The Theology of the Sacraments

Sometimes the question is asked (by people who are more 'evangelical' than 'sacramentalist'): Are we saved by faith or by sacraments?  Surely that is a false antithesis and alternative.  The truth is that we are saved by neither, but by God.  But He saves us through faith, and therefore partly through sacraments, which He uses to awaken and to strengthen our faith. (p. 101)

I take from the second shelf in my theological library today, and pick up the first volume, one I have never read.   'The Theology of the Sacraments: and other papers' by Donald M. Baillie,  Charles Scribner's Sons, 1957.

I confess that I read the first long chapter, a biography of the late author, written by Donald's brother, John Baillie. A Scottish pastor and professor, Donald Baillie was Chair of Systematic Theology at the University of St. Andrews, until his death in 1954.  This particular book includes a series of lectures about Christian Baptism and Eucharist.  So I chose to read Lecture IV: The Real Presence, and found it quite interesting.  In fact, I heard echoes (well, they must be foundational precursors) of thoughts shared with me by one of my living mentors.  It is an important question, what the real presence of Christ is when we share the Lord's Supper.  

At one point, Baillie gives a nice summary of thinking about how God is with us.

It is important to note that even apart from the sacrament we are bound to distinguish several degrees or modes of the divine presence.  To begin with the most general, we believe in the omnipresence of god.  He is everywhere present.  And yet we also say that God is with those who trust and obey Him in a way in which He is not with others.  We say, God is with them.  And we say that God's presence is with us more at some times than at others.  We speak of entering into His presence in worship, and we ask Him to come and be with us and grant us His presence...  And then in apparently a still further sense we speak of the Real Presence in the sacrament.  What does all this mean? (pp. 97-98)

Well, I will leave the rest to you and Baillie to consider, especially if you too read this book.  I will certainly keep it.  And I will continue to consider the degrees to which Christ is present and absent from moment to moment in my life, and the lives of my people.  

Competent to Counsel

Today I begin my journey through the many books I have collected and never read.  So many, of the Christian Theology genre, arrived just a few years ago, willed to me by a dear friend who spent his long life as a Baptist pastor and Theology professor.  Other books of this ilk I bought myself, full priced or marked down or free.  Now, I pause to look between the covers, and read at least one chapter, and consider: will I read it all one day?  Will I put it to use?  Would it be better to get rid of it?

The first book I pick up from my shelves happens to be one published in the year of my birth.  As the photo shows, it came from “Cherry’s library,” and had been a gift to him.  

Competent to Counsel, by Jay E. Adams, Baker Book House, 1970 (5th printing, 1974)

As I skimmed over the very thorough table of contents (just over three pages), I decided chapter IV might introduce the heart of the author’s approach to pastoral counselling: “What Is Nouthetic Counseling?”  Indeed, what is it?  I have never heard the term.

Adams coins the term from the Greek of the New Testament.  A word that can get translated ‘admonish,’ ‘warn,’ or ‘correct,’ he prefers to transliterate.  Christian counselling is best when the counselor can ‘nouthetically confront’ the counselee.  

A text like Romans 15:14 illustrates some qualifications for a good counselor:

And concerning you, my brethren, I myself also am convinced that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able to admonish (nouthetically confront) one another.  (pp. 59-60)

Adams suggests:

Usual counseling methods recommend frequent long excursions back into the intricacies of the whys and wherefores of behaviour.  Instead, nouthetic counseling is largely committed to a discussion of the what.  All the why that a counsellor needs to know can be clearly demonstrated in the what.  What was done?  What must be done to rectify it?  ...The reason people get into trouble in their relationships to God and others is because of their sinful natures.  Men are born sinners. (p. 48)

And he summarizes:

In short, nouthetic confrontation arises out of a condition in the counselee that God wants changed.  The Fundamental purpose of nouthetic confrontation, then, is to effect personality and behavioral change. (p. 45)

I’d say my own expertise in counselling, and practice of it, is minimal.   I can tell that this nouthetic approach comes from a more conservative theology than has been my way.  There is a certain appeal in the authority of God and the Word, applied rather directly to people in their problems here. I still want to learn from other approaches to pastoral counselling that get out of the ‘sin and forgiveness’ box.

Adams says,

The pastor who is nouthetically oriented will tend to become lovingly frank with his people. [He] will not mince words or spar around with people.  Rather, he will be specific about personal problems and straightforwardly attempt to correct them.  His people will discover that he is interested in the real issues, not secondary one.  They will count him to be a man of courage. (pp. 62-63)

There is something to be said for that.  

So, I will keep this book and read more of it… one of these days.