Foundations of the Christian Life.
Chapter 18: - The Laying on of Hands.
Why study Laying on of Hands?
Hebrews 6:1-3.
It is a basic doctrine that we must understand and experience if we are to go on to maturity.
What is the Laying on of Hands?
It is the touching of a person in the name of Jesus in the context of prayer with the purpose of imparting some spiritual blessing to them.
The Laying on of Hands is a scriptural procedure that is rich in meaning. It is a physical act that is normally done in the context of prayer.
BASIC IDEA.
In the Bible the hand speaks of what a person does.
Psalm 20:6.
“Now I know that the LORD saves his anointed; he answers him from his holy heaven with the saving power of his right hand.”
Psalms 8:6.
“You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet:”
Psalms 102:25.
“In the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands.”
For this reason it was practiced where a symbolic act was needed so that others could see what the person praying was doing. It suggests that God is at work. In fact the usages in the Bible indicate that when we reach out our hands in the context of prayer there is a real sense in which God also reaches out his hand to do that which we pray for.
Because of the presence of this Divine element it is more than a symbol. Like Baptism and the Lord's Supper it is a Sacrament, something happens in response to faith in the rite. It is transformed, by the presence of God into a channel of Divine Grace. It is a prophetic action.
Again, the correct way to understand the Laying on of Hands is through the concept of the Prophetic Action.
This is not to say that Laying on of Hands does anything in a magical sense by itself, but coupled with faith-prayer it becomes spiritually effective in bringing the power of God to bear in a situation.
The basic idea here seems to be that when we extend our hands in faith and obedience to do God's work, then he also extends his hands to do it.
Exodus 7:5.
“And the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out of it."
Exodus 7:19.
“The LORD said to Moses, "Tell Aaron, `Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt- over the streams and canals, over the ponds and all the reservoirs'- and they will turn to blood. Blood will be everywhere in Egypt, even in the wooden buckets and stone jars."
Exodus 8:5.
“Then the LORD said to Moses, "Tell Aaron, `Stretch out your hand with your staff over the streams and canals and ponds, and make frogs come up on the land of Egypt.'"
Exodus 8:16.
“Then the LORD said to Moses, "Tell Aaron, `Stretch out your staff and strike the dust of the ground,' and throughout the land of Egypt the dust will become gnats."
Here we see the prophet, the man of God, stretching out his hand – but at the same time God stretches out his hand to do the thing spoken forth.
Hence Laying on of Hands is NOT the person, but God IN AND THROUGH the person. It operates in such a way that you cannot tell the difference between God's hand, your hand and authority.
USAGE IN THE BIBLE.
(1) In Praying For a Person.
In this context there is the idea of the transference of LIFE from the person praying to the one being prayed for. (In this discussion I use the word “LIFE” in capitals to mean some spiritual “content”, but the question is left open as to whether or not the “content’ is good or bad. The situation of prayer determines this.)
(a) Blessing.
Genesis 48:14,15.reached o
“But Israel reached out his right hand and put it on Ephraim's head, though he was the younger, and crossing his arms, he put his left hand on Manasseh's head, even though Manasseh was the firstborn. Then he blessed Joseph and said, "May the God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day,…”
(b) Healing.
Matthew 9:18.
"While he was saying this, a ruler came and knelt before him and said, "My daughter has just died. But come and put your hand on her, and she will live."
Mark 16:18.
“… they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well."
(c) Imparting Spiritual Gifts.
1 Timothy 4:14.
“Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through a prophetic message when the body of elders laid their hands on you.”
(d) Imparting Spiritual Power for ministry in Ordination.
Acts 6:6.
"They presented these men to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them."
Acts 13:3.
"So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off."
(2) In the Sacrificial Rites: As an Identification.
Exodus 29:10,19.
"Bring the bull to the front of the Tent of Meeting, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on its head. Slaughter it in the LORD's presence at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting… "Take the other ram, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on its head.”
Two ideas here:
(a) They laid their hands on the animal thereby identifying themselves with it. It then became their substitute and died in their place.
(b) In the act of Laying on of Hands their guilt was transferred to the animal, and was put to death in the animal. Again there is an imparting of “LIFE” but in this case the “LIFE” is the sin and its consequences, a negative “LIFE”.
Note:
This idea of "identification with" is very strong in the NT. Jesus blessed and healed people without the Laying on of Hands many times, but wherever the person's condition or social situation had made them a social outcast, or in any way socially unacceptable, Jesus was careful to touch them in the healing act. This showed that he recognised that, to some degree, their physical condition was caused by feelings of rejection or had been compounded by rejection. He demonstrated that he indeed loved them and accepted them by touching them. He too was an outcast (Isaiah 53:3). Where acceptance and healing from rejection was a key element in the healing process, Jesus touched people.
(3) In Criminal Cases: As an Act of Testimony.
Leviticus 24:14.
"Take the blasphemer outside the camp. All those who heard him are to lay their hands on his head, and the entire assembly is to stone him."
Here the idea is identification primarily.
(4) In Ordination: As a Recognition, Setting Apart and Empowering of A Person For Ministry.
Acts 6:6; 13:2-4 (above).
Titus 1:5.
"The reason I left you in Crete was that you might straighten out what was left unfinished and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you."
WARNING: - 1 Timothy 5:22.Why Not?
“Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands, and do not share in the sins of others. Keep yourself pure.”
Why Not?
This has two applications:
(a) To Ordination.
If you ordain someone you are in some way answerable to God for that person's ministry. That person could ruin your own life and ministry if they go off the rails. Also Christ's reputation is at stake. A candidate for ministry must be checked out fully, tested and tried, before being ordained. Hastiness in appointment will mean that problems will not have had time to show up.
(b) A Wider Application.
In the Laying on of Hands there is a transference of "LIFE". This can be good or bad, and can be two-way. If a person is demonically possessed there can be a transference (Why else would Satanists "ordain" people?).
(5) In the Conversion Experience.
In the Early Church conversion was always made up of three parts:
(i) Repentance and Confession of Christ as Lord.
(ii) Water Baptism.
(iii) Laying on of Hands.
This is primarily why it appears here in the list of Foundations to do with Conversion. It was done for two reasons, Church Membership and Imparting of the Holy Spirit.
a. Church Membership.
By receiving the Laying on of Hands the convert showed that he/she was identifying with the church, thus was submitting to the authority of Christ as represented in the church. When we submit to the Laying on of Hands we are recognising that the person DOING it HAS authority, or REPRESENTS authority, to which we are submitting, and from which we wish to receive something.
Hence the new convert is baptised (with the Laying on of Hands) into Christ, i.e. into his Body, the sphere of his Lordship and Authority. By doing this we say we are submitting to the Authority of Christ AS VESTED IN THE CHURCH.
The person baptising represents Christ, to whom you are submitting, but he also represents the delegated authority of the Church, to which you are also submitting.
By this act a person became a member of the Church, and was immediately related to other people in the Church who could care for him.
Individual conversion immediately becomes relationship to a corporate body.
NOTE:
This aspect of submission is vital in the Laying on of Hands. If, e.g., the blessing sought is healing then there is no way healing can flow if the person being prayed for does not internally submit to the authority of the person praying for him/her. This is a major reason why many do not get healed. The Command in James to seek the prayer of the Elders of the Church when sick is related to this. Often sickness can be rooted in rebellious attitudes towards the Church (1 Corinthians 3:16,17) so there is a need to deal with those attitudes if one wants healing.
1 Corinthians 3:16,17.
"Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him; for God's temple is sacred, and you are that temple."
* The "You" in this text is, in the Greek, the second person plural so it refers not to the individual Christian but to the Church as a group.
* The "anyone", however, is an individual.
* The meaning then is this: "If anyone seeks to destroy the Church God will destroy them."
* Such destruction can come through sickness or death.
b. To Receive the Gift of the Holy Spirit.
An imparting of "LIFE". This follows from the above. When we submit to the authority of Christ and his Church, we become members of the Church, which is the sphere of the Spirit's activity in his fullness. Therefore when you enter Christ, i.e. his Body - the Church, by faith you enter into the common experience of the Spirit (2 Corinthians 13:4), and you can grow in this experience. Spiritual growth will not normally occur when a person cuts him/herself off from the (local) Church (Hebrews 10:23-25).
This coupling of conversion with the Laying on of Hands is the origin of the rite of Confirmation. Historically the two went together.
In the NT the Laying on of Hands is seen at Conversion.
Acts 9, 19:1-6.
That these were conversion experiences was discussed in Chapter 15 when we looked at Baptism. We will not cover the same ground again here.
There is one difficult case:
Acts 8:4-17. The Samaritan Revival.
“Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went. Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Christ there. When the crowds heard Philip and saw the miraculous signs he did, they all paid close attention to what he said. With shrieks, evil spirits came out of many, and many paralytics and cripples were healed. So there was great joy in that city.
…But when they believed Philip as he preached the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptised, both men and women….
When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. When they arrived, they prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of them; they had simply been baptised into the name of the Lord Jesus.
Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.”
It is easy to be a sloppy reader with this passage because it is a little difficult. However there is some historical background that makes understanding the issues here more clear.
The Samaritans were "half-castes", the result of Gentile intermarriage with the northern tribes of Israel. As such they had two things against them as far as the "Jews" were concerned:
(i) They has separated from the true religion after Solomon's reign, so were heretics, and,
(ii) For 400 years they were rejected by the Jews as being "worse than Gentiles" because they were of "unequal yoke".
This attitude on the part of the Jews resulted in the total exclusion of any Samaritan from the (Catholic) worship of God based in Jerusalem. As a result the Samaritans had set up a sort of "Protestant" cult. This had created strong division in the worship of God, and had created a deep feeling of rejection on the part of the Samaritans (c/f John 4).
There was a real danger that this division would be perpetuated into the Church if the Samaritans became Christians, which this passage tells us they wanted to do. Jesus had accepted them, but this had to be formalised by the Church, which at this time was composed entirely of Jews. The Jewish nature of the Church had to be formally extended to include others.
This is the point of the story: to show how, in the Church, the old divisions of Israel were transcended and healed. It is one of three stories about three groups isolated from God's people - Samaritans, Gentiles (Acts 10), and John's Disciples (Acts 19), all of which are dealing with the same issue - the old divisions of Judaism.
To receive these people into the Church was a radical step, going against 700 years of Jewish history.
We read that the Samaritans accepted Jesus as the Messiah, but they "did not receive the Holy Spirit". Note that it does not say that they had not "received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit" or "the filling of the Spirit". We cannot interpret what is written to suit ourselves. That is to misunderstand what is at issue here. The story is not here to tell us that there can be a two-stage experience of the Spirit, and, in fact, cannot be stretched to mean that. It is written to tell us how God, in Christ, healed the age-old divisions of Judaism. Hence we must read "They had not received the Holy Spirit" to mean exactly that. They had gone through all of the proper forms of repentance and Baptism yet God had not, for some reason, given them the Holy Spirit. They were not, in our terminology, “Born again”. If we do not, have the Holy Spirit we are not Christians.
Romans 8:9.
“You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.”
The problem appears to have been a faith block. The history of the situation means that they could not really believe that they were accepted, and this doubt based in rejection caused a block to their faith in respect to salvation.
