I'm quite sure that I'm not the only Christian in the world who has experienced doubt and uncertainty in my faith over the years, but hopefully this may help some to allow such a thing to be opened up and treated, rather than to fester in the dark as is so often the case. I myself spent many years hiding my doubts away, and can give testimony that it is amongst the primary reasons I am now glad to be a member of the Lutheran church. Not that Lutheran theology is more profound than any other, but simply that it "gets" people like me. It is doctrine built upon the simple and certain promises of God's Word for our comfort and salvation in Christ. Neither does this imply that I am moronic or Lutheran theology is dumbed down in any way, rather it cuts through all the barriers we have managed to build up in our intellect, and shows us what it is to have faith as a child.
To begin with I would simply like to share a few verses of Scripture to highlight what my own issue (and I believe many others share with me in this) has been over the years, and how I've been encouraged to deal with it in various ways. What I would ask is that you read through the following quotes from the Bible, both of which offer massive assurance of salvation in Christ, and see if you spot what you would consider to be the "weakest link" so to speak.
Romans 8:37-39 (ESV)
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,
39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Hebrews 6:16-20 (ESV)
16 For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation.
17 So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath,
18 so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us.
19 We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain,
20 where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
Both of these passages are clearly written to assure Christians that God in Christ is fully willing and able to save believers from any peril that may exist, both material and spiritual. But if I am perfectly honest, I never really had a problem believing that Jesus Christ has the power to eternally save the most vile of sinners. The problem I constantly encountered was realising that I was the weak link in the chain. At times when sin got the better of me again, doubts would begin to rise in my mind more and more forcefully, which would lead to backsliding into sinful habits, which in turn would lead me to doubt my salvation even more forcefully. At times like those, I would read the same passages and hear Paul describe what Christ has done "for us", or "to the heirs of promise" as in Heb 6:17, and sincerely question if I was actually part of that group. How could I, caught up in my own sinfulness so badly, be counted in the number Paul describes as "for us"?
Having come to Christ through a charismatic church that heavily embraced decisional theology, the automatic place to go for assurance was the "decision" I made to make Jesus my Lord and Saviour. In such churches the "making a decision for Christ" and "praying the prayer of salvation" are the crucial foundations of our faith, for it is that place that marks the moment we were born again. There may be other advice offered too, but it is almost always based on subjective and emotional things, rather than anything rock solid. To be quite honest, most Christians in these circles (and I include myself here) become very good at ignoring the glaringly obvious, putting on a brave and cheerful face, and declaring all is well.
If like me you escaped the circus show of the charismatic church, you will quite possibly find yourself seeking a place that takes the Word of God more seriously. A church that takes doctrine seriously, and makes the strongest efforts to disassociate from the madness that is often on display in more popular circles. However even in such a place, there is a strong possiblity that you will still be directed in the wrong place for the assurance of salvation that you are seeking. Rather than being encouraged to think back to a decision you made for Christ however, you will probably find a more biblically plausible approach taken. You will possibly encounter Calvinism and what are referred to as the doctrines of grace. The bedrock of this theology is not a decision you made for Christ, but rather the decision God has made to save His elect from the foundation of the world. There is no question whatsoever that God will ultimately save His elect in Christ, but as I pointed out in the beginning, how do you know you are of the elect? Especially when sin has crept into your life and seemingly taken you captive again, and the predominant thing you are encouraged to look to is the mark of being of the elect, is the way in which your life is being transformed by the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit. What happens when all you can see when you examine yourself is a heart that is as black as coal, and continues to get blacker no matter how hard you may desire it to be different?
If you have read anything at all of the life of Martin Luther, it is no secret that this place of blackness, despair and fear was something he was no stranger to. As a result, much of what Luther taught was aimed at comforting souls tortured by an awareness of sin, by showing that all Christ did was "for you". It is not as some so wrongly suggest, in that Lutheran theology somehow puts aside the Law of God. But in fact I have never been in a church that has such a reverence for God's Law, and proclaims it with such boldness. But the crucial fact is, that no matter how hard the Law of God hits its mark in the hearer, and no matter how great the sin the hearer is convicted of, the Gospel of Jesus Christ crucified for the forgiveness of our sins is greater by far.
