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S6 reasoning: Number and nature of sacraments

Reasoning steps: Number and nature of sacraments

Verdicts: S6 · Number and nature of sacraments. Shared notes and post-750 development: other-sacraments.

S06.1 (was other-sacraments/K1): Post-baptismal anointing or laying on of hands

Step S06.1.1: Scripture

Acts 8:14–17 and 19:6: apostles lay hands on the baptized, who receive the Spirit. Heb 6:2 lists ’laying on of hands’ among elementary teachings. 1 John 2:20, 27: believers have an ‘anointing’ (χρῖσμα), probably metaphorical for the Spirit or the word. No command makes the laying on of hands a perpetual separate rite.

Step S06.1.2: Patristic evidence

Tertullian (T2): after the font ‘we are thoroughly anointed’, then ’the hand is laid on us, invoking … the Holy Spirit’. Cyprian (T3): the baptized are brought to the bishops and ‘by the imposition of hands obtain the Holy Spirit’. Cyril: chrism patterned on Christ’s anointing with the Spirit. Sources: tertullian-osr-s1 · tertullian-osr-s2 · cyprian-osr-s1 · cyril-of-jerusalem-osr-s1.

Step S06.1.3: Weighing decision

From T2, an anointing and laying on of hands follow baptism within one rite of initiation. Western separation of confirmation in time, reserved to the bishop, and its definition as a distinct sacrament are later. Its outright omission departs from T2.

  • Confidence: Medium–high.

Step S06.1.4: Source-proximity weighing

  • Scripture (benchmark): Acts 8 and 19 show apostolic laying on of hands with the Spirit’s coming; Heb 6:2 lists it among foundations. Whether it is a perpetual rite is not stated. (Scripture confidence: low-medium)
  • Assessment: T2 supports a post-baptismal rite; Scripture gives examples (Acts) and a list (Heb 6:2) but no command. Traditions that keep a laying on of hands for the Spirit (Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox; Anglican; General Baptist SC art. 12) fit both; those with none depart from T2.

S06.2 (was other-sacraments/K2): Confession, penance and absolution

Step S06.2.1: Scripture

John 20:22–23: ‘If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven’. Matt 18:15–18: binding and loosing in church discipline. Jas 5:16: ‘confess your sins to one another’.

Step S06.2.2: Patristic evidence

Tertullian (T2): public exomologesis, a discipline of humiliation before reconciliation. Cyprian (T3): even those who only thought of apostasy ‘confess this very thing to God’s priests’. Chrysostom: priests are given power to remit sins. Sources: tertullian-osr-s3 · cyprian-osr-s2 · chrysostom-osr-s1.

Step S06.2.3: Weighing decision

The early form is public penance for grave sins, with confession and reconciliation through the bishop and priests (T2–T3). Obligatory annual private confession of all mortal sins (Lateran IV, 1215; Trent) is later. Rejection of any ministerial absolution departs from John 20:23 as the fathers read it.

  • Confidence: Medium.

Step S06.2.4: Source-proximity weighing

  • Scripture (benchmark): The church has authority to declare sins forgiven or retained (John 20:23; Matt 18:18); mutual confession is commanded (Jas 5:16). No text requires private enumeration to a priest. (Scripture confidence: medium)
  • Assessment: T2 Tertullian and Scripture support confession with ministerial declaration of forgiveness; private, obligatory enumeration lacks early and biblical support.

S06.3 (was other-sacraments/K3): Anointing of the sick

Step S06.3.1: Scripture

Jas 5:14–15: elders pray over the sick, ‘anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord’, for raising up and forgiveness. Mark 6:13.

Step S06.3.2: Patristic evidence

Chrysostom (T3) quotes Jas 5:14–15 as a priestly ministry including forgiveness of sins. Sources: chrysostom-osr-s1 · chrysostom-osr-s2.

Step S06.3.3: Weighing decision

Anointing of the sick by presbyters, for healing and forgiveness, is attested (T3) on the plain basis of James. Its restriction to the dying (’extreme unction’) is a later medieval development. Abandoning the practice departs from James.

  • Confidence: Medium (thin early evidence in this pass).

