40. How many sacraments are there?
Two sacraments are ordained by Christ our Lord; namely, baptism and the Lord’s Supper.
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The historical context for this question and answer is the Protestant Reformers’ criticism of the growth of the number of sacraments to seven in the Roman Catholic Church. In addition to baptism and the Lord’s Supper, these included confirmation, penance, anointing of the sick, matrimony, and ordination. Each of these has strong scriptural precedent, but the Reformers believed only the two sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper to be grounded in explicit commands from Jesus. In the Great Commission, Jesus orders his disciples both to baptize and to teach in connection with raising up new disciples for him (Matt. 28:19–20). On the night before his suffering and death, Jesus not only gave bread and wine to his disciples as symbols of his giving his body and his blood over to death for their sakes, he commanded them to continue to take bread and wine “in remembrance of me” (Luke 22:19; 1 Cor. 11:24–25).
Like our Anglican forebears, Methodists continue to observe the other five in some form. We set apart people specially called to the Lord’s service in ordination. We confirm and lay hands upon youth who are making the baptismal confession and pledge their own. We confess our sins and hear the words of absolution from the pastor in our services of the Lord’s Supper and pray for one another to be fully delivered from sin in our band meetings, and so forth. But we only consider baptism and the Lord’s Supper to have the special, reliable quality that inheres in sacraments. It is also essential that these sacraments be performed in line with Jesus’s commands. Baptism is always to be done in the name of the triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Lord’s Supper is always to be accompanied by the words spoken by Jesus over the bread and the cup. This is not because these words are magical formulas; rather, it is because these words point to the promises that the water, bread, and cup help us to grasp, to trust, and to receive.
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“Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit.” (John 3:5 NIV)
“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matt. 28:19–20)
For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. (1 Cor. 11:23–26)
See also 2 Kings 5:14; Isa. 44:3; Ezek. 36:25–27; Matt. 26:26–28; Mark 14:22–24; 28:19; Luke 22:19–20; John 3:5; 6:53–58; Acts 22:16; CoF VI
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This is an excerpt from Christian Faith and Doctrine: An Annotated Catechism for the Global Methodist Church. Seedbed is pleased to partner with The Global Methodist Church to offer this companion resource to A Catechism of Christian Faith and Doctrine for the Global Methodist Church.
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