Word and Sacraments and the Church⤒🔗

For Luther the Word of God is a living, dynamic power, which not only declares, but also imparts sal­vation to man, since it is the means by which the Holy Spirit operates in the human heart. The work of the law is only preparatory; its function is to break down man's pride and rebellion. Properly speaking, the gospel is the only means of grace, for it is "the bridge and way, by which the Holy Spirit comes to us." The Christian theologian, therefore, who speaks of God's forgiveness must set forth two things: "First, how it is obtained and secured; secondly, how it is distributed and imparted to us." The way in which God distributes forgiveness of sins, Luther says, is by the gospel, but also – and here our readers will probably raise their eyebrows – by many other kinds of application of the gospel, whether by preaching or reading, by absolution or by symbolical representation, as when a priest holds the cross before the eyes of a dying person, by baptism or the Lord's Supper, and the like. The gospel is always God's power to salvation, no matter who applies it or how it is applied.

However, we will limit ourselves to what Luther says about the importance of the sacraments as means of grace. His best treatment of this subject is found in his Small Catechism

Holy Baptism←⤒🔗

According to Luther, "Baptism is a means of grace because God has connected the water used in this sacrament with His Word of promise." The command to baptize is given in Matthew 28:19-20; the gospel promise connected with baptism is recorded in Mark 16:15-16. By virtue of the divine gospel promise "he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." Baptism "works forgiveness of sins, delivers from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation to all who believe this, as the words and promises of God declare." To those who ask, "How can water accomplish all this?" Luther says:

"It is not the water indeed that does it, but the Word of God which is in and with the water; and faith, which believes what God has said about that water. Without the Word of God the water is simple water and no Baptism. But with the Word of God it is a Baptism, that is, a gracious water of life and a washing of regeneration in the Holy Ghost as the apostle Paul says in Titus 3:5."

Baptism, therefore, is a true means of grace, because of the divine gospel promise which is applied as a "visible word." Baptism has no magic power; its power is due solely to the divine gospel promise, which is clear, sure, and unfailing. What God promises to give, He unfailingly gives, not indeed ex opere operato, or mechanically, as Rome teaches, but through the faith which the Holy Spirit works through the gospel in sinners' hearts.

Baptism is also very important for the believer's sanctification as "it signifies that the Old Adam should by daily contrition and repentance be drowned and die with all sins and evil lusts; and again, a new man daily come forth and arise, who shall live before God in righteousness and purity forever." Luther stresses, however, that such saving and sanctifying benefits of baptism are possible only where faith is present. Hypocrites and mere nominal Christians who never think of God's gracious baptismal covenant and its glorious gospel promise, never experience the power of baptism, for it is only by faith in the gospel that we have its blessings of forgiveness and the new life in Christ.

The Lord's Supper←⤒🔗

For this sacrament, too, Luther's Small Catechism is our best source, for there he defines the Lord's Supper briefly and practically, as "the true body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, under the bread and wine, for us Christians to eat and to drink, instituted by Christ Himself." Here we have Luther's doctrine of consubstantiation or the notion that Christ is physically present in, with and under the elements of bread and wine, a doctrine which we of the Reformed persuasion reject. According to some recent Lutheran scholars, however, we do the great reformer an injustice if we attribute to him a too literal view of Christ's physical presence at this sacrament or that he emphasized this aspect of the doctrine at the expense of the spiritual benefits for believers. Dr. J. T. Mueller, for instance, says, while Luther clearly holds to the Real Presence of Christ's body and blood in Holy Communion, he rejects both impanation and consubstantiation as many Calvinists define it.

By "impanation" was meant the charge of Luther's opponents that he mingled the bread and body into a new substance in a similar way as the Romanists transubstantiate or change the bread and wine into body and blood. For Luther, the doctrine of the Real Presence is only a part of the doctrine of Holy Communion. Of equal or even greater importance is the benefit true communicants receive from their spiritual eating or drinking of Christ's body and blood. Of this Luther writes in the Small Catechism: "That is shown us by these words, 'Given, and shed for you for the remission of sins,' namely, that in the Sacrament forgiveness of sin, life, and salvation are given us through these words; for where there is forgiveness of sin, there is also life and salvation."

Luther, therefore, holds that Christ through His gracious promise, "Given, and shed for you for the remission of sins," gives to those who spiritually, or by faith, receive His body and blood, all the blessings of pardon, life eternal, and salvation which the gospel offers and imparts in general. As to the question how bodily eating and drinking can do such great things, Luther replies: "It is not the eating and drinking indeed that does them, but the words here written, 'Given, and shed for you for the remission of sins,' which words, beside the bodily eating and drinking, are as the chief thing in the Sacrament; and he that believes these words, has what they say and express, namely, the forgiveness of sins."

The blessings of the gospel promise in the sacrament, according to Luther, are received by the communicant's faith in the divine promise, and his faith is engendered, nurtured, and strengthened by the Holy Spirit through the divine gospel promise.

