38. What are the sacraments?
The sacraments are symbols and pledges of the Christian’s profession and of God’s love toward us.
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We know that baptism and the Lord’s Supper are special—that God does something in the lives of those who are baptized and in all of us as we participate in the Lord’s Supper together. One reason that these particular rites have such unmistakable spiritual power is that Jesus himself commanded his followers to continue both practices. In the Great Commission, Jesus prescribes baptism as part of the process of becoming a disciple of his (Matt. 28:19–20). It is an unmistakable rite of passage, an act that marks a transition from a state of not being particularly associated with Jesus to a state of being unmistakably associated with him. Jesus’s apostles themselves had a great deal to say about the spiritual power of baptism and the significance of this transition (see Rom. 6:1–14; Gal. 3:26–29; 1 Peter 3:21). Words of promise are joined to the substance of water, and the palpable and visible action of the water on the body makes it easier for us, embodied beings that we are, to grasp and receive the promise as well.
Similarly, on the night before his suffering and death, Jesus commanded his followers to take ordinary bread and wine and to join to it the remembrance of his offering of his body and his blood for our sakes (Matt. 26:26–28; Mark 14:22–24; Luke 22:19–20; 1 Cor. 11:23–25). And while Jesus is remembered to have uttered the words in John 6:53–58 in the context of the feeding of the five thousand, this passage has consistently been understood to express the spiritual power of participating in the Lord’s Supper as a means by which to invite Christ more fully into ourselves and to join ourselves more fully to Christ—to experience (and to yield ourselves to!) his living in and through us more completely. Again, ingesting the physical substances of bread and wine makes it easier for us also to internalize the spiritual promises attached to them—here, the promise of the Holy Spirit bringing Christ himself to life within us.
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In him also you were circumcised with a spiritual circumcision, by putting off the body of the flesh in the circumcision of Christ; when you were buried with him in baptism, you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. (Col. 2:11–12)
While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.”
Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” (Matt. 26:26–28 NIV)
Whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. (1 Cor. 11:26 NIV)
See also Mark 14:22–24; Luke 22:19–20; John 6:53–59; Acts 2:38; Gal. 3:27; 1 Cor. 10:15–17; 11:23–25; 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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