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.