Common Misunderstanding: Certain Protestants claim that the sacraments were developed after the conversion of Constantine because masses of people wanted to be recognized as Chrstians but the Church had too few teachers. Hence, people could be easily run through the sacramental system without needing the necessary formation, because God would work automatically through the sacraments. Others argue that the sacraments are foreign to the Biblical witness and to the early Church, being formally defined only in 1274 at the Second Council Lyons. Some Protestants also hold that these actions are not really sacraments, conferring grace, but are only ordinances, actions that recognize that grace has already been conferred internally by faith.

Response: The proctice of all seven of the sacraments of the Catholic Church has its roots in the Gospel of Christ. Although formalized in 1274 in the Seven Sacraments of the Church, these practices were initiated by Jesus. They do not work magically but by the power of the Holy Spirit, bestowing the grace that they signify (see CCC2 111). But they do really confer grace, as real as when the bleeding woman touched Christ and was healed.

Sources: Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC), # 1076-1666; Aquinas, Summa Theologica; Scott Hahn audio, "Growth by Oath"-esp. 1&2.



Jesus performed all seven of the sacraments and they are explicitly present in Scripture:
Rationale: The reason that the sacraments developed in the practice of the early Church is that Jesus desired His followers to be sanctified by these acts and by them to be drawn more closely into fellowship with Him. For some of them he explicitly commanded his followers to perform them. For others he indicated a desire that they be done. Jesus demonstrated in his ministry or communicated to the Apostles what they were to signify and the essentials of how they were to be carried out.
 
Baptism: He baptized and commanded baptism (Mt 28:19-20). Baptism is essential for salvation (Mk 16:16, I Pt 3:21 and is a means of being saved with Christ (Rom 6:3-11, Jn 3:5).
 
Confirmation: He promised the Holy Spirit, which promise could not be fulfilled until after he left the disciples (Jn 16:7, 7:37, Jn 20:22, Acts 2; 8:14-18). This developed into the sacrament of confirmation.
 
Eucharist or Lord’s Supper: He presided over and commanded the Eucharist (Mt 26:26ff, Mk 14:22ff, Lk 22:14ff, Jn 13-17, I Cor 11:17ff).
 
Reconciliation or Penance: He practiced and commanded confession and repentance of our sins and explicitly delegated that authority to the Apostles (Mt 16:19-20, 18:18-20, and Jn 20:22-23).
 
Anointing of the Sick (Extreme Unction): He healed and anointed the sick for physical healing and for the forgiveness of sins and he sent his disciples out to do the same (Mt 10:1, 8; Lk 9:1-6). James also records this in his epistle (Jas 5:13-18).
 
Marriage: He blessed marriage by his first sign in Cana of Galilee (Jn 2), he restored it to its original sanctity (Mt 19), and St. Paul explicitly  recognized it as a mystery (sacrament)(Eph 5:21-33).
 
Holy Orders: He chose and commissioned Apostles and disciples to go out into ministry (Mt 10, Lk 9) and the early Church did the same (Acts 13:2,3).
Every sacrament in the Catholic Church has its roots in the will and actions of Jesus. They were not invented later, out of nothing, by the Church. The Church, conscious of carrying out the will of Christ, guided the development of the sacraments under the direction of the Holy Spirit (See Jn 16: 7-15).
 
The Sacraments as a Means to a Deeper Personal Relationship with Christ
 
            The meaning of the word sacramentum in Latin had two meanings. It could mean a pledge of money by a person in a legal case. It could also refer to the oath taken by military recruits when they entered the Roman army. In both cases it represented a very serious, personal commitment vis-à-vis God. Tertullian used this word as applied to baptism in a manner dependent upon the current military usage. He saw it as the oath, par excellence, which contradicted the obligations of idolatry, especially as the object of the baptismal promise.
 
            The Church required certain responses by the faithful at certain critical points during their lives to make clear the content of faith as well as to bring the grace of God to that person in a new and more powerful way. In each of these events, the faithful affirm their faith and obedience to Jesus and Jesus makes present his salvific response. This allows us to see today how participation in the sacramenst becomes a beautiful and necessary opportunity to affirm our personal commitment to Jesus.
 
The Oath (Sacramentum) and the Material of the Sacrament as Constitutive of God’s Covenant with Us
 
Scott Hahn develops very powerfully the relationship between oath and covenant. An oath (sacramentum is a means to building the family of God, for covenants and oaths extend family bonds beyond blood relationships. The seven sacraments of the Catholic Church are ways by which god orders his family.
 
Hahn demonstrates that contracts are applied primarily to goods and services. Covenants apply to the relationships between people. Oaths can transform a contract into a covenant which makes a family bond. Thus, every time we celebrate the sacraments of the Church we should be drawn deeper into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and His people.
 
For examples of the relationship between oath and covenant, see Ezekiel 16:8, 17:13, and Luke 1:72,73.