When John and Peter came down they laid hands on the Samaritans. An unthinkable act! They came as leaders of the Church, in them the authority of Christ in the Church was centred.
The Samaritans now did a new thing, they submitted to God, but also to his delegated authority as represented in these Jews - ending the rebellion of 700 years. Peter and John, on their part, showed their acceptance by actually touching them. The old divisions were healed. This caused a healing which released faith and the Samaritans were born again, they received the Holy Spirit.
The purpose of this episode was to maintain the unity of the Church as one Body. There could not be allowed to be a Jewish Church, a Samaritan church, and a Gentile Church. The Spirit comes in one Body, under one authority structure - the apostles. The Samaritans would have clearly understood all of this.
This passage does not allow, therefore, for a two-stage experience of receiving the Spirit. The Samaritans were clearly not fully saved in our sense of the word before the Apostles came down to them. This reception of the Spirit was their first experience of the Spirit, as is quite clear from the context itself. They "had not received the Spirit for it had not fallen on any of them".
Interestingly enough, however, their baptism by the disciples who first witnessed to them was still considered to be valid, even though their faith was clearly deficient at the time. This is because it was Christian Baptism. We should not get too hung up on the order of things. We come to God in different ways. This story shows us that it is OK to be baptised with true Christian Baptism, and yet not be a Christian, but that baptism to still be held valid when true faith comes later on. So long as the baptism was conducted by Christians in a Biblical way it appears to be acceptable even if the candidate has not gully come to faith. This follows from the fact that baptism is an eternal event, a once for all eternity thing. Because this is true it is impossible to be “re-baptised".
HANDS THAT MINISTER THE GRACE OF GOD.
Hebrews 6:1,2.
“Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgement.”
The Laying on of Hands appears here between baptism and the resurrection of the dead. This tells us one further thing about the Laying on of Hands. Baptism is the start of our Christian walk on earth; resurrection is its end. What comes in between is the Laying on of Hands, the period of our Christian service.
Hands symbolise what we do (in God), i.e. our ministry.
God wants us to use his power in ministry during our lives. Ministry is a fundamental thing in the life of every Believer, a foundation plank on which we are to build our lives.
Some Ministry Aspects for all Believers:
(a) Matthew 28:18-20.
All Christians are to witness, get converts, baptise and disciple. There is no suggestion here that such ministry should be restricted to the apostles.
(b) Mark 16:16-18.
All converts are given the power to work miracles, heal, cast out demons, etc. in the name of Jesus. Again, this is for “all who believe”.
(c) Romans 12. 1 Corinthians 12.
All Christians are given gifts of the Holy Spirit for use in the Body and for evangelism.
HOMEWORK:
Think about the concept of the “hand” as explained in this study. Take a look at the following verses and try to work out what they could mean in a symbolic sense to us.
Leviticus 1:4, 3:2,8,13; 4:4,24,29,33;
Leviticus 14:14, 17, 24,28; 8:23
Leviticus 21:17-19.
TRANSFORMER VERSE:
The Laying on of Hands.
Mark 16:18.
“… they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well."
1 Timothy 4:14.
“Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through a prophetic message when the body of elders laid their hands on you.”
PRAYER:
Father , I thank you that you call us to share in your life and ministry and you have given us this simple, but effective way of ministering your grace to others by touching them in your name. Grant me opportunities to pray for other and impart to them of the life you have placed in me. In Jesus name I ask it, Amen.
Friday, 29 December 2006
Foundations of the Christian Life. Chapter 17 - Baptism in the Name.
Foundations of the Christian Life.
Chapter 17 – Baptism in the Name of the Father, the Son and Holy Spirit.
Matthew 28:18-20.
“Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
These are last words of Jesus to his disciples. One would think that these would be the most important thing he could say to them, the one thing he would want them to remember.
In them is his plan for the salvation of the world.
Jesus says five things:
(i) All authority has been given to Jesus.
(ii) Therefore we should go and preach the good news.
(iii) Those that receive the word should be baptised.
(iv) We should teach/disciple those who receive the word and are baptised.
(v) He will be with us to the end of the age.
If we accept the premise that this is the most important thing Jesus could say to his disciples before his departure we are compelled to conclude that baptism, in the mind of Jesus, was incredibly important.
"Baptising them in the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit.
The wording he uses about baptism is important because for the first time in human history we are introduced to a Trinity of beings who are all God. Up till now the Jews had thought that God was “one” in the sense of one single personality. The “Spirit of God” in the OT age was understood to be simply God in action. Jesus, in his ministry, introduced the idea that God was Father and he was the Son of the Father. This was radical enough, but now he puts “Father, Son and Holy Spirit” on an equal footing indicating in his words that each one is a separate and complete personality and that they are all equally God.
As we have already seen, in N.T. understanding, Baptism IS Conversion.
The Bible was written in the context of a Church in which there were no unbaptised believers. To become a Christian meant you got Baptised. Baptism was conversion.
This makes a difference in the way we read what is written here. What we are seeing here is a summary of what becoming a Christian is. It is a tremendously powerful and meaningful formula so we need to spend some time looking at what it means. However before we can do this we need to look at another idea that has repeatedly cropped up in the history of the Church.
A POPULAR IDEA:
At various points in Church history there have arisen groups that have made the claim that Baptism needs to be administered using the phrase, “In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ” (the Christological Formula). Such groups reject using the phrase, “In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit” (the Trinitarian formula).
There seems to be three main types of groups that have argued for this:
1. Various small groups in Church history have rejected the doctrine of the Trinity altogether and have centred on Christ. The wider Church has always deemed such groups to be heretical. They are/were anti- Trinitarian, Jesus only groups.
2. Since the rise of Liberal Theology there has been some doubts as to whether the Trinitarian formula was original or added to Matthew later in church history. Liberal theologians rejected its authenticity because it didn't fit with their idea of the development of doctrine in the Early Church. Until this Liberal attack it was never doubted except by the heretical groups. However, as far as we can tell from Christian literature the Trinitarian formula was the formula used at Baptism throughout the whole Church from the beginning. Because of this historical fact the Liberal position is wrong because it is simply unhistorical. They have devised a schema of doctrine development in their own minds and are trying to force the facts of history to fit their own ideas.
3. In recent years there has been a movement that has gone around the world that argues for the Christological formula and this has caused a bit of controversy. I shall give a short outline of the idea and some reasons why I feel it fails the test of truth.
1. Short Statement of the Teaching for using the "Lord Jesus Christ" formula.
(i) Starts with Matthew 28:19,20 where the words "the name" are singular, not plural (“names”). Hence it cannot refer to the three names given here.
(ii) In Acts it seems as if the formula "in the name of Jesus" was used, or some variation of it.
(iii) The title "Lord Jesus Christ" is interpreted to mean:
Lord = God, the Father.
Jesus = the Son.
Christ = the Anointing, the Holy Spirit.
Hence this interpretation guards itself against being another anti Trinitarian, or the "Jesus Only", heresy.
(iv) Some exponents of this theory claim that the phrase “Baptised in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit” is not Christian baptism at all but is the baptism of John the Baptist.
2. Answers to this theory:
(i) The singular, “the name” does not imply necessarily a reference to one person following. This is particularly true when we are talking about the Trinity who, though being three, are one. Also the idea of “Name” in Hebrew thought is important – it refers not so much to the actual name but to the person. I shall develop this further below.
(ii) Baptism in the Book of Acts.
G.R.Beasley–Murray and R.E.O.White (see note last chapter) are distinguished theologians and Church historians. They have studied Acts and also the literature of the Early Church to see how baptism was conducted. In their understanding the following procedure was followed:
* The candidate for baptism would go to a pool with those baptising him.
* Once in the water he would confess his sins and accept Jesus as his Saviour and Lord. If he had already done this he would be asked to make a confession of Christ as Lord. Thus the candidate would say, “I believe Jesus is Lord.” “Lord” here is used in the sense of “the Supreme divine being”.
* Those attending would then baptise him, using the formula “in the name of the Father, The Son and the Holy Spirit.”
* Following this hands would be laid on the candidate for the receiving of the Holy Spirit, often with anointing with oil.
In other words, the phrase “I believe Jesus is Lord” was used by the candidate as a confession and not as a formula pronounced over him by others. The formula, used by those administering the baptism, universally seems to have been the Trinitarian formula. This seems to be the pattern from all literature from the Early Church period.
The procedure was thus almost identical to Jewish proselyte baptism. Baptism was not new to Jewish culture with John or Jesus. When Gentiles converted to Judaism they were baptised. The procedure was like this:
* A period of Discipleship would take place, instruction in the Law. At some stage he would undergo circumcision in preparation for the ceremony of conversion.
* When the candidate was ready to make the commitment to Yahweh he would go to a pool with some priests. He would enter the water alone; the priests were only witnesses.
* In the water the candidate would confess his sins and recite the Law of Moses.
* Then he would immerse himself in the water. The Baptism would be a self-baptism.
* On coming out of the water he was accepted as a Jew.
Christian baptism was similar, with these differences:
* The baptism was administered by someone else. It was not a self-baptism.
* Reciting the Law was replaced with the confession: “Jesus is Lord.”
The Early Church seems to have followed the practice of Judaism and other religions in baptism, with the ceremony containing both a confession by the candidate and a formula spoken over the candidate by the Baptiser. In Judaism the confession was the Ten Commandments, in the Church it was the name of “Jesus as Lord”.
What happened in Acts?
* It is unsure what formula the Church in Acts used at Baptisms. Possibly both formulas were used in different situations and were seen to be equivalent.
* The phrase "in the name of the Lord Jesus" appears four times in Acts, but there are several other baptisms in Acts where no formula appears.
* It is not clear in Acts that, in these four instances, the phrase is the Baptismal formula said over the candidate. Acts 8:37 and Romans 10:9 are both confessions made by the candidate, not formulas spoken over him. The other Acts instances are probably the same.
(iii) The Interpretation of the title, “The Lord Jesus Christ”.
Answer: The division of "Lord Jesus Christ" into three separate people is simply hair splitting to attempt to justify a difficult position. We have only to consider the use of this phrase elsewhere in the NT to see how ludicrous this interpretation is:
Acts 2:36; 11:17; 15:11,26; 16:31; 20:21; 28:31.
All of these can only mean Jesus himself.
2 Corinthians 13:14 - if we use the suggested interpretation here we end up with God and the Holy Spirit being mentioned twice.
“Christ" is never used anywhere as a proper name for the Holy Spirit. It is a special word meaning "Messiah", and in the NT is nearly always "The Messiah" i.e. the Anointed one, the King, i.e. “Jesus the Christ”.
Conclusion: The title "Lord Jesus Christ" is not in Acts, nor anywhere else in the Bible, a title for the Trinity. To suggest it is a way of referring to the Trinity is to introduce a novelty and the burden of proof is on those making the suggestion. In my view the proof is lacking.
(iv) The Trinitarian formula is the Baptism of John.
Answer: This is patently wrong.
(i) John was an OT prophet and as such he had no idea of God being “Father”, nor of Jesus being “the Son”, and the “Holy Spirit” was not, to him, a separate personality, but was understood to be “God himself in action”. The revelation of the Trinity came through Christ and John was not party to it. In fact he was beheaded before it was revealed.
