Mysteries, Sacraments And The Great Tradition

In earlier blogs I wrote about traditions, about handing down the teachings, about how the correct word passes on the correct concept and about mysteries and sacraments. Now is a good time to tie all this together.

Jesus is the truth revealed to us, the truth about how God forgives sinners. The mystery is that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for our sins. God the Father raised Jesus up on the third day as the great sign that he has accepted Christ's sacrifice as the full and complete payment for those sins. That's the Gospel, the good news, the Word of God and, yes, The Great Tradition!

However, no one can by his own power accept or chose to believe this Word of God and embrace Jesus as his Savior and Lord. We cannot and do not receive him as Savior. By nature we are his enemies and insist on justifying ourselves. So we are involved in a deep and wondrous mystery, the mystery of how or why anyone believes in Jesus. We accept this mystery, as do millions upon millions who have and who continue to believe in Jesus. And that is a result of the work of the Holy Spirit. Unless the Holy Spirit works faith in a person's heart, he remains an unbeliever without the forgiveness of sin. The Holy Spirit works through the Word of God, the gospel, to create faith. And the Spirit works to keep that faith alive. 2 Corinthians 3:12-14 speaks about being transformed. The whole chapter speaks about the Spirit pulling away the veil to reveal Jesus as the Christ, the promised Messiah. As we gaze upon Jesus and realize what he has done for us, we are changed and transformed from glory to glory. The Holy Spirit does that through the Word of God.

With this in mind, we can tie together the whole discussion about the sacraments or mysteries, as the Eastern Christians still call them. Baptism and the Lord's Supper are the Gospel, God's Word of mercy and forgiveness to us, the Great Tradition. Through them the Spirit shows us this mystery of God's love in Christ. And the more we return to our Baptism and to the Supper, the more the Spirit transforms us from within. We become more mature children of God, changed by His Spirit from glory to glory into the image of Christ.

These mysteries, these sacraments, are then part of the Great Tradition that must, not may, be passed on. God's Word of good news does not come to us only by preaching. It also comes to us by water, wine and bread. Does the Bible speak of other ways by which God's Word, the Gospel comes? I'll take that up next time.