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THE SACRAMENTS AS SEALS (II)
WEDNESDAY, MAY 13
Colossians 2:6-12
Ephesians 1:3-14
 
“Ye were sealed with the holy
Spirit of promise.”
 
THE SACRAMENTS AS SEALS (II)
 
It should be noted that in no case does a seal in itself serve as the efficient creditable cause of the validity of the arrangement, or promise or contract which it represents. Lawyers explain to us that a seal affixed to a document is “presumptive evidence” that the document is valid and to be taken at face value. By way of illustration, the diploma of the Far Eastern Bible College bears a golden seal. Before the diploma is awarded, the seal may be attached to the diploma at any time when it is presumed by the custodians of the seal that the student will complete or has completed his studies, and that the diploma will eventually be validated.
 
The seal of a diploma illustrates how the sacraments can truly be regarded as seals of our standing in Christ. No sacrament occurs at precisely the same time in which the individual believes and is justified. In the case of infant baptism, the seal is applied in the confident expectation and hope that the child will believe and be born again. In the case of those who come into the Christian faith as adults, not having been brought up in Christian nurture, and not having been baptized as infants, and in the case of all who partake of the Lord’s Supper, subsequent to the requisite self-examination (1 Cor 11:28), the seal is applied subsequent to the time when the individual is presumed to be born again. In no case does the seal accomplish that of which it is a sign, but in all these cases the seal is applied in obedience to the command of Christ, as an outward sign of the inward grace which is confidently expected in the case of infants, or believed to be actually received in the case of adults.
 
Since a sacrament is a sign wherein “Christ and the benefits of the new covenant, are represented, sealed, and applied to believers,” there is thus no dispute about the fact that the sacraments represent that which accomplishes our salvation.
 
THOUGHT: “All signs are as it were dead, except life is given them by the word.” (Calvin)
PRAYER: Lord, let my life outwardly manifest the inward reality of a transformed heart and mind in Jesus Christ.

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