{"id":567,"date":"2013-05-31T12:06:15","date_gmt":"2013-05-31T17:06:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wp.cune.edu\/matthewphillips\/?p=567"},"modified":"2017-08-27T22:42:45","modified_gmt":"2017-08-28T03:42:45","slug":"augustine-luther-and-the-sacraments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.cune.edu\/matthewphillips\/2013\/05\/31\/augustine-luther-and-the-sacraments\/","title":{"rendered":"Augustine, Luther, and the Sacraments"},"content":{"rendered":"

“Baptism is a very different thing from all other water, not by virtue of the natural substance but because here something nobler is added, for God himself stakes his honor, his power, and his might on it.\u00a0 Therefore it is not simply a natural water, but a divine, heavenly, holy, and blessed water….all by virtue of the Word, which is a heavenly, holy Word that no one can sufficiently extol, for it contains and conveys all that is God’s.\u00a0 This, too, is where it derives its nature so that it is called a sacrament, as St. Augustine taught, ‘Accedat verbum ad sacramentum ad elementum et fit sacramentum,’ which means that ‘when the Word is added to the element or the natural substance, it becomes a sacrament,’ that is, a holy, divine thing and sign.” Martin Luther, The\u00a0Large Catechism<\/em>, Fourth Part: Baptism, sections 17-18, in The Book of Concord<\/em>,\u00a0eds. Robert Kolb and Timothy J. Wingert (Minneapolis 2000), p. 458.<\/p>\n

“It is the Word….that makes this a sacrament and distinguishes it from ordinary bread and wine, so that it is called and truly is Christ’s body and blood.\u00a0 For it is said, ‘Accedat verbum ad elementum et fit sacramentum,’ that is, ‘When the Word is joined to the external element, it becomes a sacrament.’\u00a0 This saying of St. Augustine is so appropriate and well put that he could hardly have said anything better.\u00a0 The Word must make the element a sacrament; otherwise it remains an ordinary element.” Large Catechism<\/em>, Fifth Part, The Sacrament of the Altar, sections10-11 in Ibid., p. 468.<\/p>\n

In these descriptions of the sacraments Dr Luther follows the medieval definition derived from Augustine’s Tractate 80 on the Gospel of John.\u00a0 <\/em>Augustine (d. 430) was\u00a0the bishop of Hippo in Roman North Africa.\u00a0 By Luther’s own admission, Augustine’s theology greatly influenced Luther’s rediscovery of\u00a0the gospel of grace.\u00a0 In Tractate 80, sec. 3<\/em>, Augustine examines John 15:3, \u201cAlready you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you.” (ESV)<\/p>\n

“Why does He not say, You are clean because of\u00a0the baptism wherewith you have been washed, but he says, ‘because of the word which I have spoken to you,’ save only that in the water also\u00a0it is the word that cleanses?\u00a0 Take away the word, and what is\u00a0the water except water.\u00a0 The word is added [accedit]\u00a0to the element, and it becomes a sacrament, as if itself a kind of visible word….And\u00a0whence has water so great a power, as in touching the body to cleanse the heart, unless by the working of the word, not because it is spoken, but because it is believed.”\u00a0\u00a0 Augustine, Tractates in the Gospel of John<\/em> 80. 3. Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers<\/em>, volume 7, p. 344.\u00a0\u00a0 I have changed the text slightly in places according to the Latin text in Corpus Christianorum Series Latina<\/em>, vol. 36, p. 529.<\/p>\n

Augustine then quotes Romans 10:10, I Peter 3:21, and Ephesians 5:25-26 to demonstrate the power of God’s Word through preaching and Baptism.\u00a0 Then he concluded: “The cleansing, therefore, would\u00a0on no account be attributed to the fleeting and perishable element, were it not for that which is added, ‘by the word.’ [Eph. 5:26]\u00a0This word of faith possesses such power in the Church of God, that through the one who believes, presents, blesses and baptizes, [the\u00a0word] cleanses even a tiny infant, although itself unable as yet with the heart to believe unto\u00a0righteousness, and to make confession with the mouth unto salvation.\u00a0 All this is done through the word, whereof the Lord said: ‘Now you are clean through the word that\u00a0I have spoken to you.’ ” Augustine, NPNF 7:345.\u00a0 Again I have changed the translation based on\u00a0CCSL 36:529.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Baptism is a very different thing from all other water, not by virtue of the natural substance but because here something nobler is added, for God himself stakes his honor, his power, and his might on it.\u00a0 Therefore it is … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,1,58],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-augustine-of-hippo","category-martin-luther-history","category-sacraments"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.cune.edu\/matthewphillips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.cune.edu\/matthewphillips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.cune.edu\/matthewphillips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.cune.edu\/matthewphillips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/55"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.cune.edu\/matthewphillips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=567"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/wp.cune.edu\/matthewphillips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1727,"href":"https:\/\/wp.cune.edu\/matthewphillips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567\/revisions\/1727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.cune.edu\/matthewphillips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.cune.edu\/matthewphillips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.cune.edu\/matthewphillips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}