(ii) The foolishness of this idea is clearly shown by the fact that when Jesus gave this command to his disciples John had already been dead three years. There is no way “Baptism in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit” is the Baptism of John the Baptist. The Messiah was never considered to be God until Jesus suggested the idea. Hence John could not, and did not, baptise in a threefold formula. If the Trinitarian formula is the baptism of John then why did Jesus command his disciples to baptise with John's baptism during the Church age? If this is Christ's command shouldn't we be doing it?
(iii) John’s baptism was a “baptism into repentance” but there is no indication in his preaching that he saw himself founding a new community. Considering his background in the Essenes this is startling. They did create a separate community. John did not. Rather he was calling Israel back to its ancient faith. To baptise, “Into the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit” would be to make a radical break with Israel and to form a new community of faith, and John is clearly not trying to do that. It would be to form a community that believed there was a “son of God” and Israel did not and could not do that.
It seems to me that the “Baptism in the name of Jesus” theory is lacking in proof and is contrary to common sense. It does not stand up to good exegetical criticism. It is, to say the least, another idea that ends up robbing people of the fullness of the Gospel, as we shall outline in the next section of this chapter.
The Matthew Trinitarian formula is clearly very old and certainly reflects the practice of the Jewish church in Judea (Matthew was written in Judea), at about 70A.D. This in itself suggests that it is the original practice of the church in Palestine and so is original to the Gospel of Matthew. Most scholars now accept its authenticity.
By 100A.D. Church writings indicate that the Trinitarian formula was universal, often with threefold baptism (see Didache). The normal practice was for the candidate to confess "Jesus is Lord" and then the Baptiser to recite "In the name of the Father,… the Son… and the Holy Spirit" when Baptising him/her three times. This established practice indicates that the Acts instances are all confessions, not formulas.
THE MEANING OF THE TRINITARIAN FORMULA.
The Trinitarian formula has tremendous meaning, and sums up the meaning of Christian commitment and Baptism.
Greek:- "into the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit."
In Hebrew thought the name of a person stood for his whole being, his personality, power, authority and sphere of influence.
Therefore the formula means: "into the person and power/authority of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit".
The first thing to note here is that this then is not just an identification with God in the way we might identify with a political party or some, other group by “giving ourselves a name”. This is not the meaning at all. The idea Jesus is speaking out here has far more depth – we are being grafted into a person so that we become part of him, part of his body. We become a corporate body “in Christ”. As such we take on his life, authority and power in a real way, not just in some nominal way.
Two Aspects:
A) "Into the Person of..."
i.e. into the sphere of their life.
B) "Into the Authority / power of..."
i.e. into their power/authority.
A) "Into the Person of..."
i.e. into the sphere of their life.
(1) The sphere of the Father's life = the Family of God.
Implied in the name "Father", but the Bible tells us this many times:
John 1:12
" to all who received him, who believed on his name He gave the power to become children of God."
This wonderful truth speaks of:
(i) A new family nature.
Genesis 1 teaches us that every creature propagates "after it's kind". God created every creature with it's own character and nature. Mankind was created to be "in the image of God".
Unfortunately sin has marred the image of God in man. It is not destroyed, but sin has so corrupted the image of God in man that the Bible calls us "Fallen". This is the basic meaning of sin - that we have "fallen short" of what God intended for us a human beings. Because Adam sinned and gained a Fallen nature before he fathered any children, when he had children he propagated "after his kind", i.e. with a fallen nature.
This was Satan's greatest triumph - to corrupt the image of God in Man. God had made no other creature which so fully expressed what he himself was like, and Satan set out to destroy it.
The miracle of the Gospel is that, through faith in Christ, there is a Redemption - a restoration of what was lost to Adam. The nature of God is made available to us again.
In Christ we die a death to Adam. In Baptism this old nature is buried and we are born again into the family of God. We die to our fallen inheritance from Adam, and are born again with a new uncorrupted nature made in the image of God.
(ii) A new inheritance.
One of the things the Bible continually calls us is the "Sons of God". This title is given to us all whether male or female, for a particular reason, not because the Bible is sexist. In the culture of the Bible times it was normally the sons that inherited the Father's property, the daughters only inherited if there was no sons.
By calling us all "sons of God" the Bible indicates that no believer is going to be left out of partaking in the inheritance that God has provided for us. It is a title which speaks of inclusion, not a sexist title intending to exclude.
Ephesians 1:5
“…he (God) predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will…”
Ephesians 1:13-14
“And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession- to the praise of his glory.”
Galatians 4:1-7
“What I am saying is that as long as the heir is a child, he is no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate. He is subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his father. So also, when we were children, we were in slavery under the basic principles of the world. But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, <"Abba>, Father." So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.”
What is the inheritance God has for us?
Colossians 1:12.
"an inheritance of the saints in light"
God does not tell us in any detail what the inheritance will be - he simply says in Ephesians 3:20 that it is “greater than we can even ask or think’. It is beyond the comprehension of our human intellect. It is to share in God himself in some mysterious way.
As a proof, a guarantee, that we have this inheritance awaiting us God has given us a down payment, a deposit, on it. This down payment is the Holy Spirit.
2 Corinthians 1:22
“…he set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.”
Ephesians 1:13,14 (above)
(2) Into the sphere of the Son's life = the kingdom.
Colossians 1:13.
" He has delivered us from the dominion of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved son"
We read before how we have an inheritance in light, now we are told that we have escaped from a kingdom of darkness. There is a kingdom, unseen but real, that has a nature what can only be termed "darkness". This kingdom thrives on those negative experiences that cripple and bind us and make us less than human. By this we mean things like fear, hatred, jealousy, enmity, bitterness, violence, depression, anger, greed, selfishness, covetousness, pride, self seeking, lying, cheating, and the like - of these things Paul tells us that "those that practice these things shall not inherit the kingdom of God".
It is these things which bind us to evil and to darkness.
But Paul tells us here that we are delivered from the dominion of darkness.
This means that we are under a different authority structure - instead of being dominated by darkness - fear, hatred, resentment, anger, depression, enmity, etc, we are under the rulership of light - love, joy, peace, etc.
Instead of oppression and tyranny, we can experience freedom.
(3) Into the sphere of the Holy Spirit = the community of the Spirit.
In conversion we become members of a new community, a new fellowship, one in which the unity is based not on personal likes and dislikes, but on a common experience of Christ.
Ephesians 4:3ff
"maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. For there is one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, One faith, one Baptism. One God and Father of us all".
It is a community which has a unity based in a Spiritual reality, a common experience of the Spirit, not on anything that draws us together in a fleshly way.
For this reason Baptism has always been seen as the doorway to church membership - a sort of initiation rite if you like. When we understand that baptism WAS conversion, we see why it became the initiation rite to church membership.
It is this community that God is going to use to demonstrate his love and power to the world. It is this community that is going to inherit the world at the end of the age and rule it on behalf of God.
This community is the Church, created and lead by the Spirit of God.
B) "INTO THE AUTHORITY / POWER OF..."
(1) Into the Authority or power of the Father = Eternal life.
Ephesians 2:4,5
"But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ."
In this life in God is a new quality of life which we can experience and enjoy.
It is resurrection life - it is not just a restoration of the life Adam had before he sinned.
Adam had two trees in the Garden that were special.
There was the tree of the Knowledge of good and evil, which was prohibited to him.
The other was the tree of life, which God said would give eternal life. This was not prohibited to Adam in the beginning - it was only after Adam fell that the way to it was barred.
Adam was not created eternal - he was given life by God, but there was an aspect of life that Adam was not given automatically - an aspect that he had to choose to receive by going to the tree and eating of it. It is this eternal life that becomes ours the moment we receive Christ as Lord and Saviour.
Paul defines it more thoroughly in:
Ephesians 1:19 -22
"and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every
title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come."
Here he talks of an incredible power available to us as believers, more than just available, but resident inside us. This is the eternal life of God, resurrection power which overcomes death and all of its works. It becomes ours in our baptism.
(2) Into the Authority, or power, of the Son = Authority, kingship, victory.
We are not only made members of the kingdom as we saw before, but we are made RULERS in the kingdom. The whole point of the kingdom is that it is so vast there is room for every person in it to have an area of rulership. So God made us kings to rule in his kingdom with him.
Revelation 1:5,6.
"To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father."
To enable us to do so God has given us the Spirit of God.
(3) Into the Power, or Authority, of the Spirit = fullness of the Spirit - resurrection power.
Ephesians 1:17 (above)
What a mighty calling, what a mighty experience Baptism is - We are baptised INTO the name of the Father, The Son, and the Holy Spirit.
HOMEWORK:
Seek out a group of Christians who will baptise you by immersion, if you have not already done so.
In some countries, especially those under Islamic rule, this may be a very costly act, and very dangerous. Jesus warned us to consider the cost before we act. Don’t do anything rash. Take advice from senior Christian leaders as to when and how to go about this act.
TRANSFORMER VERSES:
Matthew 28:18-20.
“Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
PRAYER:
Father I thank you for the tremendous gift you give us in Baptism when we enter into the life and ministry of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Release this life and ministry through me I pray, in Jesus name, Amen.
Chapter 17 – Baptism in the Name of the Father, the Son and Holy Spirit.
Matthew 28:18-20.
“Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
These are last words of Jesus to his disciples. One would think that these would be the most important thing he could say to them, the one thing he would want them to remember.
In them is his plan for the salvation of the world.
Jesus says five things:
(i) All authority has been given to Jesus.
(ii) Therefore we should go and preach the good news.
(iii) Those that receive the word should be baptised.
(iv) We should teach/disciple those who receive the word and are baptised.
(v) He will be with us to the end of the age.
If we accept the premise that this is the most important thing Jesus could say to his disciples before his departure we are compelled to conclude that baptism, in the mind of Jesus, was incredibly important.
"Baptising them in the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit.
The wording he uses about baptism is important because for the first time in human history we are introduced to a Trinity of beings who are all God. Up till now the Jews had thought that God was “one” in the sense of one single personality. The “Spirit of God” in the OT age was understood to be simply God in action. Jesus, in his ministry, introduced the idea that God was Father and he was the Son of the Father. This was radical enough, but now he puts “Father, Son and Holy Spirit” on an equal footing indicating in his words that each one is a separate and complete personality and that they are all equally God.
As we have already seen, in N.T. understanding, Baptism IS Conversion.
The Bible was written in the context of a Church in which there were no unbaptised believers. To become a Christian meant you got Baptised. Baptism was conversion.
This makes a difference in the way we read what is written here. What we are seeing here is a summary of what becoming a Christian is. It is a tremendously powerful and meaningful formula so we need to spend some time looking at what it means. However before we can do this we need to look at another idea that has repeatedly cropped up in the history of the Church.
A POPULAR IDEA:
At various points in Church history there have arisen groups that have made the claim that Baptism needs to be administered using the phrase, “In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ” (the Christological Formula). Such groups reject using the phrase, “In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit” (the Trinitarian formula).
There seems to be three main types of groups that have argued for this:
1. Various small groups in Church history have rejected the doctrine of the Trinity altogether and have centred on Christ. The wider Church has always deemed such groups to be heretical. They are/were anti- Trinitarian, Jesus only groups.
