Confessing Our Faith in the Culture - Chapter 30

Chapter 30 Of Baptism

A. Early confusion!

Matthew 3:6, 11

Vulgate – 382-405; source: Old Latin

6 et baptizabantur in Iordane ab eo confitentes peccata sua; 11 ego quidem vos baptizo in aqua in paenitentiam qui autem post me venturus est fortior me est cuius non sum dignus calciamenta portare ipse vos baptizabit in Spiritu Sancto et igni

Wyclif – 1380; source: Vulgate

6 and thei weren waischun of hym in Jordan, `and knowlechiden her synnes. 11 Y waische you in water, in to penaunce; but he that shal come after me is strongere than Y, whos schoon Y am not worthi to bere; he shal baptise you in the Hooli Goost and fier.

Tyndale – 1526; sources: Erasmus’ Greek and Latin New Testament, as well as Luther’s German version and the Vulgate

6 and were baptised of him in Iorda cofessynge their synnes. 11 I baptise you in water in toke of repentauce: but he ye cometh after me is myghtier then I whose shues I am not worthy to beare. He shall baptise you with ye holy gost and with fyre:

1. transliteration instead of translation

2. 106 occurrences: 4 translated (wash, washed, washing, washings) Mark 7:4, 8; Luke 11:38; Hebrews 9:10

3. clarification: context, extra-biblical usage, tradition/practice

   1. context: consistent with immersing, pouring, sprinkling

   2. extra-biblical usage: The sense of “to bathe” or “to wash” is only occasionally found in Hellenism, usually in sacral [relating to religious rites] contexts. The idea of going under or perishing is nearer the general usage. TDNT

   3. tradition/practice: [T]hey argue that infant baptism was not the practice of the Apostles and their immediate successors, but developed through the convergence of several factors. Gradually paedobaptism came to be the majority position in the church, but probably not until the latter part of the fourth century. …[B]eliever’s baptism did not simply disappear after the apostolic era, but continued to be the accepted position for centuries. Infant baptism became part of ecclesiastical practice gradually, apart from apostolic injunction. Baptism in the Early Church, Foreword by James Renihan

B. What is the relationship between the ordinances and the Covenant?

1. a non-verbal expression of the verbal content of the Gospel

   a divine institution in which the blessings of the new covenant are represented, presented, and applied through signs perceptible to the senses. Such a sacrament has the meaning of a secondary divine testimony in which the primary testimony of the covenant itself is specially confirmed for us. The spiritual thing which is signified by the sacraments of the new covenant is the new covenant itself, or Christ himself with all the blessings which are prepared in him for the faithful. William Ames, Marrow of Theology, Book I, XXXVI, 12, 13, 23

   Keach’s Catechism
   
   Q. 95. What are the outward and ordinary means whereby Christ communicates to us the benefits of redemption?

A. The outward and ordinary means whereby Christ communicates to us the benefits of redemption are His ordinances, especially the Word, Baptism, the Lord’s Supper and Prayer; all which are made effectual to the elect for salvation. (Rom. 10:17; James 1:18; 1 Cor. 3:5; Acts 14:1; 2:41,42)

Q. 98. How do Baptism and the Lord’s Supper become effectual means of salvation?

A. Baptism and the Lord’s Supper become effectual means of salvation, not from any virtue in them or in him that administers them, but only by the blessing of Christ and the working of His Spirit in them that by faith receive them. (1 Peter 3:21; 1 Cor. 3:6,7; 1 Cor. 12:13)

Q. 99. Wherein do Baptism and the Lord’s Supper differ from the other ordinances of God?

A. Baptism and the Lord’s Supper differ from the other ordinances of God in that they were specially instituted by Christ to represent and apply to believers the benefits of the new covenant by visible and outward signs. (Matt. 28:19; Acts 22:16; Matt. 26:26-28; Rom. 6:4)
The sacraments are so designed that the man who is pointed to them by the Word is able to see in the form of the action and in the use of the elements the very promises of the Word set forth patently and visibly. “The testimony of the Gospel is engraven upon the sacraments.” “By the corporeal things which are produced in the sacrament, we are by a kind of analogy conducted to spiritual things.” The sacraments “represent the promises to life, as if painted in a picture”. They are a “sculpture or image of that grace of God which the word more fully illustrates”. …Thus the sacraments in confirming the promises of the Word also clarify them, and, as Calvin points out, it is precisely because they clarify them that they are most effective in confirming them. Ronald Wallace, Calvin on the Word and Sacrament

