We Are Complete in Christ and Have No Need of Sacraments
(Based solely on the King James Bible and Pauline doctrine)
The idea that believers today must observe outward sacraments or religious ordinances to receive or maintain spiritual standing before God is one of the greatest denials of the sufficiency of Christ’s finished work. In this present dispensation of grace, Paul reveals that we are “complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power” (Colossians 2:10). To be complete means to lack nothing. Nothing can be added to what Christ has already done. No water, no wafer, no ritual, no confession, and no human ceremony can increase the standing of one who is already seated with Christ in heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6). When we rightly divide the word of truth, it becomes clear that sacraments belong to Israel’s prophetic program, not to the Body of Christ operating under grace.
Under the law, Israel lived under covenants that required outward signs as tokens of obedience. Circumcision, sabbaths, sacrifices, and washings all served as physical pictures of spiritual truths yet to be fulfilled in Christ. Those ordinances were given to a nation under a covenant of performance (Exodus 19:5–6). In contrast, Paul was not sent to administer covenants or rituals but to preach the gospel of grace. He writes plainly, “Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel” (1 Corinthians 1:17). This statement alone proves that water baptism, though once commanded to Israel, is not part of the message or ministry of the Body of Christ. To insert such practices today is to mix law with grace and shadow with substance.
When Paul speaks of being “circumcised with the circumcision made without hands” (Colossians 2:11), he reveals a spiritual operation performed by God, not man. This divine operation—our identification with Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection—has replaced all external signs. The moment a person believes the gospel that Christ died for their sins, was buried, and rose again (1 Corinthians 15:3–4), the Holy Spirit baptizes that believer into Christ (1 Corinthians 12:13). This is a spiritual baptism, not a water ritual. Through it, we are buried with Him, raised with Him, and made new creatures in Him (Romans 6:3–6; 2 Corinthians 5:17). To insist upon a physical sacrament after this spiritual reality is to deny the very completeness that God has already granted.
Religious systems cling to sacraments because they provide visible control over invisible truth. Yet Paul teaches that we walk by faith, not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). Faith rests in what Christ has done, not in what the flesh can perform. To practice communion as a means of receiving grace or forgiveness is to insult the cross, for “by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified” (Hebrews 10:14). To perform baptism as a seal of salvation is to ignore that we are already “sealed with that holy Spirit of promise” (Ephesians 1:13). The Body of Christ does not live by shadows or ceremonies, but by the completed revelation of grace that makes us one with our risen Head.
Paul warned the Colossians not to let anyone judge them in respect of “meat, or drink, or of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ” (Colossians 2:16–17). These outward observances were part of Israel’s religious calendar under the law. They served a prophetic purpose but have no spiritual operation today. Christ is the fulfillment of them all, and His finished work has left no room for further ritual performance. When we add sacraments, we reduce His cross to an unfinished transaction and imply that something remains to be done by human hands.
Being complete in Christ means possessing a present, perfect, and permanent salvation. We are accepted in the beloved (Ephesians 1:6), justified freely by His grace (Romans 3:24), reconciled to God (2 Corinthians 5:18), and sanctified in Christ Jesus (1 Corinthians 1:2). None of these blessings are obtained or maintained through sacraments. They are the results of Christ’s finished work and are received the moment we believe the gospel. Every believer is equally complete, equally secure, and equally positioned in Christ. There are no “higher” or “lower” levels of grace, no priestly intermediaries, and no physical ordinances that can make a believer more spiritual.
In conclusion, the Body of Christ has no sacraments because we have no lack. Our standing before God is not conditioned upon performance, ceremony, or repetition, but upon the finished work of our Savior. The Head of the Body is Christ Himself, not an earthly priesthood. The means of blessing is the gospel of grace, not ritual observance. The symbols and shadows have ended because the substance has come. We are complete in Christ—perfected, forgiven, sealed, and seated. To add sacraments is to subtract from His sufficiency. To rest in His cross is to live as those who need nothing more. As Paul said, “Ye are complete in him.” That is the final word for every member of the Body of Christ.