Step S06.3.4: Source-proximity weighing

  • Scripture (benchmark): Jas 5:14–15 commands elders to anoint the sick with prayer; it is for the sick, not only the dying. (Scripture confidence: medium-high)
  • Assessment: Scripture is explicit; early patristic evidence in this pass is only T3. Traditions without anointing depart from the plain text.

S06.4 (was other-sacraments/K4): Marriage as a sacrament

Step S06.4.1: Scripture

Eph 5:32: marriage is a ‘great mystery’ (μυστήριον) referring to Christ and the church. Matt 19:6–9: ‘what God has joined’, with the exception clause.

Step S06.4.2: Patristic evidence

Augustine (T3): marriage’s goods are faith, offspring and the sacramentum, ’that marriage be not severed’; the bond is indissoluble. Sources: augustine-osr-s1.

Step S06.4.3: Weighing decision

Augustine’s sacramentum means a holy, indissoluble bond, not a rite listed among channels of grace. Counting marriage as one of seven sacraments is later; permitting remarriage after divorce departs from Augustine but has Matt 19:9 in its favour.

  • Confidence: Medium.

Step S06.4.4: Source-proximity weighing

  • Scripture (benchmark): Eph 5:32 calls marriage a mystery pointing to Christ and the church; Matt 19:9 permits divorce for sexual immorality. (Scripture confidence: medium)
  • Assessment: Only T3 evidence here; Scripture is the main measure.

S06.5: Do the sacraments give grace by the rite itself, or only to those who receive them in faith?

Step S06.5.1: Scripture

Scripture speaks strongly of what baptism does: ‘baptism now saves you’ (1 Pet 3:21); ‘be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins’ (Acts 2:38); ’the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit’ (Titus 3:5); ‘all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ’ (Gal 3:27). It also ties the benefit to faith: ‘He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved’ (Mark 16:16); ‘raised up with Him through faith in the working of God’ (Col 2:12); ‘you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus’ (Gal 3:26). Peter adds that baptism saves not as ’the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal of a good conscience to God’ (1 Pet 3:21). Simon the magician ‘believed’ and was baptized, yet Peter tells him, ‘your heart is not right before God’ (Acts 8:13, 21). Whoever eats the Supper wrongly ’eats and drinks judgment to himself’ (1 Cor 11:29). So Scripture holds together a real gift given through the rite and the need for faith to receive it.

Step S06.5.2: Patristic evidence

Era II: Justin (1 Apology 61) says baptism is for ‘As many as are persuaded and believe that what we teach and say is true’. Era III–IV: Cyril of Jerusalem (Procatechesis 2) warns, ‘Even Simon Magus once came to the Laver : he was baptized, but was not enlightened’; and (4) ‘if you persist in an evil purpose’, ’the water will receive, but the Spirit will not accept you’. Augustine (Tractates on John 80.3) says ‘Take away the word, and the water is neither more nor less than water. The word is added to the element, and there results the Sacrament’. He asks how water can cleanse the soul ‘save by the operation of the word; and that not because it is uttered, but because it is believed?’ In On Baptism IV he says baptism given in schism is real, yet ‘of no profit’ until the person amends, when he ‘begins to receive profit from that which before was not profitable, but was yet already in him’. For infants he says (Letter 98.9) ’the sacrament of faith is faith’, so the infant ‘has faith because of the sacrament of faith’. Sources: justin-martyr-s06x-s1 · cyril-of-jerusalem-s06x-s1 · cyril-of-jerusalem-s06x-s2 · augustine-s06x-s1 · augustine-s06x-s2 · augustine-s06x-s3.

Step S06.5.3: Weighing decision

Reading A: the rite itself gives grace to anyone who does not block it. Reading B: the rite is only a sign, and grace comes only through the receiver’s faith. Reading C: the rite is Christ’s and truly holy, and it is a real means of grace; but its saving benefit comes to adults only with faith and repentance, and to infants through the faith of the church in the sacrament. Reading C, with medium confidence. Cyril and Augustine hold both sides together: the water and word are real and the sacrament stays valid, but without faith and a right will it brings no benefit. Verdict, in plain terms: the fathers taught that the sacraments are real gifts of God and are not made or unmade by the receiver, but that only those who believe receive their saving benefit.

