Thus far, we have concluded the first three Chief parts of
the Catechism. First: the 10 commandments; Second: the Creed, and Third: the
Lord’s own Prayer. You could call these first three the Foundation. Not only,
in that order, do they explain themselves, but they prepare you for the
Sacraments.
In giving the 10 Commands, we hear God tell us what we are
to do and not do. Yet, from these commands alone, we do not know God. The Creed
then explains the Commands in a way in which we may know Who God is and what we
can expect Him to be doing.
Then, in seeing our complete failure with the first part;
hearing God’s perfection in the Second part and realizing our utmost need in
the Third, we finally come to the sacraments that give Faith something to cling
to.
It is at this point that Dr. Luther admitted Christians to
the Lord’s Table. On top of confessing Christ’s true Body in the bread and His
true Blood in the wine seen on the altar, these first Chief Parts form the
kernel of true Faith, in a simple way.
Of course, there is always more to learn from the Bible and
the catechism. It would take more than a lifetime to master either of them.
Thus, the catechism continues to the second section: the ways in which God
gives Faith on earth; also known as the sacraments.
This is because the Word of God promises something here.
Now, it is true that God promises long life to those who honor their father and
mother, but where is this long life? Can I taste it? Can I touch it? I see
people honoring their parents and yet they die the same as everyone else.
The sacraments are different than just a promise made by
Jesus. They are a promise attached to a physical location. With Baptism, Jesus
promises salvation in a washing with water and the Word. You are not doing the
washing. You are not creating the water and you are not imagining the Word. All
this is done outside of you.
And that’s the main difference. With honoring your parents
or following Jesus or anything else God demands of you, you can find it inside
yourself or its something you can attempt. With the Gospel, it is only
something you can find outside of you and being done to you.
Thus, holy Scripture presents baptism as the water combined
with the Word of God. In fact, God stakes His very honor, power and might upon
this sacrament to do what He says it does. This is found also in the Word as
Jesus commands and promises, “Go into all the world, and teach all nations,
baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”
The command is plain. The promise is plain. Do not doubt
that baptism is God’s own creation; that, even though it is performed by men’s
hands, it is God’s own act of washing you.
“Therefore we always teach that the Sacraments and all
external things which God ordains and institutes should not be regarded
according to the coarse, external mask (as we regard the shell of a nut) but as
that in which God’s Word is enclosed.
For we also speak of parents and the civil government in the
same way. If we propose to regard them in as far as they have noses, eyes,
skin, and hair, flesh and bones, they look like Turks and heathen, and some one
might come and say: Why should I think more of this person than of others? But
because the commandment is added: Honor thy father and thy mother, I behold a
different man, adorned and clothed with the majesty and glory of God. The
commandment (I say) is the chain of gold about his neck, yes, the crown upon
his head, which shows me how and why I should honor this particular flesh and
blood.
Thus, and much more even, you must honor Baptism and esteem
it glorious on account of the Word, since He Himself has honored it both by
words and deeds; moreover, confirmed it with miracles from heaven.
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