The saving power of the sacraments.

We are told that baptism ‘… gives … initiates … unites … effects’. It has to be asked what is meant by ‘baptism’ where this sort of language is constantly used. Is it the actual performance of the rites? If so, the language seems at best hyperbole and at worst objectionable. This hostile reaction to the 1982 Statement of the World Council of Churches on Baptism (the ‘Lima’ text) reflects the modern continuance of suspicions of a number of reformers in the sixteenth century. If we say that a sacrament has an effect, do we imply that the Holy Spirit is somehow at the disposal of the Church, so that the mere ‘performance’ of the rite ‘guarantees’ the effect, ex opere operato? The question can be put in that way only if the Church is seen as in some sense standing over against divine authority and laying claim to an independent power; with its ministers endowed with a personal ‘priestly power’, and claiming that ‘rites of the Church’ infallibly bring about the operation of the gift of grace. Such assumptions are to be found on both sides in the sixteenth century debates, and they largely dictate the shape of the discussion about the role of the Church in salvation. Luther was first and foremost concerned with the forgiveness of the individual as he responds to God in faith. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]