  • Confidence: Medium. Cyril and Augustine are explicit; the later scholastic terms are not used before 750.

Step S06.5.4: Source-proximity weighing

  • Scripture (benchmark): 1 Pet 3:21; Acts 2:38; Titus 3:5; Gal 3:27 (a real gift given through baptism); Mark 16:16; Col 2:12; Gal 3:26 (received through faith); Acts 8:13, 21; 1 Cor 11:29 (the rite without a right heart brings no benefit, or brings judgment). (Scripture confidence: medium)
  • Assessment: Era II (Justin) ties baptism to faith; Era III–IV (Cyril, Augustine) state both sides at length. Scripture, the primary measure, holds both sides together. Traditions that keep both score highest; those that stress one side and play down the other score lower on Scripture.

S06.5 by tradition

  • Catholic (fathers 3/4; Scripture 3/4): Trent VII, canon 6, anathematizes those who say the sacraments ‘do not confer that grace on those who do not place an obstacle thereunto’; canon 8 anathematizes those who say grace ‘is not conferred through the act performed, but that faith alone in the divine promise suffices’. Keeps the fathers’ objective side; the bare ’no obstacle’ rule asks less of adults than Cyril and Augustine do, and Scripture ties the benefit to faith (Col 2:12).
  • Orthodox (fathers 3/4; Scripture 3/4): Dositheus, Decree 15: ‘we reject as something abominable and pernicious the notion that when faith is weak the integrity of the Mystery is impaired’. Keeps the objective side, as Augustine does; says little of faith as the way the benefit is received.
  • Oriental Orthodox (fathers n/a/4; Scripture n/a/4): Not assessed: no classic Oriental Orthodox text on this question located.
  • Lutheran (fathers 4/4; Scripture 4/4): Augsburg Confession XIII condemns ’those who teach that the Sacraments justify by the outward act, and who do not teach that, in the use of the Sacraments, faith which believes that sins are forgiven, is required’; Large Catechism IV: ‘his baptism is nevertheless genuine’, yet ‘faith alone makes the person worthy to receive profitably the saving, divine water’. Holds both sides, as Augustine does.
  • Anglican (fathers 4/4; Scripture 4/4): Art. XXV: sacraments are ’effectual signs of grace’ ‘by the which he doth work invisibly in us’, and ‘in such only as worthily receive the same they have a wholesome effect or operation’. Holds both sides.
  • Presbyterian (fathers 3/4; Scripture 4/4): WCF XXVII.3: grace ’exhibited in or by the sacraments rightly used, is not conferred by any power in them’, but depends ‘upon the work of the Spirit, and the word of institution’, with ‘a promise of benefit to worthy receivers’; XXVIII.6: grace ‘is not only offered, but really exhibited, and conferred, by the Holy Ghost, to such (whether of age or infants) as that grace belongeth unto’. Holds both sides; tying the benefit to God’s choice of the person and his ‘appointed time’ goes beyond what the fathers say about baptism.
  • Reformed Baptist (fathers 2/4; Scripture 3/4): 1689 29.1: baptism is ‘a sign of his fellowship with him, in his death and resurrection; of his being engrafted into him; … of remission of sins’. Keeps faith as the way of receiving; treats baptism as a sign rather than as a means through which grace is given, against Augustine and Cyril; plays down texts such as 1 Pet 3:21 and Acts 2:38.
  • General Baptist (fathers 2/4; Scripture 3/4): Orthodox Creed XXVIII: baptism is ‘a Sign of our entrance into the Covenant of Grace, and ingrafting into Christ’, given to those ‘which do really profess Repentance towards God, and Faith’. Same assessment as Reformed Baptist.
  • Anabaptist (fathers 2/4; Scripture 3/4): Schleitheim, article 1: ‘Baptism shall be given to all those who have learned repentance and amendment of life, and who believe truly that their sins are taken away by Christ’. Ties baptism to faith; does not speak of it as a means of grace.