism is not to be confused with piety. The latter is that grateful devotion to God, His Word, and His people that is at the heart of Christianity. Pietism believes that what is truly important about Christianity is one’s personal experience of Jesus; it is a retreat into the subjective experience of God apart from any concrete, historical factuality. Though pietism is usually said to have begun with Philipp Jakob Spener (1635-1705), its roots were much deeper in the history of Christianity. World flight and the interior turn were the stuff of early medieval asceticism. Withdrawal from the world was a major theme among both Greek and Latin writers in the early church. Augustine (354-430), Tertullian (ca. 160-225), Jerome (ca. 342-420) in the West, as well as Clement of Alexandria (ca. 150-215) and Origen (ca. 185–ca. 254) in the Greek-speaking church, saw world flight as a means to spiritual improvement.
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Despite its internal differences, the modern evangelical movement is united in its quest for a higher and purer direct experience of the Christ of faith. It is not, however engaged in a more profound search for a more biblical understanding of God’s communion with His people through the signs and seals of the covenant.
REPENTANCE AND RESTORATION TO THE MEANS OF GRACE
American evangelicalism is a pietist, experiential religion that is too busy with cell-group meetings to be troubled with the Lord’s Supper At the same time, we have functionally excommunicated ourselves and, to borrow Calvin’s language, robbed ourselves of Christ’s benefits.6 The remedy for the pietist transformation of sixteenth-century Protestant evangelical religion into a religion of private, personal experience is to repent of our unbelief that God does not or cannot use created means to strengthen or edify us as His people. Here is one of the central differences between the religion of the Protestants and pietist-mysticism: Protestantism believes in the use of divinely ordained means. It also seeks to recapture those divinely ordered gospel instruments.
from: http://www.rsglh.org/means_of_grace.htm
I. In order to understand the nature of the means of grace, it will be well to consider the general question first: what are means? And then we reply that means are intermediate agencies through which certain definite ends are attained, certain effects are accomplished. Narrowing down our inquiry to those means which God employs with respect to man, we may define them as created things adapted by God and employed by Him to have certain effects on the existence and life of man. They are agencies through which God works constantly, that is, He always works through them in the same manner, He always produces the same effect by them and He never produces that effect without them, the means and the effect produced through them are by God inseparably united. Thus it is in the natural sphere of life.
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What, then, are means of grace? They are, first of all, created things, things that belong to our world, to the world in which we live, with which we have contact. They, therefore, are adapted to us, they touch us and are able to influence us. We can hear them. We can see them. We can touch them. We can understand them, intellectually apprehend them. We can use them, eat them, drink them. Such, indeed, is the preaching of the Word; and such are the sacraments. The preaching of the Word means that Christ and salvation, which in themselves belong to another world than ours, to the spiritual, heavenly world, now are proclaimed to us in our language, in words we can hear and understand. The water in baptism can touch us, cleanse us physically; the bread and wine in the Lord's Supper we can see, touch, taste, eat and drink. These means are, therefore, created things, taken from the world in which we live and with which we stand in contact.
from: http://www.bpc.org/resources/wsc/wsc_088.html
What are the outward means whereby Christ communicateth to us the benefits of redemption?
A: The outward and ordinary means whereby Christ communicateth to us the benefits of redemption are, his ordinances, especially the word, sacraments, and prayer;1 all of which are made effectual to the elect for salvation.2
fisher's commentary on the WSC at: http://www.crta.org/documents/fisher/q088.html
Q. 5. Does Christ communicate them in a mediate or immediate way?
A. In a mediate way, through the intervention of ordinances, Eph. 4:11-14.
Q. 6. What are the ordinances by which Christ communicates to us the benefits of redemption?
A. They are "prayer and thanksgiving, in the name of Christ; the reading, preaching, and hearing of the word; the administering, and receiving the sacraments; church government and discipline; the ministry and maintenance thereof; religious fasting; swearing by the name of God, and vowing unto him."[107]
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Q. 9. Why is it said, especially the word, sacraments, and prayer?