The truth is that one doesn't need to be in a Lutheran church to hear the Word of God rightly preached, for when it is so, the Law will do its work in convicting the hearer of sin by the work of the Holy Spirit, and so too He will bring to the repentant heart the healing balm of the Gospel of Christ crucified for the forgiveness of our sins. Whilst the Gospel of Christ crucified is wonderful news to the repentant sinner, what is so often misrepresented to them is the way in which they are to lay hold of that wonderful news and truly make it their own. The ironic thing is that God has given us the means through which we may have our faith fortified beyond measure, and our hearts filled with certainty we are truly to be found in Christ on the Last Day. However for some reason, whereas the Lutheran church embraces these means and holds them dear, the majority of the Protestant church in all its other forms seems to be determined to treat them as something entirely different than what God's Word tells us.
The crucial difference I have found in Lutheran doctrine compared to that of any other Protestant denomination I have been associated with is this: Whilst all those denominations would agree upon the fact we are saved solely by the victory Christ won on our behalf at His death and resurrection, how that victory is communicated or applied to our life is where the difference lies. In principle we would probably also agree that we only receive this victory as our own by faith through the grace of God alone, and not of our own merit. However the fact remains that, if God in His Word has given the means by which our humanity can lay hold of the divine promise of forgiveness won by Christ; if we seek to find another means by which to lay hold of that promise, we are in error.
The Bible speaks of Christ as the Lamb of God slain from the foundation of the world (Rev 13:8), slain for the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:2), and through Whom the only way to reconcilliation with God the Father is found (John 14:6). Because of this, both under the Old Testament and the New Testament, the only true object of faith for the forgiveness of sins in the sight of God Almighty, is the sacrifice of Jesus Christ the Son of God once for all given for our sins. Under the Old Covenant the means by which this grace was communicated to Israel was through circumcision and animal sacrifices. Circumcision marked the generations of Israel as God's covenant people and co-heirs with Abraham (Genesis 17:9-11), whereas the sacrificial system was ordained of God to obtain the forgiveness of sins for the people of Israel (Lev 16:33-34). Whilst it was as true then as now that without faith it is impossible to please God (Heb 11:6), and the carrying out of God's specific commands apart from faith is utterly futile (see Isaiah 1). Nevertheless, when those with authentic faith in God believed and trusted in the means of grace prescribed by God through Moses, it was through those means their forgiveness was delivered tangibly. How did they know for sure they belonged to God's covenant people? Because they had His mark upon their very flesh. How did they know their sins were forgiven? Because of the scape-goat sent into the wilderness carrying the sins of God's people, the blood of the sacrificial lamb being sprinkled as an atonement, and the high priest emerging alive from the Holy of Holies.
Now we have the Old Covenant being replaced by the New Covenant, of which the old was a type and shadow (Heb 10:1-18). So the question I suppose we need to ask ourselves as believers is this: "Does the New Testament bear witness to any tangible means of grace, ordained by God for the Christian believer?" In other words, does God prescribe a means by which we are able to tangibly connect our individual lives to the victory Christ has won for us upon the Cross? Or does the phrase "by faith alone" when referred to salvation, mean that the believer is saved solely by an internal belief and trust in what Christ has done, where there is no external means given for us to anchor our faith upon Christ Himself, and the promise of His Word. As previously mentioned, for some reason the majority of the Protestant church seems to deny this reality, and in so doing also weakens the believers faith in Christ as a result in my opinion.
Without wishing to open up a whole can of worms about the sacraments ordained by Christ to the apostles, and on through to the Church, I would simply draw attention to the pattern laid down in Acts 2 when the Church was first established. Following the sermon given by Peter on the day of Pentecost, when asked what one must do to be saved, his response was to “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” (Acts 2:38-39). Those who did were brought into the fellowship of believers, where they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching, the breaking of bread, and prayer etc.. In other words, those who were convicted of sin by the preaching of God's Word, and believed the Gospel of forgiveness through the sacrifice of Christ, were called to turn away from their old life and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. In their baptism they would receive the promise of the forgiveness of their sins, and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. They did not consider baptism a work done by man, but by God. Just as the Old Covenant believer did not believe the act of sacrificing animals purchased their forgiveness, but the promise of God's mercy was received through the means He had prescribed. What do you think would have happened if Israel had simply said, "Well we know that God isn't pleased with sacrifices because of what Isaiah said, so we're just going to stop with the sacrifices and trust in His mercy instead." In all honesty do you think God would have responded favourably? No! Because those who believed and trusted in the promise of God's mercy given through Moses, also believed and trusted in the means by which they were to lay hold of the promise of His mercy, namely the sacrificial system given through the same Moses.
