An Act of Grace?

"Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God

without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh,

and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be astonished that I said to you,

You must be born from above.” John 3

Dear Cooper:

“The subject of infant baptism is undoubtedly a delicate and difficult one. Holy and praying men are unable to see alike upon it. Although they read the same Bible, and profess to be led by the same Spirit, they arrive at different conclusions about this sacrament.” (J. C. Ryle)

So now, let’s talk about Baptism. But please, let us take care. Christians do not treat the sacrament of Baptism recklessly.

It is a sacrament – what that means is it is an outward sign of something that exists within the essence of God and Christians (I do not know any Christian that would be upset by this statement). These signs were given to us by Jesus (i.e. for Baptism see Matthew 28:18-20) and have been witnessed in the Church for a long time (we see mention of Baptism in Acts 2:38-42).

It is the claim of the Church that Baptism and what is done in Baptism comes to us from the Bible. And right there we humans get messed up. Why? Because while the Bible talks about Baptism, it does not provide an instruction manual.  So, we have heard Jesus say “Baptize,” and we are trying to be obedient, but when we go to the Bible seeking what to do, the Bible gives us only clues. People who have given their lives to studying ancient Hebrew and biblical Greek, and who study the traditions of the Jewish people with whom Jesus lived on earth (when taken together) offer nothing beyond good guesses and professional opinions as to what a Baptism might look like.

I had thought I might be able to wrap up talk about what Baptism is in a day or two. As I start to think about the next few lines I will write, I realize I was wrong.  But as a starting point, here is what we can all agree on:

First – somehow Baptism is an expression of God’s Love.

Second – Baptism marks something very important that has happened between God and one of His beloved children.

So, let unpack these ideas a bit.  If Baptism is an expression from God, then it is an act of God’s Grace.

What does THAT mean? Well, nobody Baptizes themselves, right? Nor does any human person have any special super powers that allows them to initiate God’s work without God. Nor can we demand Baptism for our self. Baptism, is something God alone has done, is doing and will do in Love. We don’t deserve this Love – but God is Love and He Loves. Human thinking and language struggles to set us aside in anything, but this is important. Any teaching that makes a human act essential to a sacrament has gone off the rails.

Above is a verse from John 3 (tomorrow’s reading, if you were able to convince your people to read the Gospel of John to you!). Jesus is saying that as we are returned to God something beyond us is happening – there is something done in us by God and it changes us. The Bible says we are baptized into Jesus (Romans 6:3).

Ok – that’s enough for today. I will continue with the first point a bit more tomorrow. The key idea for today is that Baptism reveals that God, not you or me, is up to something. Baptism is a God thing.

t HE

Friday, January 6, 2017