But as our faith is slight and feeble unless propped up on all sides and sustained in every means, it trembles, wavers, totters, and at last gives way. Here [in the Sacraments] our Lord … condescends to lead us to Himself even by these earthly elements, and to set before us in the flesh a mirror of spiritual blessings.
– Institutes
It is tempting to give what little space we have in this overview of Calvin on the sacraments to abstract discussions about the mode of Christ's presence in the elements. Such discussions have their importance, and very often profound theological matters are at stake in them. However, we mustn't lose sight of Calvin's abiding interest in the sacraments as God's accommodation to human weakness for the sake of establishing and building up the church in faith. Water and wine and bread paint a graphic picture (clearer than the spoken word) of the mercy and grace of God. “The supper is given to us as a mirror in which we may contemplate Jesus Christ crucified to deliver us from damnation and risen again to procure righteousness and eternal life for us.” (Short Treatise on the Lord's Supper, 1541).
Our need to see God's promise made visible and God's accommodation to that weakness is at the basis of Calvin's encouragement of the frequent practice of the Lord's Supper. Our resistance to frequent communion could be seen, on Calvin's view of the matter, as hubris – that is as a human attempt to deny that we need desperately what God's provides. In the sacraments grace is put on visible display before our eyes; earthly elements become mirrors in which we contemplate the riches of God's grace toward us. God really and truly acts in the sacraments “seal[ing] on our consciences his good will toward us in order to sustain the weakness of our faith (Institutes IV.14.1).” While there is no lack in the promise of God made in the word of the Gospel, our ignorance – our dullness and weakness – requires tokens that make God's promises visible. God accommodates us by annexing earthly instruments (he “stamps” water and wine and bread “with his Word”) to put cleansing from sin and redemption in Christ on exhibit.
In the Reformed tradition, in which the Word become flesh sometimes becomes word again, Calvin's emphasis on our need to “see” and “practice” where it comes to the sacramental life of the church is delightful.
When discussing how Christ is present in the elements at the Eucharist, Calvin said, “I would rather experience it than understand it.” However, we might try to specify and name the mystery of the operations of the grace of God in the sacraments (and faith should seek understanding but also feel its limits); it is in the actual practice of the Lord's Supper and Baptism that grace is powerful and effective in the life of God's people.
While Calvin cautions against receiving the sacrament when a person harbours hatred against another Christian, he refutes the teaching that one must come to the Lord's Table with perfect sanctity and personal worthiness. If we suffer the disease of less than perfect integrity and weak faith, then we need the medicine of the Lord's Table. The remedy is suited to the sickness. “If we allege as a pretext for not coming to the Supper that we are still weak in faith or integrity of life, it is as if a person were to excuse himself from taking medicine because he is sick.” (Short Treatise on the Lord's Supper, 1541). Again, we have the basis for the frequent practice of the Lord's Table, although Calvin stops short of prescribing any rule other than remembering the end (the increase of faith) for which our Lord intended it.
If Calvin the pastor places great emphasis on “seeing” and on “practice” where it comes to the sacramental support and nurture of our faith, Calvin the theologian puts even greater emphasis on the “Word” and the “Spirit” where it comes to the power of the sacraments to achieve this end.
Calvin decries the mumbling formulas that accompanied the sacramental practice he encountered during his time. Such “magical incantation” does not consecrate the elements. The Word preached that ought always to accompany and, logically, to come before the sacraments celebrated makes us understand the sacramental signs. If the sacraments paint a graphic picture of washing and redemption in Christ, then the word preached prior to the celebration gives the corrective lens through which such things can be seen. The sacraments require doctrine, teaching, in order to be made comprehensible and to be believed. The Word says Calvin must explain the sign.
Calvin turns to Augustine, his favourite theologian of the sacraments, on the matter of consecration: “Let the word be added to the element and it will become a sacrament.” (Institutes 4.14.4). For Calvin when and where the sacrament is celebrated is ought always to be accompanied by preaching and the declaration of the sacramental promise attached to the sign made by the minister in a clear voice.
On the matter of taking the Lord's Supper to infirmed people, Calvin doesn't fuss about reserved or consecrated elements. He maintains that the Word makes effective the sacrament. The minister ought to announce the Gospel, proclaim the Word, and then celebrate the sacrament of the Lord's Table – for it is the Word proclaimed that makes intelligible and effective the sacrament (Institutes, 4.17.39) and consecrates the people who receive them. While God makes use of the elements in the lives of recipients, neither the minister's actions nor the elements themselves contain the “matter” (power or efficacy) of the sacrament. Christ is always the matter of both preaching and the sacraments, and he is always distinguished from the sign.
A puzzle of sorts appears in Calvin's treatment of the sacraments. He maintains two things at once: sacraments must be received in faith and sacraments are received for faith. Apart from faith in the word proclaimed, and the promise of grace attached to sacramental practice, no benefit is derived from them. Without faith, while the promise of grace is real and offered to the recipient, it is, says Calvin, like sun shining on blind eyes or a voice sounding to deaf ears. On the other hand, at the very heart of Calvin's understanding of the sacraments is the fragility of faith: faith is slight and feeble, and so we need the help of the sacraments. It's as though God offers help for faith in the sacraments that we are not able to receive because of our lack of it. Calvin also says that we don't generate faith in ourselves. Hearts open to hearing the Gospel and seeing and receiving the promise of grace in the sacraments are not a natural human capacity. The sacraments must be received in faith but we don't have faith. Thus the sacraments are help to those who aren't able to receive the help offered. It's like offering a poor person a one ton chunk of gold to carry home. She needs the help but can't manage the help offered.
The answer to this conundrum is the person and work of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit provides the lighting in the room so that the corrective lens of Scripture can help us rightly see what is offered to us in the sacraments. Put in other terms: the Spirit charges up Word and Sacraments with meaning and effect for the people of God. Faith is conceived, nourished and sustained by the inward illumination of the Spirit. The seed of the Word is made to flourish by the Spirit so that the sacraments allure us toward Christ and his benefits truly offered are received.
Calvin writes, “But the sacraments properly fulfill their office only when the Spirit, that inward teacher, comes to them, by whose power alone hearts are penetrated and affections moved and our souls opened for the sacraments to enter in” (Institutes, 4.14.9).
Come Holy Spirit!
