Today’s Readings Podcast Description

What is a sacrament? Calvin calls it an external sign by which the Lord seals his promises on our consciences and we, in turn, testify our faith before God, angels, and men. The Latin sacramentum is the old rendering of the Greek μυστήριον (*mystērion*): a sacred thing made known under a sign. There is never a sacrament without an antecedent promise. The sign does not make God’s word more true; it props up a faith that is slender and would otherwise fall. Word and element belong together. A muttered formula in an unknown tongue is not the sacramental word. Augustine’s rule stands: let the word be added to the element, and it becomes a sacrament—not because it is said, but because it is believed. The sacrament is a seal on a deed already written, a visible word, a pillar under th ...