Baptism and Communion: The Meaning Behind the Sacraments

Two practices show up in nearly every Christian community on earth: washing with water and sharing bread and wine. Baptism and communion are the two rites almost all Christians hold in common, even though they explain them in noticeably different ways.

Sacraments and Ordinances

A sacrament is usually defined as an outward, visible sign of an inward, spiritual grace, instituted by Christ. The classic wording appears in the catechism of the Book of Common Prayer, which the Church of England still publishes, where a sacrament is described as an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace with two parts, the outward sign and the inward grace. The same text answers that Christ ordained two sacraments as generally necessary to salvation, baptism and the Supper of the Lord.

Catholic and Orthodox Christians count seven sacraments, adding confirmation, confession, marriage, ordination, and anointing of the sick. Many Protestant churches count two. Some traditions, particularly Baptist and many independent evangelical churches, prefer the word ordinance, to stress that these are commands Christ gave rather than channels that convey grace in themselves. Quakers and the Salvation Army practice neither rite outwardly, holding that the inward reality is what matters.

The Meaning of Baptism

Baptism has been the entry ritual into the Christian community from the beginning. Its background lies in Jewish purification practice. As the Society of Biblical Literature’s article on baptism in early Christianity explains, ancient Jews used immersion pools for ritual purification, and in the early first century John the Baptist adapted the practice into a one-time baptism of repentance and forgiveness of sins by the Jordan River.

Christian baptism gathered several meanings around that act. It signifies washing and forgiveness. Paul describes it as being buried and raised with Christ. It marks incorporation into the church, and it is performed in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Christians disagree about who should be baptized and how. Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican, Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian, and many other churches baptize infants, understanding baptism as God’s promise received before the child can respond, with the response coming later. Baptist, Anabaptist, Pentecostal, and many independent churches baptize only those who personally profess faith. Modes vary too, from full immersion to pouring to sprinkling.

The Meaning of Communion

The meal goes by several names, each highlighting something different: Eucharist, from the Greek for thanksgiving; Holy Communion, emphasizing shared participation; the Lord’s Supper; the Mass; and the Divine Liturgy.

The reference article on the Eucharist in early Christianity notes that these ceremonies, whether simple or grand and whether rare or daily, look to the story of Jesus’s Last Supper as their model and source, and that early accounts in Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians and in the Synoptic Gospels reflect the belief that in sharing bread and wine believers participated in Jesus’s body and blood.

What happens in the meal is one of the oldest Christian disputes. The main positions can be sketched briefly:

• Transubstantiation, the Catholic teaching, holds that the bread and wine truly become the body and blood of Christ while the appearances remain.
• Orthodox Christians affirm a real change effected by the Holy Spirit while generally declining to define the mechanism.
• Lutherans hold that Christ is truly present in, with, and under the bread and wine.
• Reformed and Anglican Christians commonly speak of a real spiritual presence received by faith.
• Memorialists, following Zwingli and common among Baptists, understand the meal chiefly as a remembrance.

Practice Across Traditions

Frequency ranges from daily to quarterly. Some churches welcome any baptized Christian to the table, while others restrict participation to members of their own communion. Elements may be a shared cup or individual glasses, wine or grape juice, a wafer or torn bread.

Behind the variety sits a shared instinct. Christian faith is not only a set of ideas to be thought about. It is enacted with water, bread, and wine, in company, using the body as well as the mind.