# Lehre und Wehre_St. Louis Missouri_Januar 1857_S10
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

10                         On the Efficacy of the Sacraments.

adheres to the outward sign of the sacraments; but rather in the promise which is attached to the sacraments, faith seeks, seizes, and takes hold of the grace of the Father, the merit of the Son, and the power of the Spirit.

"This is a simple, clear, and true opinion concerning the effectiveness of the sacraments. And let the reader observe that Scripture confirms both: both that baptism makes us blessed, 1 Peter 3:21, and also that God makes us blessed through the washing of regeneration, Titus 3:5. Likewise, baptism washes away sins, Acts 22:16, and Christ cleanses the congregation through the washing of water in the Word, Ephesians 5:26. Then one should also observe how precisely the words of Scripture are set. Thus: Peter says baptism makes us blessed and is the pledge of a good conscience with God; but he adds: through the resurrection of Christ. Paul calls it the washing of regeneration, but he explains it thus: God made us blessed according to his mercy through the washing of regeneration. But whence does baptism have this, that it is the washing of regeneration? He answers: it is the washing of regeneration of the Holy Spirit, as Christ also says, John 3:5, unless one be born of water and the Spirit, etc. In what way, then? Through Jesus Christ our Savior, that we, through his grace, might be justified and heirs of eternal life. — For we are baptized into Christ's death, that we might become partakers of his resurrection, Romans 6:4 and 5; we put on Christ when we are baptized, Galatians 3:27. For he himself, who gave himself for his congregation, has not transferred to another the power or effectiveness to sanctify and cleanse it, but sanctifies and cleanses it himself. But does he do this without an ordinary means? Paul answers: he sanctifies and cleanses it through the washing of water in the Word. All this concerning the power and effectiveness of the sacraments — how much simpler, clearer, more certain and more sure it is than all the disputations and opinions of men, be they of the scholastics or of other enthusiasts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

"For a fuller explanation belongs also the consideration that in this doctrine a twofold intermediate cause is found. The one is, as it were, God's hand, by which he, through the Word and the sacraments in the Word, offers, holds out, imparts, and seals to believers the benefits of redemption. The other is, as it were, our hand: namely, that we, through faith, desire, seek, seize, and take hold of what God offers and holds out to us through the Word and the sacraments. For the efficacy of the sacraments is not such that God, through them, pours in or impresses the grace unto salvation even upon those who do not believe or do not accept it, as some also imagined in ancient times. . . . . But rather, as Paul says of the Word: the gospel is a power of God to save all who believe on it, and, Hebrews 4:2, the word of preaching profited them nothing, since it was not mixed with faith in those who