If I have your agreement concerning Moses, then also consider the words spoken by that same Moses to Israel:
Acts 3:22-23 (ESV)
22 Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you.
23 And it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people.’
We know in hindsight that Moses was speaking of Jesus Christ. So surely if the faithful Old Testament believer listened to and obeyed the Word of God given through Moses, how much more so should we listen to and obey the Word of God spoken through Christ? I have no desire to get caught up in arguments concerning the methods of baptism, or the way in which the bread and cup are distributed. But it is impossible to deny that Jesus Christ Himself has ordained the very means given by God that we should receive the promise of His mercy in forgiving our sins. With this in mind, I am simply urging believers to look to those things rightly, as the gifts of God they actually are. For when we know as a fact that we have been baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, we find our faith in Christ utterly fortified, for we find certainty of being truly united with Christ in both His death and His eternal life. Just as when we partake of the bread and cup instituted by Christ Himself, we feed upon the true Body and Blood of Christ broken and given for us, for the forgiveness of our sins. If you don't take anything else from this article, simply read the following words taken straight from Scripture, and believe them in the simplicity and straightforward manner they are written to us.
Colossians 2:11-15 (ESV)
11 In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ,
12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.
13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,
14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.
15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.
Romans 6:3-5 (ESV)
3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?
4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.
Galatians 3:25-29 (ESV)
25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian,
26 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.
27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.
1 Corinthians 11:23-30 (ESV)
23 For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread,
24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”
26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
27 Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord.
28 Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup.
29 For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself.
30 That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died.
Luke 22:19-20 (ESV)
19 And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
20 And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.
Matthew 26:26-28 (ESV)
26 Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.”
27 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you,
28 for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
1 Corinthians 10:16-17 (ESV)
16 The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?
17 Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.
Do not make the same mistake I made for so long, in allowing yourself to be deceived into believing that baptism and communion are simply "an outward sign of and inward change" or something along those lines. For the next step is deny they are the very means God has given through the words of Christ, that believers shall be grafted into His covenant people, and their sins shall be washed away by the blood of the Lamb for all eternity.
To begin with I would simply like to share a few verses of Scripture to highlight what my own issue (and I believe many others share with me in this) has been over the years, and how I've been encouraged to deal with it in various ways. What I would ask is that you read through the following quotes from the Bible, both of which offer massive assurance of salvation in Christ, and see if you spot what you would consider to be the "weakest link" so to speak.
Romans 8:37-39 (ESV)
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,
39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Hebrews 6:16-20 (ESV)
16 For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation.
17 So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath,
18 so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us.
19 We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain,
20 where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
Both of these passages are clearly written to assure Christians that God in Christ is fully willing and able to save believers from any peril that may exist, both material and spiritual. But if I am perfectly honest, I never really had a problem believing that Jesus Christ has the power to eternally save the most vile of sinners. The problem I constantly encountered was realising that I was the weak link in the chain. At times when sin got the better of me again, doubts would begin to rise in my mind more and more forcefully, which would lead to backsliding into sinful habits, which in turn would lead me to doubt my salvation even more forcefully. At times like those, I would read the same passages and hear Paul describe what Christ has done "for us", or "to the heirs of promise" as in Heb 6:17, and sincerely question if I was actually part of that group. How could I, caught up in my own sinfulness so badly, be counted in the number Paul describes as "for us"?
Having come to Christ through a charismatic church that heavily embraced decisional theology, the automatic place to go for assurance was the "decision" I made to make Jesus my Lord and Saviour. In such churches the "making a decision for Christ" and "praying the prayer of salvation" are the crucial foundations of our faith, for it is that place that marks the moment we were born again. There may be other advice offered too, but it is almost always based on subjective and emotional things, rather than anything rock solid. To be quite honest, most Christians in these circles (and I include myself here) become very good at ignoring the glaringly obvious, putting on a brave and cheerful face, and declaring all is well.
