Washing sin away

Washing

And baptism, which this prefigured, now saves you—not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers made subject to him. (1 Peter 3:21-22)

Dear Cooper:

We have been talking about Baptism as an expression of God’s Love. We have said that Baptism marks the fact that, because of faith in Jesus. God identifies us with Jesus and so restores us to right relationship with Him. We have said this is a completely free gift of Grace given in Love (which itself is God’s nature).

When many Christians think about this idea that God no longer sees the filth and dirt of our sin because of Jesus, they imagine Baptism as being a washing – that is a washing away of sins. So, today let’s use that verb, washing to think about Baptism.

Washing and water go hand-in-hand. Truth be known, washing, cleaning and purification with water are pretty common ideas for us. For some people, this common use causes problems; they imagine Christians borrowed the idea from non-Christians or even evil groups. Such nonsense need not concern us. Water used to clean is a pretty direct understanding; that it would be used over-and-over-again in human society to represent cleansing implies nothing of concern.

For Christians, water in Baptism helps us understand there is a cleansing of some sort envisioned of the Christian in Baptism. “Not as a removal of dirt from the body” (1 Peter 3:21) but as the putting away of sin from us. Make no mistake, the water remains water – nothing more. We use water only to mark a truth – that we are, as Peter said (in Acts 2:38) baptized ‘for the forgiveness of your sins’ or as Ananias encouraged, be baptized “and wash away your sins” (Acts 22:16). God cleans us through Baptism and calls us into His mission.

Around 400 years ago, Matthew Henry considered this image of being washed, but he encouraged us to look beyond the image to the miraculous fact that our sin is pardoned. “Be baptized, and rest not in the sign, but make sure of the thing signified - the putting away of the filth of sin.” That is the unimaginable truth of Baptism: God has pardoned our sin. Let Him alone be praised.

So, enough for today.  Baptism points to God’s forgiveness of sin, and washes us clean – isn’t that amazing? 

t HE

Monday, January 9, 2017