2. Since the rise of Liberal Theology there has been some doubts as to whether the Trinitarian formula was original or added to Matthew later in church history. Liberal theologians rejected its authenticity because it didn't fit with their idea of the development of doctrine in the Early Church. Until this Liberal attack it was never doubted except by the heretical groups. However, as far as we can tell from Christian literature the Trinitarian formula was the formula used at Baptism throughout the whole Church from the beginning. Because of this historical fact the Liberal position is wrong because it is simply unhistorical. They have devised a schema of doctrine development in their own minds and are trying to force the facts of history to fit their own ideas.
3. In recent years there has been a movement that has gone around the world that argues for the Christological formula and this has caused a bit of controversy. I shall give a short outline of the idea and some reasons why I feel it fails the test of truth.
1. Short Statement of the Teaching for using the "Lord Jesus Christ" formula.
(i) Starts with Matthew 28:19,20 where the words "the name" are singular, not plural (“names”). Hence it cannot refer to the three names given here.
(ii) In Acts it seems as if the formula "in the name of Jesus" was used, or some variation of it.
(iii) The title "Lord Jesus Christ" is interpreted to mean:
Lord = God, the Father.
Jesus = the Son.
Christ = the Anointing, the Holy Spirit.
Hence this interpretation guards itself against being another anti Trinitarian, or the "Jesus Only", heresy.
(iv) Some exponents of this theory claim that the phrase “Baptised in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit” is not Christian baptism at all but is the baptism of John the Baptist.
2. Answers to this theory:
(i) The singular, “the name” does not imply necessarily a reference to one person following. This is particularly true when we are talking about the Trinity who, though being three, are one. Also the idea of “Name” in Hebrew thought is important – it refers not so much to the actual name but to the person. I shall develop this further below.
(ii) Baptism in the Book of Acts.
G.R.Beasley–Murray and R.E.O.White (see note last chapter) are distinguished theologians and Church historians. They have studied Acts and also the literature of the Early Church to see how baptism was conducted. In their understanding the following procedure was followed:
* The candidate for baptism would go to a pool with those baptising him.
* Once in the water he would confess his sins and accept Jesus as his Saviour and Lord. If he had already done this he would be asked to make a confession of Christ as Lord. Thus the candidate would say, “I believe Jesus is Lord.” “Lord” here is used in the sense of “the Supreme divine being”.
* Those attending would then baptise him, using the formula “in the name of the Father, The Son and the Holy Spirit.”
* Following this hands would be laid on the candidate for the receiving of the Holy Spirit, often with anointing with oil.
In other words, the phrase “I believe Jesus is Lord” was used by the candidate as a confession and not as a formula pronounced over him by others. The formula, used by those administering the baptism, universally seems to have been the Trinitarian formula. This seems to be the pattern from all literature from the Early Church period.
The procedure was thus almost identical to Jewish proselyte baptism. Baptism was not new to Jewish culture with John or Jesus. When Gentiles converted to Judaism they were baptised. The procedure was like this:
* A period of Discipleship would take place, instruction in the Law. At some stage he would undergo circumcision in preparation for the ceremony of conversion.
* When the candidate was ready to make the commitment to Yahweh he would go to a pool with some priests. He would enter the water alone; the priests were only witnesses.
* In the water the candidate would confess his sins and recite the Law of Moses.
* Then he would immerse himself in the water. The Baptism would be a self-baptism.
* On coming out of the water he was accepted as a Jew.
Christian baptism was similar, with these differences:
* The baptism was administered by someone else. It was not a self-baptism.
* Reciting the Law was replaced with the confession: “Jesus is Lord.”
The Early Church seems to have followed the practice of Judaism and other religions in baptism, with the ceremony containing both a confession by the candidate and a formula spoken over the candidate by the Baptiser. In Judaism the confession was the Ten Commandments, in the Church it was the name of “Jesus as Lord”.
What happened in Acts?
* It is unsure what formula the Church in Acts used at Baptisms. Possibly both formulas were used in different situations and were seen to be equivalent.
* The phrase "in the name of the Lord Jesus" appears four times in Acts, but there are several other baptisms in Acts where no formula appears.
* It is not clear in Acts that, in these four instances, the phrase is the Baptismal formula said over the candidate. Acts 8:37 and Romans 10:9 are both confessions made by the candidate, not formulas spoken over him. The other Acts instances are probably the same.
(iii) The Interpretation of the title, “The Lord Jesus Christ”.
Answer: The division of "Lord Jesus Christ" into three separate people is simply hair splitting to attempt to justify a difficult position. We have only to consider the use of this phrase elsewhere in the NT to see how ludicrous this interpretation is:
Acts 2:36; 11:17; 15:11,26; 16:31; 20:21; 28:31.
All of these can only mean Jesus himself.
2 Corinthians 13:14 - if we use the suggested interpretation here we end up with God and the Holy Spirit being mentioned twice.
“Christ" is never used anywhere as a proper name for the Holy Spirit. It is a special word meaning "Messiah", and in the NT is nearly always "The Messiah" i.e. the Anointed one, the King, i.e. “Jesus the Christ”.
Conclusion: The title "Lord Jesus Christ" is not in Acts, nor anywhere else in the Bible, a title for the Trinity. To suggest it is a way of referring to the Trinity is to introduce a novelty and the burden of proof is on those making the suggestion. In my view the proof is lacking.
(iv) The Trinitarian formula is the Baptism of John.
Answer: This is patently wrong.
(i) John was an OT prophet and as such he had no idea of God being “Father”, nor of Jesus being “the Son”, and the “Holy Spirit” was not, to him, a separate personality, but was understood to be “God himself in action”. The revelation of the Trinity came through Christ and John was not party to it. In fact he was beheaded before it was revealed.
(ii) The foolishness of this idea is clearly shown by the fact that when Jesus gave this command to his disciples John had already been dead three years. There is no way “Baptism in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit” is the Baptism of John the Baptist. The Messiah was never considered to be God until Jesus suggested the idea. Hence John could not, and did not, baptise in a threefold formula. If the Trinitarian formula is the baptism of John then why did Jesus command his disciples to baptise with John's baptism during the Church age? If this is Christ's command shouldn't we be doing it?
(iii) John’s baptism was a “baptism into repentance” but there is no indication in his preaching that he saw himself founding a new community. Considering his background in the Essenes this is startling. They did create a separate community. John did not. Rather he was calling Israel back to its ancient faith. To baptise, “Into the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit” would be to make a radical break with Israel and to form a new community of faith, and John is clearly not trying to do that. It would be to form a community that believed there was a “son of God” and Israel did not and could not do that.
It seems to me that the “Baptism in the name of Jesus” theory is lacking in proof and is contrary to common sense. It does not stand up to good exegetical criticism. It is, to say the least, another idea that ends up robbing people of the fullness of the Gospel, as we shall outline in the next section of this chapter.
The Matthew Trinitarian formula is clearly very old and certainly reflects the practice of the Jewish church in Judea (Matthew was written in Judea), at about 70A.D. This in itself suggests that it is the original practice of the church in Palestine and so is original to the Gospel of Matthew. Most scholars now accept its authenticity.
By 100A.D. Church writings indicate that the Trinitarian formula was universal, often with threefold baptism (see Didache). The normal practice was for the candidate to confess "Jesus is Lord" and then the Baptiser to recite "In the name of the Father,… the Son… and the Holy Spirit" when Baptising him/her three times. This established practice indicates that the Acts instances are all confessions, not formulas.
THE MEANING OF THE TRINITARIAN FORMULA.
The Trinitarian formula has tremendous meaning, and sums up the meaning of Christian commitment and Baptism.
Greek:- "into the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit."
In Hebrew thought the name of a person stood for his whole being, his personality, power, authority and sphere of influence.
Therefore the formula means: "into the person and power/authority of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit".
The first thing to note here is that this then is not just an identification with God in the way we might identify with a political party or some, other group by “giving ourselves a name”. This is not the meaning at all. The idea Jesus is speaking out here has far more depth – we are being grafted into a person so that we become part of him, part of his body. We become a corporate body “in Christ”. As such we take on his life, authority and power in a real way, not just in some nominal way.
Two Aspects:
A) "Into the Person of..."
i.e. into the sphere of their life.
B) "Into the Authority / power of..."
i.e. into their power/authority.
A) "Into the Person of..."
i.e. into the sphere of their life.
(1) The sphere of the Father's life = the Family of God.
Implied in the name "Father", but the Bible tells us this many times:
John 1:12
" to all who received him, who believed on his name He gave the power to become children of God."
This wonderful truth speaks of:
(i) A new family nature.
Genesis 1 teaches us that every creature propagates "after it's kind". God created every creature with it's own character and nature. Mankind was created to be "in the image of God".
Unfortunately sin has marred the image of God in man. It is not destroyed, but sin has so corrupted the image of God in man that the Bible calls us "Fallen". This is the basic meaning of sin - that we have "fallen short" of what God intended for us a human beings. Because Adam sinned and gained a Fallen nature before he fathered any children, when he had children he propagated "after his kind", i.e. with a fallen nature.
This was Satan's greatest triumph - to corrupt the image of God in Man. God had made no other creature which so fully expressed what he himself was like, and Satan set out to destroy it.
The miracle of the Gospel is that, through faith in Christ, there is a Redemption - a restoration of what was lost to Adam. The nature of God is made available to us again.
In Christ we die a death to Adam. In Baptism this old nature is buried and we are born again into the family of God. We die to our fallen inheritance from Adam, and are born again with a new uncorrupted nature made in the image of God.
(ii) A new inheritance.
One of the things the Bible continually calls us is the "Sons of God". This title is given to us all whether male or female, for a particular reason, not because the Bible is sexist. In the culture of the Bible times it was normally the sons that inherited the Father's property, the daughters only inherited if there was no sons.
By calling us all "sons of God" the Bible indicates that no believer is going to be left out of partaking in the inheritance that God has provided for us. It is a title which speaks of inclusion, not a sexist title intending to exclude.
Ephesians 1:5
“…he (God) predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will…”
Ephesians 1:13-14
“And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession- to the praise of his glory.”
Galatians 4:1-7
“What I am saying is that as long as the heir is a child, he is no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate. He is subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his father. So also, when we were children, we were in slavery under the basic principles of the world. But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, <"Abba>, Father." So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.”
What is the inheritance God has for us?
Colossians 1:12.
"an inheritance of the saints in light"
God does not tell us in any detail what the inheritance will be - he simply says in Ephesians 3:20 that it is “greater than we can even ask or think’. It is beyond the comprehension of our human intellect. It is to share in God himself in some mysterious way.
As a proof, a guarantee, that we have this inheritance awaiting us God has given us a down payment, a deposit, on it. This down payment is the Holy Spirit.
2 Corinthians 1:22
“…he set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.”
Ephesians 1:13,14 (above)
(2) Into the sphere of the Son's life = the kingdom.
Colossians 1:13.
