Christians have heard the term “means of grace” from sermons, Bible studies, etc. yet many are not certain what it means.
Typically, any medium through which God works his divine grace can be said to be a means of grace. However, this term is ordinarily used in Christian circles to refer to officially as the means of grace. Let’s take a look at the meaning of the means of grace.
The word “means” may be defined as the medium or instrument used to obtain a result or achieve an end. “Grace” in the biblical sense refers to the favor of God given to human beings regardless of merit.
God graciously pours out the blessings of His Plan of Salvation through the Merits of Christ by the Operation of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit often works directly on the soul of the sinner, especially in the application of the plan of salvation to individual sinners. Yet the Holy Spirit can and does dispense God’s grace through certain means. It is the Holy Spirit working through these means that is often referred to as the means of grace.
Generally speaking, the means of grace can have a broad meaning. For example, the church is a means of grace regarding the gathering of the body of Christ, the true believers. The Holy Spirit can be a means of grace regarding the providential grace of bringing sinners to Christ and in facilitating their closer walk with Christ during sanctification. Faith, the armor of God (Eph. 6:10-20), and prayer may be considered a means of grace.
The Westminster Larger and Shorter Catechisms speak of “the outward means whereby Christ communicates to his church the benefits of his mediation… [and defines these means as] “all his ordinances; especially the Word, sacraments, and prayer” (WLC 154; WSC 88). Many if not most Reformed scholars believe that the outward and ordinary means of grace through which Christ communicates the benefits of the redemption of the elect are the Word, the sacraments, and prayer. Hodge[1] agrees with this statement but Berkhof does not include prayer.
Most Reformed theologians do not consider the Church to be one of the means of grace because the church’s work regarding the grace of God is administrative rather than efficacious. The Church in order to promote God’s grace must work through the means of the Word and the sacraments. Some include prayer and faith, for example, but Berkhof disagrees because these are fruits of the grace of God involving the Holy Spirit’s direct action on the soul of the believer; they are not instrumentalities or the means of the grace of God. “They are not objective ordinances, but subjective conditions for the possession and enjoyment of the blessings of the covenant.”[2] There is general agreement that the Word and the sacraments are objective mediums instituted by Christ for the communication of God’s grace to believers. They are instruments of special grace. “God has appointed them as the ordinary means through which He works His grace in the hearts of sinners.”[3]
Although God ordinarily employs the means of grace to disseminate His divine grace, yet this does not mean that he doesn’t communicate his grace directly. The Spirit of God works directly on the souls of human beings in regeneration and saving faith, for example.
The means of grace do not confer grace themselves. They do not have the inherent ability to confer grace. “And in the distribution and communication of His grace He is not absolutely bound to the divinely appointed means through which He ordinarily works, but uses them to serve His gracious purposes according to His own free will.”[4] In the end, the official means of grace must be the means God uses in conveying His grace to the body of Christ, the church, by the Holy Spirit acting through a channel or medium or means.
This is an issue that Christians may reasonably disagree on. Most Protestants see a commonality between the Word and the sacraments as the means of grace. Neither has the inherent power to save, their power is not in them but is in the Holy Spirit, and both are ordained by God as channels of the Holy Spirit to those who receive it by faith. Though prayer is included as a means of grace by most Reformed Theology advocates, prayer is a subjective rather than an objective means and this is why some Reformed scholars like Berkhof don’t include prayer as the means of grace.
[1] Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, vol. III (Hendrickson, 2016), 466.
[2] Louis Berkhof, Systematic Theology (The Banner of Truth Trust, 2012), 630-31.
[3] Berkhof, 634.
[4] Berkhof, 634.
