# Lehre und Wehre_St. Louis Missouri_Januar 1857_S14
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

14                         On the Efficacy of the Sacraments.

"16:16, Acts 8:36 and 37, as also inclusively: Acts 2:38, 22:16, Titus 3:5, 1 Corinthians 11:29. Accordingly, the sacraments therefore do not profit ex opere operato;

"2. by the fact that Scripture everywhere ascribes justification to faith, which is required on our part to receive the benefits offered in Word and sacrament, Habakkuk 2:4, Romans 1:17, 4:3 and 10, 10:10, Hebrews 10:38. Accordingly, therefore, the sacraments do not profit unto righteousness and salvation without faith;

"3. by the fact that Abraham, before he received circumcision, was justified through faith, and circumcision was to him a seal of the righteousness of faith, Romans 4:11. Accordingly, therefore, the sacraments do not profit ex opere operato without faith; but they serve to awaken, strengthen, and confirm faith;

"4. from the apostolic explanation of how baptism is the washing of regeneration and salvation. Ephesians 5:26 the apostle says: Christ cleanses the congregation through the washing of water in the Word. Thus baptism cleanses us from sins, because it has the word of promise attached to it, in which faith seeks, seizes, and takes hold of the grace of the Father, the merit of the Son, and the power of the Holy Spirit. Titus 3:5 baptism is called the washing of regeneration and renewal, but it is immediately added: 'of the Holy Spirit,' as also John 3:5 speaks of spirit and water being joined. Moreover, the apostle adds, to explain the manner of this regeneration and renewal: 'through Jesus Christ our Savior, that we, through his grace, might be justified and heirs of eternal life.' So Peter says, 1 Epistle 3:21, that baptism makes us blessed and is the pledge of a good conscience with God, but he adds: 'through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.' All this shows that the sacraments are not profitable ex opere operato or by force of the mere performance of the sacraments without the faith of the recipient; but rather because they contain the word of promise clothed in certain ceremonies instituted by God, in which faith seeks and lays hold of the grace of God and the forgiveness of sins — therefore and for this reason one says that they impart grace; —

"5. from the mutual relationship between promise and faith. Promise and faith relate to one another reciprocally. In the sacraments the promise is contained. Therefore faith too is required, which appropriates the promise to itself, without which faith the sacrament profits nothing;

"6. from the analogy. For the actual receiving of any gift four elements are required: a person who gives, and a means of giving; a person who receives, and a means of receiving. Now in the salutary use of the sacraments there occurs a receiving of heavenly gifts, namely of the grace of God, of the forgiveness