According to Luther, all communicants receive the true body and blood in the sacrament. He found proof for this in 1 Corinthians 10:15-22; 1 Corinthians 11:27-30, and other passages. "But the wicked and unworthy receive the body and blood of Christ unto their judgment, while the believing communicants, trusting in Christ's promise, receive it to their salvation."

Although it was impossible in the heat of controversy to avoid formulating complicated, theological concepts and carefully worded definitions, Luther always urged his readers to adhere to the simple words of Scripture, especially when it came to the sacraments. "He is truly worthy and well prepared," he writes, "who has faith in these words: 'Given, and shed for you for the remission of sins,' for the words 'for you' require all hearts to believe." Faith means faith in the words "for you." For Luther that was essential, just as he writes on another occasion, "The Word alone is the vehicle of God's grace." To Luther, the sacraments were not mere signs of grace, but "efficacious signs and seals of divine grace," or "signs which serve and move to faith." Faith, there­fore, does not make the sacraments, but receives the blessings which their gospel promises offer and impart.

The Doctrine of the Church←⤒🔗

Against Roman Catholic externalism, which made the church a visible, local, tangible organic structure, consisting of those who bowed to the absolute authority of the pope, Luther taught that the Christian church, in its proper sense, is the "congregation of believers," whom the Holy Spirit through the gospel calls out of the wicked world and gathers into Christ's kingdom of grace here and of glory hereafter. The church, in this sense, is invisible to men, though known to God; for no man can with certainty know who is an elect saint of God, though Christian love regards all who believe in and serve the Lord Jesus Christ as true Christians.

In his explanation of the Third Article in his Small Catechism, Luther sums up his doctrine of the church this way:

I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord or come to Him; but the Holy Ghost has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith; even as He calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian Church on earth, and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith; in which Christian Church He forgives daily and richly all sins to me and all believers, and at the last day will raise up me and all the dead, and will give to me and to all believers in Christ everlasting life. This is most certainly true.

In his Large Catechism Luther explains the words of the Christian Creed: "I believe … the Holy Christian Church, the communion of saints," as follows: "I believe in … the holy Christian Church, a 'congrega­tion of saints,' or a 'holy congregation'."

This "Communion of Saints" is found wherever the divine Word is so preached and the sacraments are so administered that sinners may savingly know Christ as their Saviour and trust solely in Him for forgiveness of sin, life, and salvation. As far as Luther was concerned, the Church is there where Christ is preached and believed as the only Saviour of sinners. His words were a sword thrust aimed at the very heart of Romanism with its mass of idolatry and denial of Christ as the only Saviour, Mediator, and Intercessor of men. The church, according to Luther, cannot be a visible, external, tangible communion, for "what one believes is not tangible or visible."

While Luther taught that the church, in its proper sense, is the communion of saints that is invisible to us and known only to God, it being "hidden in the Spirit," he also insisted that we must deal with the church on earth as it confronts us in the "little bands of our Lord God," or the "regenerate," or the "assemblies of pious, believing people on earth who are gathered, sustained, and ruled by the Holy Ghost and are daily nurtured with the Word of God and the Sacraments."

Such Christian congregations which, sad to say, also include many hypocrites and wicked persons, are nevertheless called "Christian" because of the true believers in them. As such, as true believers in Christ, they possess the "Office of the Keys," that is, the rights to proclaim the divine Word, administer the sacraments, and exercise church discipline, which rights belong to all believers, but only to believers in Christ. While hypocrites may be considered members of such local congregations by men, only believers in Christ are the true spiritual members of the church. The organization of local congrega­tions Luther regards as relatively unimportant; what is essential in his view is adherence to the Word of God in doctrine and life; for Christians are spiritual priests and kings who are to witness of the pure gospel of Christ for the salvation of sinners. Luther writes: "This, then, must be (regarded as) the true Church, which cleaves to God's Word and is willing to suffer for His sake."

Existing economic, political, and social conditions prevented Luther from carrying into effect the principle of separation of church and state; but this princi­ple he clearly understood and declared as, for example, in the following statement: "So, then, the two kingdoms must not be mingled into each other … but should be kept distinct and separate from each other, if the true Gospel and the true faith is to be preserved."

What has become clear from this brief survey of Luther's theology, is that all of his thought is centred in the divine-human Christ, the Redeemer, Mediator, and Intercessor of sinful and lost mankind. Just as in all of Scripture he saw only Christ, so also in all of the church he saw only Christ. He writes, "As that is God's Word which preaches Christ (and indeed the whole Bible teaches Christ), so also that is church which believes in, confesses, and proclaims Christ – that only, but also that wholly and fully, no matter how small or forsaken or despised or persecuted God's little bands on earth might be." To Martin Luther, Christ was always and in all ways Christus, Salvator et Pontifex noster – "Christ, our Saviour and our Priest." For Luther, to know Christ, to love Christ and to serve and confess Christ by word and deed, was Christianity and that only.