Are There Really Seven Sacraments?

Most Protestants count two sacraments, or "ordinances." The Catholic Church counts seven. Who is reading the New Testament correctly?

Short answer: Yes, there are seven. Every one is in the New Testament as a visible action, done at Christ's command or by His apostles, that gives grace: Baptism, Confirmation, the Eucharist, Penance, the Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders, and Matrimony. The Catholic Church did not invent five extra rites. She kept what the apostles did, and so did the Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox Churches, who also count seven today.

Key verses on the sacraments

• "Then they laid hands on them and they received the holy Spirit." (Acts 8:17)
• "Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained." (John 20:23)
• "pray over him and anoint [him] with oil in the name of the Lord" (James 5:14)
• "stir into flame the gift of God that you have through the imposition of my hands." (2 Timothy 1:6)
• "This is a great mystery, but I speak in reference to Christ and the church." (Ephesians 5:32)

Scripture quotations are from the New American Bible, Revised Edition (NABRE), © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

What Protestants Believe

The classic Protestant confessions count two. The Westminster Confession (1646), the Presbyterian standard, defines sacraments as "holy signs and seals of the covenant of grace, immediately instituted by God, to represent Christ and his benefits," and says, "There be only two sacraments ordained by Christ our Lord in the gospel, that is to say, Baptism and the Supper of the Lord; neither of which may be dispensed by any but by a minister of the word, lawfully ordained" (Westminster Confession 27.1, 27.4).

The Anglican Thirty-Nine Articles (1571) state: "There are two Sacraments ordained of Christ our Lord in the Gospel, that is to say, Baptism and the Supper of the Lord." The other five, "Confirmation, Penance, Orders, Matrimony, and Extreme Unction," are "not to be counted for Sacraments of the Gospel," being such as have grown "partly of the corrupt following of the Apostles," "partly are states of life allowed in the Scriptures," and "for that they have not any visible sign or ceremony ordained of God" (Article XXV).

The argument: a sacrament must be (1) instituted by Christ, (2) with a visible sign, (3) attached to a promise of grace. Baptism and the Supper clearly pass; the other five, on this view, are church customs, states of life, or medieval additions. Many Baptists go further: baptism and communion are "ordinances" that signify grace rather than give it. Let's test that standard against the New Testament.

What Catholics Actually Teach

"Christ instituted the sacraments of the new law. There are seven: Baptism, Confirmation (or Chrismation), the Eucharist, Penance, the Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders and Matrimony." They "give birth and increase, healing and mission to the Christian's life of faith" (CCC 1210).

A sacrament is God's work given to us: "The sacraments are efficacious signs of grace, instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church, by which divine life is dispensed to us," and they "bear fruit in those who receive them with the required dispositions" (CCC 1131).

The Council of Trent defined that the sacraments are neither "more, or less, than seven" and that each is "truly and properly a sacrament" (Session 7, Canon 1, 1547).

What Catholics do not teach:

• That sacraments are magic. They "bear fruit in those who receive them with the required dispositions" (CCC 1131): faith, repentance, openness to grace.
• That we earn grace by rituals. They act "by virtue of the saving work of Christ, accomplished once for all" (CCC 1128). St. Paul writes that it was "not because of any righteous deeds we had done but because of his mercy, he saved us through the bath of rebirth" (Titus 3:5).
• That Scripture narrates every detail of each rite. It records the sign, the minister, and the grace; the apostles handed on the practice (2 Thessalonians 2:15).

It all points to Christ. The sacraments "are efficacious because in them Christ himself is at work: it is he who baptizes, he who acts in his sacraments in order to communicate the grace that each sacrament signifies" (CCC 1127). As the Catechism puts it, "what was visible in our Savior has passed over into his mysteries" (CCC 1115): the hands that touched lepers and broke bread still touch us through the seven sacraments.

The Biblical Case

Apply the Protestant test to each: a visible sign, from Christ or His apostles, with grace promised.

1. Baptism: water and the Trinity

Christ commanded it: "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" (Matthew 28:19). The grace is explicit: "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the holy Spirit" (Acts 2:38). St. Peter: "baptism, which saves you now" (1 Peter 3:21). Not a mere ordinance: it gives grace (see Is Baptism Necessary for Salvation?).

2. Confirmation: the apostles' laying on of hands

In Samaria, people "had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus." So the apostles "sent them Peter and John, who went down and prayed for them, that they might receive the holy Spirit." Then "they laid hands on them and they received the holy Spirit" (Acts 8:14–17). Even Simon the magician saw "the Spirit was conferred by the laying on of the apostles' hands" (Acts 8:18). At Ephesus the same order appears: "they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul laid [his] hands on them, the holy Spirit came upon them" (Acts 19:5–6).

