4. The Means of Grace - Ever Reforming

WSC 88. What are the outward and ordinary means whereby Christ communicateth to us the benefits of redemption? A. The outward and ordinary means whereby Christ communicateth to us the benefits of redemption are, his ordinances, especially the Word, sacraments, and prayer; all which are made effectual to the elect for salvation.

Defining the Means of Grace

The “means of grace” (media gratia) refer to how we are to receive the benefits of salvation acquired by Christ.¹ These are the instruments that God uses to bring His people into communion with Christ.² The catechism describes these as “outward” to distinguish them from the inward work of the Holy Spirit,³ and “ordinary” because these are usually used by the Holy Spirit to impart salvation to the elect.⁴

It is important to clarify what is meant by “grace.” The catechism is specifically referring to the special grace of God’s unmerited favor by which He redeems fallen humanity.⁵ It is not referring to common grace (i.e., God’s general favor towards mankind),⁶ nor to a created substance.⁷ Saving grace is the influence of Christ on His people. Grace is not a thing, but a Person.⁸ Correspondingly, God unites believers to Christ using the appointed means of grace.

The Primary Means of Grace

The primary means of grace are Christ’s ordinances, especially the Word, sacraments, and prayer. The Word refers to the Bible and all the saving truth contained in it. It is through the Word that God reveals Jesus Christ to us (Heb. 1:1-2).⁹ This is the reason why the Word of God is considered the chief means of grace. We can be diligent in the use of this means of grace by attentively listening to the Word preached, reading the Bible, memorizing Scripture, singing the Psalms, etc., These activities become effectual to us by blessing of the Holy Spirit.

The sacraments of the New Testament age are baptism and Lord’s supper. Insofar as the sacraments are connected to the Word, they are also means of grace, being visible words.¹⁰ If administered apart from the Word, however, the sacraments are empty rituals, indistinguishable from any other washing or meal, and have no ability to confer grace to its recipients.¹¹ Therefore, the sacraments must always be accompanied by the preached Word to be considered true means of grace.¹²

Finally, the catechism lists prayer as a means of grace (cf. Rom. 8:26; 2 Th. 1:11).¹³ Some people, however, have taken issue with this, noting a distinction between the objective means of grace (i.e., the Word and sacrament) and subjective experiences of believers (i.e., the prayer of the saints); this is why some people prefer to strictly speak of the means of grace only as the Word and sacraments (while still acknowledging that prayer can be instrumental to strengthening our spiritual lives).¹⁴ Nonetheless, all the Reformed confessions and catechisms teach a high view of prayer, affirming the spiritual blessings that accompany it.¹⁵ While the Word and sacraments are commonly agreed to be the means of grace in the narrowest application, prayer can also be considered so in a broader sense.

Word and Spirit Together

The means of grace are made effectual to the elect for salvation only by the working of the Holy Spirit. The Word alone is insufficient to bring people to faith and repentance. After all, both Scripture and human experience teach us that the Word does not always have the same effect on all people (e.g., two people can hear the same sermon; one will turn to God in faith but the other will remain calloused and unbelieving).¹⁶ The outwards means are made inwardly efficacious by the Holy Spirit (cf. by opening the heart, Acts 16:14; drawing a person to Christ, Jn. 6:44; enlightening the mind, Eph. 1:18; Col. 1:9–11; etc.).

The Necessity of the Means of Grace

The “means of grace” are necessary for salvation in ordinary cases (cf. Rom. 10:13-17), so we must be diligent to use these in faith. That being said, God is not absolutely tied down by outward means as if He must use them to bring salvation in every case. Rather, the Holy Spirit is able to work apart from them and He does so in exceptional circumstances.¹⁷ This is the reason the Reformed teach that God is able to save covenant children who die in infancy, or people who are mentally incapable of using the external means.¹⁸ In these cases, the Holy Spirit saves a person entirely by the inward Word, apart from the ordinary outward means.

While there may be exceptional cases where God chooses to save individuals apart from the means of grace, as a rule, the Word and sacraments are the ordinary means by which God imparts His grace by His Spirit. It is important to emphasize this.¹⁹ We need to avoid the error of the Roman Catholic Church that teaches that salvation is absolutely dependent on the sacraments,²⁰ as well as the error of Mysticism that denies the necessity of the means of grace altogether.²¹ We are called to use the means of grace diligently, trusting that God will bless these to us, according to the working of the Holy Spirit.²²

Blessings and Curses

Beware! The Word and sacraments are not always means of grace, but can sometimes be means of judgment too (particularly when they are handled lightly or treated with disdain).²³ There are no neutral encounters with God (cf. 2 Cor. 2:15-16).²⁴ God’s revelation is always double-edged. Some people can sit under God’s ordinances and be greatly blessed, while others heap judgment on themselves (Heb. 6:7-8). This was seen by the mixed response to Jesus’ Word (Jn. 7:40-44); some turned to Jesus unto life (Jn. 8:51; 10:27), while others rejected Him because they despised the truth (Jn. 8:45, 47).²⁵

