THE SEVEN SACRAMENTS

INTRODUCTION

Most non-Catholics and even Catholics often ask such question: “where is it in the Bible?” This is a pertinent question, but in most cases the argument rests on the fact that not everything is written in the Bible. However, in the case of the seven sacraments of Christianity, the answer will take a different dimension because the non existence of the word “sacrament” in the Bible does not immediately conclude that it is totally absent in the bible. Coherently, the task of this essay is to first establish that evidence of the seven sacraments is possible in the Bible. Then, secondly, to demonstrate that sacraments in general are fundamental to God’s salvific plan for the world.

UNDERSTANDINGS OF SACRAMENTS

One cannot just delve into the question of where sacrament can be located in the scripture without first of all making sense of what this concept is. It is simply a reality that makes possible and present another reality different from it, just like a sign. In fact, sacrament is a sign. The fact of sacramentality revolves round our entire life but it cannot be communicated as it is unless through what it is not. As human beings, we are an embodiment of soul and body (material and immaterial realities), and we ought to relate to the Divine who is essentially immaterial. Consequently, it is through material realities to which sphere we belong at present that we can reach to the Divine. This is the role the sacraments perform. By implication, in our encounter with the Divine, the sacraments mediate in symbolic form.

There are two basic understandings or nuances of sacrament: the general sense and the restricted sense. Analyzing sacrament in the general sense, we discover that the meaning and role goes further than the seven sacrament of Christianity. In our traditional culture, for instance, during marriage rite, one part of the rites is the debate of price. The Igbo, for instance, do not believe that a woman is bought thus in the negotiation, the two parities involved will be discussing on how many sticks to be brought to ask for the woman’s hand in marriage. The stick here symbolizes money. Coherently, the stick here becomes the “sacrament of money” in Igbo marriage rite. Similarly, in the scripture, when Jesus asserts that to have seen him is to have seen the Father, he is simply presenting himself as the sacrament of God the Father. In the actual fact, what the Apostles were seeing was a simple human being like them but in him is the invisible realty of the Father – “the image of the invisible God” (Col. 1:15).

Many theologians have various definition of sacrament but our interest goes to that of St. Augustine. He conceives sacrament as the visible form of an inward grace or a sign of a sacred thing (Encyclopedia Britannica, eb.com). For him, the sacrament or sign is made up of two essential parts, a material component or element and a spoken word of consecration and conferral. According to Taylor, Michael (1981: 20), “The word is joined to the element and the result is a sacrament, which becomes in a sense, a visible word”. Sacrament entails worship and in every sacrament we respond to God in acts such as confession and thanksgiving, sorrow for sin and dedication to a new life, heartfelt petition, self-forgetting praise and yearning for ultimate union and intimacy with God. (Taylor, Michael: 1981: 28).

THE BIBLE AS SACRAMENT

One of the most important areas of encounter with God is in the word of God. If we believe that while reading through the pages of the bible, we are reading the word of God, it then implies that God speaks to us in the scripture. Consequently, the words of the scripture symbolize the presences of God who is talking to us. Thus, the bible becomes the sacrament of God.

THE SEVEN SACRAMENTS

The fact that we do not find the word “Sacrament” in the entire Bible does not immediately imply that it does not exist in any other form in the Bible. It is present implicitly. Sacrament translates the Greek mysterion and it is the latter that is evident in the Bible. McBrien, Richard (1994: 788) insists that despite this view, it is notable that the sacraments were instituted indirectly by Christ. Although Jesus did not set out to establish a new religion, Christianity evolved from him “and the sacraments, in turn, have their origin in the Church founded by Jesus. Here we will examine certain biblical passages to demonstrate the evidence of each of the seven sacraments in the scripture.

The seven sacraments are rooted in the scripture when we take a theological examination of the Bible.

