Christ: The Foundation of Baptism

There is enough to say about baptism to fill a book easily. And for those who will read this and notice that I left much unsaid, I know even as I begin typing that will be true enough. Still, this post on baptism will begin with baptism and Christ; the next one forward will continue with baptism and the Holy Spirit. This is not intended to separate the two, since they cannot rightly be separated; it is only to keep one post to a manageable length.

In our would-be-sophisticated age, it is too easy to miss the simple forerunners of baptism: the ceremonial washings which had foreshadowed it, God's promise of purity to be fulfilled in us. In our would-be-sophisticated age, it is too easy to be high-minded and miss God's humility. He has time and again chosen lowly ways to reach out to us. And it is easy, in our intellectual age, to forget that physical things such as water and the body are God's good creation. In the age to come, God does not resurrect only our intellects or our souls, but he raises both body and soul. In obedience, his laws govern more than our minds, but our bodies also. So in cleansing and renewal, he reaches out to more than just our spirits, but also our bodies. In this intellectual age, Christians should lead the way in keeping a holy regard for the physical world, in which and through which God chooses to make his wonders known. We should not despise the simple water of baptism, in which the body is honored as well as the soul in our Christian life, and the body participates as a good and redeemed part of creation. The baptism with water on our flesh renews the promise of Eden that the physical world is good, and points forward toward the world to come which, if you read the end of the Book, is not where man joins God in heaven, but where God joins man on a beautiful, holy earth (Revelation 21). God does not allow us to divide our bodies and souls, as if one could be holy and the other not also holy.

The first lesson that the New Testament hammers home about baptism is repentance. It is not spiritual accomplishment that drives us to seek baptism, but our filth, our humility, our need. In baptism, we turn to God for cleansing. The New Testament repeatedly discusses the baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. This connection between baptism and forgiveness offends some people on the grounds that forgiveness comes from God through Christ, not from water or, worse, from obedience to a law. If forgiveness comes through obedience, then it is earned and not a gift; it is no forgiveness at all. But on the grounds that the plain words of our first teachers must stand unchanged and undisputed if we are disciples, if we trust these words and go forward trusting them, we find that the Scripture says baptism saves us not through our obedience but through Christ's death and resurrection. Baptism is no empty ritual. Christ speaks of his own death as a baptism. He speaks of the deaths of his disciples after him as baptisms that they must undergo. Paul speaks of our baptism as being baptized into the death of Christ. Paul teaches that our being joined to Christ's death is a guarantee of our being joined to Christ's resurrection. Paul compares baptism to Moses leading the people out of slavery to freedom through the waters of the sea. Peter compares baptism to the flood of Noah, when by water God judged and cleansed the world, and saved his people. This baptism, Peter says, now saves us not by washing the dirt from our bodies, but the answer of a good conscience toward God through Christ's resurrection. So baptism is not an exercise in obedience to a ritual which does nothing; it is joining in Christ's death and resurrection, which transforms and saves us, forgives us and cleanses us. Our repentance also is the death, or putting to death, of whatever within us is still an enemy of God, nailing these also to the cross. Repentance always goes to the cross and seeks forgiveness and cleansing there in Christ. So Christ's death and resurrection are the foundation of baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

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Christ and the New Creation within Us

For those of us who have ever held a newborn child in our hands, we know the miracle of birth. There is joy and wonder in a new life. And a newborn is, in some sense, an emblem of innocence. A newborn does not know hatred or resentment, sullenness or apathy. I will not stop here to discuss the topic of original sin -- whether the child is born in a state of sin. For here, it is enough to focus on these words of Christ:

Flesh gives birth to flesh; spirit gives birth to spirit. Do not be astonished when I say you must be born again.

God's Spirit within us, then, is our new birth. The Spirit showed itself explicitly during Christ's ministry both at the beginning and the end. Christ's public ministry began with his baptism, when the Spirit of God descended over the waters. And after Christ's resurrection, he breathed on his disciples and told them to receive the Holy Spirit.

