Doctrine · The Articles of Religion

Article XVI — Of the Sacraments. Sacraments ordained of Christ are not only badges or tokens of Christian men's profession, but rather they are certain signs of grace, and God's good will toward us, by which he doth work invisibly in us, and doth not only quicken, but also strengthen and confirm, our faith in him. There are two Sacraments ordained of Christ our Lord in the Gospel; that is to say, Baptism and the Supper of the Lord.

highly contested

What it says

“Sacraments are not just membership badges but real signs of grace through which God works invisibly to quicken and strengthen faith — and there are two: Baptism and the Lord's Supper.”

The stake
Sacramental realism against bare-symbol Zwinglianism, and the two-dominical-sacrament limit against the Roman seven.
Why it matters
It commits Methodism to *effective* sacraments — God works through them — which is the doctrinal root of the entire Wesleyan means-of-grace theology.
The Wesleyan take
Wesley's high sacramentalism in seed: the means of grace are 'the ordinary channels' through which God conveys grace — yet 'there is no power in this' apart from God. The article is The Means of Grace in one sentence.
Original English
Sacraments ordained of Christ are not only badges or tokens of Christian men's profession, but rather they are certain signs of grace, and God's good will toward us, by which he doth work invisibly in us, and doth not only quicken, but also strengthen and confirm, our faith in him. There are two Sacraments ordained of Christ our Lord in the Gospel; that is to say, Baptism and the Supper of the Lord. Those five commonly called sacraments… are not to be counted for Sacraments of the Gospel. Wesley's abridgment of Thirty-Nine Articles Article XXV. Two anti-positions in one article: against the Zwinglian/Anabaptist reduction of sacraments to mere 'badges or tokens' (they are 'certain signs of grace… by which he doth work invisibly in us'), and against the Roman seven (only two 'ordained of Christ… in the Gospel'). ¶104 footnote 4 places Article XVI among XIV–XXI to be read with the 'Resolution of Intent' (2016). The article's realism — God *works invisibly* through the signs — is the doctrinal root of Wesley's whole 'means of grace' theology.
VersionRendering
United Methodist Book of Discipline (¶104) Sacraments ordained of Christ are not only badges or tokens of Christian men's profession, but rather they are certain signs of grace, and God's good will toward us, by which he doth work invisibly in us… There are two Sacraments ordained of Christ our Lord in the Gospel; that is to say, Baptism and the Supper of the Lord.
Thirty-Nine Articles (1571), Article XXV Sacraments ordained of Christ be not only badges or tokens of Christian men's profession, but rather they be certain sure witnesses, and effectual signs of grace… Wesley kept the realism ('signs of grace… work invisibly') and the two-sacrament reduction; cf. the Resolution of Intent (2016).

Traditions cited patristic ·roman catholic ·reformed ·wesleyan ·modern ecumenical

Article XVI — Of the Sacraments

The Text

Article XVI fixes what a sacrament is before the next two articles take up the particular two. It refuses two reductions at once. Against the bare-symbol view (sacraments as mere “badges or tokens of Christian men’s profession” — a Christian’s ID card), it insists they are “certain signs of grace… by which he doth work invisibly in us,” that “quicken… strengthen and confirm our faith.” Against the Roman seven, it counts only two “ordained of Christ our Lord in the Gospel”: Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. The hinge is the word effective: God actually does something through them. That single claim is the doctrinal seed of the entire Wesleyan theology of the means of grace, which is why this terse article is rated among the document’s high-contested clauses.

Translation Notes

“not only badges or tokens… but rather… signs of grace… by which he doth work invisibly in us.” The whole article turns on “but rather.” Sacraments are signs of profession — but that is not their primary reality. Their primary reality is instrumental: God works through them. This is the explicit rejection of a purely memorialist (Zwinglian) sacramentology and the explicit affirmation of efficacy.

“quicken… strengthen and confirm, our faith.” Three verbs, an ascending order: the sacraments quicken (enliven), strengthen, and confirm faith. Note: faith is presupposed and nourished, not replaced — the article’s realism is not ex opere operato divorced from faith (Article XVIII will say the means of receiving is faith).

