The Means of Grace

The work that was accomplished 2,000 year ago in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ is applied to individuals through the means of grace. The phrase "the means of grace" refers to the way (means) through which God delivers forgiveness of sins, life, and salvations to individuals. God uses instruments to bring and keep us in faith. These instruments are the written and spoken Word, Holy Baptism, and the Lord's Supper. Through these God gives us His grace, the forgiveness of sins, the Holy Spirit, and all the benefits of the Gospel.

Admittedly, water, bread, wine, and the spoken word are not lofty things. That's why St. Paul wrote, "God chose the lowly things in the world, that which it despises, that which is nothing, to do away with that which is something." (1 Cor. 1:28) It is by the work of the Holy Spirit, through God's Word of Law and Gospel and the Sacraments that people are brought into the Christian Church. It is by the Holy Spirit the we are able to confess Christ as Lord. "No one can say, 'Jesus is Lord,' except by the Holy Spirit." 1 Cor. 12:3.

Some Christians separate faith from the vehicles God has chosen to deliver His gift of forgiveness. This is a great disservice to true Christian faith.

Now, these people are so foolish as to separate faith from the object to which faith is attached and bound on the ground that the object is something external. Yes, it must be external so that it can be perceived and grasped by the senses and thus brought into the heart, just as the entire Gospel is an external, oral proclamation. In short, whatever God effects in us He does thought external ordinances. (Large Catechism, Tappert p. 440)

The forgiving grace of God and the saving work of Christ can only be found in the Christian Church and in the church service wherein God through the office of pastor administers and dispenses the Word and Sacrament to the people of God.