Inward and Spiritual Grace in the 1928 BCP Catechism

Inward and Spiritual Grace in the 1928 BCP Catechism is the divine gift distinguished from, yet joined to, the outward sign in the Catechism's account of a sacrament. In Baptism the Catechism describes that grace as death to sin and new birth to righteousness. In the Lord's Supper it identifies the inward part as Christ's Body and Blood spiritually received by the faithful, and the benefit as the strengthening and refreshing of their souls.

The sacramental definition

The Catechism names Baptism and the Lord's Supper as the two sacraments generally necessary to salvation. Its definition ties the gift to Christ's institution and to the Church's sacramental action:

I mean an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace given unto us; ordained by Christ himself, as a means whereby we receive the same, and a pledge to assure us thereof.

The sign is visible; the grace is inward and spiritual. Yet the answer calls the sacrament both a means of receiving that grace and a pledge of assurance, not simply a picture to be contemplated. The two terms lead the student to ask what God gives in each rite as well as what the worshipper sees and does.

Granville Mercer Williams, writing in 1928, explained the efficacy of sacramental signs by appeal to God's will:

The Christian Sacraments are effectual symbols of God's grace because God has set them forth for us, because we use them in obedience to His Will, and because He wills to give to those who so use them the graces which He has attached to their use.

Williams's interpretation locates the gift in God's action, rather than in an independent power of the material sign. He also stresses the recipient's response of faith and love; his account is a theological explanation, not an additional answer in the Catechism.

Baptism: death and new birth

After identifying water used in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost as Baptism's outward sign, the Catechism asks for the inward grace:

A death unto sin, and a new birth unto righteousness: for being by nature born in sin, and the children of wrath, we are hereby made the children of grace.

The paired images describe both a break with sin and entry into a new life. Romans 6:3–4 connects baptism into Christ's death and burial with walking in newness of life; John 3:5 speaks of birth of water and the Spirit. The Catechism's “children of grace” also recalls its opening answer, in which the baptized person is a member of Christ, a child of God, and an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven.

The Baptism office makes the connection between water and God's gift in its prayer before the administration:

sanctify this Water to the mystical washing away of sin; and grant that this Child (this thy Servant), now to be baptized therein, may receive the fulness of thy grace, and ever remain in the number of thy faithful children;

The prayer asks for grace and perseverance, rather than treating the water as acting apart from God. The Catechism also requires repentance and faith from those baptized; infants promise these through sureties and are bound to perform the promise when they come of age. Grace and subsequent Christian responsibility therefore belong together in its instruction.

The Lord's Supper: Christ and his benefits

The Catechism names bread and wine as the outward part, then asks what is the inward part, or thing signified:

The Body and Blood of Christ, which are spiritually taken and received by the faithful in the Lord's Supper.

Its next answer distinguishes that inward part from the benefit of receiving it:

The strengthening and refreshing of our souls by the Body and Blood of Christ, as our bodies are by the Bread and Wine.

The comparison with bodily nourishment explains the benefit without reducing it to the bread and wine alone. In 1 Corinthians 10:16–17 Paul describes the cup and bread as communion in Christ's blood and body and connects the one bread with the one body. In 1 Corinthians 11:23–29 the Lord's command to remember his death stands alongside the call to self-examination. The Catechism likewise asks communicants for repentance, faith in God's mercy through Christ, thankful remembrance, and charity toward all.

In the Prayer of Consecration, the Church asks the Father to bless and sanctify the bread and wine with his Word and Holy Spirit, so that those receiving according to Christ's institution may partake of his Body and Blood. At delivery of the bread the minister says:

The Body of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was given for thee, preserve thy body and soul unto everlasting life. Take and eat this in remembrance that Christ died for thee, and feed on him in thy heart by faith, with thanksgiving.

The words hold together the gift, remembrance of Christ's death, faith, and thanksgiving. They give liturgical expression to the Catechism's account of spiritual reception and nourishment.

An Anglican interpretation

In an 1892 lecture, the American priest Morgan Dix drew attention to the Catechism's separate questions about the eucharistic sign, the thing signified, and the benefit:

Three terms are to be considered: the sign, signum; the thing signified, res; the benefit received, beneficia, or virtus.

Dix's distinction helps a reader follow the sequence of the Catechism's questions: bread and wine, Christ's Body and Blood, and the strengthening and refreshing of souls. His further account of Christ's objective presence is a particular high-church interpretation, given before the 1928 revision; it should be read as his interpretation rather than as wording supplied by the Catechism itself.

See Also

• Book of Common Prayer (1928)
• Catechism (1928 BCP)
• Offices of Instruction (1928 BCP)
• Confirmation (1928 BCP)
• Sacraments in the 1928 BCP Catechism
• Outward and Visible Sign in the 1928 BCP Catechism

External Links

• The 1928 Book of Common Prayer, Society of Archbishop Justus