THE BIBLICAL FOUNDATION AND EFFICACY OF THE SEVEN SACRAMENTS

Abstract

The seven sacraments are essential aspects of the Roman Catholic Church. Theology defines the sacraments as ‘efficacious signs’, this being the sense of the scholastic saying – significando causani.2 Much attention is given to the study of the efficacious casuality of the sacraments, while less attention is given to their nature as signs. To this aspect of the sacraments, this paper shall focus on the seven sacraments, the efficacy and significance of the sacramental rites as signs. The rites of the sacraments most often seem to be banal and artificial. Hence, it is of immense importance to bring back to consciousness the high relevance of the sacraments by providing in-depth explications of the seven sacraments as efficacious signs. Through typology, biblical theology has a role in the interpretation of the meaning and origin of the sacraments by revisiting the common tradition of the apostolic age and defining the principles which inspired them. Biblical symbolism accounts and constitutes the primitive foundation for a comprehensive approach to the true significance of the sacraments in their original institution