A. Because, though the other ordinances above mentioned are not to be excluded, as being all of them useful in their own place; yet the word, sacraments, and prayer, are the chief or principal outward means for communicating the benefits of redemption, Acts 2:42.
from: http://www.bpc.org/resources/flavel/wsc_fl_088.html
Q. 6. Why are the ordinances called means of salvation?
A. Because by and through them the Spirit of the Lord conveys spiritual graces into men’s souls; 1 Corinthians 1:21. It pleased God, by the foolishness of p reaching, to save them that believe. 1 Corinthians 3:5. Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man?
MUST READ #1
http://www.modernreformation.org/mr97/mayjun/mr9703mysteries.html
excellent background essay.
It is, therefore, astonishing that so many who go by the name "Reformed" in our day seem to deny, at least in the practical treatment of these Sacraments, the efficacy of these means of grace. As I have attempted to highlight in In The Face of God, the gnosticism (spirit against matter emphasis) of our age seems to pervade evangelical thinking and this has not been without its effect in our own churches. The hidden assumption appears to be that God works immediately and directly, without means, in bringing us to faith and keeping us there. Spirit is set against matter; in this case, the material elements of human preaching, water, bread and wine. The Anabaptistic, pietistic, and then revivalistic strains of evangelicalism eventually triumphed over the Reformation's evangelical stance and to the extent that Reformed churches today follow these general evangelical trends, they lose their Reformed identity.
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We hear quasi-gnostic sentiments even in Reformed circles these days, such as the "real baptism" that is spiritual, as opposed to "merely being sprinkled with water," or the "real communion" with Christ in moments of private devotion. How can we truly affirm the union of earthly and heavenly realities in the Incarnation? Or how can we regard the Word of God as a means of salvation if it is but ink and paper or human speech? A subtle Docetism (the ancient gnostic heresy that denied Christ's true humanity) lurks behind our reticence to see these common earthly elements as signs that are linked to the things they signify. Surely the Sacraments can remind us of grace, help us to appreciate grace, and exhort us to walk in grace, but do they actually give us the grace promised in the Gospel?
interesting sites
http://www.wls.wels.net/library/Essays/Authors/H/HoeneckeMeans/HoeneckeMeans.rtf
very Lutheran, misunderstands the Reformed, but valuable.
http://www.credenda.org/issues/15-1liturgia.php?type=print
an interesting, short essay trying to clarify the phrases "means of grace"
from: http://www.elca.org/dcm/worship/worship/sacraments/umg.html
Jesus Christ is the living and abiding Word of God. By the power of the Spirit, this very Word of God, which is Jesus Christ, is read in the Scriptures, proclaimed in preaching, announced in the forgiveness of sins, eaten and drunk in the Holy Communion, and encountered in the bodily presence of the Christian community. By the power of the Spirit active in Holy Baptism, this Word washes a people to be Christ’s own Body in the world. We have called this gift of Word and Sacrament by the name “the means of grace.” The living heart of all these means is the presence of Jesus Christ through the power of the Spirit as the gift of the Father.
from: http://gbgm-umc.org/umhistory/wesley/sermons/serm-016.stm
But are there any ordinances now, since life and immortality were brought to light by the gospel? Are there, under the Christian dispensation, any means ordained of God, as the usual channels of his grace? This question could never have been proposed in the apostolical church, unless by one who openly avowed himself to be a Heathen; the whole body of Christians being agreed, that Christ had ordained certain outward means, for conveying his grace into the souls of men. Their constant practice set this beyond all dispute; for so long as "all that believed were together, and had all things common" (Acts 2:44), "they continued steadfastly in the teaching of the Apostles, and in the breaking of bread, and in prayers" (Acts 2:42).
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By "means of grace" I understand outward signs, words, or actions, ordained of God, and appointed for this end, to be the ordinary channels whereby he might convey to men, preventing, justifying, or sanctifying grace.
I use this expression, means of grace, because I know none better; and because it has been generally used in the Christian church for many ages; -- in particular by our own Church, which directs us to bless God both for the means of grace, and hope of glory; and teaches us, that a sacrament is "an outward sign of inward grace, and a means whereby we receive the same."
