Question 1 (A)

The two most important rites in Protestant churches are the two sacraments: baptism and the
Lord's Supper. Many of the most contentious theological issues in Protestantism have centered
on or been related to the understanding of these sacraments (or ordinances), which have
divided not only Protestants from Roman Catholics, but Protestantism into its incredible
variety.

A sacrament is an action in and through which God’s grace is conveyed to people. Roman
Catholics have seven sacraments: baptism, confirmation, confession, Lord’s Supper (Eucharist),
marriage, ordination, and extreme unction (or anointing of the sick, formerly referred to as last
rites). Luther cut this list down to the two sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper. He
believed that, to be a sacrament, a ritual had to be explicitly instituted for the ’hurch by Jesus in
the Gospels. Jesus tells his disciples to go and baptize in the name of the Father, the Son, and
the Holy Spirit (Mt. 28:19), and at the Last Supper as he breaks bread he tells them to “do this
in remembrance of me” (Lk. 22:19). Other rituals, while important, do not meet this criterion.
They are rites but not sacraments. Rites that are for specific occasions such as marriage or
ordination take place during “occasional services.” All Protestant churches followed Luther’s
lead on this. Lutherans and Reformed theologians argued that, to require human understanding
was precisely to make salvation dependent on a human capacity or act, which contradicted the
meaning of the forgiveness being presented and symbolized.

Question 1 (B)
When we speak of the sacraments, we are usually referring specifically to baptism and the
Lord's Supper, those signs and seals instituted by Christ to remember His death and His work in
cleansing His people from sin.

Under the new covenant, we remember, for example, the Lord's Supper, when Jesus took the
Old Testament sacrament of Passover and filled it with new meaning and new content. He took
the bread and the wine of the Passover meal and made them signs and seals of His broken body
and shed blood, which are the purchase price of our redemption. He said to eat the bread and
wine in remembrance of Him. Jesus knew His people; He knew what we were like, that
sometimes our faithfulness to Christ is only as intense and as strong as the vivacity of our
recollection of our most recent blessing at the hands of God. But we come down from those
mountaintop experiences and we tend to forget what God has done for us in the past. The
sacraments represent the Lord accommodating Himself to this weakness of ours in order to
assist us in remembering what He has done for us.

We are weak, sinful people who need all the assistance we can get in order to remember what
the Lord has done for us. If we neglect the sacraments He has given His people and fail to
understand the importance of the sacramental aspects of our faith, we are turning down
precious helps that provide additional confirmation of His promises. When joined to the Word
of God, the sacraments strengthen our faith, further our sanctification, and assure us of the
Lord's unwavering faithfulness to us—His forgetful and often unfaithful people.
 Question 2

Sola Fide
Theology must be faith driven. Without faith, it is impossible to please God (Heb. 11:6). Like the
empty hand of a beggar, faith reaches out to receive Christ. By faith, we believe that He who
has promised is able to perform that which He promises (Rom. 4:21). God will fulfill His
purposes, but if we do not believe, then we will not be established (Isa. 7:9; 45:17). Faith has no
merit before God. We are justified by faith without the works of the law (Rom. 3:28). We are
not saved by good works but are saved for good works (Eph. 2:8–10). Knowledge of Christ
through Scripture, assent to these truths in our minds, and Spirit–wrought trust from our hearts
characterize saving faith. We live by faith in the Son of God who loved us and gave Himself for
us (Gal. 2:20).