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Wednesday, October 18, 2006
Baptism Pt. I
 This has been a long while coming but It's finally here! My series on Baptism is now officially begun and I know that you all couldn't be more pleased. Of course, it would be only natural to begin with a definition and then outline the purpose of a thing so I will begin on that premise. (Hence the title, grad students) Baptism is, according to the Catholic Catechism, ...the basis of the whole Christian life, the gateway to life in the Spirit, and the door which gives access to the other sacraments. Through Baptism we are freed from sin and reborn as sons of God; we become members of Christ, are incorporated into the Church and made sharers in her mission: "Baptism is the sacrament of regeneration through water in the word." The majority of christians can agree that baptism is the basis, the foundation, the very initiation into the whole of Christian life. It is the doorway to the rest of the commonly accepted sacraments (it would be silly to number these things) In our baptism into Christ, we are no longer bound up by our internal perversions, our spiritual sickness; we enter new life as those on mission with God. That is a lovely elaboration/definition but what does it really mean? How does partaking in this, the most basic and foundational of the sacraments, alter the spiritual fabric we're sown up with? That's the question I used to stump my pastors with. I half-wanted to show off my trickiness but I also half-wanted a damn answer! Cliches never do much in the way of spiritual fulfillment... In the act of baptism, individuals leave behind care for the City of Man (self) and enter into God's new world. Life is now lived for others. In caring for others, we serve One. Baptism grabs selfishness by the throat and drowns it. Until it's dead. One simply cannot live in both cities at one time. One or the other, people, one or the other...
It isn't just an individual rite for the individual believer, as Aimee says, but the bringing together of all the elements of our salvation: water, blood, spirit, and faith for the purpose of building Christ's mystical corporate body. Water is the instrument of cleansing; blood is the triumph over death; spirit is the divine reality; and faith is the cooperation of these previous three. It isn't just a single event but a lifelong process/event. Baptism is the doorway to our complete and whole redemption. How are we to remain in Christ if we have never entered in the first place? The Church is the Body and Bride of the ressurected Christ and welcomes all people of all times in all places. But you gotta step in. It's not a de facto operation.
Baptism is Christ's gift to the whole (universal) church, not just those who do it the biblical/ancient/catholic/baptist/dipping/sprinkling/"right" way; It is inherently ecumenical. One baptism, kids. Not one for the protestants over here, the catholics over there, and the orthodox somewhere in the middle. Nope. One Baptism. Kind of hard to get around that bit of scripture...
The World Council of Churches also has a lovely definition of baptism which would be appropriate here,
Through baptism, Christians are brought into union with Christ, with each other and with the Church at every time and place. Our common baptism, which unites us to Christ in faith, is thus a basic bond of unity. We are one people and are called to confess and serve one Lord in each place and in all the world.
That doesn't mean that all so-called "baptisms" are valid. There is a difference between enetering into a covenant relationship with the Trinitarian God whereby sins are forgiven and one is reborn into Kingdom life and "glorified hot tub time with a really nice man." That's very important.
Well, that's about all for my first post on this subject. Two more to come. Leave thoughts and kisses.
:-*
posted by -mike- at 11:08 PM
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14 Comments:
This is well done, Mike. I think discussions about the communal aspects of the sacrament are indispensible: baptism doesn't only place me in union with Christ, but it places me in union with all these other people in Christ in a way that I will never thoroughly understand, but must always learn to live into.
In Resident Aliens, Hauerwas and Willimon place Christian ethics in terms of respecting one's own baptism as well as others: calling each other to faithfulness that is in line with the vows, letting ourselves be challenged, and to take responsibility for that is part of that vow.
I agree, in my tradition, Baptism also is the base Sacrament which gives identity to the Christian and undergirds all we are and do.
We don't see it as a single event but an all pervasive and life long process. In the waters of Baptism, we are "marked as Christ's own forever", and I have ben told, that all the Sacraments of the Church flow from those orignal waters of Baptism.
Once you have joined the community of the Baptized, you can seek the other Sacraments, mainly the Eucharist, and to a lesser extent marriage, penance, healing, etc.
