Sacraments and Soteriology

Justification, Protestants confess, is a declaration of God as judge. But is this ever audible? Where? Is the judgment ever publicly promulgated? Is it merely the secret declaration in the heart? And if so, how can we be sure that the declaration we’re hearing is God’s voice of commendation and not our own self-justification?

When these questions are raised, we can see the disastrous effects of the Protestant tendency (especially in revivalistic American Protestantism) to detach justification/soteriology from the church – from the ministry of the Word, from the authority of the minister, and from the sacraments as acts of God.

Is the declaration of justification audible? Yes, every week in the announcement that sins are forgiven in Christ and for His sake. Is the declaration of justification promulgated? Yes, every time someone is baptized into Christ. Is God’s acceptance of sinners ever made public? Yes, every time a minister offers bread and wine to a gathered congregation.

This, note, does not make justification “mechanical” or “automatic.” The baptismal declaration of righteousness must be received in faith, the absolution must be believed, we must approach the Lord’s table with childlike trust in the mercy of our Father. But the declaration is itself public, audible, enacted, promulgated, available for the taking, and each time we hear it we are called to persevere in believing it.