Concerning the Mass – part 11

Concerning the Mass – part 11

Lessons in the Lutheran Confessions

Scripture Text: 2 Timothy 2:15Mark 16:16

Series: Lessons in the Lutheran Confessions

Today’s Scripture Jigsaw

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From the Confessions: The Defense of the Augsburg Confession

Theologians rightly distinguish between a Sacrament and a sacrifice. The common genus of both of these is either a ceremony or a sacred work. A Sacrament is a ceremony or work in which God presents us with that which the promise attached to the ceremony offers. Therefore, Baptism is a work — not one that we offer to God, but in which God baptizes us through a minister operating in the place of God. Here God offers and presents the forgiveness of sins according to the promise: “He who believes and is baptized will be saved” (Mark 16:16). A sacrifice, on the contrary, is a ceremony or work that we render to God in order to honor him.

Pulling It Together: Baptism is necessary for salvation. Jesus did not say, Believe and you will be saved. Instead, he adds a work that he does to us through a Sacrament (meaning a sacred thing). This is not a sacrifice or work done by us, but one that God does for us. The work of God is effective because of the promise that he has connected to the ceremony. In the Sacrament of Baptism, both belief and baptism are given to us by God. Even the faith to believe is a gift from God (Ephesians 2:8). The promise attached to God’s work in us — both faith and baptism — is that one is saved. The Sacrament of Baptism “brings about forgiveness of sins, delivers from death and the devil, and gives everlasting salvation to all who believe, as the Word and promise of God declare” (Small Catechism).

Prayer: Help me to hold fast to my faith in you, Lord, by remembering that you baptized me. Amen

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