" He has delivered us from the dominion of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved son"
We read before how we have an inheritance in light, now we are told that we have escaped from a kingdom of darkness. There is a kingdom, unseen but real, that has a nature what can only be termed "darkness". This kingdom thrives on those negative experiences that cripple and bind us and make us less than human. By this we mean things like fear, hatred, jealousy, enmity, bitterness, violence, depression, anger, greed, selfishness, covetousness, pride, self seeking, lying, cheating, and the like - of these things Paul tells us that "those that practice these things shall not inherit the kingdom of God".
It is these things which bind us to evil and to darkness.
But Paul tells us here that we are delivered from the dominion of darkness.
This means that we are under a different authority structure - instead of being dominated by darkness - fear, hatred, resentment, anger, depression, enmity, etc, we are under the rulership of light - love, joy, peace, etc.
Instead of oppression and tyranny, we can experience freedom.
(3) Into the sphere of the Holy Spirit = the community of the Spirit.
In conversion we become members of a new community, a new fellowship, one in which the unity is based not on personal likes and dislikes, but on a common experience of Christ.
Ephesians 4:3ff
"maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. For there is one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, One faith, one Baptism. One God and Father of us all".
It is a community which has a unity based in a Spiritual reality, a common experience of the Spirit, not on anything that draws us together in a fleshly way.
For this reason Baptism has always been seen as the doorway to church membership - a sort of initiation rite if you like. When we understand that baptism WAS conversion, we see why it became the initiation rite to church membership.
It is this community that God is going to use to demonstrate his love and power to the world. It is this community that is going to inherit the world at the end of the age and rule it on behalf of God.
This community is the Church, created and lead by the Spirit of God.
B) "INTO THE AUTHORITY / POWER OF..."
(1) Into the Authority or power of the Father = Eternal life.
Ephesians 2:4,5
"But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ."
In this life in God is a new quality of life which we can experience and enjoy.
It is resurrection life - it is not just a restoration of the life Adam had before he sinned.
Adam had two trees in the Garden that were special.
There was the tree of the Knowledge of good and evil, which was prohibited to him.
The other was the tree of life, which God said would give eternal life. This was not prohibited to Adam in the beginning - it was only after Adam fell that the way to it was barred.
Adam was not created eternal - he was given life by God, but there was an aspect of life that Adam was not given automatically - an aspect that he had to choose to receive by going to the tree and eating of it. It is this eternal life that becomes ours the moment we receive Christ as Lord and Saviour.
Paul defines it more thoroughly in:
Ephesians 1:19 -22
"and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every
title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come."
Here he talks of an incredible power available to us as believers, more than just available, but resident inside us. This is the eternal life of God, resurrection power which overcomes death and all of its works. It becomes ours in our baptism.
(2) Into the Authority, or power, of the Son = Authority, kingship, victory.
We are not only made members of the kingdom as we saw before, but we are made RULERS in the kingdom. The whole point of the kingdom is that it is so vast there is room for every person in it to have an area of rulership. So God made us kings to rule in his kingdom with him.
Revelation 1:5,6.
"To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father."
To enable us to do so God has given us the Spirit of God.
(3) Into the Power, or Authority, of the Spirit = fullness of the Spirit - resurrection power.
Ephesians 1:17 (above)
What a mighty calling, what a mighty experience Baptism is - We are baptised INTO the name of the Father, The Son, and the Holy Spirit.
HOMEWORK:
Seek out a group of Christians who will baptise you by immersion, if you have not already done so.
In some countries, especially those under Islamic rule, this may be a very costly act, and very dangerous. Jesus warned us to consider the cost before we act. Don’t do anything rash. Take advice from senior Christian leaders as to when and how to go about this act.
TRANSFORMER VERSES:
Matthew 28:18-20.
“Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
PRAYER:
Father I thank you for the tremendous gift you give us in Baptism when we enter into the life and ministry of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Release this life and ministry through me I pray, in Jesus name, Amen.
Thursday, 21 December 2006
Foundations of the Christian Life. Chapter 16: - Baptism #2: - What Baptism Does for Us.
Foundations of the Christian Life.
Chapter 16: - Baptism #2: - What Baptism Does for Us.
Over the centuries of Church history much debate has raged over what baptism actually does for us, if anything at all. Consequently there is a range of views held in the Church.
* On one end of the spectrum is the Roman Catholic idea of Transubstantiation, which is almost magical in its understanding that "Baptism effects salvation", in the sense of justification. The logical implication of this is that one should baptise as many as possible and as soon as possible, i.e. as infants, so that they can be saved.
* On the other extreme is the view of Zwingli, that baptism is only a symbol and effects nothing.
* The logical outcome of the Zwingli position is the Salvation Army position, which says, “If baptism is only a symbol and we have the reality by faith then we can do away with the symbol.” And so they have dispensed with Baptism and Communion altogether.
* In between there is a range of views.
The problem, as I see it, is one the Church often falls into in trying to interpret the Bible.
1. Instead of allowing the Bible to speak for itself we read into the text our own ideas, in this case Western Greek) philosophy. Then we twist the Bible text to suit our already preconceived ideas. This, it seems to me, is the case with the Roman Catholic position.
2. Then comes a “back to the Bible” revival, such as the Protestant Reformation, and there is reaction against the accepted view by different people in varying degrees, so we end up with a range of views. But there is always an extreme view in reaction to the accepted view, and this, I feel, is the case with Zwingli. He just goes too far.
In reality the truth is somewhere in the middle. Baptism does actually do something for us; but it is not magical, it is in response to faith. When we obey Christ by getting baptised in faith there are blessings that are released to us that cannot be obtained any other way.
Rather than try to explain the range of positions and critique them I want to approach the subject from a different angle. The problem starts, I believe, with trying to explain what baptism does for us by using philosophical ideas that have no real place in scripture. If I try to counter that by arguing against it we will spend a lot of time talking about nothing important. So I would rather start with a Bible idea that will, I believe, give you the true picture of what Baptism does for us and how.
The idea I want to show you is that of the “prophetic action.”
THE PROPHETIC ACTION.
A prophetic action is an action that conveys a message, but it in some way the action causes the message to become true.
The best way to teach this is by way of illustration. Perhaps the best illustration of this principle is found in:
2 Kings 13:15-19.
“Elisha said (to the king), "Get a bow and some arrows," and he did so. "Take the bow in your hands," he said to the king of Israel. When he had taken it, Elisha put his hands on the king's hands. "Open the east window," he said, and he opened it. "Shoot!" Elisha said, and he shot. "The LORD's arrow of victory, the arrow of victory over Aram!" Elisha declared. "You will Completely destroy the Arameans at Aphek."
Then he said, "Take the arrows," and the king took them. Elisha told him, "Strike the ground." He struck it three times and stopped. The man of God was angry with him and said, "You should have struck the ground five or six times; then you would have defeated Aram and completely destroyed it. But now you will defeat it only three times."
We see here the prophetic act is an act whereby the prophet, or the servant of God, invites God to come and do something up to a certain limit. That is why the prophet said to the king if he has hit the arrows on the ground several times God would have responded with several victories over the enemies. But now it was limited to three victories – not limited by God’s ability, but limited by the degree of the asking of the man responsible for asking.
In other words the prophetic action determined the actual events or outcomes.
That is the idea of a prophetic action.
We see this idea of the "prophetic action" in operation right through the Bible. This story is not just an isolated instance. It is seen through into the life and ministry of Jesus also – he spat on the ground and made clay and then putting the clay on a blind man’s eye-sockets created eyes in the socket and the man saw.
What is a prophetic action?
1. A prophetic action is an action performed by the servant of God that contains a message or symbolises a message or illustrates a message.
2. In some sense the action of the prophet ensures that the event being symbolized, the message, becomes real or is actualized. In some sense the activity of the prophet causes the event to happen.
This is all part of a particularly Jewish way of seeing things. The Jews do not separate the spiritual and the material in the way that we do, and they saw a clear causal connection between the prophetic word, the symbolic act and the event itself.
This idea is fundamental to understanding the self-identity of the Jew. No orthodox Jew considers the events of Bible history—the bondage in Egypt, the Passover, the Red Sea, Mount Sinai, the events around the feast of Purim, etc., to be purely historical. In Jewish society every year these events are commemorated, they are "remembered". Every year they are acted out at annual celebrations – memorials – Passover, Pentecost, Atonement, Purim and so on. Each of these festivals contains a message.
In the festival the history is re-enacted in such a way so as to relive the story again. In this way every Jew since those events thousands of years ago has become part of the original events. The purpose of this acting out, this "remembering", is to bring the events of the past into the present in such a way that the past events become personal and real to the present generation. The story is told again in a prophetic way.
As a result these are no longer just memories, no indeed - every Jew was there. They were all in Egypt, they all went through the plagues and the Passover, they all crossed the Red Sea and came to Sinai, they all suffered under Haman in the days of Esther. And so on. And this “remembering” every year has served to make the events so real in their consciousness that their national identity will never die out.
So the idea of "remembrance" in Jewish thinking is not simply to have a memorial and to remember past events, but a "remembrance" is a recreation of the original events in such a way that the participants in the "remembrance" actually are participating in the original events. They were there. These are prophetic actions.
So when Jesus said about communion, "This do in remembrance of me" he was not just calling us to remember some historical event in the sense that I remember "2+2 = 4". He was inviting us to participate in the event of the Cross and resurrection in such a way as to become somebody who was "there". And in "being there" the meaning of it becomes true for us at an experiential level.
When we look at Baptism we see this idea is true for Baptism.
* It is an action that preaches a message.
* In some way doing the action makes the message come true for the participant.
* It brings the past events of Christ’s death and resurrection into present experiential reality.
When we understand this concept of the "prophetic action" we can clearly see that the NT teaching about Baptism indicates that something real happens in the act. We don't have to "symbolise it all away", there is a reality there that gives the necessity for following through with the action. “Faith without works is dead”.
Romans 6:3-7
“Do you not know that all of us who were baptised into Christ Jesus were baptised into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live in newness of life.”
Notice that Paul does not say here that we are “symbolically baptised into Christ’s death.” The tendency for many Christians, particularly if they have been taught in a church where Zwingli’s interpretation holds sway, is to read it that way. But this is to insert words into the text that are not there to arrive at an interpretation to suit ourselves. And such is not allowable. It is a short road to deception.
When we understand the Jewish way of thinking we see that baptism is a prophetic action, a memorial, by which we make to historical acts symbolised in it (Christ’s death and resurrection) real and up to date for us. In a sense we are transported through time back to the original events and we are made part of them.
Hence baptism is an eternal act in that it transcends time. The historical acts of Jesus were eternal acts, in that they had ramifications that are true for all eternity. When we get baptised we link into those historical acts of Christ and are made part of them and in that way we perform an eternal act.
In that sense we can see that once you are baptised it is forever, for eternity. You can’t be "unbaptised". The act is eternal.
I.e. when you get baptised it is not just a symbol – something actually happens. The NT describes what happens as “being buried and rising with Christ”. We pass from this time-controlled life that ends with death and we rise with Christ into eternal life!
The word I use here is Incorporation.
Through baptism we are incorporated into the death, burial and resurrection on Christ – at an experiential level.
Baptism, then, is a real experience of deliverance, or salvation, from the bondage of the Old man corrupted by sin. Victory over sin is made possible through baptism because the old fleshly nature has been, in a real sense, buried with Christ in Baptism.
