Grace and Sacraments
I have been asked to write something about grace and the Sacraments, and specifically to contrast the sacramental theology of traditional Christianity with the non-sacramental theology of more modern Christian thought.
First, let me explain the basics of what Sacraments are and how they work. Here is a definition: A Sacrament is an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace, instituted by Christ within the Church. Write that down and memorize it. It is the standard definition of sacrament that every Christian ought to know by heart. The dependent clause, "…instituted by Christ within the Church" simply narrows down which signs of grace we mean to include in our definition. Each of the seven events which are called sacraments were instituted directly by Christ, for example, Communion, or by the early apostolic Church with reference included in Scripture, for example, marriage; and they specifically occur within the Church as public events, as opposed to private prayer. The main part of the definition tells us some essential things about God's grace and the way he has chosen to work among Christians.
Another definition of sacrament begins with the daunting words "an efficacious complexus of sensible signs…." I would give you that whole definition and tell you to memorize it, too, but I want you to keep reading. The reason I mentioned it in the first place is the word "efficacious." That means that sacraments actually do something. It is vital in understanding sacramental theology to keep in mind that sacraments actually accomplish something. And what is it they accomplish? They convey the grace mentioned in the first definition.
Quickly, let's take a moment to look at one of the most common words in the Christian vocabulary: grace. What is it? Well, one common definition is "God's unearned favor" or something similar. While this is true it is not adequate. It does not define grace but simply describes our relationship to it: we don't deserve it. What grace actually is is the uncreated energy of God himself as experienced by his creation. When we "receive grace" it is the energy of God himself that we are touching and being filled by.
So what does it mean to say that a sacrament is something which effectively conveys grace? It means that the sacraments are not merely excuses for us to think deep thoughts about God's love or Jesus' death or our own commitments. Although they absolutely demand a response from us (faith, repentance, conversion, love, etc.), they are not defined in terms of our response, but God's grace.
Read that last paragraph again.
The sacraments, as understood in traditional Christian theology, actually are vehicles of the grace they symbolize. They are not dependent mainly on the holiness of the minister or the worthiness of the recipient, but on God himself who is the chief actor in each of them. This is why we baptize infants, because it is not the person's ability to choose a commitment to God that matters, but God's ability to choose a commitment to the person. This is why we are so careful of the crumbs of the communion bread, because it is not just our faith when eating it that makes it for us the Body of Christ, but the Holy Spirit himself who fills the bread and wine, transfiguring them, and who thereby enters us transfiguring us into the image of him whose Body and Blood we have consumed. This is why a priest is a priest no matter how bad a priest he may be, because his priesthood does not depend on his own ability or righteousness, but on what God has done in him at his ordination.
Besides the fact that this is simply true, why does the Church insist so firmly on the reality of God's involvement in the sacraments? Well, like everything else in traditional Christian theology, it all relates to salvation, and whether the message of salvation as proclaimed by the Gospel really works. Fiddle too much with any part of the whole system, knock out the underlying assumptions that support any of it, and the integrity of the Good News falls apart completely.
For instance, there are some who seem offended by the idea that God would actually resort to using material things to convey grace. His contact with us, they say, is far too spiritual for that -- he works in our thoughts and spirit, and the best that a "sacrament" can do is spur us on to remembrance or commitment, all purely "spiritual" and intellectual events. But the cornerstone of the Christian hope is not a God who refuses to touch stuff, who treats us like spiritual angels, but a God who, in the second person of the Trinity, took to himself a real physical body and got his actual feet truly dirty on a hot and dusty Judean road, and who shed honest-to-human blood amid all-too-physical agony. God uses matter, things, to connect with us material humans. Make God too "spiritual" to work through bread and wine, "spiritualize" the sacraments to such an extent that only our interior thoughts matter, and not the physical elements themselves, and where does that leave Jesus? What does that say then about the reality of the salvation he offers?
The Christian Gospel is based on the belief that it is God who acts first for our salvation, having sent his Son to us while we were yet sinners. Our hope for grace is that it is the gift itself that makes us able to desire that grace and understand it. This is the basis of our belief that salvation is by grace not works.
The same God who really gave us his Incarnate Word, not just an intellectual written word, is the same God who really gives us his uncreated energy (grace) in the sacraments. It is the same God, and he acts in the same manner in both cases. He did not abandon us to thinking deep thoughts while reading the Bible, and he does not abandon us to thinking deep thoughts while eating a meaningless piece of bread and drinking a purely symbolic sip of grape juice. He sent us first his very Self incarnate in Jesus of Nazareth, and he gives us his very Self in the sacraments. In response to each we answer him with faith, commitment, meditation, charity; but the first move is always his.
If we remove the actual objective grace of God from the sacraments, where does that leave Jesus Christ, and what does that make of our salvation? Where does it leave us? It leaves us trying to be good enough, or deep enough, or committed enough, to earn God's favor. It leaves us with a salvation-by-works mentality, and the whole structure of Christian theology falls apart. Our hope for salvation by God's own grace is all of one piece with the traditional understanding of the sacraments.