I think that you're right on the money here. As a former Baptist one of the easiest things for me to accept is that by Baptism God actually means something. I had a friend who recently told me that until he accepted paedobaptism he had no idea what baptism meant. That's probably because to the baptists it has no real meaning.
A very good first post on baptism, Mike. I look forward to the rest.
Your significant description of the meaning and purpose of baptism makes me feel for those who have professed Christ, but have never chosen to move forward with their baptism.
Mike i like the new look! Thanks for the comments.
Day
Good stuff... one of the issues I think Christians have failed to struggle with sufficiently in the midst of all the denominational fragmentation and schism--different people trying to claim more holiness than others--is the issue that Baptism makes us one body... really... no if's and's or but's.
Indeed, while I can accept the idea that separation on the institutional level may become necessary in order for one to proclaim the Gospel without hindrance, (though I think people have tended to jump ship far too soon in most cases, given hind-sight), it can never be done with a holier-than-thou attitude. There are none of us holy apart from Christ and the Holy Spirit, and none of us can claim to be part of an unblemished "remanant" while we at the same time show our own sin off like a prize bull.
Instead, we have to repent and mourn our institutional separation, regardless of how practically necessary we may believe it to be, while recognizing that we are one body and that what Joe Blow Christian of whatever denomination does actually reflects on me and affects me. Until we understand that and stop de-churching people we disagree with, we have no basis to call our brothers and sisters to faithfulness, for as Paul said: "For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge?" (1 Cor. 5:12). If I deny that a brother or sister is a Christian for whatever reason, then I have denied myself the opportunity to be in relationship with them--I have cut myself off, rejected one of the foundational tenets of Baptism, and I have removed the possibility that I might offer fraternal correction as well as exhortation to my brothers and sisters in Christ, regardless of our differences. There's no doubt that we need to reflect more on Baptism. Good post.
It's so great getting such a fresh perspective on Baptism. No mention of it just being a symbol of Christ Death and resurection, means its fresh for me in baptist land. Something I would like to throw into the mix, is the idea of Baptism being a prophecy of the holy spirit's work in us. just like it says in acts 1, john baptized with water but you will be baptized with the holy spirit. It's like God is washing us, and we're expiriencing a small part of it.
Mike -
Is there a chance of you commenting on the memorial view of baptism? It might round out your study.
Also, whoever said that baptism does not "mean" anything to baptists, either needs to redefine the word "mean" to mean something it does not, or you simply do not understand the baptist view of baptism. Of course baptism means something to baptists. You may not accept the answer, but it certainly is significant to their theology and ecclesiology.
John: I may mention it in passing reference but I will not examine it in depth. Like you, I was a student at Southern Seminary. I am familiar with baptist teaching and practice as I resided in what Robbie called "baptist land" for quite some time. Obviously, I am not baptist. In fact, you may see a bit of prejudice in regards to that particular sect. Many on SBTSblogs feel the need to bash the ECUSA, PCUSA, or anything not reformed... I will not be bashing. But I also won't seriously consider calvinism or zwinglism. So sorry if that troubles you.
Sincerely
Mike -
What is the relationship of faith to baptism? All this talk about baptism as the entrance into Christ is a bit confusing because you have not tied baptism to faith. If one keeps pressing baptism as entrance into Christ, it will make some passages in the NT very hard to read. Take Romans 6:1-7 for example. Paul is talking about our baptism. No one dissents from this point. The question is, how does Romans 6 relate back to all Paul has said about faith in Christ? As a baptist, of course I think Romans 6 is talking about baptism as symbol of the reality of what faith in Christ accomplishes. Through faith in Christ, we were hung on the cross with Jesus, laid in the tomb, and raised with Christ. Baptism symbolizes all of these elements. Also, my study of faith an baptism in the NT has led me to believe that the two are synonymous. So Paul describes baptism in Romans 6, but I believe that he is employing another synonym for faith, which has been his main point in Romans.
The main issue: I would suggest working out the relationship of faith to baptism so that you can mantain a unified NT (of course with diversity as well, but not contradiction). God bless you in your study.
John: Could you describe a bit more of what you mean by saying the two are synonymous? Are you saying that by coming to faith in the risen christ I am mystically baptized into the communion of the saints? Or are you saying that by partaking of physical baptism I come to faith forcibly?
