There are , of course , those who regard the Church as Christ's body , not metaphorically , but metaphysically and ontologically , and see it as an extension of the Incarnation , and would not think any description of the Church complete in which the phrase " body of Christ " did not occur ; and no doubt the sentence under consideration was framed thus , with biblical language used in this oddly unbiblical way , in order to leave it open to such persons to expound what is said , not of evangelism , whereby Christ calls men out of the world to Himself , but of the Church as supernaturalizing society , or as linking men to Christ through its sacraments , or else of Christ as in some sense continuing His work of redemption by endlessly offering Himself to God in organic union with His members .sx But all these are minority views in the Church of England , of dubious biblical credentials , and scarcely a century old ; they can hardly be said to be rooted in Anglican tradition , and they are certainly not countenanced in any official formulary of the Church of England .sx As such , they have surely no right thus to deflect the wording of the Catechism from the biblical norm of usage .sx ( =2 ) The section ( 14-17 ) introduced by the question :sx " What orders of ministries are there in the Church ?sx " ought to be dropped .sx In the first place , the question presumably refers to the Church universal on earth , but it is answered by a description of bishops , priests , and deacons , and their work in the Church of England .sx This is odd :sx is the Church of England , then , to be identified with the Church universal ?sx And furthermore :sx it is [SIC] essential for the catechumen to be instructed in the precise functions of bishops , priests , and deacons in the Church of England set-up before he be admitted to the Lord's Table ?sx Such instruction could only be held essential if this organizational structure were itself essential to the being of the Church , as such , so that where this threefold ministry could not be recognized the Church must be judged non-existent , and the conclusion drawn that there are no valid or efficacious Eucharists there .sx Knowledge about the threefold ministry would then be " saving knowledge " in the strict sense , for valid sacraments are generally necessary to salvation ; but is this the historic Anglican view ?sx Can it be proved by Scripture , which " containeth all things necessary to " ?sx The answer is no in both cases .sx It is true that a vocal minority in the Church of England today holds this opinion in some form , but it does not seem right to give space in the Revised Catechism to a matter whose presence there could only be justified if this minority view were accepted as being Scriptural and normatively Anglican .sx This section leaves the impression that the ministry is the Church for all practical purposes , and this impression is strengthened when , at a later stage , we read that " the Church's ministry in marriage is to bless the man and the woman in their wedding , so that they may together receive the grace of God .sx . " ( 53) .sx Certainly not !sx This is Roman doctrine , not the doctrine of the Church of England .sx The Church is the fellowship of the faithful , not just the minister ; and the Church's ministry in marriage is to pray for and with the marrying couple- a ministry of which the officiant's pronouncement of blessing is only one small part .sx Here , too , a change of wording is imperative ; unless , indeed , question 53 be deleted altogether , which we ourselves would favour ( see below) .sx ( =3 ) Baptism is defined ( 38 ) as " the sacrament in which , through the action of the Holy Spirit , we are christened or made " .sx This definition is not very satisfactory .sx In the first place , it has no clear meaning ( which fact alone makes it unfit to stand in a catechism) .sx In the second place , it most naturally implies that there is a peculiar grace received in baptism ex opere operato .sx But it is not historic Anglican teaching ( think of the Gorham judgment ) , nor , we think , is it unanimous present-day Anglican opinion , that the grace exhibited in baptism is always received in the rite itself , and never before or after .sx In the answer to question 42 , however , we are told that " Confirmation is the ministry by which , through prayer with the laying on of hands by the bishop , the Holy Spirit is received to complete what he began in " ; which form of words ( based , it seems , on the audacious assertion in the Scottish Prayer Book that " Confirmation is an apostolic and sacramental rite by which the Holy Spirit is given to complete our " ) seems to force us to interpret answer 38 of some sort of baptismal regeneration .sx Yet it is a very odd sort of regeneration , for it is only a partial initiation into Christ and His Church , needing the further grace given in Confirmation ( also ex opere operato ?sx ) to perfect it .sx Such a concept has breath-taking implications .sx It implies that every baptized Christian throughout the universal Church whose ecclesiastical system does not make available to him episcopal confirmation misses some grace , forfeits some blessing , foregoes some degree of union with Christ .sx On this view , as Professor G. W. H. Lampe has pointed out , " Christian Baptism would be reduced to the level of the baptism of John , a preparatory cleansing in expectation of a future baptism with Holy Spirit ; Confirmation would become , not merely a sacrament in the fullest sense ( which the Anglican Articles deny ) , but the great sacrament without whose reception no man could call himself a Christian .sx . " ( The Seal of the Spirit , 1951 , p. =13) .sx Lampe calls these " monstrous " .sx We agree .sx Are they historic Anglican teaching ?sx Can they be proved by Scripture ?sx Again , the answer in both cases is no .sx We know , certainly , that this view ( the " Mason-Dix " ) has been argued at various times during the past hundred years by a small band of very able men , that it has a certain following today , and that it has actually been embodied