If like me you escaped the circus show of the charismatic church, you will quite possibly find yourself seeking a place that takes the Word of God more seriously. A church that takes doctrine seriously, and makes the strongest efforts to disassociate from the madness that is often on display in more popular circles. However even in such a place, there is a strong possiblity that you will still be directed in the wrong place for the assurance of salvation that you are seeking. Rather than being encouraged to think back to a decision you made for Christ however, you will probably find a more biblically plausible approach taken. You will possibly encounter Calvinism and what are referred to as the doctrines of grace. The bedrock of this theology is not a decision you made for Christ, but rather the decision God has made to save His elect from the foundation of the world. There is no question whatsoever that God will ultimately save His elect in Christ, but as I pointed out in the beginning, how do you know you are of the elect? Especially when sin has crept into your life and seemingly taken you captive again, and the predominant thing you are encouraged to look to is the mark of being of the elect, is the way in which your life is being transformed by the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit. What happens when all you can see when you examine yourself is a heart that is as black as coal, and continues to get blacker no matter how hard you may desire it to be different?
If you have read anything at all of the life of Martin Luther, it is no secret that this place of blackness, despair and fear was something he was no stranger to. As a result, much of what Luther taught was aimed at comforting souls tortured by an awareness of sin, by showing that all Christ did was "for you". It is not as some so wrongly suggest, in that Lutheran theology somehow puts aside the Law of God. But in fact I have never been in a church that has such a reverence for God's Law, and proclaims it with such boldness. But the crucial fact is, that no matter how hard the Law of God hits its mark in the hearer, and no matter how great the sin the hearer is convicted of, the Gospel of Jesus Christ crucified for the forgiveness of our sins is greater by far.
The truth is that one doesn't need to be in a Lutheran church to hear the Word of God rightly preached, for when it is so, the Law will do its work in convicting the hearer of sin by the work of the Holy Spirit, and so too He will bring to the repentant heart the healing balm of the Gospel of Christ crucified for the forgiveness of our sins. Whilst the Gospel of Christ crucified is wonderful news to the repentant sinner, what is so often misrepresented to them is the way in which they are to lay hold of that wonderful news and truly make it their own. The ironic thing is that God has given us the means through which we may have our faith fortified beyond measure, and our hearts filled with certainty we are truly to be found in Christ on the Last Day. However for some reason, whereas the Lutheran church embraces these means and holds them dear, the majority of the Protestant church in all its other forms seems to be determined to treat them as something entirely different than what God's Word tells us.
The crucial difference I have found in Lutheran doctrine compared to that of any other Protestant denomination I have been associated with is this: Whilst all those denominations would agree upon the fact we are saved solely by the victory Christ won on our behalf at His death and resurrection, how that victory is communicated or applied to our life is where the difference lies. In principle we would probably also agree that we only receive this victory as our own by faith through the grace of God alone, and not of our own merit. However the fact remains that, if God in His Word has given the means by which our humanity can lay hold of the divine promise of forgiveness won by Christ; if we seek to find another means by which to lay hold of that promise, we are in error.
The Bible speaks of Christ as the Lamb of God slain from the foundation of the world (Rev 13:8), slain for the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:2), and through Whom the only way to reconcilliation with God the Father is found (John 14:6). Because of this, both under the Old Testament and the New Testament, the only true object of faith for the forgiveness of sins in the sight of God Almighty, is the sacrifice of Jesus Christ the Son of God once for all given for our sins. Under the Old Covenant the means by which this grace was communicated to Israel was through circumcision and animal sacrifices. Circumcision marked the generations of Israel as God's covenant people and co-heirs with Abraham (Genesis 17:9-11), whereas the sacrificial system was ordained of God to obtain the forgiveness of sins for the people of Israel (Lev 16:33-34). Whilst it was as true then as now that without faith it is impossible to please God (Heb 11:6), and the carrying out of God's specific commands apart from faith is utterly futile (see Isaiah 1). Nevertheless, when those with authentic faith in God believed and trusted in the means of grace prescribed by God through Moses, it was through those means their forgiveness was delivered tangibly. How did they know for sure they belonged to God's covenant people? Because they had His mark upon their very flesh. How did they know their sins were forgiven? Because of the scape-goat sent into the wilderness carrying the sins of God's people, the blood of the sacrificial lamb being sprinkled as an atonement, and the high priest emerging alive from the Holy of Holies.