Baptism and Confirmation

In the Gospel according to Matthew, Jesus gave his disciples (who will later become the Church) the authority to baptize (Mtt. 28:16-20). Similarly, when Christ answered Nichodemus, “unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God” (Jn 3:5), Jesus is actually referring to the sacrament of Baptism and Confirmation. The two can and use to go hand-in-hand in the early Church. A good instance is the event at the house of Cornelius, where Peter baptized the family of Cornelius after they had received the Holy Spirit (notion of Confirmation) (Acts. 10: 44 ). Also examining Act 8: 17 and 19:1-7, one perceives a glimpse of sacrament of confirmation.

Sacrament of Penance or Reconciliation

In many occasions in the Bible Jesus forgave sins to demonstrate that this power actually belongs to him. Then he transposes or relegates to his apostles this power to forgive sin in his name: “…if you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sin of any, they are retained” (Jn 20: 22-23). More still, when Jesus healed the leper of his situation (which is believed to have been caused by sin), he told him to go and show himself to a priest (Mk. 1: 44). This is a clear demonstration that although the power to forgive sin lies within his jurisdiction, there is need still for one to show himself to the one (priest) who serves as God’s mouth piece on earth.

The Eucharist

Jesus is emphatic when he asserts: “whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life….For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.” (Jn. 6:54-55). Then, on the eve of his passion, he established what he meant by the above assertion. It was here that the Holy Eucharist was instituted: “…he took bread, and after he had said the blessings, he broke it and gave it to them. ‘Take it,’ he said, ‘this is my body’. Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he handed it to them and all drank from it and he said ‘this is my blood’ (Mk. 14:22-25).

Sacrament of Matrimony

As regards the sacrament of Matrimony, the event of creation projected by Genesis is the first display of establishment of this sacrament: “…but for the man there was not found a helper fit for him…and the rib which the Lord God took from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man….” (Gen. 2:20-25). It is for this reason that a man leaves his parents to cleave to his wife and they become one flesh. (Gen. 2:20-25). Similarly, in Matthew 19:4-8, Jesus uses this Genesis view to stratify the sacrament of matrimony and demonstrates that it is a divine mandate.

Holy Orders

Additionally, Christ directly instituted the sacrament of Orders. The Johannine account of the Paschal Supper is a clear picture of the occasion at which the Apostles of Christ were given the clerical authority to offer the sacrifice of the Lord’s Supper in his memory (Jn. 13:2-30). The sacrament of Orders is in a way intermingled with the institution of the Holy Eucharist since the two evolved within the same event – the paschal supper.

Sacrament of Unction

In the early Jewish world, there was a popular view that every sickness has elements of sin of the victim. In other words, there is also a spiritual dimension to healing. Jesus puts the two (physical and spiritual healing) together in his ministry but demonstrates that sickness has no link to sin. Apart from his many miracles at different occasions, Jesus gave the early church instance of how the sick ought to be accompanied through his reaction towards the sick. This sacrament, in the real fact is sacrament of healing for the sick and this is what Jesus portrayed almost all through his ministry. The ministry of healing continued to be excised by the disciples of Christ and has continued to the present day. In this sacrament “the Creator and Source of all life is still offering to us enhancement of our life” (Macquarrie, John: 1997: 166). This is in fact what the unction is all about – a sacrament of life. Following the same steps of Christ, St. James emphasizes the need for the elders (now the presbyters) to lay hands on the sick and anoint them (Jas 5:13-14).

FUNDAMENTALITY OF THE SACRAMENTS TO GOD’S SAVIFIC PLAN

The necessity of the sacraments in God’s plan for salvation should be understood in the sense God already is aware that if he communicate himself directly to human beings unmediated, it will be difficult not impossible to encounter him or communicate with him. Then in order to manifest himself, he first began with creation. Creation becomes the very first act of God’s revelation of himself.

