Common Agreement on Mutual Recognition of Baptism - National ...

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3.b.
ii A Reformed View
The Reformed tradition historically argued at the time of the Protestant Reformation, and
still theologically maintains, that worship ought to be done according to scripture. For some of
the tradition, only those practices could be done that scripture warranted:
But the acceptable way of worshipping the true God is instituted by himself, and
so limited by his own revealed will, that he may not be worshipped according to
the imaginations and devices of men, or the suggestions of Satan, under any
visible representation or any other way not prescribed in the Holy Scripture.
(Westminster Confession XXIII)
For other parts of the tradition, rites not prescribed by scripture could still be celebrated for our
benefit so long as they did not go against scripture. As the Second Helvetic Confession
pastorally puts the matter, ―a few moderate and simple rites, that are not contrary to the Word of
God, are sufficient for the godly‖ (XXVII).
The Reformed tradition thus counts the dominically instituted sacraments as two, baptism
and the Lord‘s Supper (e.g., Scots Confession XXI; Heidelberg Catechism Q. 68; Second
Helvetic Confession XIX; Belgic Confession, art. 34; Westminster Confession XXVII). To these
sacraments the Reformed tradition applies the long-standing hermeneutic of signum-res to
explain what a sacrament is. To the outer sign God attaches an inner reality; and the Reformed
tradition typically understands that the inner reality that inheres to the sign is ultimately Christ
himself (e.g., Tetrapolitan Confession, XVII-XVIII; First Basel Confession, VI; Second Basel
Confession (First Helvetic Confession), 20 and 22 (Supper); Scots Confession XXI; Second
Helvetic Confession XIX; French Confession, XXXIV-XXXVI; Belgic Confession, art. 33). As
the Second Helvetic Confession says,
the principle thing which God promises in all sacraments and to which all the
godly in all ages direct their attention (some call it the substance [substantiam]
and matter [materiam] of the sacraments) is Christ the Savior (XIX).
Some Reformed voices express the object signified with a proximate description, such as
―holy signs and seals of the covenant of grace, immediately instituted by God, to represent Christ
and his benefits, and to confirm our interest in him‖ (Westminster Confession XXVII). When
one reaches the actual discussion of baptism and Supper, however, one typically finds there the
description of a person‘s baptismal ―ingrafting in Christ (Westminster Confession XXVIII.1), or
that in the Supper ―really and indeed . . . receive and feed upon Christ crucified, and all the
benefits of his death‖(Westminster Confession , XXIX.7).
Reformed theology distinguishes between the validity and the efficacy of the sacraments.
The sacraments are to be administered by duly ordained ministers of the church (e.g., Scots
Confession XXII; Second Helvetic Confession XVIII, XIX; Large Catechism, Q. 169), and when
so administered, with the proper sign and divine promise of grace, as the church intentionally
follows the mandate of scripture, the sacrament validly offers what the sign signifies:
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