A visible sign, apostolic ministers, the gift of the Spirit, and a rite distinct from baptism. Hebrews lists "instruction about baptisms and laying on of hands" among the "basic teaching about Christ" (Hebrews 6:1–2).

3. The Eucharist: "do this in memory of me"

"Then he took the bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them, saying, 'This is my body, which will be given for you; do this in memory of me'" (Luke 22:19). And Jesus promised, "Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life" (John 6:54; see Is the Eucharist Really the Body and Blood of Jesus?).

4. Penance: Christ breathed on the apostles

On Easter night the risen Lord said, "As the Father has sent me, so I send you." Then "he breathed on them and said to them, 'Receive the holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained'" (John 20:21–23). Christ instituted it personally, with a visible act, and attached the forgiveness of sins. To forgive or retain, they must know the sins: hence confession.

St. Paul calls it "the ministry of reconciliation" (2 Corinthians 5:18). The Church is precise: "Only God forgives sins," and Christ "entrusted the exercise of the power of absolution to the apostolic ministry" (CCC 1441–1442; see Why Do Catholics Confess Sins to a Priest?).

5. Anointing of the Sick: oil, presbyters, forgiveness

Jesus sent the Twelve, and "They drove out many demons, and they anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them" (Mark 6:13). St. James makes it the Church's standing practice: "Is anyone among you sick? He should summon the presbyters of the church, and they should pray over him and anoint [him] with oil in the name of the Lord, and the prayer of faith will save the sick person, and the Lord will raise him up. If he has committed any sins, he will be forgiven" (James 5:14–15).

Article XXV asks for a "visible sign or ceremony ordained of God." Here are oil, prayer "in the name of the Lord," appointed ministers, and promised grace, including forgiveness.

6. Holy Orders: a gift through the imposition of hands

The first deacons "presented these men to the apostles who prayed and laid hands on them" (Acts 6:6). The rite gives a lasting gift. St. Paul tells St. Timothy: "Do not neglect the gift you have, which was conferred on you through the prophetic word with the imposition of hands of the presbyterate" (1 Timothy 4:14), and "stir into flame the gift of God that you have through the imposition of my hands" (2 Timothy 1:6). A gift of God conferred through a visible sign: a sacrament by any definition.

7. Matrimony: what God has joined

Article XXV counts marriage among "states of life allowed in the Scriptures." But Christ did more than allow it. He declared God Himself the one who joins the spouses: "the two shall become one flesh... Therefore what God has joined together, no human being must separate" (Mark 10:8–9; compare Matthew 19:4–6). St. Paul reveals what it signifies: "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the church and handed himself over for her," and "This is a great mystery, but I speak in reference to Christ and the church" (Ephesians 5:25, 31–32).

Objections Answered

(a) "Only Baptism and the Supper were commanded by Christ Himself in the Gospels."

At its strongest: Westminster says sacraments are "immediately instituted by God," and only two are "ordained by Christ our Lord in the gospel." Apostolic practice is not a command of the Lord. Confirmation, Orders, and Anointing come from the apostles; Matrimony from creation.

Answer: First, Penance passes even this test: Christ instituted it in a Gospel, with His own breath and words (John 20:22–23). Second, only God can attach grace to a sign, and Acts 8 and James 5 say grace was given. If the apostles laid on hands and the Spirit came, Christ had authorized it: "Whoever listens to you listens to me" (Luke 10:16). Third, the Gospels record that the Twelve, sent by Jesus, "anointed with oil many who were sick" (Mark 6:13). Finally, Westminster's own words point the same way: if only a minister "lawfully ordained" may baptize, ordination is a rite of real consequence, and Scripture says it confers "the gift of God" (2 Timothy 1:6).

(b) "Ephesians 5:32 says 'mystery,' not 'sacrament.' Catholics built Matrimony on a Latin mistranslation."

At its strongest: The Greek word is mysterion. The Vulgate rendered it sacramentum, and medieval theologians read the later technical sense back into St. Paul.

Answer: Granted: the word is mysterion, and the NABRE, a Catholic translation, renders it "mystery." The argument does not rest on the Latin. It rests on what St. Paul says marriage is: a union God Himself makes (Mark 10:9) that signifies Christ's love for the Church (Ephesians 5:25–32). A visible covenant in which God acts is a sacrament. And the Eastern Churches, who read St. Paul in Greek, also count marriage among the holy mysteries.

(c) "The number seven was invented in the Middle Ages."