Let me know.
Mike -
Good questions. You are familiar with the baptist view so please keep that in mind while I am laying out this position. I am not talking down to you, but I do understand that you understand the position which I will espouse.
What I mean by "synonymous" is that when the NT talks about baptism, it assumes that faith is in the immediate vicinity. In fact this happens in places so that Peter in 1 Peter 3:21 can say that "Baptism now saves you." Or Peter at Pentecost in Acts 2 can say, "Repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of sins." I do not think that Peter is advocating some sacramental view of baptism in these texts, but what he is doing is referring to the act which is so closely associated with that of believing in Christ. 1 Peter 3:21 uses baptism to describe the same realities that faith in Christ accomplishes in other places in the NT (Col 2:11-12). Colossians 2:11-12 is so important because contrary to the Presbyterian viewpoint, the passage speaks nothing of the transfer of circumcision to baptism, but rather it speaks of the objective realities which become ours through faith.
A major truth emerges in Acts 10:44-48, which sets the whole program for baptism in the book of Acts. These who have already received the Holy Spirit, shall they not also be baptized. By receiving the Spirit, it is very clear that they have already entered into the new covenant community (Acts 2:16ff), and afterwards, they receive the waters of baptism.
In order for the sacramental view to be right, and I believe your own, you have to separate baptism from faith (faith in Christ is also the way in which someone becomes indwelt by the Spirit). The baptism experience happens long before the faith experience. I think this view is backwards when compared to the NT.
Does this clarify some things?
Thanks for the clarification.
Hmmm... I know what you mean by (saving) faith but I'm not convinced that initiation into the christian way is quite so simple. I would agree that the Apostles weren't speaking of a developed sacramental view as that poor eisegetic assumption would not only be anachronistic but do a certain disrespect for the history and development of theology. I would be so bold as to call it a proto-sacramental view.
These were Jews performing these baptisms, we must remember. They were coming out of strange mix of culture and theology, each from different walks of life and theological upbringing. Covenant theology teaches that circumcision is transferred into baptism, in the christian tradition. That is my position but it may be disputed.
I won't say much on the Holy Spirit bit. Mostly because I am working the issues out within myself but I think it would be a fair thing to say that my tradition holds that the Holy Spirit enters into someone (typically) at baptism. I am sure that can be countered with the story in Acts but I will not respond to that at this time.
I think that faith is a process, a journey with Christ. It isn't a one-time happening with tears and repetetive guitar-driven music. It is a life-long commitment to a radically different way than we find in the domains of sin and death ("the world") Baptism is the first major step in that journey. That's my take on it.
Mike -
Thanks for the interaction on this issue.
I agree with you that faith is a process. The verbal form "believing" adequately sums up this point. However, all processes have an initiation. In my view, the Holy Spirit initiates faith. God gives faith (Eph 2:8-9; Philippians 1:29-30). So any Christian should be able to look back and say there was a time when I was not believing, but now I am believing.
I think the NT teaches that baptism was the initiation of the process, but the water baptism was so intertwined (temporally) with the Spirit baptism (faith producing). So Acts 10 teaches that they were Spirit baptized (whether the "signs" occur today or not is a separate issue and does not matter at this point), expressed faith, and then baptized with water in the name of Jesus Christ.
I still think you may want to consider the relationship of the Spirit with faith, and then that relationship needs to be related to the water baptism. Another text to consider is Galatians 3:2, 14. Paul asks, How did you receive the Spirit? Through works or by the hearing of faith? In verse 14 he concludes they received the promised Spirit through faith. The sign that a person is a part of the new covenant is the reception of the Spirit. Thus I am a symbolist in my view of baptism. Water baptism captures outwardly what God did inwardly in my own heart.
Incidently, Luther and Calvin (?) realized that faith was essential for baptism. Remember that they concluded to baptize the infants of believers because the parents' faith was sufficient for the child. They knew faith was essential for baptism, and knew the child did not have faith, but the parents had faith for the child. I am ignorant of any Scriptural support for this claim.
Thanks for the charitable interaction.
- John
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