Concept Of Sacramentalism

We have already devoted much space for the discussion of the question of the sacrament and found that a “higher” view of the sacrament has no solid biblical basis. On the basis of the saying of Jesus recorded in John 6:63 which qualifies any allusion to the Lord’s Supper in 6:51-58, some biblical scholars maintain that John the author of the fourth gospel is anti-sacramentalist. In John 6:63 Jesus said, “it is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.” Also Peter says, “You have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and abiding Word of God” (I Peter 1:23). In both passages, the point is that the rebirth and sanctification

The phrase and idea of “sacramental grace” are not found in the New Testament. The impersonal concept of the grace of God is perfectly consistent with the impersonal nature of the religion of the Roman Catholic Church. In the New Testament, the grace of God is the loving-kindness, mercy, and undeserved favor of God, and to Paul it is the free, forgiving love of God. The grace of God is, in essence, a personal encounter or meeting between the believer and God, which can be described in terms of a personal relationship. In contrast, in the sacramentalist religion of the Catholic Church the grace of God is principally conceived as “sacramental grace”. The sacramental grace is of a quasi-material nature which is “infused” into the soul of the believer through the channel of the sacraments consecrated by the priest of the church. It is something like a “medicine” which has power to heal the fallen nature due to sin. It works miraculously in the believer and transforms (sanctifies)

Now I propose to consider one more doctrine of the Roman Church, the Catholic doctrine of faith. The three doctrines are linked. I will point out the impersonal character of the Catholic concept of faith, and will show that it is profoundly different from the biblical concept of