In Reformed, as in rationalistic circles in general, the doctrine of the means of grace is commonly regarded as of no importance whatever. American Fundamentalism, for instance, stresses the doctrines : a) that the Bible is the Word of God; b) that Christ is the God-man, who died for the sins of the world; c) that the sinner is saved through faith in Christ's blood; d) that Christ will gloriously return in His own appointed time; e) that Christ rose from the dead, and f) that there will be a final resurrection of all the dead. But Fundamentalism has no room at all in its system of theology for the Scriptural doctrine of the means of grace.
On the other hand, Luther is being charged by modern theologians with having attached undue importance to this doctrine, following in this matter too closely the pattern of the Church of Rome. As a matter of fact, the great Reformer's emphasis on the true doctrine of the means of grace was a real departure from, and a most decisive repudiation of, Romanism. He did not teach the doctrine of the means of grace because "he was still bound by the fetters of scholastic traditionalism," but because Scripture itself attaches supreme significance to this doctrine. In the final analysis it was Luther's loyalty to the Scriptural doctrine of sola gratia and sola fide that moved him to espouse and maintain the Biblical teaching of the means of grace. Without it he could not have taught the central article of the Christian faith, the so-called material principle of the Reformation, namely, justification by grace through faith in the satisfactio vicaria of Christ.
That the doctrine of sola fide stands and falls with that of the means of grace we have already pointed out. Romanism has rejected the Scriptural doctrine of the means of grace, and it has also rejected the sola fide. Calvinism, though avowing the sola fide in theory, denies it in practise; for on account of its denial of universal grace it is obliged to comfort the alarmed and doubting believer with the experience of his "inward illumination," or sanctification. Hence also in this case the perversion of the doctrine of the means of grace leads practically to the denial of the sola fide. The same may be said of enthusiasm and of rationalism in general. In every case the one error goes hand in hand with the other. The perversion of the doctrine of the means of grace always leads to the perversion of the central article of the Christian faith, namely, the doctrine of justification by faith without works. From this it is clear that the doctrine of the means of grace is indeed of the greatest importance for the preservation of the true Christian faith. Those who consistently disavow this doctrine must disavow also the very heart of the Christian religion.
Scripture itself stresses the doctrine of the means of grace as one of fundamental importance. In the first place, it teaches expressly that regeneration, or conversion, occurs solely through the means of grace, that is, through the Word (1 Cor. 2, 4. 5; 1 Pet. 1, 23; Rom. 10, 17) and the Sacraments (Acts 2, 38; Matt. 28, 19.20; 1 Pet. 3, 21; etc.). In the second place, it affirms most definitely that all who reject the means of grace forfeit salvation, Luke 7, 30; John 8, 47; 1 Cor. 10, 21. 22; 11,26-29. In the third place, it shows clearly and emphatically that contempt for the means of grace is not a little sin, which God readily condones, but rebellion against the Lord of mercy and grace, 1 Cor. 1, 22. 23, which He punishes with eternal damnation, 1 Cor. 1, 18-21. 26-29; Mark 16, 15. 16.
It is a plain doctrine of Scripture that all who will not receive God's grace as it is proffered to sinners in the means of grace shall not receive it at all, Matt. 10, 14. 15; Acts 13, 46. 51. Hence the statements of the Reformed: "There is no place for the use of means"; "Nothing intervenes between the volition of the Spirit and the regeneration of the soul" (Hodge, Syst. Theol., II, 417. 684. 685, etc.) ; "Tractatus internus est immediate operantis Spiritus'' (Zwingli, De Providentia, opp. IV, 125); "Dux vel vehiculum Spiritui non est necessarium, (Zwingli, Fidei Ratio, p. 24), must be condemned as a virtual rejection of God's grace in Christ Jesus as this is freely offered to sinners in the means of grace. As long as Calvinists maintain that "the influence of the Holy Spirit is directly upon the human spirit and is independent of the Word" (Shedd, Dog. Theol., II, 501), confessional Lutheranism must refuse them the hand of Christian fellowship and regard them as perverters of God's way of salvation. (Cp. Pieper, Christl. Dogmatik, III, 156-223.)