Baptism: Bonfires and Passovers
1.
The power of public ordinances is hard to exaggerate and it's only when
we're not thinking or not thinking clearly that we dismiss them. All
over Northern Ireland on the 11th and 12th of July bonfires burn, flags
fly, people dance, curbs are painted, streamers flutter and tens of
thousands march to selected locations to listen to passionate speakers
defend the union between Northern Ireland and Great Britain. These
celebrations keep alive the memory of two major battles (Boyne and
Aughrim) which shaped the future of Northern Ireland. For those to whom
the union is a passionate concern, the bonfires, marches and speeches
are vitally important. They remind them who they are, what dangers they
were rescued from and what their responsibilities are to those who will
come after them. Others might despise the flag-waving and bonfires but
no one who cherishes the union dismisses these public traditions.
2.
The greatest secular holiday of the United States is 'Independence Day'
(July 4th) when people get involved in fireworks displays, picnics,
speeches, and all the trappings of a public festival. Foreigners might
sniff at all this but no patriotic American ridicules these public acts
which commemorate the birth of the new Republican nation.
3.
Yom Kippur and Passover, two of the main public observances of the
Jewish people, remind them who they are and what is required of them. By
these and other ordinances and festivals their history is retold and
their identity is preserved and their purposes are focused. It wouldn't
enter the head of a pious Jew to dismiss these rites and ordinances. To
despise them would be to despise the truths and the God they proclaim.
To forget them would to be forget one's roots, heritage and identity.
That's not hard to understand. What is hard to understand is the way
many who profess allegiance to Jesus Christ can dismiss baptism (or Holy
Communion) as of little consequence. In doing this, they not only set
aside the strong witness of the New Testament and the early Church, they
belittle a powerful voice for Christ. (More about this shortly.)
4.
This belittling of baptism is a modern thing. It isn't viewed this way
in the New Testament. (The famous British scholar, F.F. Bruce, reminded
us that the New Testament book of Acts knows nothing of unbaptized
Christians.) You only have to read the book of Acts to see the
importance placed on it by the apostles and the early Church. Nor should
we think that it lost its important place as soon as the apostles died.
It did not. Believers in every age down the centuries acknowledged it
to be what the New Testament teaching and practice claimed it to be.
This is common knowledge among those who have read 'Church History'
literature. All the illustrious people in church history, whatever their
differences in details, insisted that this ordinance was from the
Sovereign Lord and must be treated as such. We might pass by the witness
of the Church down the centuries and rest only on New Testament
writings but the single voice of interpreters down the years adds
assurance that we're hearing the NT correctly.
THE POWER & PURPOSE OF ORDINANCES
5.
Like every other public ordinance or festival, baptism proclaims the
power of something or someone else. When ancient Jews put blood on their
door-posts, they did so because of some prior truth or reality. (See Exodus 12
for yourself.) The act made sense because of the word they received
from God. The bonfires in Northern Ireland make sense because of the
victories of Aughrim and Boyne and the public celebrations in America on
July 4th take their meaning and strength from the way democracy and
full citizenship are received by the Americans.
6.
This is true even at a personal level. A pair of baby shoes, an old
photograph, a well-worn toy or a train ticket-any of these can keep
alive and vibrant, memories which strengthen, cheer or inspire. Flora
McDonald and her mother were buried in two sheets which were used only
once before becoming their shrouds. 'Bonnie Prince Charlie' escaping
from his enemies had spent the night in their home. When he left the two
women reverently folded the sheets on his bed and put them aside for
the day of their burial. 'Outsiders' would see only a worn out doll, a
grubby train-ticket or a perfectly ordinary pair of bed-sheets. But to
those who were in the know, these were 'sacraments'.
7.
Baptism as an ordinance came from the Lord and those who trusted him
and received him as Lord saw baptism as others couldn't. Those who
wished to give their allegiance to him were baptized. Those who rejected
him rejected baptism in his name. Those who saw baptism as something
important and to be obeyed saw it that way because they saw something in
him that filled the ordinance with deep significance and sacredness.
