WCF 27.5

Westminster Confession of Faith

27.5. Of the Sacraments

The sacraments of the Old Testament, in regard to the spiritual things thereby signified and exhibited, were, for substance, the same with those of the New.

Proof texts

1 Cor. 10:1, 2, 3, 4 — [1] For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, [2] and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, [3] and all ate the same spiritual food, [4] and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.

For discussion

The Assembly cited 1 Cor. 10:1, 2, 3, 4 in support of this answer. Read it in context — how does it bear on what is claimed here?
WSC Q93 treats the same ground. What does it add, and why might it put things differently?
WLC Q164 treats the same ground. What does it add, and why might it put things differently?
The Assembly divided over this: Sacramental Efficacy: Signs and Seals. How sacraments confer grace without operating ex opere operato or being bare memorials. What turns on the answer?

Read alongside

WSC Q93 · WLC Q164 · WLC Q149 · WSC Q88 · BC 8.1 · BC 8.2 · BC 8.3 · HC Q65 · 1689 28.1 · SD 28.1 · IAR 7.1 · SC60 6.1 · SC60 6.2 · SC60 6.3 · SC60 6.4 · SC60 6.5 · SHC 6.1 · SHC 6.2 · IAR 8.1 · SC60 7.1 · SC60 7.2 · SC60 7.3 · SHC 7.1 · SHC 7.2 · SHC 7.3

Leader's notes

A Commentary on the Confession of Faith (A.A. Hodge): this Section teach in opposition to this ? 33. What do the Romanists teach are the conditions on the part of the administrator upon which the efficacy of the sacraments depends ? 34. How dees the efficacy of the sacrament depend upon its divine appointment ? 35. How does it depend upon the sovereign will and power of the Holy Ghost? 36. What was taught in the early Church as to the number of the sacraments? 37. When was the number seven authoritatively established? 38. What are the seven sacraments acknowledged by the Romanists ? 39. How can it be proved that baptism and the Lord's Supper form a class by themselves? 40. Show that the definition of a sacrament…

An Exposition of the Confession of Faith (Robert Shaw): .The ordinary sacraments of the Old Testament were circumcision and the passover; the former being now superceded by baptism, and the latter by the Lord's supper. The sacraments of the Old Testament represented Christ as to come, while those of the New Testament represent Christ as already come ; and by the latter spiritual blessings are exhibited in a more clear and plain manner than by the former. But in opposition to the Church of Rome, which asserts that the sacraments of the Old Testament were no more than shadows of that grace which those of the New Testament actually confer, we maintain that, in respect of the spiritual blessings signified and e:xhibited, the sacraments of the Old Testament were…