“two Sacraments ordained of Christ… in the Gospel.” The criterion is dominical institution in the Gospel with a visible sign — which yields exactly two. The “five commonly called sacraments” (confirmation, penance, orders, matrimony, unction) are not denied all value but denied the name and nature of Gospel sacraments.

Historical Context

Article XXV of the Thirty-Nine fought a two-front war characteristic of the English Reformation’s via media: against Rome’s seven and its (perceived) mechanical efficacy, and against the radical Reformation’s reduction of the sacraments to bare signs of human commitment. The English settlement kept real efficacy (God works through them) with two dominical sacraments received by faith — a deliberately middle position.

Wesley kept the article and made it the spine of his spirituality. The Discipline’s own structure proves it: the General Rules’ Third Rule, “attending upon all the ordinances of God,” and Wesley’s Sermon 16, The Means of Grace, are Article XVI worked out in practice. Wesley’s lifelong war on the Moravian “stillness” teaching (do not use the means until you have assurance) was, doctrinally, a defense of exactly Article XVI’s “by which he doth work invisibly in us”: the sacraments are means, used now, by which God conveys grace, not optional badges to be withheld until one feels ready.

Lines of Interpretation

The disputed question is sacramental efficacy: how do the signs convey grace — by the work worked, by faith, by the Spirit — without becoming either magic or mere memory?

Patristic

Tradition: the sacrament as effective sign; Augustine’s signum

Augustine’s visible word, the sign that effects what it signifies, is Article XVI’s ancestor. The Fathers held the sacraments truly convey grace, within faith and the church — neither mechanical nor bare.

Strengths

  • Grounds the article’s realism in catholic antiquity, not Reformation novelty
  • Holds sign and thing-signified together, as the article does

Weaknesses

  • Patristic usage did not fix the number at two; the article’s dominical criterion is a Reformation sharpening
  • “Effects what it signifies,” loosely held, drifts toward the mechanism the Reformers feared

Roman Catholic

Tradition: seven sacraments; ex opere operato

Rome holds seven sacraments and that they confer grace ex opere operato (by the work worked, not depending on the minister’s worthiness). Article XVI keeps the efficacy but cuts the number to two and (with Article XVIII) ties reception to faith.

Strengths

  • Names honestly what the article retains from catholic sacramentology (real efficacy) and what it cuts (five, and bare ex opere operato)
  • Presses the real question: efficacy and faith, or efficacy apart from faith?

Weaknesses (of the dispute)

  • Ex opere operato in careful Catholic teaching is not magic; the article’s caricature is partly that
  • The Resolution of Intent (2016) asks this not be read as a blanket anti-Catholic polemic

Reformed

Tradition: signs and seals; the Spirit and faith (Calvin)

Calvin’s “signs and seals” — the sacraments truly exhibit and convey Christ to faith, by the Spirit, not by the elements themselves — is the closest fit to Article XVI: real efficacy, but through faith and the Spirit, not mechanically.

Strengths

  • Matches the article precisely: efficacious signs, faith nourished, no automatic conferral
  • Coheres with Article XVIII’s “the means whereby… is faith”

Weaknesses

  • Reformed reticence can slide toward the memorialism the article’s “but rather” rejects
  • “Seal to faith” can underplay the article’s strong “he doth work invisibly in us”

Modern / Ecumenical

Tradition: Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry (Lima, 1982); the means-of-grace recovery

Modern ecumenical convergence holds the sacraments as effective signs of grace within faith and the church — substantially Article XVI — and the Wesleyan means-of-grace revival has recovered them from neglect.

Strengths

  • The ecumenical center now sits where the article sits: real, faith-received, Spirit-worked efficacy
  • Recovers the sacraments as means, the heart of Wesley’s spirituality

Weaknesses

  • Convergence language can blur remaining real differences (number, presence)
  • “Means of grace” popularized can lose the article’s insistence these are Christ-ordained, not chosen practices

Wesleyan Voice

Article XVI is, in one sentence, the doctrine of Wesley’s The Means of Grace. His definition there — the means of grace are “outward signs, words, or actions, ordained of God, and appointed… to be the ordinary channels whereby he might convey to men… grace” — is Article XVI generalized. The sacraments are the chief instituted means; the article’s “by which he doth work invisibly in us” is Wesley’s “ordinary channels.” This is why the Wesleyan tradition is, against its later low-church drift, constitutionally sacramental: the standard does not call the sacraments helpful symbols; it calls them the instruments through which God works.

