Question 67. Are both the word and the sacraments, then, intended to focus our faith on the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross as the only ground of our salvation?
Answer: Yes, indeed. The Holy Spirit teaches us in the gospel and assures us by the sacraments that the whole of our salvation depends upon the one sacrifice of Christ which he offered for us on the cross. (a)
Question 68. How many sacraments has Christ instituted in the New Testament?
Answer: Two: baptism, and the Lord’s Supper. (b)
(Scriptural proofs after the fold.)
Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?
For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.
For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.