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The Means of Grace
I. The Means of Grace in General
A. THE IDEA OF THE MEANS OF GRACE.
Fallen man receives all the blessings of salvation out of the eternal fountain of the grace of God,
in virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ and through the operation of the Holy Spirit. While the
Spirit can and does in some respects operate immediately on the soul of the sinner, He has
seen fit to bind Himself largely to the use of certain means in the communication of divine
grace. The term “means of grace” is not found in the Bible, but is nevertheless a proper
designation of the means that are indicated in the Bible. At the same time the term is not very
definite and may have a far more comprehensive meaning than it ordinarily has in theology.
The Church may be represented as the great means of grace which Christ, working through the
Holy Spirit, uses for the gathering of the elect, the edification of the saints, and the building up
of His spiritual body. He qualifies her for this great task by endowing her with all kinds of
spiritual gifts, and by the institution of the offices for the administration of the Word and the
sacraments, which are all means to lead the elect to their eternal destiny. But the term may
have an even wider scope. The whole providential guidance of the saints, through prosperity
and adversity, often becomes a means by which the Holy Spirit leads the elect to Christ or to an
ever closer communion with Him. It is even possible to include in the means of grace all that is
required of men for the reception and the continued enjoyment of the blessings of the
covenant, such as faith, conversion, spiritual warfare, and prayer. It is neither customary nor
desirable, however, to include all this under the term “means of grace.” The Church is not a
means of grace alongside of the Word and the sacraments, because her power in promoting
the work of the grace of God consists only in the administration of these. She is not
instrumental in communicating grace, except by means of the Word and of the sacraments.
Moreover, faith, conversion, and prayer, are first of all fruits of the grace of God, though they
may in turn become instrumental in strengthening the spiritual life. They are not objective
ordinances, but subjective conditions for the possession and enjoyment of the blessings of the
covenant. Consequently, it is better not to follow Hodge when he includes prayer, nor
McPherson when he adds to the Word and the sacraments both the Church and prayer. Strictly
speaking, only the Word and the sacraments can be regarded as means of grace, that is, as
objective channels which Christ has instituted in the Church, and to which He ordinarily binds
Himself in the communication of His grace. Of course these may never be dissociated from
Christ, nor from the powerful operation of the Holy Spirit, nor from the Church which is the
appointed organ for the distribution of the blessings of divine grace. They are in themselves