But Wesley guards Article XVI on the exact two fronts the article fights, and the guarding is the Wesleyan signature. Against the memorialist (and the modern Methodist who treats communion as a sentimental add-on), Wesley insists with the article that grace is truly conveyed — hence his “constant communion” and the Hymns on the Lord’s Supper. Against the mechanist (the bare ex opere operato misheard as magic), Wesley insists, in the same Sermon 16, “there is no power in this… separate from God, it is a poor, dead, empty thing”: the channel conveys nothing of itself; God conveys through it, and faith is the means of receiving (Article XVIII). Article XVI held with Sermon 16 is the precise Wesleyan razor — real efficacy, never automatic; means, never magic; used now, never withheld for stillness.

The deepest Wesleyan note is the integration the document essay keeps pressing. Article XVI names the sacraments; the General Rules’ Third Rule commands attendance on them as part of “all the ordinances of God” ([[general-rules/third-rule-the-ordinances-of-god]]); and Wesley’s broader theology adds that works of mercy are means of grace too. So the sacramental realism of Article XVI is not an isolated high-church survival; it is the constitutional anchor of the whole Wesleyan claim that grace ordinarily comes through appointed channels — piety and mercy together. A Methodism that keeps Article XVI in its book and treats the sacraments as optional has, by its own constitution, unplugged its primary means of grace.

Hymnody

Article XVI’s “he doth work invisibly in us” is the entire premise of the Hymns on the Lord’s Supper (1745) — over 160 hymns that make no sense on a memorialist reading. “O the depth of love divine, the unfathomable grace! Who shall say how bread and wine God into man conveys?” is Article XVI versified to the letter: the sign conveys, the manner is mystery, the reality is real. “Come, Holy Ghost, thine influence shed, and realize the sign” is the article’s efficacy prayed — the Spirit makes the sign effective, exactly the Reformed-Wesleyan balance. The sheer scale of Wesleyan sacramental hymnody is the standing refutation of the bare-symbol reading the article’s “but rather” rejects.

Pastoral and Liturgical Use

The first pastoral use is to recover the “but rather.” Most modern congregational practice has quietly drifted to the very position Article XVI excludes — sacraments as “badges or tokens,” meaningful gestures of our commitment. The article’s pastoral force is to reverse the arrow: the sacrament is first God’s action toward us, “by which he doth work invisibly,” and only secondarily our profession. Preaching that reversal is the cure for both a thin communion and an over-introspective baptism.

The second use is the Wesleyan razor against the two errors. To the member who treats the sacrament as a mere symbol: with the article and The Means of Grace, grace is truly given here. To the member who treats it as automatic magic: with the same sermon, “there is no power in this” apart from God, received by faith. The pastor administers the right correction to the right error — the same double-edged discipline Wesley applied to every means of grace.

The third use is the link to the rule of life. Article XVI is why the Third General Rule commands attendance on the ordinances: if the sacraments are the channels through which God works, neglecting them is not a stylistic preference but the disabling of grace’s ordinary path. Pastorally, this is the constitutional argument for frequent communion and serious baptism — not Methodist high-churchmanship for its own sake, but the church’s own standard taken at its word.

Further Reading

  • Romans 4:11; 1 Corinthians 10:16; 11:23–29; Acts 2:38–42 — signs that convey and seal
  • Thirty-Nine Articles, Article XXV (1571) — Wesley’s source; Book of Resolutions #3144
  • John Wesley, The Means of Grace (Sermon 16) — Article XVI generalized; “ordinary channels,” yet “no power in this”
  • John and Charles Wesley, Hymns on the Lord’s Supper (1745) — the efficacy sung
  • Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry (WCC, Lima 1982) — the modern convergence
  • The two sacraments in particular: [[articles-of-religion/article-17-of-baptism]], [[articles-of-religion/article-18-of-the-lords-supper]]
  • The rule that commands their use: [[general-rules/third-rule-the-ordinances-of-god]]

