Battles in the Bible and the Sacraments...

[Fiat_Voluntas_Tua]

I am giving a talk on signs and Sacraments and I would like to go with the Spiritual warfare approach...does anyone have any good Bible verses that could tie into the Scraments?

Totus Tuus,
Andrew Jospeh

[phatcatholic]

[quote name='Fiat_Voluntas_Tua' date='Feb 24 2005, 02:29 AM'] I am giving a talk on signs and Sacraments and I would like to go with the Spiritual warfare approach...does anyone have any good Bible verses that could tie into the Scraments?

Totus Tuus,
Andrew Jospeh [/quote]
u mean, verses that connect the sacraments to spiritual warfare?

[yiannii]

Any particular Sacraments?

[Fiat_Voluntas_Tua]

Phat...yes, that is what I mean...

Particularly Confession, Holy Communion, Holy Orders, Holy Matrimony, and Confirmation...but i will take any ones...

Thanks!

Totus Tuus,
Andrew Joseph

[phatcatholic]

well, i've never approached the sacraments that way before, so i'm not sure if this is what you're looking for. but, considering that spiritual warfare is battling the grips of sin and its effects, the following verses seem to reflect this utility of the sacraments:

Introductory Verse
--you may wish to construct your paper around this verse. it basically says what the sacraments are all about, and also in the context of spiritual warfare:

[b]Eph 2:1-9[/b]
[b]1 [/b]And you he made alive, when you were dead through the trespasses and sins
[b]2 [/b]in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience.
[b]3 [/b]Among these we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of body and mind, and so we were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
[b]4 [/b]But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us,
[b]5 [/b]even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
[b]6 [/b]and raised us up with him, and made us sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
[b]7 [/b]that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
[b]8 [/b]For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God--
[b]9 [/b]not because of works, lest any man should boast.


[b][u]Baptism[/u][/b]
--for baptism, there are many more verses that talk about forgiveness and washing, but i focused on the ones that talk about "evil" and turning from evil ways. Col 2:11-15 is probably the most powerful example.

[b]Titus 3:3-6[/b]
[b]3 [/b]For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by men and hating one another;
[b]4 [/b]but when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared,
[b]5 [/b]he saved us, not because of deeds done by us in righteousness, but in virtue of his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal in the Holy Spirit,
[b]6 [/b]which he poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior

[b]Heb 10:22 [/b]let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

[b]Ezek 36:25-26[/b]
[b]25 [/b]I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you.
[b]26 [/b]A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will take out of your flesh the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.

[b]1 Cor 6:9-11[/b]
[b]9 [/b]Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither the immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor sexual perverts,
[b]10 [/b]nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor robbers will inherit the kingdom of God.
[b]11 [/b]And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.

[b]Col 2:11-15[/b]
[b]11 [/b]In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of flesh in the circumcision of Christ;
[b]12 [/b]and you were buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.
[b]13 [/b]And you, who were dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,
[b]14 [/b]having canceled the bond which stood against us with its legal demands; this he set aside, nailing it to the cross.
[b]15 [/b]He disarmed the principalities and powers and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in him.


....you get the idea. i don't want to do all the work for you, but i can point you in the right direction. all i did was go to scripturecatholic.com, look at all the verses that support each sacrament, and use the ones that have a "spiritual warfare" undertone. also, if you are including the sacraments in a greater talk on spiritual warfare, then you will want to look at all the instances in which jesus and the apostles expel demons and overcome satan (cf. Mark 9:22-25). jesus' conquering over satan in the desert has application to our season of lent. i have always liked [b]Luke 10:18[/b] And he said to them, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven." there are other examples.

anyway, i hope that helps. good luck to you

pax christi,
phatcatholic

Edited February 24, 2005 by phatcatholic

[Fiat_Voluntas_Tua]

Thanks friend!

This is very helpful...God Bless!

Totus Tuus,
Andrew Joseph