Ex opere operato
Ex opere operato is a Latin phrase meaning "from the work worked" that, in reference to sacraments, signifies that they derive their efficacy not from the minister (which would mean that they derive it ex opere operantis, meaning "from the work of the worker") or from the recipient, but from the sacrament considered independently of the merits of the minister or the recipient. According to the ex opere operato interpretation of the sacraments, any positive effect comes not from any human worthiness or faith, but from the sacrament as an instrument of God.[1]
"Affirming the ex opere operato efficacy means being sure of God's sovereign and gratuitous intervention in the sacraments."[2] For example, in confirmation the Holy Spirit is bestowed not through the attitude of the bishop nor of the person being confirmed, but freely by God through the instrumentality of the sacrament. However, in order to receive sacraments fruitfully, it is believed necessary for the recipient to have faith.[3]
Antiquity
[edit]In Antiquity, the idea led to a schism among the Donatist Christians.[4] The Donatists held that "one of the three bishops who had consecrated Caecilian was a traditor", and therefore Caecilian's consecration was invalid.[4] Furthermore, they held "that the validity of such an act depended on the worthiness of the bishop performing it" and Caecilian and his followers "responded that the validity of the sacraments and of other such acts cannot be made to depend on the worthiness of the one administering them, for in that case all Christians would be in constant doubt regarding the validity of their own baptism or of the Communion of which they had partaken."[4]
In the Roman Catholic Church
[edit] |
| Part of a series on the |
| Canon law of the Catholic Church |
|---|
 Catholicism portal |
According to the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church, to receive the fruits of the sacraments requires that a person be properly disposed. This means the efficacy of grace via the sacraments is not automatic. There must be, at least in the case of an adult, an openness to use the sufficient grace which is available in a sacrament. When the recipient is properly disposed, "the sacraments are instrumental causes of grace."[5]
Biblical basis of the sacraments
[edit]The sacraments work ex opere operato[6] as manifestations of Jesus' actions and words during his life.[7] Baptism and Confirmation are the manifestation of Jesus' baptism by John the Baptist and anointing by the Holy Spirit, Holy Orders is the manifestation of Jesus' calling of the twelve Apostles, Matrimony is the manifestation of the Wedding at Cana, Anointing of the Sick is the manifestation of Jesus' miracles, Confession is the manifestation of Jesus' forgiveness of sins, and the Eucharist is the manifestation of the Last Supper and Paschal Mystery.[8]
Sacramentals
[edit]The teaching of the Roman Catholic Church regarding sacramentals is their efficacy comes ex opere operantis Ecclesiae (i.e., from what the doer, the Church, does), not ex opere operato (from what is done):[9] i.e., as the Second Vatican Council said, “they signify effects, particularly of a spiritual kind, which are obtained through the Church's intercession”.[10] They “do not confer the grace of the Holy Spirit in the way that the sacraments do, but by the Church's prayer they prepare us to receive grace and dispose us to cooperate with it”.[11] Sacramentals dispose the soul to receive grace[12] and may remit venial sins when used prayerfully.[13]
In the Lutheran Churches
[edit]
The [[Lutheran Church]es see a sacraments: baptism, eucharist, as well as confession and absolution.[14][15]
The Sacraments are efficaious, even if they be administered by wicked ministers, because the ministers officiate in the stead of Christ and do not reprsent their own person. —Augsburg Confession[15]
Lutherans teach that through the sacrament of baptism, the soul is cleansed of original sin and bestowed salvific grace.[16][17] The Lutheran Churches affirm the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, and that it is a sacrifice of thanksgiving and praise.[18]
We thus conclude and declare that even if a bad and vicious man should take or distribute the Lord's Supper, he yet takes the true Sacrament, i.e., the body and blood of Christ, not less than the man who takes or distrubtes it in the most worthy manner. For this Sacrament is not founded on the holiness of man, but on the Word of God. —Formula of Concord[15]
In the Lutheran sacrament of confession and absolution, the priest pronounces forgiveness on the penitent in persona Christi.[19]
In Anglicanism and Presbyterianism
[edit]In Anglicanism, a certain version of ex opere operato is held, in which the impiety of the minister does not invalidate the sacrament, but faith and repentance is required by the receiver. Article XXVI of the Thirty-Nine Articles (Of the unworthiness of ministers which hinders not the effect of the Sacrament) states that the ministration of the Word (scripture) and sacraments is not done in the name of the priest or minister and that the efficacy of Christ's sacraments is not taken away by the wickedness of the clergy in them who by faith worthily and rightly receive the sacraments. This is because sacraments have their efficacy due to Christ’s promise to his church.
Likewise, the Westminster Confession, states in Chapter 27, Art. 3: “The grace which is exhibited in or by the sacraments rightly used, is not conferred by any power in them; neither doth the efficacy of a sacrament depend upon the piety or intention of him that doth administer it: but upon the work of the Spirit, and the word of institution, which contains, together with a precept authorizing the use thereof, a promise of benefit to worthy receivers.”