When we accept Christ as saviour our old man dies, but when we are baptised the body of the old man is buried. It is “put off” forever.
THE PROCESS OF SALVATION, OR DELIVERANCE.
Two words are important here:
(i) Justification - means my sin is forgiven and in Christ, before God, I have a new standing. I am declared righteous/justified - just-as-if-I'd never sinned. I am free from guilt, and declared righteous. This is purely a legal declaration.
(ii) Salvation - means I am delivered in experience from the guilt and power of sin and of all its effects. It includes justification, but is more than justification.
Justification is by faith alone, and is true the moment we believe.
Salvation is a process that begins at new birth. It starts with justification, but will not be completed until we receive our resurrection bodies. The way of salvation includes confession, repentance, faith, baptism, sanctification, healing, deliverance, etc., up to glorification.
Justification deals with the problem of the GUILT of sins I have committed.
Salvation deals with the problem of the POWER of sin that drives me to commit acts of sin.
God has provided a way of deliverance (or salvation) from this power. Jesus has totally defeated all evil powers, but we need to apply that deliverance to our own lives by faith and obedience to the Word of God. Baptism is one small part of this process of obedience whereby we apply the deliverance to our lives.
(a) The General Principle.
Again the best way to teach this principle is by an Illustration:
Hebrews 7:4-10.
“Just think how great he was: Even the patriarch Abraham gave him a tenth of the plunder! Now the law requires the descendants of Levi who become priests to collect a tenth from the people- that is, their brothers- even though their brothers are descended from Abraham. This man, however, did not trace his descent from Levi, yet he collected a tenth from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises.
And without doubt the lesser person is blessed by the greater. In the one case, the tenth is collected by men who die; but in the other case, by him who is declared to be living. One might even say that Levi, who collects the tenth, paid the tenth through Abraham, because when Melchizedek met Abraham, Levi was still in the body of his ancestor.”
This passage illustrates a truth that we can apply in the case of baptism also.
The writer says "Levi paid tithes in Abraham". How? He was not physically present.
The background idea is one of covenant headship or family solidarity: What the head of the family does brings lasting effects on the family. This is an application of the covenant / corporate headship idea.
Levi was a son of Jacob, who was a son of Isaac, who was Abraham's son. Isaac was, as yet, unborn; hence his seed was "still in the loins of Abraham". Hence he was present "in Abraham". Everything that Abraham did, Isaac did also by proxy, and so on for his descendants right down the chain to Levi and beyond.
(b) Application.
Romans 5:12-21.
“Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned- for before the law was given, sin was in the world. But sin is not taken into account when there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who was a pattern of the one to come.
But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God's grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!
Again, the gift of God is not like the result of the one man's sin: The judgement followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification.
For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.
Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men.
For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.
The law was added so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Paul here contrasts two states, using the principle of covenant / family solidarity.
* Every person is born into the family of Adam.
* When Adam sinned we all sinned "in Adam", as Adam sinned before he had children.
* When Adam sinned his nature was debased, he became "fallen". This fallen nature, under the power of sin, was passed on to all of his descendants (i.e. us), as life only propagates "after his kind" (Genesis 1:11,21,25).
Our problem with sin, therefore, is one of parentage; we belong to the wrong family. Adam's family is under a curse of sin and death. We need to get out of that family and be born into a new family which has the nature of life (i.e. God's family).
The only way out of Adam's family is death, but we cannot die and yet live. Death consigns us to Hell. But God's Law demands that sin be punished by death. Our position appears hopeless.
To solve this problem, Christ came and was born a man, the "last Adam" (1 Corinthians 15:45). He came of Adam's line through Mary, thus a relative of man, but was the Son of God. In his coming Jesus summed up all that was Adam in himself and so became truly representative of all who are “in Adam”. Because he summed up all that was Adam and put it to death he is the “Last Adam”.
1 Corinthians 15:45.
“So it is written: "The first man Adam became a living being"; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit.”
This miracle of the Virgin Birth has two results with respect to sin:
(1) The Nature of Sin.
Through Mary Jesus took on (assumed) true fallen humanity so that he could redeem it. Though he assumed sinful flesh he did not succumb to it and thus redeemed it. We discussed this in Chapters 6-9.
Romans 8:3.
“For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man,...”
"Likeness" means "in the same nature".
(2) The Guilt of Sin.
Christ, however did not take on man's position with respect to guilt -the legal claim of sin. Christ lived as perfect man - a sinless life - so sin had no legal claim on him. However he still died. Thus there exists a death that is not a result of sin, a death that is voluntary and is offered on behalf of others who have sinned. Because he was also the Son of God this death is limitless in magnitude and effect. It applies for all time and for all eternity.
His death was vicarious/substitutionary (for us) and thus satisfied the demands of the law on our behalf. The law is satisfied and now we can be set free from its demands.
If we accept Christ three things happen:
1. He pays our sin debt, Sin then no longer has any claims on us in the courtroom of the universe.
2. His death, the death of the "Last Adam" is credited to us and we die, we exit Adam's family.
3. God takes us and puts "into Christ". Christ is the Son of God, so we become, "in Him" members of a new family, the family of God. We now have a new family inheritance, one of life, not of death.
Where Adam's history and sin and nature were ours, now we receive Christ's nature and history:
Christ lived a perfect life of victory over sin 2000 years ago - therefore I have a perfect life of victory.
Christ died 2000 years ago - therefore I died (Romans 6:6; 2 Corinthians 5:14).
Christ was buried - so was I.
Christ rose - so did I (Romans 6:3,4).
Christ ascended to heaven - so did I (Ephesians 2:6).
Christ now rules - so do I.
To exit from Adam I needed to die - I have died. I am now "born again" into the family of God (John 3:3-8).
This is what we confess in baptism, that Christ's death and resurrection have become ours.
(3) How Do We Experience this Deliverance Now?
Romans 6:1-12.
“What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don't you know that all of us who were baptised into Christ Jesus were baptised into his death?
We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection.
For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin- because anyone who has died has been freed from sin Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot
die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.”
(a) The Process.
(i) 6:3 "know" - to know by assurance from God that this is true. To be convinced in your heart by faith. This comes by revelation.
If you do not "know" the rest of the process will not work.
(ii) 6:11 "consider" - Greek = "reckon". This is a bookkeeping world meaning "to credit it as being so". You can stake your life on it.
There are two stages to this:
(a) 6:3 Baptism.
(b) Sanctification.
6:12,13 - "Do not yield... yield"
C/f Colossians 3:5,8 - "Put off ... Put on."
The Place of Baptism.
Christ has died; the Last Adam. He put to death the whole Adamic race. In God's eyes the whole of Adamic mankind and its sin is dead. It has been condemned and crucified.
Romans 8:3 - the flesh, the old Adamic man, is dead.
PROBLEM:
As Christians we know that this is LEGALLY true, but in our experience we find that the old nature of the flesh is still hanging around. A conflict results (Romans 7:14-8:8). Even though the flesh is dead, it is like a body that will not lie down. It trips us up as we try to move in God. Also it decays, it creates a stench, putting off the non-Christians we come in contact with.
The flesh is DEAD, but we need to "put off the flesh with all of its desires". This is where baptism comes in.
Colossians 2:11,12.
“In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ,
having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.”
Baptism is a burial - ours'. It is the burial of the old man, the flesh, now dead in Christ.
Colossians 3:9,10 "Put off... put on"
“Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry…Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.”
This is Baptismal language. In Baptism we take off our old man, like a set of dirty clothes, and we put on the new man, like a new suit of clothes.
In the Early Church this was often symbolised very dramatically. Candidates for baptism took off their old clothes, were baptised in the nude, then were given a new set of white robes to wear, symbolising the righteousness of Christ. This is the origin of the Baptismal robe.
Through baptism we put off the old man. It is illegal to bury a man when he is still alive, but it is equally illegal to leave a dead body lying around unburied. Burial is only for the dead, but if the dead "in Christ" do not get buried then the stench of their old man will be a hindrance to their growth and witness.
Something actually happens, therefore, at Baptism. It is not just a symbol, but it is a prophetic drama through which we enter into the reality of what we symbolise.
Baptism, when coupled with faith, is the burial of the flesh, hence it delivers us (i.e. saves us) from the power of the flesh, sin, death, the law, the world and the devil.
Baptism SAVES us:
Mark 16:16.
“Whoever believes and is baptised will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.”
Romans 10:9,10.
“That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.”
1 Peter 3:20-22.
“…and this water symbolises baptism that now saves you also- not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ,”
Baptism is therefore necessary for your subjective experience of salvation while here on earth, but we must insist that it is not necessary for justification, nor does it affect your eternal destiny.
Baptism as a burial is an exit from spiritual bondage, but it is also a resurrection, and so is the doorway to the Christian life.
Baptism is the doorway to full Christian experience. One cannot experience the full power of God without being baptised.
The Church has always acknowledged this by making baptism the INITIATION RITE into the Church. The Church is that sphere of the activity of the Holy Spirit in his fullness. That fullness is only available to the Church. We enter the Church by Baptism. This is because the Church is Christ's body, and the only way we can enter his body is by death and resurrection.
In Acts Baptism is clearly an initiation rite. Baptism was always at conversion.
Baptism, therefore, is a way out of bondage, and the doorway to full Christian experience. It is not just a ritual or symbol, but something happens in the spiritual realm when we are baptised on which we can take a stand and find deliverance.
It follows, therefore, that we can and should thereafter live in victory:
Romans 6:12-14.
Colossians 3:5-7.
ILLUSTRATION OF THESE TRUTHS.
That Baptism is an exit and a doorway is clearly seen in two OT pictures of Baptism.
(1) The Red Sea.
1 Corinthians 10:1,2.
“For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. They were all baptised into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.”
Exodus 15:10-15,21.
“But you blew with your breath, and the sea covered them. They sank like lead in the mighty waters. "Who among the gods is like you, O LORD? Who is like you- majestic
in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders? You stretched out your right hand and the earth swallowed them. "In your unfailing love you will lead the people you have redeemed. In your strength you will guide them to your holy dwelling.
The nations will hear and tremble; anguish will grip the people of Philistia.
The chiefs of Edom will be terrified, the leaders of Moab will be seized with trembling, the people of Canaan will melt away;…
Miriam sang to them: "Sing to the LORD, for he is highly exalted.
The horse and its rider he has hurled into the sea."
(a) They were delivered from the hand of Pharaoh = Satan.
removed from Egypt = World.
delivered from horses = flesh.
delivered from riders = demons.
(b) Put them in the wilderness = the place of spiritual growth and experience.
There is a change - one cannot go back.
(2) The Flood.
1 Peter 3:20-22.
“…who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, and this water symbolises baptism that now saves you also- not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at God's right hand- with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him.”
The flood destroyed the old world and its way of life, and brought Noah into a new world of experience. He could not go back.
You know, when one really understands what Baptism by immersion can do for you why would anyone want to argue about it? Why not just get it done and get the blessing? Why hang on to a church ritual of sprinkling that has no scriptural blessing or validity when one could have a real deliverance from the power of sin through Christian immersion?
Four Words that sum up Baptism:
1. Immersion.
2. Initiation.
3. Identification.
4. Incorporation.
Note:
Worth reading on this subject is:
Derek Prince: Burial by Baptism.