in the proposed new Confirmation rite .sx But most Anglicans , we think , still hold to the historic view expressed in the structure of the 1662 Confirmation service- namely , that Confirmation is simply a domestic institution whereby the Anglican community , acting through the bishop as its appointed representative , welcomes into adult fellowship , on the basis of a personal profession of faith , those who in baptism were originally received , normally as infants , with the status of sponsored members .sx The congregation prays that the Spirit may strengthen the confirmees for the new responsibilities which their increased status in the Church brings .sx But this is not in the least to imply that in the sight of God the blessings of the Spirit which their baptism signified- " union with Christ in his death and resurrection , the forgiveness of sins , and a new birth into God's family , the Church " ( 40)- are necessarily incomplete till Confirmation has taken place .sx Here again , then , we must protest against the intrusion into the new Catechism , which the whole Church , it is hoped , will use , of a minority opinion which most Anglican clergy in their teaching of Confirmation candidates would wish to ignore , or indeed repudiate .sx ( =4 ) At this point , however , we would make a more radical criticism .sx The passages dealing with the five " other Ministries of Grace " " confirmation , holy order , holy matrimony , the ministry of absolution , and the ministry of " ) ought , we suggest , to be dropped entirely .sx For the assumption behind the phrase " other Ministries of Grace " evidently is that in each of these five cases ( though , one would gather , in no other case ) the activity of the officiant confers some special gift of God which would not otherwise be received .sx We saw earlier how clearly this comes out in the tell-tale wording of the statement about matrimony ; and the assumption appears again when absolution is defined as the ministry whereby penitents who have made " free confession " of their sins in the minister's presence " receive through him ( sic ) the forgiveness of " .sx ( This , of course , as it stands , is simply not historic Anglican teaching , but a well-known party line .sx To express the Anglican view of absolution , as witnessed to by the Prayer Book , the last words would have to read :sx " receive through him assurance of the forgiveness of " - rather a different thing .sx ) But the assumption that these five types of ministerial action each convey a special grace ex opere operato is without warrant in Anglican theology- not to mention the Bible !sx We might , perhaps , be told that no such assumption is implied , and all that " ministries of grace " means in this context is that God blesses His faithful people through each of these ministerial functions .sx This is an undoubted truth ; but if nothing more than this is intended , we should at once have to ask why , in that case , only these five receive mention ?sx Why is healing specified when the visitation of the sick is not ?sx Why is absolution spoken of while the preaching of the Word is left out ?sx Whichever way we look at it , neither the Articles , nor the Prayer Book , nor the Bible , can justify the selection of just these five activities , and no more , as the Church's " other ministries of " .sx The selection is inherently arbitrary and untheological .sx This idea behind it is presumably that the catechism ought to mention one ministerial action in the Church of England to correspond with each of Rome's seven sacraments ; but there is no obvious reason why it should .sx The habit of mind which takes its cue from Rome and aims to keep step with Rome wherever possible is found in the Church of England , but it is not authentically Anglican .sx We ask again :sx can it be held that the knowledge of these five " ministries of grace " is in any way essential to salvation ?sx Can the things that are said , in particular , about Confirmation , and matrimony , and absolution , be proved from Scripture ?sx Can any warrant or sanction for them be found in existing Anglican formularies , or in the main stream of the Anglican theological tradition ?sx If not ( and we think that the answer to all three questions is no ) , then they can have no rightful place in a Catechism for the Church of England .sx So much for the new material .sx But to complete our survey we should also note what has been omitted of the old material .sx Here are the more important deletions .sx ( =1 ) The reference to the world , the flesh , and the devil in the first baptismal vow has been replaced by a weak general reference to " wrong " and " evil " ( We gather , however , that the devil , at least , is soon to be restored to his rightful place as an object of specific renunciation .sx ) ( =2 ) The assertion of original sin " being by nature born in sin , and the children of " ) has been dropped entirely .sx This is disturbing , for the new Catechism now says nothing positive at all about man's lost condition by nature .sx It is true that the biblical doctrine of original sin ( under its ecclesiastical name of Augustinianism ) is having a raw deal in Anglican liturgical circles these days ; but it is there in the Bible , and it ought to appear in an unexpurgated form in the Catechism .sx For the Catechism exists to teach the Gospel of God's grace , and you cannot understand grace till you have first understood sin .sx ( =3 ) The sanction of the second commandment has also gone , so that the new Catechism now contains no mention of God's penal wrath against sin .sx ( =4 ) The description of the Church as God's " elect " - the covenant community- has gone .sx The thought of the covenant relationship seems to be completely absent from the wording of the Revised Catechism .sx ( =5 ) The conception of a sacrament as a visible word of God , summoning its recipients to " Faith , whereby they stedfastly believe the promises of God made to them in that " , has vanished too .sx ( =6 ) So has the demand that those who come to the Lord's Supper should first examine themselves .sx