The chief of these means are prayer, whether in secret or with the great congregation; searching the Scriptures (which implies reading, hearing, and meditating thereon); and receiving the Lord's Supper, eating bread and drinking wine in remembrance of Him: And these we believe to be ordained of God, as the ordinary channels of conveying his grace to the souls of men.
from: http://www.thirdmill.org/qath_answer_main.asp/section/qa/subnav/th/file/99733.qna
Finally, it is worth noting that sacraments are means of grace because of the simple fact that they are visual representations of the gospel and of God's covenant. When we see them or participate in them, we remember the truths they represent just as if we had heard them read from Scripture. Hearing and seeing God's Word is a means of grace because it reminds us of the truth and strengthens our faith by that remembrance. It can also be the means the Holy Spirit uses to teach us, to rebuke us, to bring us to repentance, etc. All believers ought to be able to say that the sacraments are means of grace, at least in this sense.
first issue is if prayer is a 'means of grace'? add 'reformed' to searches, scan for topnotch theologians:
from: http://www.mbrem.com/life/warprayer.htm
The passage thus represents prayer as the state of preparedness for the reception of grace; and, therefore, in the strictest sense as a means of grace.(Acts 9:11: --"For behold, he prayeth.")
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That is to say, for us Calvinists the attitude of prayer is the whole attitude of our lives. Certainly this is the true Christian attitude, because it is the attitude of dependence, and trust. But just because this is the attitude of prayer, prayer puts the soul in the attitude for receiving grace and is essentially a means of grace.
i have no problem with letting this sub-issue go with the WSC and Warfield's beautiful essay as collaborative evidence.
seach string:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=%22means+of+grace%22+reformed+prayer&btnG=Google+Search
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=%22means+of+grace%22+modern+reformation&spell=1
apparently strongly anti-Calvinist essay at: http://orlapubs.com/AR/R74.html
but an interesting read, often your opponents have such good insights into your ideas!!
main directory is: http://orlapubs.com/AR/index.html (eastern orthodoxy)
liberal essay from PCUSA: http://www.witherspoonsociety.org/teselle_on_taw.htm
http://www.mtio.com/articles/bissar70.htm (lutheran on hope)
The lutherans seem to have a systematic handle on the ideas. much more developed with them then the rest.
but there is a confusion of 'the means of grace' and with means of grace, for instance: http://www.apostolicchurchqld.org.au/Docs/BookFaith.htm#TMOG
What means has God placed at our disposal? These are the circumstances of life, the experiences, in short, the total life situation in which we find ourselves. Our growth can be furthered by them, or, if we have the wrong attitude, be placed on the wrong track. Furthermore, God has given His church specific means which are of inestimable value. They are present in the Word, in the sacraments, in the gifts of ministry and other spiritual gifts. thus effectively widen the 'means of grace' to all means used to bestow grace.
http://www.warc.ch/where/ugc/report/02.html
http://www.google.com/search?q=%22means+of+grace%22+creation+jesus+logos+word+bible+sacraments&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&start=20&sa=N
pause research to reflect:
It is because we have become practically anti-supernatural and simultaneously super-spiritual in our theology, so that we are, on the one hand, bored with God’s ordinary means of grace (the sacraments) and on the other hand have stopped believing that God can and does use those means to accomplish His purposes.
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Unlike much popular evangelical piety of our time, Calvin did not juxtapose the use of means in the Christian life with direct, unmediated access to God. In Calvin’s day, as in ours, “many” were persuaded out of “pride or loathing or envy” that they could grow spiritually by “privately reading and meditating” on Scripture and thus did not need the ordained means of grace.
