Baptism and the Lord’s Supper

Words you can see

The gospel is first a word to be heard. But Christ also gave his church something to see, touch and taste: water poured or plunged in baptism, bread broken and a cup shared in the Lord's Supper. The church calls these sacraments. The Latin word sacramentum is how the Latin Bible, in several places, rendered the Greek mustērion (μυστήριον), ‘mystery’, as in "This mystery is profound" (Ephesians 5:32), and the Orthodox still speak of the holy mysteries.

Augustine, explaining Jesus' words "You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you" (John 15:3), gave the classic account: "Add the word to the element, and you have a sacrament" Augustine. In the same passage he called a sacrament a kind of visible word. In a sermon he explained the name: "They are called Sacraments, because in them what is seen is one thing, what is understood is another" Augustine. The Westminster Shorter Catechism puts it this way: "A sacrament is an holy ordinance instituted by Christ; wherein, by sensible signs, Christ, and the benefits of the new covenant, are represented, sealed, and applied to believers" Westminster Shorter Catechism, Q. 92.

Baptism: joined to Christ

Baptism comes from the risen Lord's own command.

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

Matthew 28:19

At Pentecost Peter told the crowd, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins" (Acts 2:38), and about three thousand were baptised that day. Paul explains what happens.

Or aren't you aware that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may walk in newness of life.

Romans 6:3-4

All who were baptised into Christ "have clothed yourselves with Christ" (Galatians 3:27). Baptism is given once, as the Nicene Creed confesses: "I acknowledge one Baptism for the remission of sins" The Nicene Creed. It is the sign of being joined to Christ and his people for good. The Didache, a church manual from around AD 100, already shows the shape of the practice: baptise in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, in running water if possible, and if water is short, pour it three times on the head Didache 7. How baptism relates to new birth is taken up in New birth and the indwelling Spirit.

The Supper: proclaiming his death

For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night He was betrayed, took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, "This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me."

1 Corinthians 11:23-24

"When He had given thanks" is one Greek word, from eucharisteō (εὐχαριστέω), which is why many Christians call the Supper the Eucharist, the thanksgiving. Paul adds, "as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes" (1 Corinthians 11:26). The Supper looks back to the cross and ahead to his return. It is also a sharing: the bread we break is "a participation in the body of Christ," and "we who are many are one body" (1 Corinthians 10:16-17). Many read Jesus' words in John 6 in the same light: "Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood remains in Me, and I in him" (John 6:56).

Around 155, Justin Martyr told the emperor that only the baptised share this food, and that "not as common bread and common drink do we receive these" Justin Martyr, First Apology 66. Matthew Henry reminds us that "the outward acts are not the whole, or the principal part, of what is to be done at this holy ordinance" Matthew Henry: those who come are to take Christ as their Lord and life.

Where Christians differ

How many sacraments? Protestant churches keep two, baptism and the Supper, because these alone were instituted by Christ with a visible sign and the promise of the gospel; Baptists and some others prefer to call them ordinances. The Catholic and Orthodox churches count seven, adding confirmation (chrismation in the East, given with baptism), penance, the anointing of the sick, holy orders and marriage. Both sides give baptism and the Eucharist the first place.

Whom to baptise? The Orthodox, Catholic, Lutheran, Reformed, Anglican and Methodist churches baptise adult converts and also the infants of believing parents. They point to the promise "to you and your children" (Acts 2:39), to whole households baptised (Acts 16:15, Acts 16:33), and to Paul's linking of circumcision and baptism (Colossians 2:11-12): God's covenant promise comes to a child before the child can answer. For Catholics and Orthodox, baptism is also the new birth, which infants need as much as adults; Catholics add that it washes away original sin. Baptists, Anabaptists, many Pentecostals and free churches baptise those who repent and profess faith Schleitheim Confession, Art. 1 Second London Baptist Confession. They note that in Acts "Those who embraced his message were baptized" (Acts 2:41), and hold that baptism is the believer's own confession of faith.

How to baptise? Churches immerse, pour or sprinkle. Baptists generally hold that immersion is the only proper mode, since it pictures burial and rising with Christ; the Orthodox immerse three times, infants included. The Catholic Church baptises by immersion or pouring, and many Protestant churches hold that pouring or sprinkling signifies the same washing. From the Didache on, the church has treated water and the triune name as what matters most.

How is Christ present in the Supper? All read the same words, "this is My body" (Matthew 26:26), but five main understandings stand out.

The Catholic teaching was defined at the Council of Trent Council of Trent, Decree on the Eucharist. Luther's Small Catechism calls the sacrament "the true body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, under the bread and wine, for us Christians to eat and to drink" Luther, Small Catechism. Calvin taught that the Spirit unites us with Christ's flesh in heaven, a mystery he confessed he could experience more than explain Calvin, Institutes 4.17, and the Heidelberg Catechism says the same in its questions on the Supper Heidelberg Catechism, Q. 75–79. Anglicans and Methodists hold a range of views, many close to a real but spiritual presence. How Lutherans and the Reformed think of Christ's ascended body is part of this difference; see The ascension and Christ’s reign.

For all this, every tradition confesses that Christ commanded this meal, that it proclaims his death until he comes, that it is to be received in faith and with self-examination, and that those who share one loaf are one body. Augustine, on John 6, gives the hope all of them share: "they who eat the bread strive not among themselves, for God makes them to dwell together in unity" Augustine. Baptism tells us we belong to Christ; the Supper calls us back to his table until he comes. For more, see What are baptism and the Lord's Supper? and How do Catholics and Protestants differ?.

Practice