1. sign and seal of the Covenant

   1. outward sign of an inward condition – true circumcision Deut 10:16; Jer 4:4; Col 2:11-12; Rom 2:25-29

   2. a seal (confirmation or authentication) of faith present in the individual

      If circumcision is the sign and seal of the Abrahamic Covenant, what then is its New Covenant counterpart? I believe the Scriptures define it to be the circumcision of the heart by the Spirit exhibited in faith. This is why Paul prohibited physical circumcision. They had received its reality in the new heart (Gal. 3:3). Paul tells the Galatians that they do not need physical circumcision to enter into the covenant relationship with God because they have already entered that covenant relationship by the circumcision of Christ, a new heart by union with His death and resurrection. Therefore, as circumcision (the shadow or type) was the sign of entrance into the Abrahamic Covenant and the seal of Abraham’s saving faith, so regeneration (the form or antitype) is the sign of entrance into the New Covenant and the seal of the believer’s faith (Eph. 1:13,14; Jn. 3:5,6).

      Baptism then, is the indirect fulfillment of physical circumcision only through its association with the direct fulfillment, spiritual circumcision. This is why we see only confessors’ baptism in the New Testament record. It was easy to know who entered the Abrahamic Covenant; they were born into the household and were outwardly circumcised. But how can one tell if someone has entered the New Covenant and has experienced spiritual circumcision? Only by his repentance and faith, signified by the outward sign of fulfilled circumcision and cleansing, water baptism. Acts 2:37-42 is clear exegetical proof that the only children baptized were those who received Peter’s word of repentance and faith in Christ (Acts 2:38,39,41). They outwardly showed inward circumcision and then were baptized. This is how Christ ordained to build His church (Mt. 16:16-18; 28:19).

      Water baptism, then, is the outward sign of the inward circumcision of the heart rather than the outward counterpart of the outward circumcision of the flesh. Just as Abraham’s Old Covenant “seed” initially entered the covenant by physical circumcision and confirmed it by spiritual circumcision, his New Covenant “seed” initially enter the covenant by spiritual circumcision and confirm it by baptism. Physical descendants of Abraham’s New Covenant “seed” are not to be permitted the sign of baptism until they show by faith that they have also become the spiritual “seed” of Abraham. David Kingdon’s book, Children of Abraham, is a more thorough study of this concept. Regeneration by the Spirit, not the infant baptism of believers’ “seed,” is the fulfillment of the promise to give a multitude of nations to Abraham as his descendants. Faith comes first as the evidence of regeneration, then comes baptism–not the other way around. Fred Malone, String of Pearls Unstrung
      http://www.founders.org/library/malone1/malone_text.html

   3. a covenantal ceremony

      [The] focus is ‘the party baptized’. Though baptism certainly has a significance for the world and the church, its primary significance is for the one being baptized. This is so because baptism is a covenantal transaction or ceremony between God and the individual. …Baptism is an individual ordinance whereas the Lord’s Supper is a corporate ordinance. Many modern Baptists have so reacted against Roman Catholic sacramentalism that they emphasize that baptism is a sign for the world and the church, but little emphasis is placed on its meaning for the one baptized. This is not in accord with the Scripture’s teaching. While baptism does not save, it does formalize salvation in a covenantal ceremony or transaction between God and the party baptized. Waldron, Exposition of the 1689

C. Who are proper subjects of baptism?

1. Those who profess:

   1. repentance Acts 2:37-41; 1 Peter 3:21

   2. faith Mark 16:15-16; Acts 8:12-13, 10:47-48

   3. obedience Matthew 28:19-20

      Matt. 3:1-12; Mark 1:4-6; Luke 3:3-6; John 4:1-2; 1Cor. 1:13-17; Acts 8:36-38; 9:18; 11:16; 15:9; 16:14-15, 31-34; 18:8; 19:3-5; 22:16; Rom. 6:3-4; Gal. 3:27; Col. 2:12; Jer. 31:31-34; Phil. 3:3; John 1:12-13; Matt. 21:43
      

D. How should the ordinance be administered?

1. with water Matthew 3:11; Acts 8:36, 38

   1. because it is a cleansing agent Acts 22:16

2. in(to) the name of the Trinity Matthew 28:18-20

   1. symbolic identification or unification with the one named

   2. joined in covenant to God

3. by immersion

   1. required by Scriptural (Old and New Testaments) and secular literal usage of the word

      1. Scriptural: Naaman (2 Kings 5:14); washing dishes (Mark 7:3-4)

      2. secular: immerse, submerge, die, plunge, bathe

   2. consistent with Scriptural and secular figurative usage of the word

      1. Scriptural: “lawlessness overwhelms me” (Isaiah 21:4); “baptized with the baptism” (Mark 10:38-39)

      2. secular: plunge, immerse, whelm in ruin, poverty, debts, sleep, ignorance, etc.

