Why I Use the Term "Ordinance" Rather than "Sacrament."

Sometimes when we discuss theological issues, it can sound more like semantics than a true difference in meaning. Normally Baptists prefer to use the word ‘ordinance’ while Presbyterians, Anglicans and Lutherans (and some others) prefer the term ‘sacrament’. Is this just a semantic argument or is there really a dividing line? If one considers the history of sacraments, there is good reason to consider its use.

 Sacramentum is a Latin word, and it was used in the pagan religion of Rome prior to Rome becoming a “Christian” empire at the time of Constantine. Sacramentum was a Latin translation of the Greek word Mysterion (also translated in Latin to Mysterium). Every Roman citizen knew what it meant as they would come to sacrifice animals to their gods and then partake of the sacrificial victim. In the time of Decius (Roman Emperor, mid third century), each house holder was to make a declaration that they were keeping the religion of Rome by partaking in the sacrament. The declaration reads as follows: “I (name), have always sacrificed to the gods and now in your presence I have, in keeping with the directive, sacrificed…. And have tasted of the sacrificial victim; and I request that you, a public servant, certify the same.”

There was an oath associated with the sacrament, and it disclosed that in partaking of the sacrificial victim the declarer was expressing solidarity in the state religion and allegiance to the emperor. Many Christians who were unwilling to declare such a thing suffered the consequences that included death. It even seems that Paul was warning the church in Corinth not to be intimidated into partaking of the pagan ritual. 1 Corinthians 10:20-21 No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons. 21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. Paul was saying that the pagan sacrament and the Lord’s table cannot go together. 

It is not uncommon in the general use of language to find Christian terminology repurposed from contemporary society. The fact that there was a sacramental aspect to Roman pagan religion does not mean calling the Lord’s table a sacrament is essentially wrong. The problem comes in the confusion of the meaning behind it. By the time we get to Emperor Constantine who embraced Christianity, we find that the pagan sacrifice was to be banned and replaced with a new sacrament. The sacramental flavor of the Lord’s supper eventually made way for the Roman Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation. This is the belief that the Priest called Christ into the elements that actually become the body and blood of Christ. The participants in the mass took in the new “sacrificial victim” given to them by the priest laying a morsel on their tongue. Anyone not willing to participate was not seen in solidarity with the state religion (the now Roman Catholic Church) and suffered the consequences of a heretic (even unto death).

Even though many evangelicals today still discuss a “mysterious/sacramental” aspect in the elements of the bread and wine of the Lord’s supper, evangelicals do not hold to the ideology of the sacramental transubstantiation as it still remains in the Roman Catholic Church. Baptists have tended to stray from the baggage that the word “sacrament” holds and have stood on two biblical ordinances for the church – The Lord’s Supper (the love feast), and believer’s baptism.

The word ‘ordinance’ simply means that the church has commands to carry out as it gathers. The Lord’s Supper is something that Jesus has told us to do in remembrance of him. It is where those regenerate in Christ remember what he has done for us in the work of the cross. Baptism is where a believer makes declaration that he or she is a part of the body of Christ through faith in Jesus alone. By calling them ordinances, Baptists have been careful to show that they have no element of saving grace. Saving grace can be attributed to God alone in and through faith in Christ alone. By restricting the ordinances to those who truly profess saving faith in Jesus, we also declare the purity and distinctiveness of the church from the world. It is not a sacrament for the solidarity of a governed people. It is also not entrance into God’s covenant grace. It is an ordinance restricted to the elect of God who are the light of the world as we reflect his grace that has already been given to us in Christ. I believe these distinctives matter.