God and His Revelation - Creation, Man and Sin - Christ and Redemption - Justification by Faith - Good Works and Prayer - The Means of Grace - The Church and its Ministry - The Church and the State - Jesus' Return and the Judgment


The Means of Grace

  1. We believe that God bestows all spiritual blessings upon sinners by special means, ordained by Him. These are the means of grace, the Gospel in Word and sacrament.

  2. We believe that through the Gospel of Christ's atoning sacrifice for sinners the Holy Spirit works faith in the heart of man, whose heart by nature is enmity against God. Scripture teaches that "faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ" (Romans 10:17). This Spirit-wrought faith, or regeneration, brings about a renewal in man and makes of him an heir of eternal salvation.

  3. We believe that also through baptism the Holy Spirit applies the Gospel to sinful man, regenerating him (Titus 3:5) and cleansing him from all iniquity (Acts 2:38). The Lord points to the blessing of baptism when He promises, "Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved" (Mark 16:16). We believe that the blessing of baptism is meant for all people (Matthew 28:19), including infants, who are sinful (John 3:6) and therefore need the regeneration effected through baptism (John 3:5).

  4. We believe that all who partake of the sacrament of the Lord's Supper receive the true body and blood of Christ "in, with and under" the bread and wine. This is true because, when the Lord instituted this sacrament, he said, "This is My body given for you . . . This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is poured out for you" (Luke 22:19,20). As we partake of His body and blood, given and shed for us, we by faith receive the comfort and assurance that our sins are indeed forgiven and that we are truly His own.

  5. We believe that the Lord gave His Word and the sacraments to His disciples for a purpose. He commanded them, "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (Matthew 28:19). It is by these means that He preserves and extends the Holy Christian Church throughout the world. We should therefore be diligent and faithful in the use of these divinely ordained means of grace in our own midst and in our mission efforts. These are the only means through which immortal souls are brought to faith and to salvation.

  6. We reject any views that look for the revelation of the grace of God and salvation apart from the Gospel as found in the Scriptures. We likewise reject the view that the law is a means of grace.

  7. We reject all teachings that see in the Sacrament of the Altar nothing more than signs and symbols for faith, thereby denying that Christ's true body and blood are received in the Lord's Supper.

  8. We reject the claim that unbelievers and hypocrites do not receive the true body and blood of Jesus in the sacrament, as well as the view that to eat the body of Christ in the sacrament is nothing else than to receive Christ spiritually by faith. We reject the view that the body and blood of Christ are present in the sacrament through the act of consecration as such, apart from the reception of the elements.

  9. We reject the teaching that the real presence of Jesus' body and blood in the sacrament means merely that the person of Christ is present in His supper even as He is present in the Gospel.
This is what Scripture teaches about the means of grace.
This we believe, teach and confess.


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