E. How do we interact with sacramentalists?

1212 The sacraments of Christian initiation - Baptism, Confirmation, and the Eucharist - lay the foundations of every Christian life. “The sharing in the divine nature given to men through the grace of Christ bears a certain likeness to the origin, development, and nourishing of natural life. The faithful are born anew by Baptism, strengthened by the sacrament of Confirmation, and receive in the Eucharist the food of eternal life. By means of these sacraments of Christian initiation, they thus receive in increasing measure the treasures of the divine life and advance toward the perfection of charity.”

1213 Holy Baptism is the basis of the whole Christian life, the gateway to life in the Spirit (vitae spiritualis ianua), and the door which gives access to the other sacraments. Through Baptism we are freed from sin and reborn as sons of God; we become members of Christ, are incorporated into the Church and made sharers in her mission: “Baptism is the sacrament of regeneration through water in the word.”

1257 The Lord himself affirms that Baptism is necessary for salvation. He also commands his disciples to proclaim the Gospel to all nations and to baptize them. Baptism is necessary for salvation for those to whom the Gospel has been proclaimed and who have had the possibility of asking for this sacrament. The Church does not know of any means other than Baptism that assures entry into eternal beatitude; this is why she takes care not to neglect the mission she has received from the Lord to see that all who can be baptized are “reborn of water and the Spirit.” God has bound salvation to the sacrament of Baptism, but he himself is not bound by his sacraments.

1263 By Baptism all sins are forgiven, original sin and all personal sins, as well as all punishment for sin. In those who have been reborn nothing remains that would impede their entry into the Kingdom of God, neither Adam’s sin, nor personal sin, nor the consequences of sin, the gravest of which is separation from God.

1265 Baptism not only purifies from all sins, but also makes the neophyte “a new creature,” an adopted son of God, who has become a “partaker of the divine nature,” member of Christ and co-heir with him, and a temple of the Holy Spirit.

1266 The Most Holy Trinity gives the baptized sanctifying grace, the grace of justification:
- enabling them to believe in God, to hope in him, and to love him through the theological virtues;
- giving them the power to live and act under the prompting of the Holy Spirit through the gifts of the Holy Spirit;
- allowing them to grow in goodness through the moral virtues.
Thus the whole organism of the Christian’s supernatural life has its roots in Baptism.

Catechism of the Catholic Church; http://www.christusrex.org/www1/CDHN/baptism.html

1. Remind them we are saved by faith ALONE

   1. faith is the gift of God Ephesians 2:8; Philippians 1:29

   2. faith is a fruit of the Spirit, and therefore cannot be meritorious Galatians 5:22

   3. Faith denies it own justifying value, and affirms the sole merit of that on which it trusts Romans 3:25-26; 4:20-22; Galatians 3:26; Ephesians 1:12-13; 1 John 5:10

2. The believer is justified

   1. without works Romans 3:28

   2. in the name of Christ 1 Corinthians 6:11

   3. by his blood Romans 5:9

   4. freely, by his grace, through faith Romans 3:24-28

For further reflection:

1. The essence of the covenant of grace was first revealed in Genesis 3:15.

2. Infant circumcision was first revealed in the covenant of circumcision.

3. Ergo, infant circumcision is not of the essence of the covenant of grace.

One could substitute infant circumcision with covenantal infant inclusion.

1. The essence of the covenant of grace was first revealed in Genesis 3:15.

2. Covenantal infant inclusion was first revealed in the covenant of circumcision.

3. Ergo, covenantal infant inclusion is not of the essence of the covenant of grace.

Both infant circumcision and covenantal infant inclusion were added later along side of the covenant of grace as temporary redemptive-historical appendages to create the Old Covenant nation of Israel and bring in the Messiah. Their historical function has found its terminus in Christ.

Rich Barcellos, http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/mctsblog/~3/268354382/