Related

The Articles of Religion

Article I — Of Faith in the Holy Trinity. There is but one living and true God, everlasting, without body or parts, of infinite power, wisdom, and goodness; the maker and preserver of all things, both visible and invisible. And in unity of this Godhead there are three persons, of one substance, power, and eternity — the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Article II — Of the Word, or Son of God, Who Was Made Very Man. The Son, who is the Word of the Father, the very and eternal God, of one substance with the Father, took man's nature in the womb of the blessed Virgin; so that two whole and perfect natures, that is to say, the Godhead and Manhood, were joined together in one person, never to be divided; whereof is one Christ, very God and very Man, who truly suffered, was crucified, dead, and buried, to reconcile his Father to us, and to be a sacrifice, not only for original guilt, but also for actual sins of men. Article III — Of the Resurrection of Christ. Christ did truly rise again from the dead, and took again his body, with all things appertaining to the perfection of man's nature, wherewith he ascended into heaven, and there sitteth until he return to judge all men at the last day. Article IV — Of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost, proceeding from the Father and the Son, is of one substance, majesty, and glory with the Father and the Son, very and eternal God. Article V — Of the Sufficiency of the Holy Scriptures for Salvation. The Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation; so that whatsoever is not read therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required of any man that it should be believed as an article of faith, or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation. Article VI — Of the Old Testament. The Old Testament is not contrary to the New; for both in the Old and New Testament everlasting life is offered to mankind by Christ, who is the only Mediator between God and man, being both God and Man. Although the law given from God by Moses as touching ceremonies and rites doth not bind Christians, nor ought the civil precepts thereof of necessity be received in any commonwealth; yet notwithstanding, no Christian whatsoever is free from the obedience of the commandments which are called moral. Article VII — Of Original or Birth Sin. Original sin standeth not in the following of Adam (as the Pelagians do vainly talk), but it is the corruption of the nature of every man, that naturally is engendered of the offspring of Adam, whereby man is very far gone from original righteousness, and of his own nature inclined to evil, and that continually. Article VIII — Of Free Will. The condition of man after the fall of Adam is such that he cannot turn and prepare himself, by his own natural strength and works, to faith, and calling upon God; wherefore we have no power to do good works, pleasant and acceptable to God, without the grace of God by Christ preventing us, that we may have a good will, and working with us, when we have that good will. Article IX — Of the Justification of Man. We are accounted righteous before God only for the merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, by faith, and not for our own works or deservings. Wherefore, that we are justified by faith, only, is a most wholesome doctrine, and very full of comfort. Article X — Of Good Works. Although good works, which are the fruits of faith, and follow after justification, cannot put away our sins, and endure the severity of God's judgment; yet are they pleasing and acceptable to God in Christ, and spring out of a true and lively faith, insomuch that by them a lively faith may be as evidently known as a tree is discerned by its fruit. Article XI — Of Works of Supererogation. Voluntary works — besides, over and above God's commandments — which they call works of supererogation, cannot be taught without arrogancy and impiety. For by them men do declare that they do not only render unto God as much as they are bound to do, but that they do more for his sake than of bounden duty is required; whereas Christ saith plainly: When ye have done all that is commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants. Article XII — Of Sin After Justification. Not every sin willingly committed after justification is the sin against the Holy Ghost, and unpardonable. Wherefore, the grant of repentance is not to be denied to such as fall into sin after justification. After we have received the Holy Ghost, we may depart from grace given, and fall into sin, and, by the grace of God, rise again and amend our lives. And therefore they are to be condemned who say they can no more sin as long as they live here; or deny the place of forgiveness to such as truly repent. Article XIII — Of the Church. The visible church of Christ is a congregation of faithful men in which the pure Word of God is preached, and the Sacraments duly administered according to Christ's ordinance, in all those things that of necessity are requisite to the same. Article XIV — Of Purgatory. The Romish doctrine concerning purgatory, pardon, worshiping, and