Program / Course 11: Church, Sacraments, and Authority / Lesson 5.1
What you will learn
- Explain the Greek word mysterion and its use in the New Testament.
- Explain the Latin word sacramentum and how it came to translate mysterion.
- Describe how the Eastern and Western churches developed different vocabularies.
- Recognize how the words shape the later disagreements about sacraments.
The big idea
The words sacrament and mystery have different roots. In the New Testament, the Greek mysterion refers to God’s hidden plan now revealed in Christ. The Latin sacramentum meant an oath or a sacred thing, and Latin Christians used it to translate mysterion in some verses and to name sacred acts of worship. The East kept the Greek word mysteries for baptism, the Eucharist and other holy acts, without fixing a number. The West gradually defined sacraments more precisely. Much of what separates the traditions on sacraments begins with this difference of words.
Key terms
- Mysterion
- A Greek word meaning a secret or hidden thing. In the New Testament it usually means God’s plan, once hidden and now made known in Christ.
- Sacramentum
- A Latin word for a thing made sacred, and in Roman law for an oath or a pledge. Christians used it for sacred signs and acts.
- Sacrament
- In Western Christian use, a sacred sign or act through which, the churches teach, God gives grace. The definition is disputed.
- Mystery (sacramental use)
- In Eastern Christian use, a holy act of the church in which God’s presence and action are known beyond what words explain.
- Vulgate
- The Latin translation of the Bible made largely by Jerome in the late fourth century.
- Mystagogy
- Teaching new Christians about the meaning of the mysteries they have received.
Background
Few Christian words are used as widely as sacrament, and few are harder to define. The word does not appear in the English Bible. It comes from the Latin tradition, and the Greek Christian tradition used a different word. Looking at where these words came from helps explain why Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant Christians describe the same acts, baptism and the Eucharist, in different ways.
The history also reminds a reader that words acquire meanings over time. A statement such as there are seven sacraments depends on a definition of sacrament that was worked out in the twelfth century. Before that, writers counted more or fewer acts, depending on what they meant by the word.
Step-by-step explanation
Step 1: Mysterion in the New Testament
The word mysterion appears more than twenty times in the New Testament, mostly in Paul. It does not mean a puzzle. It means something hidden in God that has now been disclosed. Paul speaks of the mystery of Christ (Colossians 4:3), of the mystery which was kept secret since the world began and is now made manifest (Romans 16:25), and of Christ in you, the hope of glory (Colossians 1:27). He calls himself and others stewards of the mysteries of God (1 Corinthians 4:1).
In Ephesians 5:32, after comparing the union of husband and wife with that of Christ and the church, Paul says, “This is a great mystery.” The word is not used in the New Testament for baptism or the Eucharist, though these acts were practiced from the start (Matthew 28:19; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26). The link between the New Testament word and later sacramental use is made by later Christian writers.
Step 2: Mystery in the Greek-speaking church
By the second and third centuries Greek Christian writers began to use mysteria for the church’s sacred rites. The word was also used in pagan mystery religions, and Christians borrowed its sense of an initiation into something holy. Writers such as Cyril of Jerusalem in the fourth century gave lectures to the newly baptized on the mysteries, explaining baptism, anointing and the Eucharist after they had been received. This kind of teaching is called mystagogy.
The Eastern tradition has kept this language. It speaks of the holy mysteries. It lists baptism, chrismation, the Eucharist, penance, ordination, marriage and anointing of the sick, which agrees with the Western seven, but does not insist on the number. John of Damascus and other writers speak of other acts as mysteries too, such as monastic tonsure and the blessing of water, in a broad sense.
Step 3: Sacramentum in the Latin church
In Roman use, sacramentum could mean an oath, especially the pledge a soldier made to his commander. It also meant a deposit made in a court case, and a sacred thing. Tertullian, writing around AD 200, used the word for baptism and compared the baptized to soldiers pledged to Christ. Latin translators also rendered mysterion as sacramentum in several places, including Ephesians 5:32 in the Vulgate, which reads sacramentum hoc magnum est.
Because of this translation, Latin Christians read the New Testament word as pointing to a sacred sign. The word came to cover many things: the Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, the sign of the cross, as well as baptism and the Eucharist. Writers such as Augustine, as the next lesson shows, helped to define it more closely.
Step 4: Narrowing in the West
In the twelfth century, theologians such as Hugh of Saint Victor and Peter Lombard sought to define the word and list the sacraments. Peter Lombard’s Sentences, the standard textbook of the later Middle Ages, named seven: baptism, confirmation, the Eucharist, penance, anointing of the sick, orders and marriage. Thomas Aquinas in the thirteenth century developed a detailed account of how each acts. The Council of Florence in 1439 and the Council of Trent in 1547 taught that there are seven sacraments.
The list of seven was not found in this form in the first millennium. Catholic teaching holds that all seven were instituted by Christ, though the explicit reflection came later, and that the church’s understanding has developed. Protestants reply that only those with a clear command and promise of Christ in Scripture should be counted. This is the subject of the third lesson of this module.
Step 5: Why the words matter
The vocabulary affects how people think about the matter. Mystery stresses that God’s action exceeds what language can capture, and that the church’s acts bring believers into a larger reality. Sacrament, with its legal and philosophical development in the West, invites questions of definition: what makes a sacrament valid, what exactly does it cause, and who may administer it. Neither approach is wrong. Each has strengths, and each has led to its own debates. Reading the Eastern writers as if they were answering Western questions can mislead, and the opposite error is equally possible.
- Which word is being used in this text, mysterion or sacramentum?