The dual blessing-curse principle is present in God’s Word, as well as the sacraments. This is most obvious in the Lord’s supper, where there is a clear description of how it can be a means of blessing for believers who feed upon Christ in faith (Mt. 26:26-28), but a means of judgment to those who fail to discern the Lord’s body (1 Cor. 11:27-30). It is also the case with baptism. For example, the same flood that delivered Noah and his family was the instrument of judgment for the unbelieving world (cf. Gen. 6:17-18; 1 Peter 3:20-21). The crossing of the Red Sea meant deliverance for Israel, but judgment for Pharaoh’s army (cf. Ex. 14; 1 Cor. 10:1-4).²⁶

God uses His ordinances for the good of His people. So, when a person is earnest about using the means of grace, it is often a good sign that the Holy Spirit is working in him/her to bring about his/her salvation. Therefore, the life of the church should be oriented around the means of grace, while asking for the Holy Spirit’s blessing upon them. In a nutshell, the Word and sacraments are blessings when they are received by faith according to the working of the Holy Spirit. But these become means of judgment apart from a Spirit-wrought faith.²⁷

Footnotes

1
“Means of grace are those means which God has ordained for the end of communicating the life-giving and sanctifying influences of the Spirit to the souls of men.” Hodge, Charles. Systematic Theology: Volume 3: Soteriology. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 2011, p. 708.
2
van Genderen, J. and Velema W.H. Concise Reformed Dogmatics. Phillipsburg, NJ: P & R Pub., 2008, p. 754.
3
These are external actions or signs that God uses to transfer His grace to us.
4
Vos, Johannes Geerhardus. The Westminster Larger Catechism: A Commentary. P&R Publishing, 2002, pp. 433-434.
5
Fesko, J.V. Word, Water, and Spirit: A Reformed Perspective on Baptism. Grand Rapids, MI: Reformation Heritage, 2010, pp. 272-273.
6
We need to be careful not to define “grace” too broadly, or it loses all meaning. The popular evangelical view is that “grace” is all the blessings we receive in this life. Using this definition, Wayne Grudem identifies 11 means of grace: the Word, baptism, Lord’s supper, prayer, worship, church discipline, giving, spiritual gifts, fellowship, evangelism, and personal ministry to individuals. Grudem, Wayne A. Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine. Leicester, England: Inter-Varsity, 1994, pp. 950-951. Some people have placed almost no limitations on the term. For instance, Brian McLaren, a leader of the Emergent Church movement, said, “we [can be] open to the fact that all things (all good things, all created things) can ultimately carry the sacred: the kind smile of a Down’s syndrome child, the bouncy jubilation of a puppy, the graceful arch of a dancer’s back, the camera work in a fine film, good coffee, good wine, good friends, good conversation. Start with three sacraments—or seven—and pretty soon everything becomes potentially sacramental as, I believe, it should be.” McClaren, Brian. A Generous Orthodoxy. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2004, pp. 225-226.
7
The Roman Catholic view teaches that God’s grace in redemption is a “created grace” (gratia creata) that transforms a person ontologically. Fesko, J.V. Word, Water, and Spirit: A Reformed Perspective on Baptism. Grand Rapids, MI: Reformation Heritage, 2010, p. 273.
8
Fesko, J.V. Word, Water, and Spirit: A Reformed Perspective on Baptism. Grand Rapids, MI: Reformation Heritage, 2010, p. 274.
9
It is said that God has given us two books that tell us about Himself; one is general revelation (nature) and the other special revelation (Scripture). General revelation tells us about God through created things, and special revelation through words. The distinction is important because it explains why God uses special revelation as the primary means to reveal Christ, the incarnate Word. This concept is found in the Belgic Confession, article 2.
10
Taken together, this is why the Word and sacraments—as audible and visible words—are said to be means of grace. Heidelberg Catechism 65 teaches, “Since then we are made partakers of Christ and all His benefits by faith only, when doth this faith proceed? From the Holy Ghost, who works faith in our hearts by the preaching of the gospel, and confirms it by the use of the sacraments.” The Westminster Confession of Faith, chapter 14, paragraph 1 as well as the Canons of Dordt, Fifth Head of Doctrine, article 14 make similar statements.
11
The sacraments are subordinate to the Word. These have no meaning or power apart from that Word. Bavinck, Herman. Reformed Dogmatics, Vol. 4: Holy Spirit, Church, and New Creation. Baker Academic, 2008, p. 444; and Fesko, J.V. Word, Water, and Spirit: A Reformed Perspective on Baptism. Grand Rapids, MI: Reformation Heritage, 2010, p. 276.
12
Calvin, John. Institutes of the Christian Religion, 4.14.4.
13
Prayer is included as a means of grace by the Westminster Shorter Catechism 88 and Larger Catechism 154, and similarly affirmed by Presbyterians. Hodge, Charles. Systematic Theology: Volume 3: Soteriology. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 2011, pp. 466, 708.
14
Berkhof, Louis. Systematic Theology. Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans Pub., 1996, pp. 604-605.
15