But both of these -- the spirit over the water, and the breathing into someone -- are things we have seen before. Before Jesus' baptism, the last time we saw the Spirit of God over the waters was at the beginning of the world: "the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters" (Genesis 1:2). And again at the beginning of the world, when God created the man from the dust, he breathed on the man to give him life (Genesis 2:7). So in Christ's ministry we see the Spirit showing Christ to be the beginning of the new creation. We also see that Christ is the way that the new creation comes to us. Jesus breathed on his disciples to give them God's breath, just as in the beginning God breathed on man.

Because the Holy Spirit and the new creation are so closely linked with baptism, these comments will be continued in the next post on baptism.

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Christ and the Worship of God

"Destroy this Temple," Jesus said, "and in three days I will build it again." The people who heard him thought that he was talking about the Temple in Jerusalem. But the Temple he had spoken of was his body.

The Temple was no ordinary building. It was the place where sacrifices were offered, the place where atonement was made. There the priests interceded for the people. Every day, the people all across the land directed their prayers to God towards the Temple. Within the Temple, the Holy of Holies housed the Ark of the Covenant, and with it God's mercy seat. When the Law ordered people to appear before the LORD several times each year, they fulfilled the requirement to appear before the LORD by going to the Temple. God's own presence was in the Temple.

The Temple that Jesus had spoken of was his own body. In saying this, Jesus transferred the title of "Temple" from a building in Jerusalem to himself. Now we look to him for the sacrifice offered, we look to him for atonement. We look to him to intercede for us, and people direct their prayers to God towards him. In Jesus is the covenant, and in him is God's mercy seat. When we appear before him, we appear before the LORD, and God's own presence is in Christ.

The ancient ceremonial law was a shadow of what was to come. The reality comes in Christ.

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A Thinkling Hits A Nail on the Head

Over at Thinklings, De has given a full-length blog piece to a passing comment many of us have made from time to time: Must we Christians be always at each others' throats? Read his thoughts on Christian brotherhood.

Imagine (in your mind, queue up music to "Imagine") ...

Imagine Christendom where those who are best at serving the needy could serve the needy without being told they are neglecting preaching.

Imagine Christendom where those who are best at preaching the good news could preach the good news without being told they are neglecting the needy.

Imagine a body of Christ where the hand did not say to the foot, "I do not need you."

Imagine those of different gifts serving as a team.

Christ: Our Covenant with God

Sometimes it is said that Christ made a covenant with God, or brought a covenant with God. But if we want to be more precise, Scripture says Christ does more than merely bring a covenant with God; it says that he himself is the covenant with God. Consider what Isaiah says of the Messiah:

I, the LORD, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles. (Isaiah 42:6)

And again

I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people (Isaiah 49:8)

When the covenant with Israel was made at the time of the exodus from Egypt, Moses then took the blood, sprinkled it on the people and said, "This is the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you" (Exodus 24:8)

It is an odd thing to our modern minds, but in the books of Moses, sprinkling with blood was a traditional sign of being cleansed, being sanctified, and in the case of the whole people being sprinkled, a sign of the covenant with the LORD. This ties back to Isaiah's prophecy of the suffering servant, "so shall he sprinkle many nations" (Isaiah 52:15). The covenant is now for all nations.

Jesus made known the new covenant the night he was betrayed, saying, "This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins." (Matthew 26:28). The covenant is a binding agreement, where God has promised with blood that he will keep his word. His word to which he has bound himself is this: our forgiveness.

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Christ: The Author of Faith

Faith, in the Scriptures, usually means trust. Consider that the Bible, in the most famous of the New Testament's passages on faith, explains faith in this way: "Through faith also Sarah herself received strength to conceive even though she was past the age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised." (Hebrews 11:11) Faith is simply this: our recognition that God is faithful towards us. To recognize that God is faithful towards us is to trust God; we expect his mercy and trust his promises. Paul explains time and again that trusting God's promise has always been the true direction of faith, even from the time of Abraham: "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness" (Romans 4:3, Galatians 3:6).