- Does the word mean a hidden thing, an oath, or a sacred act?
- Is the author counting a fixed number of sacred acts?
- Which practices does the author include and which does he omit?
- How does the vocabulary shape the questions the author asks?
- Would an Eastern writer have asked the same question?
Examples
Cyril of Jerusalem’s lectures
Around the middle of the fourth century, Cyril gave lectures during Easter week to the newly baptized, explaining the baptismal washing, anointing and the Eucharist they had just received. They had not been told the full meaning before. The lectures show the mystagogical teaching of the Eastern church.
Tertullian’s soldiers
Tertullian compared the baptized to soldiers who take an oath, a sacramentum. The image is that baptism is a pledge of loyalty to Christ as well as a washing. It shows one of the Roman senses of the word at work in early Christian thought.
Ephesians 5:32 in two languages
The Greek text of Ephesians 5:32 says this is a great mysterion, and the Latin Vulgate says this is a great sacramentum. Catholic readers have cited the Latin as support for marriage as a sacrament. Many scholars say that Paul’s Greek word refers to the union of Christ and the church and does not by itself define marriage as a sacrament.
Different perspectives
Catholic
The Catechism teaches that sacraments are efficacious signs of grace, instituted by Christ and entrusted to the church. It acknowledges the Greek word mystery and says that the church’s sacraments continue the saving works of Christ’s life. Catholic theology recognizes the Eastern usage and the development of the Western definition.
Orthodox
Orthodox writers prefer the word mystery and hesitate to define sacraments in the scholastic way. They teach that the whole life of the church is sacramental, and that the seven principal mysteries are among the ways in which grace is given. Alexander Schmemann has argued that the world itself is a sacrament of God’s presence.
Protestant
The Reformers used the Latin word and tried to base its meaning on Scripture. They defined a sacrament by a divine command, a visible sign and a promise of grace. Calvin and others spoke of sacraments as seals of God’s promise. They differ among themselves on what the sacraments give.
Scholarly view
Scholars of religion note that mysteria in Greek culture referred to secret cults, and that early Christians used the vocabulary with caution. Historians of doctrine note that the idea of a closed list of seven arose in the twelfth century, and that earlier writers used the word more broadly.
Why it matters
Many modern disagreements assume that sacrament has a fixed meaning. Knowing that the word changed shows why a Catholic, an Orthodox Christian and a Protestant can all speak of baptism and the Eucharist and mean somewhat different things. It also warns against reading a twelfth-century definition back into the first century.
Common misunderstandings
Misunderstanding: The New Testament uses the word sacrament.
Correction: The word sacrament comes from Latin. The New Testament Greek word is mysterion, which does not specifically mean a sacred rite. Later Christians connected the words.
Misunderstanding: Mystery in the Eastern church means that sacraments cannot be understood at all.
Correction: Eastern writers say that God’s action goes beyond language, but they teach and explain the mysteries carefully. Mystery means a reality known in participation as well as by reasoning.
Misunderstanding: The Orthodox have a different list of sacraments.
Correction: The Orthodox generally name the same seven principal mysteries as the Catholic Church, but do not treat the number as a defined dogma in the same way.
Misunderstanding: Protestants reject all sacraments.
Correction: Almost all Protestants keep baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Some use the word ordinance and others use the word sacrament. Most reject the other five as sacraments.
Knowledge check
What does mysterion mean in Paul’s letters?
It means a secret of God’s plan, hidden in the past and now revealed in Christ, such as in Romans 16:25 and Colossians 1:27. It does not mean a puzzle. Paul does not use it of baptism or the Eucharist specifically.
How did sacramentum come to be used of Christian rites?
It meant an oath or sacred thing in Roman use. Tertullian applied it to baptism as a soldier’s pledge, and Latin translators used it for mysterion in Ephesians 5:32. Over time the word came to cover sacred signs of the church.
Who defined the list of seven sacraments, and when?
Twelfth-century theologians, especially Peter Lombard, set out the list of seven. It was later taught by the councils of Florence and Trent. Earlier writers did not use a fixed list, and the Eastern churches generally do not treat the number as a dogma.
What is mystagogy?
It is instruction given to the newly baptized to explain the meaning of the rites they have received. Cyril of Jerusalem’s lectures in the fourth century are a well-known example from the Eastern church.
Think it through
- How might the words people use change the questions they ask?
- Is a sacrament best understood as a sign, an act, a mystery, or all three?
- Why might the church have kept some teaching until after baptism?
- What is lost if the East’s word and the West’s word are treated as exact equivalents?
Independent assignment
A word study
In your notebook, look up mysterion in a concordance or Bible search for the New Testament, and list ten passages. For each, write one line on what the word refers to. Then write 250 to 350 words on how these uses relate to the Christian understanding of baptism and the Eucharist, and how the Latin translation sacramentum shaped Western thought. Keep the work in your notebook.
Further study
- Alexander Schmemann, For the Life of the World Read the opening chapters on the world as sacrament.
- Timothy (Kallistos) Ware, The Orthodox Church Read the section on the mysteries of the Orthodox Church.
- Catholic Church, Catechism of the Catholic Church Read the opening of the section on the sacraments of the church.
- Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae The third part treats the sacraments in detail.
- John of Damascus, An Exposition of the Orthodox Faith See how an eastern father speaks of the mysteries.
- Ephesians 5:32 A great mystery, concerning Christ and the church.
- 1 Corinthians 4:1 Stewards of the mysteries of God.
- Colossians 1:27 Christ in you, the hope of glory.