Outward and Visible Sign in the 1928 BCP Catechism
Outward and Visible Sign in the 1928 BCP Catechism is the phrase by which the Catechism describes the perceptible part of a sacrament. In Baptism the sign is water used with the Trinitarian name; in the Lord's Supper it is bread and wine received as Christ commanded. The Catechism distinguishes these outward acts from inward grace while calling the sacrament both a means of receiving grace and a pledge of its assurance.
The sign in the Catechism
The Catechism names Baptism and the Lord's Supper as the two sacraments “generally necessary to salvation” and defines the word sacrament:
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.
“Outward” identifies what can be perceived in the rite; “inward and spiritual” describes the grace God gives. The definition attributes institution to Christ and says more than that the action reminds the worshipper of an absent gift: it calls the sacrament a means of reception and a pledge of assurance. The next answer distinguishes its two parts without suggesting they are independent sacraments:[2]
Two; the outward visible sign, and the inward spiritual grace.
Granville Mercer Williams, writing in 1928, interpreted the effectiveness of the signs in terms of God's will rather than a power possessed by the material itself:
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 account is an Anglican interpretation, not an additional Catechism answer. In the same chapter he rejects an idea of ritual as a means of compelling God and stresses the recipient's response of faith and love.[5]
Baptism: water and the divine name
Asked for the outward sign or form of Baptism, the Catechism answers:
Water; wherein the person is baptized, In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
The sign is not water considered in isolation: the answer joins its use to the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. The Baptism office directs the minister to dip the candidate or pour water, saying:
N. I baptize thee In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
The office also appoints Matthew 28:18–20 as a Gospel option: Christ sends the disciples to baptize in that name and to teach obedience. Its prayer asks God to sanctify the water to the mystical washing away of sin, locating the outward act within the Church's prayer for divine grace.[8]
The Catechism describes the inward grace in terms of death and birth:
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.
Romans 6:3–4 connects baptism into Christ's death with walking in newness of life. The Catechism also asks for repentance and faith; in the case of infants, sureties promise these on their behalf and the children are bound to perform the promise when of age. Its treatment thus joins the gift of grace to a continuing Christian response.[10]
The Lord's Supper: bread and wine
In the Lord's Supper the outward part is not a washing but nourishment received at Christ's command:
Bread and Wine, which the Lord hath commanded to be received.
The answer immediately following names the inward part:
The Body and Blood of Christ, which are spiritually taken and received by the faithful in the Lord's Supper.
The following answer speaks of strengthening and refreshing the soul, as bread and wine nourish the body. In 1 Corinthians 10:16–17, the cup and bread are associated with participation in Christ's blood and body and with the unity of the one body; 1 Corinthians 11:23–29 links the Lord's command to remembrance and self-examination. The Catechism similarly calls communicants to repentance, faith, thankful remembrance, and charity.[13]
The Communion prayer asks God to bless and sanctify the bread and wine by his Word and Holy Spirit, so that those receiving them according to Christ's institution may be partakers of his Body and Blood. The words at delivery of the bread connect the gift with remembrance, faith, and thanksgiving:[14]
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.
Anglican teaching and other rites
Article XXV of the Thirty-nine Articles distinguishes Baptism and the Lord's Supper from five other rites or states of life, including Confirmation, which it says do not have the same nature as the Gospel sacraments. Its distinction concerns the Christ-appointed visible sign; it does not remove those other rites from the Prayer Book.[16]
Earlier, Bishop John Henry Hobart explained the distinction by pointing to the two material signs:
Her authority for this is, that there are outward and visible signs in baptism and the Lord's Supper-water in the one, and bread and wine in the other.
Hobart wrote more than a century before the American 1928 revision; his explanation is a historical interpretation of Anglican teaching, not a statement that Confirmation has no place in Christian formation. The 1928 Catechism's closing rubrics provide for instruction and presentation to the bishop, placing teaching about Baptism and Communion within the continuing formation of the baptized.[18]
See Also
- Book of Common Prayer (1928)
- Catechism (1928 BCP)
- Offices of Instruction (1928 BCP)
- Confirmation (1928 BCP)
- Sacraments in the 1928 BCP Catechism
External Links
References
- ↑ The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, The Book of Common Prayer (1928), A Catechism, questions on the number and meaning of sacraments, Society of Archbishop Justus transcription.
- ↑ The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, The Book of Common Prayer (1928), A Catechism, questions on the meaning and parts of a sacrament, Society of Archbishop Justus transcription.
- ↑ The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, The Book of Common Prayer (1928), A Catechism, answer on the parts of a sacrament, Society of Archbishop Justus transcription.
- ↑ Granville Mercer Williams, S.S.J.E., The Touch of Christ: Lectures on the Christian Sacraments (New York: Edwin S. Gorham, 1928), chapter II, “The Christian Sacraments,” Project Canterbury transcription.
- ↑ Williams, The Touch of Christ (1928), chapter II, Project Canterbury transcription.
- ↑ The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, The Book of Common Prayer (1928), A Catechism, answer on the outward sign of Baptism, Society of Archbishop Justus transcription.
- ↑ The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, The Book of Common Prayer (1928), The Ministration of Holy Baptism, form at the administration of water, Society of Archbishop Justus transcription.
- ↑ The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, The Book of Common Prayer (1928), The Ministration of Holy Baptism, Gospel option and prayer before Baptism, Society of Archbishop Justus transcription.
- ↑ The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, The Book of Common Prayer (1928), A Catechism, answer on the inward grace of Baptism, Society of Archbishop Justus transcription.
- ↑ The Holy Bible, King James Version, Romans 6:3–4, Bible Gateway; and The Protestant Episcopal Church, The Book of Common Prayer (1928), A Catechism, questions on repentance, faith, and infants, Society of Archbishop Justus transcription.
- ↑ The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, The Book of Common Prayer (1928), A Catechism, answer on the outward part of the Lord's Supper, Society of Archbishop Justus transcription.
- ↑ The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, The Book of Common Prayer (1928), A Catechism, answer on the inward part of the Lord's Supper, Society of Archbishop Justus transcription.
- ↑ The Holy Bible, King James Version, 1 Corinthians 10:16–17 and 1 Corinthians 11:23–29, Bible Gateway; The Protestant Episcopal Church, The Book of Common Prayer (1928), A Catechism, questions on the benefits of and preparation for the Lord's Supper, Society of Archbishop Justus transcription.
- ↑ The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, The Book of Common Prayer (1928), The Order for Holy Communion, Prayer of Consecration, Society of Archbishop Justus transcription.
- ↑ The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, The Book of Common Prayer (1928), The Order for Holy Communion, words at delivery of the bread, Society of Archbishop Justus transcription.
- ↑ The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, The Book of Common Prayer (1928), Articles of Religion, Article XXV, “Of the Sacraments,” Society of Archbishop Justus transcription.
- ↑ John Henry Hobart, A Catechism for Confirmation (New York: Protestant Episcopal Tract Society, printed by T. & J. Swords, 1819), p. 7, question on Confirmation and a sacrament, Project Canterbury transcription.
- ↑ The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, The Book of Common Prayer (1928), A Catechism, concluding rubrics, Society of Archbishop Justus transcription.