For example, Heidelberg Catechism 116 teaches, “Why is prayer necessary for Christians? Because it is the chief part of thankfulness which God requires of us; and also, because God will give His grace and Holy Spirit to those only, who with sincere desires continually ask them of Him, and are thankful for them.”
16
“The Holy Spirit is not an unconscious power but a person who is always present with that Word, always sustains it and makes it active, though not always in the same manner… He uses that Word for bringing people to repentance but also for hardening; for the rising but also for the falling of many. He always works through the Word but not always in the same way. And when He wants to work through it so that it leads to faith and repentance, He does not objectively have to add anything to the Word.” Bavinck, Herman. Reformed Dogmatics, Vol. 4: Holy Spirit, Church, and New Creation. Baker Academic, 2008, p. 460.
17
“Calling is again distinguished into ordinary and mediate, and extraordinary and immediate. The former God employs in the ordinary dispensation of his grace by the intervention of external means (or the ministry of men). The latter, however, is usually exercised beyond the order, with respect to certain individuals whom God immediately and of himself (without the intervention of men) calls and turns to himself (such as was seen in the thief, in Paul and others immediately called by God.” Turretin, Francis. Institutes of Elenctic Theology, Vol. 2. Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Pub., 1994. p. 503; XV.1.X.
18
“[God is able to] also glorify his grace in the hearts of sinners apart from external means… [So] especially in the case of children of believers who died in infancy… God [can] also regenerate and save people without the Word and the sacrament, that is, by the Holy Spirit alone” Bavinck, Herman. Reformed Dogmatics, Vol. 4: Holy Spirit, Church, and New Creation. Baker Academic, 2008, pp. 445-446. See also the Canons of Dordt, First Head of Doctrine, article 17; and the Westminster Confession of Faith, chapter 10, paragraph 3.
19
After all, if one assumes that God regularly bypasses the ordinary means of grace, then there is a “danger of leading people to regard the Word, the sacrament, church, and offices, indeed even the person and work of Christ, as superfluous for the acquisition and application of salvation.” Bavinck, Herman. Reformed Dogmatics, Vol. 4: Holy Spirit, Church, and New Creation. Baker Academic, 2008, p. 446.
20
Roman Catholics believe that grace is a substance that is infused into recipients of the sacraments. Therefore, according to the Roman Catholic Church, the chief means of grace are the sacraments, and these confer grace simply by their administration (ex opere operato), even apart from faith, independent of the Holy Spirit. Warfield, Benjamin Breckinridge. The Plan of Salvation. Boonton, NJ: Simpson Pub., 1989. pp. 49-50, 64. See also Bavinck, Herman. Reformed Dogmatics, Vol. 4: Holy Spirit, Church, and New Creation. Baker Academic, 2008, pp. 443-444.
21
Mystics teach that God comes to us immediately (i.e., without means). They erroneously believe that God comes to people directly with inner words or private revelation. Bavinck, Herman. Reformed Dogmatics, Vol. 4: Holy Spirit, Church, and New Creation. Baker Academic, 2008, p. 443; and Vos, Johannes Geerhardus. The Westminster Larger Catechism: A Commentary. P&R Publishing, 2002, pp. 433-434.
22
“It is true that a harvest of grain depends on rain and sunlight, which only God can provide; but that is no excuse for neglecting to plant the seed, which God expects men to do. Faith in the Holy Spirit and his work is no excuse for spiritual laziness, or neglect of the use of appointed means.” Vos, Johannes Geerhardus. The Westminster Larger Catechism: A Commentary. P&R Publishing, 2002, p. 435.
23
cf. Calvin, John. Institutes of the Christian Religion, 4.15.9; Ursinus, Zacharias. Commentary on the Heidelberg Catechism. Eerdmans, 1956, pp. 360-361.
24
“The microcosm of the crucifixion shows that God’s self-revelation in Christ is both a means of judgment and redemption. Two thieves were crucified with Him—one believed and was saved, but the other thief did not believe and was condemned (Luke 23:30-43; cf. John 3:16-18). The same Jesus brought both redemption and judgment—He is both the cornerstone and the stone of offence and stumbling (Isa. 8:13-15; Rom. 9:33; 1 Peter 2:7-8).” Fesko, J.V. Word, Water, and Spirit: A Reformed Perspective on Baptism. Grand Rapids, MI: Reformation Heritage, 2010, pp. 286-287.
25
We see a similar principle in action when Jesus condemns those who reject clear revelation of the Word more than those who never knew it (Jn. 15:22; Mt. 23:14; Lk. 12:47-48). Likewise, a severe curse falls on people who have received the Word of God and joined themselves to the covenant community but later turn away (2 Pet. 2:20-21; Heb. 6:4-6).
26
Fesko, J.V. Word, Water, and Spirit: A Reformed Perspective on Baptism. Grand Rapids, MI: Reformation Heritage, 2010, pp. 278-288.
27
Fesko, J.V. Word, Water, and Spirit: A Reformed Perspective on Baptism. Grand Rapids, MI: Reformation Heritage, 2010, p. 288; and Beale, G. K. A New Testament Biblical Theology: The Unfolding of the Old Testament in the New. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2011. pp. 812ff.

Footnotes

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