Sacred Actions In The Reformation Churches

Protestant emphasis on the Word of God affected the role played by sacraments in Christian life. The more extreme Protestants (Zwinglian Reformed and Anabaptists) generally rejected the idea that God's grace was mediated to people through created things employed in sacraments. Although Lutherans, Calvinists, and Anglicans retained a place for sacraments, they insisted that sacramental practice be reformed according to the Word of God. They insisted that the New Testament authorized only two sacraments: baptism and the Lord's Supper. An emphasis on Word is also evident in the increased importance that all Protestants attached to preaching. The Reformation understanding and practice of worship began with a sweeping critique of the sacraments and liturgical ceremonies of the medieval church. The central teaching of the Reformers, justification by faith alone (sola fide), was a rejection of all human works as the ground of salvation, including the actions of worship insofar as they are p…