Means of Grace

What is the significance of the Ordinances in the Church? 

The simple answer to what is the significance of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper is the reality that they are both a means of grace God gives to His body. God commands both of these actions to be done regularly. God does not command this because it is just a command, but because He means to show us and give us his grace through them.

Wayne Grudem states of baptism, “where there is genuine faith on the part of the person being baptized, and where the faith of the church that watches the baptism is stirred up and encouraged by this ceremony, then the Holy Spirit certainly does work through baptism, and it becomes a “means of grace” through which the Holy Spirit brings blessing to the person being baptized and to the church as well” (Systematic Theology pg. 954). Baptism is the reality of the person being identified with Christ (Rom. 6:3-4, Gal. 3:27, Col. 2:12), thus God’s grace is shown and stirs the heart of His church, in grace, as it is celebrated.

The Lord’s Supper has the same means of grace. First the gravity of the death of Jesus is celebrated and remembered. Second, Communion rehearses the good news of Jesus and remembers His death for the church, which is an act of grace of God on behalf of His people. The Eucharist is also a present reality as the grace of God is proclaimed in that moment, as the death of Christ is proclaimed and confessed through the meal (1 Cor. 11:26). Finally, the Lord’s Supper is a future celebration and remembrance, awaiting the return of Jesus for His body (1 Cor. 11:26). As David Mathis reminds us, “The Lord’s Supper is an extraordinary meal. To be sure, it is simply an ordinary means of God’s grace to His church, and it is simply ordinary bread and wine. Yet as eating and drinking go, it can be an unusually powerful experience” (Habits of Grace pg. 179).

God shows His people grace, both in the Cross and in every day life. Both of the ordinances are significant because they remind us of this grace, show us this grace, and impart God’s grace on the participants. We are saved by grace alone and these events are a means of God’s grace renewed and imparted on His people.