adoration, as well of images as of relics, and also invocation of saints, is a fond thing, vainly invented, and grounded upon no warrant of Scripture, but repugnant to the Word of God. Article XV — Of Speaking in the Congregation in Such a Tongue as the People Understand. It is a thing plainly repugnant to the Word of God, and the custom of the primitive church, to have public prayer in the church, or to minister the Sacraments, in a tongue not understood by the people. Article XVI — Of the Sacraments. Sacraments ordained of Christ are not only badges or tokens of Christian men's profession, but rather they are certain signs of grace, and God's good will toward us, by which he doth work invisibly in us, and doth not only quicken, but also strengthen and confirm, our faith in him. There are two Sacraments ordained of Christ our Lord in the Gospel; that is to say, Baptism and the Supper of the Lord. Article XVII — Of Baptism. Baptism is not only a sign of profession and mark of difference whereby Christians are distinguished from others that are not baptized; but it is also a sign of regeneration or the new birth. The Baptism of young children is to be retained in the Church. Article XVIII — Of the Lord's Supper. The Supper of the Lord is not only a sign of the love that Christians ought to have among themselves one to another, but rather is a sacrament of our redemption by Christ's death… The body of Christ is given, taken, and eaten in the Supper, only after a heavenly and spiritual manner. And the means whereby the body of Christ is received and eaten in the Supper is faith. Article XIX — Of Both Kinds. The cup of the Lord is not to be denied to the lay people; for both the parts of the Lord's Supper, by Christ's ordinance and commandment, ought to be administered to all Christians alike. Article XX — Of the One Oblation of Christ, Finished upon the Cross. The offering of Christ, once made, is that perfect redemption, propitiation, and satisfaction for all the sins of the whole world, both original and actual; and there is none other satisfaction for sin but that alone. Wherefore the sacrifice of masses, in the which it is commonly said that the priest doth offer Christ for the quick and the dead, to have remission of pain or guilt, is a blasphemous fable and dangerous deceit. Article XXI — Of the Marriage of Ministers. The ministers of Christ are not commanded by God's law either to vow the estate of single life, or to abstain from marriage; therefore it is lawful for them, as for all other Christians, to marry at their own discretion, as they shall judge the same to serve best to godliness. Article XXII — Of the Rites and Ceremonies of Churches. It is not necessary that rites and ceremonies should in all places be the same, or exactly alike; for they have been always different, and may be changed according to the diversity of countries, times, and men's manners, so that nothing be ordained against God's Word. Every particular church may ordain, change, or abolish rites and ceremonies, so that all things may be done to edification. Article XXIII — Of the Rulers of the United States of America. The President, the Congress, the general assemblies, the governors, and the councils of state, as the delegates of the people, are the rulers of the United States of America, according to the division of power made to them by the Constitution of the United States and by the constitutions of their respective states. And the said states are a sovereign and independent nation, and ought not to be subject to any foreign jurisdiction. Article XXIV — Of Christian Men's Goods. The riches and goods of Christians are not common as touching the right, title, and possession of the same, as some do falsely boast. Notwithstanding, every man ought, of such things as he possesseth, liberally to give alms to the poor, according to his ability. Article XXV — Of a Christian Man's Oath. As we confess that vain and rash swearing is forbidden Christian men by our Lord Jesus Christ and James his apostle, so we judge that the Christian religion doth not prohibit, but that a man may swear when the magistrate requireth, in a cause of faith and charity, so it be done according to the prophet's teaching, in justice, judgment, and truth. Of Sanctification (appended 1939; legislative, not constitutionally protected). Sanctification is that renewal of our fallen nature by the Holy Ghost, received through faith in Jesus Christ, whose blood of atonement cleanseth from all sin; whereby we are not only delivered from the guilt of sin, but are washed from its pollution, saved from its power, and are enabled, through grace, to love God with all our hearts and to walk in his holy commandments blameless. Of the Duty of Christians to the Civil Authority (appended 1939; legislative, not constitutionally protected). It is the duty of all Christians, and especially of all Christian ministers, to observe and obey the laws and commands of the governing or supreme authority of the country of which they are citizens or subjects or in which they reside, and to use all laudable means to encourage and enjoin obedience to the powers that be.