See also: Sacrament
Definition · Webster 1828 · Scriptures · Corruption · Roots · Usage · Related
📖 Biblical Definition
A sacrament is a holy ordinance instituted by Christ, wherein, by sensible signs, the grace of the covenant is represented, sealed, and applied to believers. The classic Reformed definition holds three things together: an outward sign appointed by Christ, an inward grace signified by it, and a sacramental union between the two, so that what is done to the sign is said of the thing signified. The sacraments are not bare tokens, empty pictures that merely remind; nor are they the grace itself, working automatically by the mere performance of the rite. They are signs and seals—signs that represent Christ and His benefits to the eye, and seals that confirm the covenant promise to the believing heart, as a king’s seal authenticates his charter. Under the gospel Christ instituted two and only two: Baptism, the sacrament of initiation into the visible covenant community, and the Lord’s Supper, the sacrament of nourishment and continued communion with Christ. Both have an Old Testament counterpart—circumcision and the Passover—and both preach the same Christ. Their efficacy depends not upon the virtue of the one who administers them, nor upon any power in the elements, but upon the working of the Spirit and the word of institution, received by faith.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
Webster 1828 defines SACRAMENT as a solemn religious ceremony enjoined by Christ, the outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace, namely Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.
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SACRAMENT, n. — 1. Among Protestant churches, an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace; or more particularly, a solemn religious ceremony enjoined by Christ, the head of the Christian church, to be observed by his followers, by which their special relation to him is created, or their obligations to him renewed and ratified. Thus baptism is called a sacrament, for by it persons are separated from the world, brought into Christ’s visible church, and laid under particular obligations to obey his precepts. The eucharist or communion of the Lord’s supper is also a sacrament, by which the death of Christ is commemorated. 2. The oath of allegiance taken by soldiers in the Roman armies.
📖 Key Scripture
Romans 4:11 — "And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised."
Matthew 28:19 — "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."
1 Corinthians 11:23-26 — "For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread... this do in remembrance of me."
Genesis 17:11 — "And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Rome multiplies the sacraments to seven and turns them into grace-dispensing machinery; the reactionary opposite empties them into bare memorials and mere symbols, denying that God truly works through His appointed signs.
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The sacraments are crushed between two errors. Rome multiplies them to seven and recasts them as instruments that confer grace by the mere performance of the act—ex opere operato—so that the sign becomes a mechanism, working automatically upon all who receive it, faith or no faith. On this view grace is a substance the church dispenses through its rites, and the sacraments become the indispensable plumbing of salvation, controlled by the priesthood. This severs the sign from the faith that alone receives the thing signified and converts a covenant seal into a magical cause.
The reactionary error, common among low-church Protestants, runs the other way: it empties the sacraments into bare memorials, mere symbols, visual aids that do nothing but remind. Frightened of Rome’s superstition, it denies that God truly meets His people in the signs He appointed, and treats Baptism and the Supper as empty ceremonies men perform for their own benefit. The Reformed confession steers between: the sacraments are signs and seals, neither empty pictures nor automatic causes, but real means of grace in which the Spirit confirms the covenant promise to the believing heart through the visible word.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
The Latin sacramentum (sacred oath, pledge) was chosen to render the Greek mystērion (mystery), framing the sacraments as covenant signs and binding pledges.
Usage
"A sacrament is a sign and seal of the covenant, neither an empty symbol nor an automatic cause of grace."
"Rome multiplied the sacraments to seven and made them machinery; the Reformers returned to the two Christ instituted."
"The efficacy of the sacrament rests not on the minister’s virtue but on the Spirit’s work and the word of institution, received by faith."