But trusting God's faithfulness does not come from ourselves. It comes from God's faithfulness, through our awareness of God's faithfulness. It is "from faith to faith" -- from God's faithfulness to our faith in him. Knowing that God is faithful does not come from observing the world and our troubles in it. Neither does faith come from refusing to observe the world and our troubles in it. Our trust in God cries out for God to make good on our troubles, to redeem us and restore this world. Apart from knowing that God is faithful, we do not actually trust God. Unless God genuinely is faithful, trust in him is worthless. Unless God keeps his promises, there is no point at all in believing them.

Christ is the fulfillment of God's promises. In Christ, we see healing and newness of life given to those whom he meets. In Christ, we see others spared suffering and death, given forgiveness and redemption, while Christ instead suffers and dies. We see resurrection from the dead. We see the hope of mankind. When Christ is present, we see the evils in the world being undone. When Christ is present, we see the beginning of the new creation, the one that redeems the old. When we know Christ, we see that God is faithful towards us. Faith in God is created by our encounter with Christ. It is a simple thing to increase our faith: "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith." (Hebrews 12:2) Christ himself is the author of our faith; our trust in God comes from him and through him and because of him.

Again, this has implications for our evangelism. For the message of Christ itself has the power to create faith. We proclaim God's faithfulness in Christ. Those who understand God's faithfulness now have faith in him, since that is what faith is. "So then faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ." (Romans 10:17)

Faith in God through Christ is also the beginning of a transformation within us. It is the death of our trust in our own efforts, the death of our ideas of ourselves as our own gods. It is the rebirth of hope, of love. It is the beginning of the new creation inside us, as it is said, Christ in us is the hope of glory.

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Christ: The Power of God for Salvation

I am not ashamed of the good news, for it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes. (Romans 1:16)

God, whom I serve with my whole heart in preaching the good news of his son (Romans 1:9)

Simply put, Jesus is the gospel. Those who say "God is the gospel" are reasonably close to the mark, since in Jesus all the fullness of the godhead dwells. But in God, without reference to Christ, there is much hidden that we do not know, while in Christ these things are revealed. In Christ we see God's goodness. Those followers of Christ who first took the good news throughout the world did not teach primarily about God in all his hidden mystery, which was a given; they particularly preached the power of God in Christ Jesus. This is the gospel, the good news. The four books in the Bible which bear the name "gospel" are the accounts of Christ's life.

We have not understood the power of God if we recognize that God helps us through Christ but still locate the power behind our salvation somewhere else besides Christ -- such as in our own decision, or in some hidden decree of God that elects people for Christ rather than through Christ. The good news -- the hearer's encounter with Christ -- is itself the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes. The power of God for salvation comes in Christ and through Christ, not from ourselves, not through some separate grace.

This has implications for our evangelism. God has not sent us out empty-handed and powerless to draw people to him. But the power is in the message of Christ, not in our clever words, not in our reasoning and not in our emotions. When we rely on clever words and human arguments and our own efforts, we get small results and even those are bad ones. Paul, in his evangelism, insisted he was sent "to preach the good news -- not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power" (I Cor. 1:17). Because Paul's cleverness could not win people to Christ, only to Paul. Paul's cleverness could only divide the church if he built on it and put his weight on it. Soon enough and even without his wishing it, some followed Paul and some Peter and some Apollos -- instead of Christ. Paul was frustrated; "Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into the name of Paul?" (I Cor. 1:13)

Understanding the good news fully, Paul "resolved to know nothing except Jesus Christ, and him crucified." (I Cor. 2:2). There is power in the message of Christ, God's power for salvation. When we preach Christ as Paul did, through our words people see Christ and encounter Christ. It is the purpose of our evangelism to bring a person to encounter Christ, or to bring Christ, through our message, to that person. God has chosen to transform our hearts through Christ, to give the Holy Spirit through Christ, to bring us to repentance and new life through Christ. Before Christ came, God's will was a mystery, but "he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into efect when the times will have reached their fulfillment -- to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ" (Ephesians 1:9-10) Therefore we put aside our own cleverness and leadership, our own wisdom and power, and proclaim Christ.

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