At its strongest: No Father before the twelfth century lists exactly seven. The Catholic Encyclopedia itself says the honor of first listing seven "Most probably" belongs to Peter Lombard (d. 1164). Earlier writers counted differently: St. John of Damascus named two, Pseudo-Dionysius six (OrthodoxWiki). Seven looks like scholastic tidiness, not apostolic teaching.

Answer: Concede the history exactly: the fixed list of seven first appears in twelfth-century theology; it was professed by the Byzantine emperor Michael VIII Palaeologus at the Second Council of Lyons (1274), taught in the Council of Florence's Decree for the Armenians (1439), and solemnly defined at Trent (1547) (Catholic Encyclopedia, "Sacraments").

But the rites were not invented then. Every one is in the New Testament (above) and the early Fathers (below). The Church later counted what she had always done, just as she later fixed the New Testament canon. A Protestant who accepts a 27-book New Testament, whose list the Church settled centuries after the apostles, cannot reject the seven merely because the list came later (see Who Decided Which Books Are in the Bible?).

And notice who else practices all seven. The Eastern Orthodox, separated from Rome since the schism traditionally dated 1054, count "seven (though not only seven) mysteries," with no universal Orthodox declaration fixing the number (OrthodoxWiki); their Patriarch Jeremias II told the Lutherans around 1576 that they "are seven in number — just seven and no more" (Catholic Encyclopedia). The Coptic Orthodox, separated since the fifth century, likewise teach "The Seven Sacraments of the Church" (Coptic Orthodox Wiki). Their numbered list, like the West's, took fixed shape later; but they did not borrow the rites themselves from Rome after the separations. They celebrate all seven from their own ancient traditions, because the rites came down from the apostles. It was communities born in the sixteenth century that reduced them, most commonly to two.

The Early Church Agrees

• The Didache (late 1st or early 2nd century), on confession: "In the church you shall acknowledge your transgressions" (ch. 4), and before the Sunday Eucharist, "give thanksgiving after having confessed your transgressions, that your sacrifice may be pure" (ch. 14).
• Pope St. Clement I (St. Clement of Rome) (Letter to the Corinthians 44, c. AD 96), on Holy Orders: the apostles "gave instructions, that when these should fall asleep, other approved men should succeed them in their ministry" (newadvent.org).
• St. Ignatius of Antioch (To Polycarp 5, c. AD 107), on marriage, urges those "who marry, to form their union with the approval of the bishop, that their marriage may be according to God, and not after their own lust" (To Polycarp 5).
• Tertullian (On Baptism 7–8, c. AD 200), on the rite after baptism: "After this, when we have issued from the font, we are thoroughly anointed with a blessed unction." Then: "In the next place the hand is laid on us, invoking and inviting the Holy Spirit through benediction" (newadvent.org). The order of Acts 8, a century and a half later.
• St. Cyprian of Carthage (On the Lapsed 29, AD 251), on confession: he urges "that each one should confess his own sin, while he who has sinned is still in this world, while his confession may be received, while the satisfaction and remission made by the priests are pleasing to the Lord" (newadvent.org).
• St. Cyprian (Epistle 72 [ANF numbering; 73 in other editions] 9, to Jubaianus, c. AD 256), on Confirmation, citing Acts 8: what Peter and John did "now too is done among us, so that they who are baptized in the Church are brought to the prelates of the Church, and by our prayers and by the imposition of hands obtain the Holy Spirit, and are perfected with the Lord's seal" (newadvent.org).
• Origen (Homilies on Leviticus 2.4, mid-3rd century) names, among the ways sins are remitted, a hard and laborious one through penance, when the sinner is not ashamed to make his sin known to a priest of the Lord and to seek healing. (The homily survives in Rufinus's Latin and is not in the ANF set; paraphrased from the rendering at catholic-link.org.)
• Mystagogical Catechesis 3 (Jerusalem, c. AD 350; traditionally attributed to St. Cyril of Jerusalem), on the chrism of Confirmation: "as the Bread of the Eucharist, after the invocation of the Holy Ghost, is mere bread no longer, but the Body of Christ, so also this holy ointment is no more simple ointment... but it is Christ's gift of grace" (Catechetical Lecture 21.3).
• St. Augustine of Hippo (On the Good of Marriage 32, c. AD 401): among the people of God marriage has "the sanctity of the Sacrament, by reason of which it is unlawful for one who leaves her husband, even when she has been put away, to be married to another, so long as her husband lives" (newadvent.org).
• Pope St. Innocent I (Letter to Decentius of Gubbio, AD 416), on the Anointing of the Sick: according to the Holy See, this is "The first Document of the Magisterium that speaks explicitly of the Anointing of the Sick"; commenting on James 5, the Pope taught that "presbyters are ministers of the Sacrament and Bishops are too" (Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, 2005).