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How can the Reformed position be distinguished from Rome, then? For the Reformed, the Sacraments are objective means of grace, but not of infused grace. It is the promise of the Gospel, identical to the proclaimed Word, that is confirmed by the use of the Sacraments. Just as the Gospel proclaimed retains its nature and efficacy whether we believe or not, we do not make the Sacraments effective by our faith, preparation, works, or any other activity. And yet, we must receive Christ in them if we are to profit from them
Try to look at the issue from God's perspective: 1-the issue of mediated, using the creation to communicate with human beings 2-the idea of efficency without the means becoming magical, that is God personally 'monitors' the means of grace, He doesn't simply fill a channel with 'grace' 3-the sacraments, preaching of the word are church mediated as well as mediated through physical things 4-is this simply an issue of accomodation? that is God must accomodate Himself to our frailities?
Try to look at the issue from our viewpoint: 2-direct assess to God but mediated, our physical nature is important, but our spirit nature is deeply involved, for it is only this spiritual nature that 'sees' God behind/beneath the physical things used 2-the idea of neglecting so great a salvation, or how can we expect God to talk to us directly, immediately, without first availing ourselves of His ordinated ends? 3-to obey the commands, puts ourselves in a position to receive the 'means of grace', demonstrates our willingness to accept what God has ordinated as the way. first step of obedience and trust.
In reality, we are an individualistic and self-assured lot. We believe that the Christian life consists chiefly in finding out what needs to be done, and doing it. Inveterate Pelagians by birth, we do our best to climb the spiritual rungs into God's hidden presence, but he has plainly warned us against this strategy. For he has come near to us, through the Incarnate Word, the written, and especially, preached Word, and the visible Word (i.e., the Sacraments)
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How can we truly affirm the union of earthly and heavenly realities in the Incarnation? Or how can we regard the Word of God as a means of salvation if it is but ink and paper or human speech? A subtle Docetism (the ancient gnostic heresy that denied Christ's true humanity) lurks behind our reticence to see these common earthly elements as signs that are linked to the things they signify. Surely the Sacraments can remind us of grace, help us to appreciate grace, and exhort us to walk in grace, but do they actually give us the grace promised in the Gospel?
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Especially important in the Augustinian tradition was the relation between "sign" and "thing signified." Analogous to the relation between Christ's human and divine natures united in one person, the earthly signs of water, bread and wine are united with the things signified: regeneration, forgiveness, and adoption. This "sacramental relation" is central to the Reformed understanding of these passages. It helps us to avoid either a ritualism that places the efficacy in the signs themselves and a spiritualism or rationalism that deprives the signs of their efficacy. So when we read that Baptism is "the remission of sins," we embrace neither baptismal regeneration nor spiritualization. The sign is not the thing signified, but is so united by God's Word and Spirit that the waters of Baptism can be said to be the washing of regeneration and the bread and wine can be said to be the body and blood of Christ. To say that Christ is not in the water, bread and wine is not to say that he is not in the Baptism and the Supper, since both Sacraments consist of signs and things signified
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When we say that someone was converted by hearing a sermon, we are not attributing saving efficacy to language, or ink and paper in their own right. Rather, we are claiming (whether we realize it or not) that God has graciously taken up these human things and, by uniting them to the heavenly treasures, has made them effective himself.
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At the heart of the Reformed doctrine, shared also with the ancient (especially Greek) churches, is the eschatological parallelism between heaven and earth:
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Through these means of grace, says the biblical writer, especially "the good word of God," the members of the visible Church have actually tasted the powers of the age to come. This is the "already" aspect of the kingdom. And yet, it is the age to come in all its fullness when Christ returns physically in glory. "For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face" (1 Cor. 13:12). The Reformed view wants to avoid the tendency to deny the future of this face-to-face encounter, but it also insists that we do see in a mirror, however dimly. That mirror or looking glass in which we see our Redeemer is Word and Sacrament
look into the signs, seals, semiotics of the Word, words, and the connections to the spiritual world and "the world yet to come"
good readable essays:
http://www.hornes.org/theologia/content/rich_lusk/baptismal_efficacy_the_reformed_tradition_past_present_future.htm
http://www.prpc-stl.org/auto_images/1017893223luskbaptismalefficacy.htm
http://www.girs.com/library/theology/syllabus/ecc3.html (short intro)
hope my research can be of some value to you.....
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