Briefly explain: signa nuda, ex opere operato, “sacramental relation,” “visible words,” Protestant idea of grace/Roman Catholic idea of grace, “the efficacy of the sacraments is by faith alone.”
The view that “signa nuda, ex opera operato” is the Roman Catholic point of departure with the Protestant church on the sacraments. Roman Catholics believe that a view of the sacraments that is unlike theirs essentially signifies nothing because to their view it is the works worked, or the performance of the Church in administering the sacrament that bestows grace, that brings about the fulfillment of the sign and seal that the sacrament is meant to be. This view is in line with a works based righteousness and therefore they are consistent with their doctrine when they hold the power of grace in the hands of the Church. They are not correct though in their view that the Protestant sacrament is empty, though others in history like Zwingli have given that impression. Ultimately the Protestant view drinks in a spiritual reality in the sacraments that links heaven to earth and not the naturalistic and yet mystical way the Roman Catholic view takes.
The “sacramental relation” is the relationship that these signs and seals of outward promises by inward grace have in the covenantal union of God to his people. Our sacramental theology is worked out in our covenantal theology, so that we can experience the joy and familiarity that the sacrament brings to our familial relationship with our God.
We experience our initiation into the Church through our baptism as we are cleansed with water and the promise of God’s covenant with Abraham as realized through circumcision is applied to us by Christ’s shed blood and not our own. Then we experience our salvation in the Lord’s Supper as the Passover Lamb provided salvation for Israel, so we experience the covenant of grace.
By the Lord’s graces alone he has provided us a way to see and experience our salvation, his Gospel anew and in tangible visible signs. Because of our weakness and lack of faith, God has provided us “visible words” or pictures of the thing signified through the sacraments. Our baptism shows us God’s grace, shows us the cleansing we receive as we become sons and daughters of God the Father by the shedding of Christ’s blood for the remission of sin. It shows us righteousness and a propitiatory cleansing. By participating in the Lord’s Supper, we see the broken body and shed blood that Christ poured out for us on the cross. This is a retelling of the Gospel truth we receive when we hear the word, but done so by God’s authority and with the power of his grace in way that allows our eyes to see, our mouths to taste and provide a real nourishment. The sacraments call us to an understanding of our spiritual cleansing and our spiritual nourishment that is only made possible by faith alone.
The Protestant idea of grace is that of an attribute of God, while the Roman Catholic view is that of a mystical substance to be obtained. Holding to a Protestant view of grace we have the freedom to rest in who God is, how he loves us and how completely undeserving of that love we are. We can understand that there is no action of our own that we can take that will make us right with God and that it is only by act of compassion on his part that we receive salvation through grace alone by faith alone in Christ alone. A Roman Catholic view of grace as a mystical substance puts the power of that substance in the hands of the clergy and power to bestow that saving substance upon who they wish. This is tightly related to their view of the sacrament because they view this substance of grace as something that can be obtained through the sacrament pointing inward, rather than the Protestant who receives the sacrament and points outward to Jesus Christ.
The “efficacy of the sacrament is by faith alone” because the sacrament is only a real sacrament when the presence of the Lord is in it. Because his presence is what seals the promise that is signified in the sacrament we may only receive the benefits or those covenant blessings when we receive the sacraments by faith alone. Since this is the gospel and since the sacrament is a retelling of the gospel in picture form it is no mistake that the power of the sacrament will only be realized when participated in faithfully, in covenant relationship and by faith alone. Neither water nor bread and wine can confer the power of Christ upon a person; it is only by the grace of God that they receive the covenant blessing emblazoned in the sacrament.
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