Originally it came out as a booklet, but it may now be part of the Foundations book. I'm not sure.
Watchman Nee: The Normal Christian Life.
(a great exposition of Romans!)
I have to admit that the whole idea of the prophetic action and its application to baptism and the other sacraments is not something I have read anywhere, or heard anywhere. I believe it is a revelation God has given me. I also believe that it is the way to reconciling the differing opinions in the church on Baptism. It is a new way of looking at it, and as far as I know, no one else has approached it from this angle. In my view, the boxes people have been thinking in about baptism, and the other sacraments, have been unprofitable. All this means is that you may need to do some quite deep thinking on the subject to decide if what I have said is right or not.
HOMEWORK.
Homework for this week is a series of confessions. These are real transformer verses.
1. Read the following out every day – do it for as many weeks as you have to until it becomes true for you in experience.
2. Pray around each one as the Holy Spirit leads.
3. After reading each confession and the attending verses pray a prayer of thanksgiving and acceptance of that truth in your life.
I am united with Christ in his death:
Galatians 2:20
"I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."
Colossians 3:3
"For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God."
Romans 6:3
"Don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?"
I am united with Christ in his Burial:
Romans 6:4
"We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life."
I am united with Christ in his resurrection:
Colossians 2:12
“having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.”
Romans 6:5
"If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection."
I am united with Christ in his ascension:
Ephesians 2:6
"And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,"
Colossians 3:1,2
"Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things."
I am united with Christ in his life:
Romans 6:8
"Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him."
Romans 6:11
"In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus."
Romans 8:10.
"If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal body through his Spirit, who lives in you."
I am united with Christ in his power:
Ephesians 1:19,20.
"(I pray that you may know)… his incomparably great power for/in us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms,"
I am united with Christ in his inheritance:
Romans 8:16,17
"The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs- heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory."
Galatians 4:4-7.
"But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, <"Abba>, Father." So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir."
Chapter 16: - Baptism #2: - What Baptism Does for Us.
Over the centuries of Church history much debate has raged over what baptism actually does for us, if anything at all. Consequently there is a range of views held in the Church.
* On one end of the spectrum is the Roman Catholic idea of Transubstantiation, which is almost magical in its understanding that "Baptism effects salvation", in the sense of justification. The logical implication of this is that one should baptise as many as possible and as soon as possible, i.e. as infants, so that they can be saved.
* On the other extreme is the view of Zwingli, that baptism is only a symbol and effects nothing.
* The logical outcome of the Zwingli position is the Salvation Army position, which says, “If baptism is only a symbol and we have the reality by faith then we can do away with the symbol.” And so they have dispensed with Baptism and Communion altogether.
* In between there is a range of views.
The problem, as I see it, is one the Church often falls into in trying to interpret the Bible.
1. Instead of allowing the Bible to speak for itself we read into the text our own ideas, in this case Western Greek) philosophy. Then we twist the Bible text to suit our already preconceived ideas. This, it seems to me, is the case with the Roman Catholic position.
2. Then comes a “back to the Bible” revival, such as the Protestant Reformation, and there is reaction against the accepted view by different people in varying degrees, so we end up with a range of views. But there is always an extreme view in reaction to the accepted view, and this, I feel, is the case with Zwingli. He just goes too far.
In reality the truth is somewhere in the middle. Baptism does actually do something for us; but it is not magical, it is in response to faith. When we obey Christ by getting baptised in faith there are blessings that are released to us that cannot be obtained any other way.
Rather than try to explain the range of positions and critique them I want to approach the subject from a different angle. The problem starts, I believe, with trying to explain what baptism does for us by using philosophical ideas that have no real place in scripture. If I try to counter that by arguing against it we will spend a lot of time talking about nothing important. So I would rather start with a Bible idea that will, I believe, give you the true picture of what Baptism does for us and how.
The idea I want to show you is that of the “prophetic action.”
THE PROPHETIC ACTION.
A prophetic action is an action that conveys a message, but it in some way the action causes the message to become true.
The best way to teach this is by way of illustration. Perhaps the best illustration of this principle is found in:
2 Kings 13:15-19.
“Elisha said (to the king), "Get a bow and some arrows," and he did so. "Take the bow in your hands," he said to the king of Israel. When he had taken it, Elisha put his hands on the king's hands. "Open the east window," he said, and he opened it. "Shoot!" Elisha said, and he shot. "The LORD's arrow of victory, the arrow of victory over Aram!" Elisha declared. "You will Completely destroy the Arameans at Aphek."
Then he said, "Take the arrows," and the king took them. Elisha told him, "Strike the ground." He struck it three times and stopped. The man of God was angry with him and said, "You should have struck the ground five or six times; then you would have defeated Aram and completely destroyed it. But now you will defeat it only three times."
We see here the prophetic act is an act whereby the prophet, or the servant of God, invites God to come and do something up to a certain limit. That is why the prophet said to the king if he has hit the arrows on the ground several times God would have responded with several victories over the enemies. But now it was limited to three victories – not limited by God’s ability, but limited by the degree of the asking of the man responsible for asking.
In other words the prophetic action determined the actual events or outcomes.
That is the idea of a prophetic action.
We see this idea of the "prophetic action" in operation right through the Bible. This story is not just an isolated instance. It is seen through into the life and ministry of Jesus also – he spat on the ground and made clay and then putting the clay on a blind man’s eye-sockets created eyes in the socket and the man saw.
What is a prophetic action?
1. A prophetic action is an action performed by the servant of God that contains a message or symbolises a message or illustrates a message.
2. In some sense the action of the prophet ensures that the event being symbolized, the message, becomes real or is actualized. In some sense the activity of the prophet causes the event to happen.
This is all part of a particularly Jewish way of seeing things. The Jews do not separate the spiritual and the material in the way that we do, and they saw a clear causal connection between the prophetic word, the symbolic act and the event itself.
This idea is fundamental to understanding the self-identity of the Jew. No orthodox Jew considers the events of Bible history—the bondage in Egypt, the Passover, the Red Sea, Mount Sinai, the events around the feast of Purim, etc., to be purely historical. In Jewish society every year these events are commemorated, they are "remembered". Every year they are acted out at annual celebrations – memorials – Passover, Pentecost, Atonement, Purim and so on. Each of these festivals contains a message.
In the festival the history is re-enacted in such a way so as to relive the story again. In this way every Jew since those events thousands of years ago has become part of the original events. The purpose of this acting out, this "remembering", is to bring the events of the past into the present in such a way that the past events become personal and real to the present generation. The story is told again in a prophetic way.
As a result these are no longer just memories, no indeed - every Jew was there. They were all in Egypt, they all went through the plagues and the Passover, they all crossed the Red Sea and came to Sinai, they all suffered under Haman in the days of Esther. And so on. And this “remembering” every year has served to make the events so real in their consciousness that their national identity will never die out.
So the idea of "remembrance" in Jewish thinking is not simply to have a memorial and to remember past events, but a "remembrance" is a recreation of the original events in such a way that the participants in the "remembrance" actually are participating in the original events. They were there. These are prophetic actions.
So when Jesus said about communion, "This do in remembrance of me" he was not just calling us to remember some historical event in the sense that I remember "2+2 = 4". He was inviting us to participate in the event of the Cross and resurrection in such a way as to become somebody who was "there". And in "being there" the meaning of it becomes true for us at an experiential level.
When we look at Baptism we see this idea is true for Baptism.
* It is an action that preaches a message.
* In some way doing the action makes the message come true for the participant.
* It brings the past events of Christ’s death and resurrection into present experiential reality.
When we understand this concept of the "prophetic action" we can clearly see that the NT teaching about Baptism indicates that something real happens in the act. We don't have to "symbolise it all away", there is a reality there that gives the necessity for following through with the action. “Faith without works is dead”.
Romans 6:3-7
“Do you not know that all of us who were baptised into Christ Jesus were baptised into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live in newness of life.”
Notice that Paul does not say here that we are “symbolically baptised into Christ’s death.” The tendency for many Christians, particularly if they have been taught in a church where Zwingli’s interpretation holds sway, is to read it that way. But this is to insert words into the text that are not there to arrive at an interpretation to suit ourselves. And such is not allowable. It is a short road to deception.
When we understand the Jewish way of thinking we see that baptism is a prophetic action, a memorial, by which we make to historical acts symbolised in it (Christ’s death and resurrection) real and up to date for us. In a sense we are transported through time back to the original events and we are made part of them.
Hence baptism is an eternal act in that it transcends time. The historical acts of Jesus were eternal acts, in that they had ramifications that are true for all eternity. When we get baptised we link into those historical acts of Christ and are made part of them and in that way we perform an eternal act.
In that sense we can see that once you are baptised it is forever, for eternity. You can’t be "unbaptised". The act is eternal.
I.e. when you get baptised it is not just a symbol – something actually happens. The NT describes what happens as “being buried and rising with Christ”. We pass from this time-controlled life that ends with death and we rise with Christ into eternal life!
The word I use here is Incorporation.
Through baptism we are incorporated into the death, burial and resurrection on Christ – at an experiential level.
Baptism, then, is a real experience of deliverance, or salvation, from the bondage of the Old man corrupted by sin. Victory over sin is made possible through baptism because the old fleshly nature has been, in a real sense, buried with Christ in Baptism.
When we accept Christ as saviour our old man dies, but when we are baptised the body of the old man is buried. It is “put off” forever.
THE PROCESS OF SALVATION, OR DELIVERANCE.
Two words are important here:
(i) Justification - means my sin is forgiven and in Christ, before God, I have a new standing. I am declared righteous/justified - just-as-if-I'd never sinned. I am free from guilt, and declared righteous. This is purely a legal declaration.
(ii) Salvation - means I am delivered in experience from the guilt and power of sin and of all its effects. It includes justification, but is more than justification.
Justification is by faith alone, and is true the moment we believe.
Salvation is a process that begins at new birth. It starts with justification, but will not be completed until we receive our resurrection bodies. The way of salvation includes confession, repentance, faith, baptism, sanctification, healing, deliverance, etc., up to glorification.
Justification deals with the problem of the GUILT of sins I have committed.
Salvation deals with the problem of the POWER of sin that drives me to commit acts of sin.
God has provided a way of deliverance (or salvation) from this power. Jesus has totally defeated all evil powers, but we need to apply that deliverance to our own lives by faith and obedience to the Word of God. Baptism is one small part of this process of obedience whereby we apply the deliverance to our lives.
(a) The General Principle.
Again the best way to teach this principle is by an Illustration:
Hebrews 7:4-10.
“Just think how great he was: Even the patriarch Abraham gave him a tenth of the plunder! Now the law requires the descendants of Levi who become priests to collect a tenth from the people- that is, their brothers- even though their brothers are descended from Abraham. This man, however, did not trace his descent from Levi, yet he collected a tenth from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises.
And without doubt the lesser person is blessed by the greater. In the one case, the tenth is collected by men who die; but in the other case, by him who is declared to be living. One might even say that Levi, who collects the tenth, paid the tenth through Abraham, because when Melchizedek met Abraham, Levi was still in the body of his ancestor.”
This passage illustrates a truth that we can apply in the case of baptism also.