In the Latin Bible (the Vulgate), sacamentum translates the Greek word, mysterion (mystery), the term which Paul used in referring to the hidden plan according to which God in his eternal good pleasure intended to save, renew and unite all things in Christ. (Eph. 1:9; 3:3-9). Hence, God’s great sacrament is now revealed in the Gospel which proclaims the outpouring of his blessings as we are called to freedom from self-seeking and death. Dramatically, this sacrament leads to our incorporation into God’s Son now raised and glorified. The emphasis here is the sacrament of our salvation (Eph. 2). (Taylor, Michael: 1981: 19 ).

If the sacraments were not necessary God would not have initiated them at all in the first place, and Christ who is the sacrament of God the Father would not have instituted the seven sacraments. Ab initio, God began His Self-revelation to humanity in creation. Creation, which is the first sacrament of God’s self-manifestation, is also the first step in God’s plan for salvation.

We have already differentiated between sacrament in the general sense and the strict sense. Our emphasis in this hemisphere of the essay is on the former (sacrament in the general sense).

Ab initio, God was aware of the nature of human beings as partly symbolic organisms and they are capable of association through symbols. God also had the plan of relating with humanity but this communication cannot be actualized without mediation. This plan of God has its peak in the redemption or salvation of humanity. This salvation is simply reinstallation of human intimate relationship with God. Consequently, symbols became necessary for this encounter between God and humanity. It is within the realm of symbol that sacrament is located. The first of this encounter with God is in creation. Here, the wonder of creation reveals God to us. Thus, creation becomes the sacrament of the divine. Since it is through the sacramental (symbolic) self-manifestation of God that we encounter him and through which we are grafted into a relationship with him, this encounter becomes a key to our salvation. Similarly, in God’s plan for salvation, he chose a people, the Israelites to demonstrate his faithfulness and love to all nations and in this way unveils himself to humanity.

Coherently, the epitome and most fundamental sacrament of God is Jesus Christ. He does not only reveal God to humanity, but also reveals humanity to God. Macquarrie, John (1997: 37) urges that “Christ we must recognize as a super-sacrament, a unique manifestation in invisible form of the authentic life of God”. In this way, he is a perfect sacrament of both God and humanity. He is a “bipolar” sacrament, the Promordial Sacrament . The fullness of God’s salvation is displayed and realized in Christ. It was Jesus’ task to accomplish this plan of God’s salvation. Jesus then is the sacrament of God’s salvation. The scripture teaches that anyone who has faith in God is saved. Since to have seen him is to have seen the father (Jn. 14: 9), anyone who believes in the son (the sacrament of the Father) is saved.

Finally, it is obvious that right from the genesis of the world, God had the plan of salvation of the human race at heart. Then through sacramental form – the entire creation, the chosen race (Israel), the prophets, and finally in Jesus Christ, he fulfills this salvation process. One may now conclude that sacraments in general are fundamental to God’s salvific plan for the world.

CONCLUSION

Following the above thesis sequentially, one would be able observe that sacrament goes beyond what many are used to construe as sacrament, that is, the seven sacraments. We now perceive another dimension of sacrament that is more elaborate and more embracing. More still, it has been demonstrated beyond a give level of intellectual and scriptural doubt that the seven sacraments find their definition from the Christian Scripture – the Bible. Invariably, the foundational climate of the sacraments is structured and colured by the scripture. These sacraments as we have also seen have a soteriological importance in the world.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

McBrien, Richard (1994) Catholicism, San Francisco: Harper.

Halligan, Nicholas (1986) The Sacraments and their Celebration, New York: Alba
House.

Howell, Clifford (1952) Of Sacraments and Sacrifice, Minnesota: The Liturgical Press.

Macquarrie, John (1997) A Guide to the Sacraments, New York: Continuum Publishing
Company.

Taylor, Michael (1981) The Sacraments: Reading in Contemporary Sacramental
Theology, New York: Alba House.

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/sacrament /nature and significant.

BY ANYANWU PASCHAL. C