Thomas defines sacraments in terms of their power to effect sanctification. Not all sacred signs are sacraments, but only those which are efficacious; they are signs of holy things that make men holy (ST 60, 2). Thomas also denies that sacraments were necessary in Eden, since there was no need to remedy sin (ST 61, 2).
With much of the Reformed tradition, I think Thomas is wrong about prelapsarian sacraments. But the reasons for affirming or denying prefall sacraments may have less to do with soteriology than eschatology. Does the belief in prefall sacraments rise and fall with belief in prefall eschatology, with the belief that Adam was destined to grow in perfection, from glory to greater glory?
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
Ethics of Rhetoric in Times of War
What we say matters. And the way we say it matters. This is especially true in times…
How the State Failed Noelia Castillo
On March 26, Noelia Castillo, a twenty-five-year-old Spanish woman, was killed by her doctors at her own…
The Mind’s Profane and Sacred Loves
The teachers you have make all the difference in your life. That they happened to come into…
