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).