The writer says "Levi paid tithes in Abraham". How? He was not physically present.
The background idea is one of covenant headship or family solidarity: What the head of the family does brings lasting effects on the family. This is an application of the covenant / corporate headship idea.
Levi was a son of Jacob, who was a son of Isaac, who was Abraham's son. Isaac was, as yet, unborn; hence his seed was "still in the loins of Abraham". Hence he was present "in Abraham". Everything that Abraham did, Isaac did also by proxy, and so on for his descendants right down the chain to Levi and beyond.
(b) Application.
Romans 5:12-21.
“Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned- for before the law was given, sin was in the world. But sin is not taken into account when there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who was a pattern of the one to come.
But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God's grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!
Again, the gift of God is not like the result of the one man's sin: The judgement followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification.
For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.
Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men.
For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.
The law was added so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Paul here contrasts two states, using the principle of covenant / family solidarity.
* Every person is born into the family of Adam.
* When Adam sinned we all sinned "in Adam", as Adam sinned before he had children.
* When Adam sinned his nature was debased, he became "fallen". This fallen nature, under the power of sin, was passed on to all of his descendants (i.e. us), as life only propagates "after his kind" (Genesis 1:11,21,25).
Our problem with sin, therefore, is one of parentage; we belong to the wrong family. Adam's family is under a curse of sin and death. We need to get out of that family and be born into a new family which has the nature of life (i.e. God's family).
The only way out of Adam's family is death, but we cannot die and yet live. Death consigns us to Hell. But God's Law demands that sin be punished by death. Our position appears hopeless.
To solve this problem, Christ came and was born a man, the "last Adam" (1 Corinthians 15:45). He came of Adam's line through Mary, thus a relative of man, but was the Son of God. In his coming Jesus summed up all that was Adam in himself and so became truly representative of all who are “in Adam”. Because he summed up all that was Adam and put it to death he is the “Last Adam”.
1 Corinthians 15:45.
“So it is written: "The first man Adam became a living being"; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit.”
This miracle of the Virgin Birth has two results with respect to sin:
(1) The Nature of Sin.
Through Mary Jesus took on (assumed) true fallen humanity so that he could redeem it. Though he assumed sinful flesh he did not succumb to it and thus redeemed it. We discussed this in Chapters 6-9.
Romans 8:3.
“For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man,...”
"Likeness" means "in the same nature".
(2) The Guilt of Sin.
Christ, however did not take on man's position with respect to guilt -the legal claim of sin. Christ lived as perfect man - a sinless life - so sin had no legal claim on him. However he still died. Thus there exists a death that is not a result of sin, a death that is voluntary and is offered on behalf of others who have sinned. Because he was also the Son of God this death is limitless in magnitude and effect. It applies for all time and for all eternity.
His death was vicarious/substitutionary (for us) and thus satisfied the demands of the law on our behalf. The law is satisfied and now we can be set free from its demands.
If we accept Christ three things happen:
1. He pays our sin debt, Sin then no longer has any claims on us in the courtroom of the universe.
2. His death, the death of the "Last Adam" is credited to us and we die, we exit Adam's family.
3. God takes us and puts "into Christ". Christ is the Son of God, so we become, "in Him" members of a new family, the family of God. We now have a new family inheritance, one of life, not of death.
Where Adam's history and sin and nature were ours, now we receive Christ's nature and history:
Christ lived a perfect life of victory over sin 2000 years ago - therefore I have a perfect life of victory.
Christ died 2000 years ago - therefore I died (Romans 6:6; 2 Corinthians 5:14).
Christ was buried - so was I.
Christ rose - so did I (Romans 6:3,4).
Christ ascended to heaven - so did I (Ephesians 2:6).
Christ now rules - so do I.
To exit from Adam I needed to die - I have died. I am now "born again" into the family of God (John 3:3-8).
This is what we confess in baptism, that Christ's death and resurrection have become ours.
(3) How Do We Experience this Deliverance Now?
Romans 6:1-12.
“What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don't you know that all of us who were baptised into Christ Jesus were baptised into his death?
We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection.
For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin- because anyone who has died has been freed from sin Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot
die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.”
(a) The Process.
(i) 6:3 "know" - to know by assurance from God that this is true. To be convinced in your heart by faith. This comes by revelation.
If you do not "know" the rest of the process will not work.
(ii) 6:11 "consider" - Greek = "reckon". This is a bookkeeping world meaning "to credit it as being so". You can stake your life on it.
There are two stages to this:
(a) 6:3 Baptism.
(b) Sanctification.
6:12,13 - "Do not yield... yield"
C/f Colossians 3:5,8 - "Put off ... Put on."
The Place of Baptism.
Christ has died; the Last Adam. He put to death the whole Adamic race. In God's eyes the whole of Adamic mankind and its sin is dead. It has been condemned and crucified.
Romans 8:3 - the flesh, the old Adamic man, is dead.
PROBLEM:
As Christians we know that this is LEGALLY true, but in our experience we find that the old nature of the flesh is still hanging around. A conflict results (Romans 7:14-8:8). Even though the flesh is dead, it is like a body that will not lie down. It trips us up as we try to move in God. Also it decays, it creates a stench, putting off the non-Christians we come in contact with.
The flesh is DEAD, but we need to "put off the flesh with all of its desires". This is where baptism comes in.
Colossians 2:11,12.
“In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ,
having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.”
Baptism is a burial - ours'. It is the burial of the old man, the flesh, now dead in Christ.
Colossians 3:9,10 "Put off... put on"
“Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry…Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.”
This is Baptismal language. In Baptism we take off our old man, like a set of dirty clothes, and we put on the new man, like a new suit of clothes.
In the Early Church this was often symbolised very dramatically. Candidates for baptism took off their old clothes, were baptised in the nude, then were given a new set of white robes to wear, symbolising the righteousness of Christ. This is the origin of the Baptismal robe.
Through baptism we put off the old man. It is illegal to bury a man when he is still alive, but it is equally illegal to leave a dead body lying around unburied. Burial is only for the dead, but if the dead "in Christ" do not get buried then the stench of their old man will be a hindrance to their growth and witness.
Something actually happens, therefore, at Baptism. It is not just a symbol, but it is a prophetic drama through which we enter into the reality of what we symbolise.
Baptism, when coupled with faith, is the burial of the flesh, hence it delivers us (i.e. saves us) from the power of the flesh, sin, death, the law, the world and the devil.
Baptism SAVES us:
Mark 16:16.
“Whoever believes and is baptised will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.”
Romans 10:9,10.
“That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.”
1 Peter 3:20-22.
“…and this water symbolises baptism that now saves you also- not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ,”
Baptism is therefore necessary for your subjective experience of salvation while here on earth, but we must insist that it is not necessary for justification, nor does it affect your eternal destiny.
Baptism as a burial is an exit from spiritual bondage, but it is also a resurrection, and so is the doorway to the Christian life.
Baptism is the doorway to full Christian experience. One cannot experience the full power of God without being baptised.
The Church has always acknowledged this by making baptism the INITIATION RITE into the Church. The Church is that sphere of the activity of the Holy Spirit in his fullness. That fullness is only available to the Church. We enter the Church by Baptism. This is because the Church is Christ's body, and the only way we can enter his body is by death and resurrection.
In Acts Baptism is clearly an initiation rite. Baptism was always at conversion.
Baptism, therefore, is a way out of bondage, and the doorway to full Christian experience. It is not just a ritual or symbol, but something happens in the spiritual realm when we are baptised on which we can take a stand and find deliverance.
It follows, therefore, that we can and should thereafter live in victory:
Romans 6:12-14.
Colossians 3:5-7.
ILLUSTRATION OF THESE TRUTHS.
That Baptism is an exit and a doorway is clearly seen in two OT pictures of Baptism.
(1) The Red Sea.
1 Corinthians 10:1,2.
“For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. They were all baptised into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.”
Exodus 15:10-15,21.
“But you blew with your breath, and the sea covered them. They sank like lead in the mighty waters. "Who among the gods is like you, O LORD? Who is like you- majestic
in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders? You stretched out your right hand and the earth swallowed them. "In your unfailing love you will lead the people you have redeemed. In your strength you will guide them to your holy dwelling.
The nations will hear and tremble; anguish will grip the people of Philistia.
The chiefs of Edom will be terrified, the leaders of Moab will be seized with trembling, the people of Canaan will melt away;…
Miriam sang to them: "Sing to the LORD, for he is highly exalted.
The horse and its rider he has hurled into the sea."
(a) They were delivered from the hand of Pharaoh = Satan.
removed from Egypt = World.
delivered from horses = flesh.
delivered from riders = demons.
(b) Put them in the wilderness = the place of spiritual growth and experience.
There is a change - one cannot go back.
(2) The Flood.
1 Peter 3:20-22.
“…who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, and this water symbolises baptism that now saves you also- not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at God's right hand- with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him.”
The flood destroyed the old world and its way of life, and brought Noah into a new world of experience. He could not go back.
You know, when one really understands what Baptism by immersion can do for you why would anyone want to argue about it? Why not just get it done and get the blessing? Why hang on to a church ritual of sprinkling that has no scriptural blessing or validity when one could have a real deliverance from the power of sin through Christian immersion?
Four Words that sum up Baptism:
1. Immersion.
2. Initiation.
3. Identification.
4. Incorporation.
Note:
Worth reading on this subject is:
Derek Prince: Burial by Baptism.
Originally it came out as a booklet, but it may now be part of the Foundations book. I'm not sure.
Watchman Nee: The Normal Christian Life.
(a great exposition of Romans!)
I have to admit that the whole idea of the prophetic action and its application to baptism and the other sacraments is not something I have read anywhere, or heard anywhere. I believe it is a revelation God has given me. I also believe that it is the way to reconciling the differing opinions in the church on Baptism. It is a new way of looking at it, and as far as I know, no one else has approached it from this angle. In my view, the boxes people have been thinking in about baptism, and the other sacraments, have been unprofitable. All this means is that you may need to do some quite deep thinking on the subject to decide if what I have said is right or not.
HOMEWORK.
Homework for this week is a series of confessions. These are real transformer verses.
1. Read the following out every day – do it for as many weeks as you have to until it becomes true for you in experience.
2. Pray around each one as the Holy Spirit leads.
3. After reading each confession and the attending verses pray a prayer of thanksgiving and acceptance of that truth in your life.
I am united with Christ in his death:
Galatians 2:20
"I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."
Colossians 3:3
"For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God."
Romans 6:3
"Don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?"
I am united with Christ in his Burial:
Romans 6:4
"We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life."
I am united with Christ in his resurrection:
Colossians 2:12
“having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.”
Romans 6:5
"If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection."
I am united with Christ in his ascension:
Ephesians 2:6
"And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,"
Colossians 3:1,2
"Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things."
I am united with Christ in his life:
Romans 6:8
"Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him."
Romans 6:11
"In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus."
Romans 8:10.
"If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal body through his Spirit, who lives in you."
I am united with Christ in his power:
Ephesians 1:19,20.
"(I pray that you may know)… his incomparably great power for/in us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms,"
I am united with Christ in his inheritance:
Romans 8:16,17
"The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs- heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory."
Galatians 4:4-7.
"But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, <"Abba>, Father." So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir."
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