Now we have the Old Covenant being replaced by the New Covenant, of which the old was a type and shadow (Heb 10:1-18). So the question I suppose we need to ask ourselves as believers is this: "Does the New Testament bear witness to any tangible means of grace, ordained by God for the Christian believer?" In other words, does God prescribe a means by which we are able to tangibly connect our individual lives to the victory Christ has won for us upon the Cross? Or does the phrase "by faith alone" when referred to salvation, mean that the believer is saved solely by an internal belief and trust in what Christ has done, where there is no external means given for us to anchor our faith upon Christ Himself, and the promise of His Word. As previously mentioned, for some reason the majority of the Protestant church seems to deny this reality, and in so doing also weakens the believers faith in Christ as a result in my opinion.
Without wishing to open up a whole can of worms about the sacraments ordained by Christ to the apostles, and on through to the Church, I would simply draw attention to the pattern laid down in Acts 2 when the Church was first established. Following the sermon given by Peter on the day of Pentecost, when asked what one must do to be saved, his response was to “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” (Acts 2:38-39). Those who did were brought into the fellowship of believers, where they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching, the breaking of bread, and prayer etc.. In other words, those who were convicted of sin by the preaching of God's Word, and believed the Gospel of forgiveness through the sacrifice of Christ, were called to turn away from their old life and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. In their baptism they would receive the promise of the forgiveness of their sins, and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. They did not consider baptism a work done by man, but by God. Just as the Old Covenant believer did not believe the act of sacrificing animals purchased their forgiveness, but the promise of God's mercy was received through the means He had prescribed. What do you think would have happened if Israel had simply said, "Well we know that God isn't pleased with sacrifices because of what Isaiah said, so we're just going to stop with the sacrifices and trust in His mercy instead." In all honesty do you think God would have responded favourably? No! Because those who believed and trusted in the promise of God's mercy given through Moses, also believed and trusted in the means by which they were to lay hold of the promise of His mercy, namely the sacrificial system given through the same Moses.
If I have your agreement concerning Moses, then also consider the words spoken by that same Moses to Israel:
Acts 3:22-23 (ESV)
22 Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you.
23 And it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people.’
We know in hindsight that Moses was speaking of Jesus Christ. So surely if the faithful Old Testament believer listened to and obeyed the Word of God given through Moses, how much more so should we listen to and obey the Word of God spoken through Christ? I have no desire to get caught up in arguments concerning the methods of baptism, or the way in which the bread and cup are distributed. But it is impossible to deny that Jesus Christ Himself has ordained the very means given by God that we should receive the promise of His mercy in forgiving our sins. With this in mind, I am simply urging believers to look to those things rightly, as the gifts of God they actually are. For when we know as a fact that we have been baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, we find our faith in Christ utterly fortified, for we find certainty of being truly united with Christ in both His death and His eternal life. Just as when we partake of the bread and cup instituted by Christ Himself, we feed upon the true Body and Blood of Christ broken and given for us, for the forgiveness of our sins. If you don't take anything else from this article, simply read the following words taken straight from Scripture, and believe them in the simplicity and straightforward manner they are written to us.
Colossians 2:11-15 (ESV)
11 In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ,
12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.
13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,
14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.
15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.
Romans 6:3-5 (ESV)
3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?
4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.
Galatians 3:25-29 (ESV)
25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian,
26 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.
27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.
1 Corinthians 11:23-30 (ESV)
23 For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread,
24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”
26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
27 Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord.
28 Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup.
29 For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself.
30 That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died.
Luke 22:19-20 (ESV)
19 And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
20 And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.
Matthew 26:26-28 (ESV)
26 Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.”
27 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you,
28 for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
1 Corinthians 10:16-17 (ESV)
16 The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?
17 Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.
Do not make the same mistake I made for so long, in allowing yourself to be deceived into believing that baptism and communion are simply "an outward sign of and inward change" or something along those lines. For the next step is deny they are the very means God has given through the words of Christ, that believers shall be grafted into His covenant people, and their sins shall be washed away by the blood of the Lamb for all eternity.
