Writing: The Sacraments. 

The Sacraments, to me, are the union of God and man. They are performed for the presentation of Christ being in us and His benefits of Him dwelling in us. The two sacraments which are celebrated are the Lord’s Supper and the baptism. They are the holy signs and seals of the covenant of grace.

            Baptism is a way of saying “I’m in!” Being baptized is the newness of being a Christian. It signifies one as regenerated, the forgiveness of sins, and the giving up one’s life to follow after Christ. It is to be done with the pouring or sprinkling of water. The renewed person is to be baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit by a minister in the Gospel.

            It is not tied into the regeneration of a person; one can meet Jesus after giving up his life and still not baptized. Baptism to me is just a signification of one being truly reborn and cleansed. Yet, refusing to be baptized is a sin; this is disobedience toward Jesus’ instructions. Also, the baptism is of the Lord. In other words, a newly reborn Christian does not need water for baptism right away. It is of the Lord’s time and will be done when is necessary. Baptism should be done once by one person in his lifetime.

            The Lord’s Supper is a way of saying we are still one with Christ and continue to grow in Him. It is also a remembrance of Christ’s crucifixion the cross. “…This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me…This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” – Romans 11:24-25. Christ is not offered up to His Father. Christ offered Himself by Himself for all. On the night before His crucifixion, He used the bread being His body and the wine His blood; as it says in Matthew 26: 28: “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”

The Lord’s Supper is celebrated by communion: taking and eating the bread and drinking the wine. His followers take in the elements by faith and spiritually receiving and feeding upon Christ crucified, and all benefits of His death. Transubstantiation is the view of the bread and wine of Christ actually becoming the body and blood of Christ when in prayer by the pope. This view, I and the Confession states, is false. It goes against Scripture and cancels out common sense, as well.

And such as the refusing of the baptism, it is a sin when one does not take the Lord’s Supper seriously. One is committing sin when one does not have faith and yet takes the bread and wine.