For yes, there are only two. The Romanists believe strongly that there are more than two, that there are seven. Yet the Reformed depart from the Romanists by affirming the Regulative Principle of Worship, that is, that only that which God explicitly says we can do in worship is permitted. This principle applies to the Sacraments: only those signs and seals explicitly given to the church are to be used as holy Sacraments in the church’s life. While we see marriage as a good thing, it was not given to the church in such a way, it was commanded by God since the very creation of mankind. But we do see Baptism and the Lord’s Supper as given explicitly by Christ Himself. And they signify to us realities of our salvation.

In baptism, what do we see? We see the cleansing of sin. We see the being set apart from the world, that is, being made holy. It has echoes of the consecration ceremony of a priest in the Old Testament (Exodus 29), a ceremony that would set the priest apart as holy. It’s no wonder that 1 Peter 2 says of the church, “you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation.” We still are that kingdom of priests, and our baptism sets us apart as such. Our baptism acts as our initiation rite, the entrance into the covenant people of God, just as circumcision did for the Old Testament church. That is why many preachers have taken to saying from the pulpit “remember your baptism!” For many who were blessed to be in the church from their youth, they of course do not really remember it. But what are they to remember? The things that it signifies: their ingrafting into Christ, their being set apart as holy, the washing away of their sin.

But if there is an initiation, we must remember that the journey is long, and the people of God need a sign that they continually see. The Lord does not save once and then leave us out to dry. No, He sustains us. We know that His Spirit guides and strengthens us. And one way He does this is through the partaking of the Lord’s Supper. The Supper signifies for us the body and blood of Christ. Christ told us to do this until His return, proclaiming His death. We at times are solemn in this time as we think of what the broken body and spilled blood of our Lord truly means. We put Him there, and He suffered on our account. And yet, the joyous news is that we remember what He did, yet He is raised! While it does us good to remember the grave price of our sin, it is not good to stay there. The spiritual nourishment we receive strengthens us. We call it Communion at times because in it we commune with the Lord and the body of Christ around us, that is, the church. The whole church does this together weekly as a sign that we are all one body, Christ’s body, and His Spirit is continually leading the congregation of the Lord.