All seven, centuries before anyone made a list.

Conclusion

The Protestant test is fair: a visible sign, from Christ, with a promise of grace. All seven pass it: water and the Trinity; hands that give the Spirit; His Body and Blood; His breath that forgives; oil that raises the sick; hands that confer "the gift of God"; a covenant God Himself joins. Two is not the New Testament's number. It is the sixteenth century's.

That is why the number matters, and we say this with love. The Catholic Church teaches that the communities "derived from the Reformation and separated from the Catholic Church have not preserved the proper reality of the Eucharistic mystery in its fullness, especially because of the absence of the sacrament of Holy Orders" (CCC 1400). Without Holy Orders there is no priest to offer the Eucharist, absolve, or anoint. It is also why, for now, a baptized Protestant who visits a Catholic church is asked to wait before receiving Communion or confession (can. 844 §1), apart from rare cases such as danger of death (can. 844 §4). That waiting is not a door shut in your face. It is a table being prepared for you: Christ wants to give you all seven.

Come home. All seven sacraments, in which Christ Himself baptizes, seals with the Spirit, feeds, forgives, heals, ordains, and joins, are given in their fullness in the Catholic Church. Christ did not found many churches. He founded one, on St. Peter and the apostles (Matthew 16:18), and that Church is the Catholic Church. "It is through Christ's Catholic Church alone, which is the universal help toward salvation, that the fullness of the means of salvation can be obtained" (CCC 816). If you are a baptized Christian, you already share "a certain, although imperfect, communion" with her (CCC 838). Every truth you already hold is a call to the rest of the way. Christ is calling you into the Catholic Church.

Your next step: Come to Mass this Sunday at your local Catholic church. You can find one near you at MassTimes.org. Everyone is welcome; if you're not yet Catholic, pray with us but don't receive Communion yet. When you're ready to become Catholic, call the parish office and ask about OCIA, the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults. They will walk you through every step. Read our guide: How Do I Become Catholic? Not ready yet? Get our free pocket guide below and keep learning.

FAQ

Are the sacraments necessary for salvation? "The Church affirms that for believers the sacraments of the New Covenant are necessary for salvation" (CCC 1129), because they are Christ's chosen means of grace, not works that earn salvation.

If I was baptized in a Protestant church, would I be baptized again? No. A valid baptism with water in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is never repeated (only if there is real doubt that a baptism took place validly is a conditional baptism given). Baptized Christians entering the Catholic Church make a profession of faith and receive Confirmation and the Eucharist.

Why do Catholics call marriage a sacrament if non-Christians marry too? Natural marriage is good and comes from creation. Between two baptized persons, Christ raises it to a sign of His own love for the Church (Ephesians 5:25–32).

Sources

Scripture (NABRE, bible.usccb.org): Matthew 16:18; Matthew 19:4–6; Matthew 28:19; Mark 6:13; Mark 10:8–9; Luke 10:16; Luke 22:19; John 6:54; John 20:21–23; Acts 2:38; Acts 6:6; Acts 8:14–18; Acts 19:5–6; 2 Corinthians 5:18; Ephesians 5:25–32; 2 Thessalonians 2:15; 1 Timothy 4:14; 2 Timothy 1:6; Titus 3:5; Hebrews 6:1–2; James 5:14–15; 1 Peter 3:21.

Catechism of the Catholic Church (vatican.va): 816, 838; 1115; 1127, 1128, 1129; 1131; 1210; 1400; 1441–1442.

Church documents: Council of Trent, Session 7, Canons on the Sacraments in General, can. 1 (1547); Code of Canon Law, can. 844; Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Note on the Minister of the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick (2005); Catholic Encyclopedia, "Sacraments" (1912).

Church Fathers: Didache 4, 14 (ANF vol. 7); Clement of Rome, Letter to the Corinthians 44 (ANF vol. 9); Ignatius of Antioch, To Polycarp 5 (ANF vol. 1); Tertullian, On Baptism 7–8 (ANF vol. 3); Cyprian, On the Lapsed 29 and Epistle 72.9 (ANF vol. 5); Origen, Homilies on Leviticus 2.4 (paraphrased); Cyril of Jerusalem (attrib.), Catechetical Lecture 21 (Mystagogical Catechesis 3).3 (NPNF2 vol. 7); Augustine, On the Good of Marriage 32 (NPNF1 vol. 3).

Protestant and Orthodox sources: Westminster Confession of Faith, ch. 27; Thirty-Nine Articles, Article XXV; OrthodoxWiki, "Holy Mysteries"; Coptic Orthodox Wiki, "Church Sacraments".