They had no praise or reverence for baptism in and of itself because
they never thought of baptism in and of itself. They thought of it in
relation to him.
8.
It would be a terrible mistake to isolate the ordinances and ceremonies
from their origins. That would be contrary to what God wants. In Exodus 12:26,
for example, we read: "And when your children ask you, "What does this
ceremony mean?' then tell them..." The ordinances were not ordained so
that Israel would have something to do-they told things about God, about
his character and his rescuing Israel from slavery. It was part of
Israel's failure that sometimes the rites were observed when their true
significance had been forgotten and allegiance to one God (Yahweh) had
vanished.
9.
But they were meant to teach Israel of their roots; to remind them that
they had not delivered themselves; to drum into their minds who had
delivered them from what and to instruct them so they could live an
ordered life under Yahweh. The rites and festivals, the ceremonies and
sacrifices were not lifeless, joyless observances which 'had to be done
because God commands them'. They were precious links with the past; they
were national reminders of their continuing dignity and destiny. The
Israelites felt honoured to be allowed to observe them and God, their
God, was at the centre of all their humble submission
BAPTISM AS A WITNESS TO JESUS CHRIST
10.
You can't baptize a believer without proclaiming the grace of God which
was shown in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ (see 1 Corinthians 15:1-3).
11.
In the centuries following the apostles, Christians occasionally built
their baptisteries with eight sides. The number eight was well
established as the number which spoke of 'a new beginning' or
'resurrection'. These early believers wanted to stress the
'resurrection' aspect of baptism as well as the death and burial aspects
(see all three aspects in Romans 6:3-7).
And the custom to have those being baptized enter the baptistery at one
end and come out another and then to be robed in a white garment became
common. Again, the death and resurrection aspects of baptism are
prominent. In these ways the central events concerning the central
figure of the Christian faith were heralded as part of the Christian
faith each time a person was baptized.
12. From the very beginning, Christians have claimed that there is no other person but Jesus by whom people can be saved (Acts 4:12).
That was what the Church witnessed to the world. They did it by their
lives, by engaging in Holy Communion and in their teaching and
proclamation. But they did it by the ordinance of baptism as well.
Anyone who was baptized and anyone who witnessed it would hear the name
of Jesus Christ associated with this person becoming a Christian.
13. You only need to read Acts 2:38; 8:12; 19:5; 22:16
and elsewhere to see how 'the name of Jesus Christ' is proclaimed at
baptism. The 'name' of a person in Scripture stands for the person as it
very often does with us.
14.
Just before he returned to heaven, the resurrected Lord said this to
his followers: "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 will
be with you always, to the very end of the age." (Matthew 28:18-20).
15. Baptism is here aligned with the whole Godhead into whom believers are to be baptized. The Son not only commands that this be done by his authority, his name is rooted firmly in that awesome company. The ordinance bears witness to the exalted person and nature of him whom we know as Jesus of Nazareth.
16. This command is universal in scope. (It is for “all nations”.) It is timeless in duration. (He would be with them to do it “always, to the very end of the age.”) It is the desire and will of Christ himself. (“All authority...has been given to me. Therefore go...”) It should be enough that he has commanded it. It should be enough that he desires it. Both are true! Baptism cannot be administered without the Lordship of Jesus Christ being proclaimed. Since he desires it and has commanded it, we ought to gladly and humbly fulfil it.
15. Baptism is here aligned with the whole Godhead into whom believers are to be baptized. The Son not only commands that this be done by his authority, his name is rooted firmly in that awesome company. The ordinance bears witness to the exalted person and nature of him whom we know as Jesus of Nazareth.
16. This command is universal in scope. (It is for “all nations”.) It is timeless in duration. (He would be with them to do it “always, to the very end of the age.”) It is the desire and will of Christ himself. (“All authority...has been given to me. Therefore go...”) It should be enough that he has commanded it. It should be enough that he desires it. Both are true! Baptism cannot be administered without the Lordship of Jesus Christ being proclaimed. Since he desires it and has commanded it, we ought to gladly and humbly fulfil it.