The ordinary means given by God—the Word, sacraments, and prayer—were provided so that men and women could learn from the Bible about the saving plan of God in Christ, and, having believed, could be confident in their right standing with God their Creator. These means, so profoundly articulated in our Confession, are of enduring importance for those who serve in Christ’s church today.

On July 7, 1643, Oliver Bowles preached for the convocation of what would become known as the Westminster Assembly. He was nearly seventy when the assembly convened, and he wrote in the preface to the sermon that he was chosen for the honor in order “that dayes and multitudes of years should speak” (quoted in Philip Ryken, “The Puritan Pastorate”). His sermon, later published as Zeale for God’s House Quickened; or, a Sermon…expressing the Eminency of Zeale required in Church-Reformers, in many ways framed the deliberations to follow. Bowles’s choice of topic was no coincidence. Ministerial concerns were at the heart of the assembly’s work. This concern for zeal in the pursuit of the aims of gospel ministry is on display in a number of ways, both in the discussions recorded in the minutes, and in the actual text of the Standards themselves.

In two chapters of the Westminster Confession, zeal for biblically regulated ministry led to the use of what attorneys might call a term of art—ordinary means. This is a term that many in Reformed ministry use today to describe a ministry centered on the Word of God preached and read and the sacraments of baptism and communion practiced under the authority of the Word. These ordinances are the means God blesses to the salvation of his people under a zealous ministry. But is this current understanding of the ordinary means what the pastors who formulated our confessional documents had in mind?

“Ordinary Means” in the Shorter Catechism

The clearest expression of what the divines meant by the term ordinary means is found in Question 88 of the Shorter Catechism:

What are the outward and ordinary means whereby Christ communicateth to us the benefits of redemption? The outward and ordinary means whereby Christ communicateth to us the benefits of redemption are, his ordinances, especially the Word, sacraments, and prayer; all which are made effectual to the elect for salvation.

The Catechism’s use of the phrase fits with the Great Commission recorded in Matthew 28:19–20. There, the promise of the presence of Christ by the Spirit is given to those ordained to baptize and teach men and women. This pattern is worked out in the book of Acts and is the model of pastoral ministry in the pastoral epistles as well. The Catechism’s clear definition of ordinary means points directly to a role that only the church can play, since only the church can lawfully administer the ordinances of baptism and communion. The Confession provides further background. Chapter 27.1 begins: “Sacraments are holy signs and seals of the covenant of grace, immediately instituted by God, to represent Christ, and his benefits; and to confirm our interest in him.” In 28.1, baptism is, to the believing recipient, “to be unto him a sign and seal of the covenant of grace, of his ingrafting into Christ, of regeneration, of remission of sins, and of his giving up unto God, through Jesus Christ, to walk in newness of life.” Similarly, the Lord’s Supper, is cited as a “seal” and a “bond” between believers and God, acting as a pledge of their communion with him and with each other.

“Ordinary Means” in the Confession

In the Confession, the term ordinary means is employed on two occasions, both of which seem to connect with the clearer (and later) definition given in the Shorter Catechism.

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