Sacrament And Baptism Essay

The definition of a sacrament is a visible sign of an inward grace, especially one of the solemn rites considered to have been instituted by Jesus Christ to symbolise or confer grace. In Latin the term sacrament has two meanings. It refers to, in military terms; the oath that a soldier takes where by the soldier dedicates himself to obey authority. In roman legal proceedings it referred to the money that plaintiffs deposited with priests in legal cases as a sign of willingness to be humbled before the divine judgement of God, since some cases could only determine guilt or innocence by calling on the Gods. The term was first used by Tertullian in 210CE, It can be argued that the early church performed sacraments as part of liturgy with out recognising it. When early Christians gathered to do what we now call liturgy they called them charisms. This included baptism. Charisms were seen as signs of the spirit. Tertullian uses the term sacrament in reference to baptism; he sees the connection between converting from

In baptism water is the material sign. The latin term for the element is sacramentum tantum. Second: The symbolic reality or mystery, which is caused and signified and also signifies and causes, it remains in the subject, permanently in the case of some sacraments. In the Eucharist it is the real, objective presence of Christ’s body and blood. In latin it is called res et sacramentum

Third: The inward and spiritual grace, which is signified and caused but does not signify or cause. It remains in the subject if there are no barriers to fruitfulness in the subject. In the Eucharist it is the participation of the recipient in the death and resurrection of Christ and the benefits thereof. Its Latin name is res