However, it is important to note that Reformed confessions (such as the Westminster Confession) reject the ex opera operato effect of sacraments, since grace is received through faith. Sacraments are means to strengthen faith, not instruments to bestow Divine grace. Westminster Confession, Chapter 29, Art. 7: "Worthy receivers, outwardly partaking of the visible elements in this sacrament, do then also inwardly by faith, really and indeed, yet not carnally and corporally, but spiritually, receive and feed upon Christ crucified, and all benefits of his death: the body and blood of Christ being then not corporally or carnally in, with, or under the bread and wine; yet as really, but spiritually, present to the faith of believers in that ordinance, as the elements themselves are, to their outward senses." [20]
The Heidelberg Catechism (1563) defines sacraments as signs and seals of Gods promise. It relates grace, faith and sacrament in this way: "Q & A 66 Q. What are sacraments?A. Sacraments are visible, holy signs and seals. They were instituted by God so that by our use of them he might make us understand more clearly the promise of the gospel, and seal that promise. And this is God’s gospel promise: to grant us forgiveness of sins and eternal life by grace because of Christ’s one sacrifice accomplished on the cross. Q & A 67 Q. 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? A. Yes! In the gospel the Holy Spirit teaches us and by the holy sacraments confirms that our entire salvation rests on Christ’s one sacrifice for us on the cross." [21]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "Definition of EX OPERE OPERATO". www.merriam-webster.com. Retrieved 2022-09-04.
- ^ Scampini, Jorge A. (688). "The Sacraments in Ecumenical Dialogue". In Boersma, Hans; Levering, Matthew (eds.). The Oxford Handbook of Sacramental Theology. Oxford University Press. p. 688. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199659067.013.41.
- ^ Fahey, Michael A. (2009). "Sacraments". In Tanner, Kathryn; Webster, John; Torrance, Iain (eds.). The Oxford Handbook of Systematic Theology. Retrieved 10 December 2015.
- ^ a b c Gonzalez, Justo L. (10 August 2010). The Story of Christianity: Volume 1: The Early Church to the Dawn of the Reformation. HarperCollins. p. 175. ISBN 9780061855887.
According to the Donatists, one of the three bishops who had consecrated Caecilian was a traditor--that is, had delivered scriptures to the authorities--and therefore the consecration itself was not valid. Caecilian and his party responded by claiming, first, that the bishop was not a traditor and, second, that even had he been one, his action in consecrating Caecilian would still have been valid. Thus, besides the factual question of whether or not this particular bishop--and others in communion with Caecilian--had yielded, there was the additional issue of whether an ordination or consecration performed by an unworthy bishop was valid. The Donatists declared that the validity of such an act depended on the worthiness of the bishop performing it. Augustine and his followers responded that the validity of the sacraments and of other such acts cannot be made to depend on the worthiness of the one administering them, for in that case all Christians would be in constant doubt regarding the validity of their own baptism or of the communion of which they had partaken.
- ^ "Dictionary : EX OPERE OPERATO". Catholic Culture. Retrieved 2016-01-31.
- ^ "Catechism of the Catholic Church - The paschal mystery in the Church's sacraments". www.vatican.va.
- ^ "Catechism of the Catholic Church - The paschal mystery in the Church's sacraments". www.vatican.va.
- ^ Catechism of the Catholic Church 1114-1116
- ^ Chupungco, Anscar J. (1992). Liturgical Inculturation: Sacramentals, Religiosity, and Catechesis. Liturgical Press. pp. 59–60. ISBN 978-0-8146-6120-8.
- ^ "Sacrosanctum concilium". www.vatican.va. Retrieved 2020-03-03.
- ^ "CCC, 1670". Vatican.va.
- ^ Catechism of the Catholic Church 1667, 1670, 1677.
- ^ "Sisters of Carmel: Information on Sacramentals". www.sistersofcarmel.com. Retrieved 2016-01-22.
- ^ "The Sacraments of the Lutheran Church". Christ The King Lutheran Church. 2025. Retrieved 30 April 2025.
- ^ a b c Schmid, Heinrich (1876). The Doctrinal Theology of the Evangelical Lutheran Church: Exhibited, and Verified from the Original Sources. Lutheran Publication Society.
- ^ Walther, Carl Ferdinand Wilhelm (2008). Sermons and prayers for Reformation and Luther commemorations. Joel Baseley. p. 27. ISBN 9780982252321.
Furthermore, the Lutheran Church also thoroughly teaches that we are cleansed of our sins and born again and renewed in Holy Baptism by the Holy Ghost. But she also teaches that whoever is baptized must, though daily contrition and repentance, drown The Old Adam so that daily a new man come forth and arise who walks before God in righteousness and purity forever. She teaches that whoever lives in sins after his baptism has again lost the grace of baptism.
- ^ Lynch, Michael (11 November 2020). "Baptismal Regeneration and Ex Opere Operato". Modern Reformation. Retrieved 30 April 2025.
Still, they all agreed that at baptism, saving grace is given by the Holy Spirit during infant baptism. This belief was common not just among some groups of Reformed theologians but also Roman Catholics and Lutherans.
- ^ "The Mystery of the Church: D. The Holy Eucharist in the Life of the Church" (PDF). Bratislava: Lutheran World Federation. 2006. p. 1.
- ^ Futch, Chris (13 November 2024). "What Do Lutherans Believe: An Overview of Core Beliefs and Practices". Our Savior Lutheran Church. Retrieved 30 April 2025.
- ^ TheWestminsterStandard. "The Westminster Confession – The Westminster Standard". Retrieved 2025-03-04.
- ^ "Heidelberg Catechism | Christian Reformed Church". www.crcna.org. Retrieved 2025-03-04.
Further reading
[edit]- Weltin, E. G. (1960-07-01). "The Concept of Ex-Opere-Operato : Efficacy in the Fathers as an Evidence of Magic in Early Christianity". Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies. 3 (2/3): 74–100. ISSN 2159-3159.