Sixth, from the institution of the Sacraments.
Sixth, from the institution of the Sacraments.
§ 70. (VI) [They say:] “In the Gospel there are commandments about the use of Baptism and of the Lord’s Supper. Therefore Christ is the new Lawgiver.”
We respond. (1) The state of the question is being changed here, for the question is not about the institution of the Sacraments but about the perfection of the moral Law.
(2) Considered according to their end purpose, the Sacraments are the salutary means by which Christ offers His benefits to all and applies them to those who believe. They are the “seals of the righteousness of faith” (Rom. 4:11), and in this respect they certainly do pertain to the Gospel.
(3) That it might be understood that the institution of these ceremonies pertains not to our burden but to our convenience, Christ instituted only two Sacraments in place of the multiple ceremonies of the Old Testament. Augustine speaks very beautifully about this (on Psalm 73): “The sacraments were changed. They were made fewer, easier, more salutary, more happy.” [Augustine again] (Letter 118 ad Jan.): “Christ instituted Sacraments which were very few in number, very easy to observe, very excellent in their significance. To such He has bound the fellowship of His new people.”
(4) The receiving which Christ established in the action of the Sacraments must be considered as a kind of salutary reception rather than a laborious action. Acts 2:38: “Be baptized” (permit yourselves to be baptized) “each of you, for the forgiveness of your sins.”
(5) Since the institution of the Sacraments is proper for the one who can give the grace of the Sacraments—that is, for God alone—therefore in the use of the Sacraments we prove our obedience to Christ which is owed to Him as true God with the Father and the Holy Spirit, obedience which He requires from us in general in the First Commandment of the Decalogue [Exod. 20:3].
1 “Prescription” [praescriptio] is the allegation of long and immemorial time for the purpose of demonstrating the possession of something. Continuation of possession through a period of time defined by law is a way to attain possession of something. Here, the Pharisees claimed that their corrupt interpretations were genuine by using the “prescription of time,” the claim that these interpretations were ancient and therefore correct.