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to do good works and to rise to the height of the visio Dei (the vision of God). The sacraments
signify, not merely a general truth, but a promise given unto us and accepted by us, and serve
to strengthen our faith with respect to the realization of that promise, Gen. 17:1-14; Ex. 12:13;
Rom. 4:11-13. They visibly represent, and deepen our consciousness of, the spiritual blessings
of the covenant, of the washing away of our sins, and of our participation of the life that is in
Christ, Matt. 3:11; Mark 1:4,5; I Cor. 10:2,3,16,17; Rom. 2:28,29; 6:3,4; Gal. 3:27. As signs and
seals they are means of grace, that is, means of strengthening the inward grace that is wrought
in the heart by the Holy Spirit.
3. THE SACRAMENTAL UNION BETWEEN THE SIGN AND THAT WHICH IS SIGNIFIED.
This is
usually called the forma sacramenti (forma here meaning essence), because it is exactly the
relation between the sign and the thing signified that constitutes the essence of the sacrament.
According to the Reformed view this is: (a) not physical, as the Roman Catholics claim, as if the
thing signified were inherent in the sign, and the reception of the materia externa necessarily
carried with it a participation in the materia interna; (b) nor local, as the Lutherans represent it,
as if the sign and the thing signified were present in the same space, so that both believers and
unbelievers receive the full sacrament when they receive the sign; (c) but spiritual, or as
Turretin expresses it, relative and moral, so that, where the sacrament is received in faith, the
grace of God accompanies it. According to this view the external sign becomes a means
employed by the Holy Spirit in the communication of divine grace. The close connection
between the sign and the thing signified explains the use of what is generally called
“sacramental language,” in which the sign is put for the thing signified or vice versa, Gen. 17:10;
Acts 22:16; I Cor. 5:7.
D. THE NECESSITY OF THE SACRAMENTS.
Roman Catholics hold that baptism is absolutely necessary for all unto salvation, and that the
sacrament of penance is equally necessary for those who have committed mortal sins after
baptism; but that confirmation, the eucharist, and extreme unction are necessary only in the
sense that they have been commanded and are eminently helpful. Protestants, on the other
hand, teach that the sacraments are not absolutely necessary unto salvation, but are obligatory
in view of the divine precept. Wilful neglect of their use results in spiritual impoverishment and
has a destructive tendency, just as all wilful and persistent disobedience to God has. That they
are not absolutely necessary unto salvation, follows: (1) from the free spiritual character of the
gospel dispensation, in which God does not bind His grace to the use of certain external forms,
John 4:21,23; Luke 18:14; (2) from the fact that Scripture mentions only faith as the
instrumental condition of salvation, John 5:24; 6:29; 3:36; Acts 16:31; (3) from the fact that the
sacraments do not originate faith but presuppose it, and are administered where faith is